The Cheapest Way Across a Continent

The budget for three months came out to less than a lot of people spend on ten days somewhere with a pool. That meant buses that took twice as long as they should have, ferries with no seats left, and one hitchhike I would not repeat.

Budget travel isn’t really about money. It’s about how much time you’re willing to trade for it.

The hitchhike was with a fruit truck driver who spoke no language I did, for six hours, in a heat that made the vinyl seats stick to my legs. I’d still call it one of the better days of the trip.

What stayed with me wasn’t the money I saved. It was how much more of the actual country you see, moving at the speed everyone else moves at.