I'm Tom from Croatia for the last couple of years the world was my home. I was traveling. Hitchhiked cars, trucks, horses, engines, ships. I rode buses, trains, rickshaws. I was doing all kinds of jobs, spending time with locals. I volunteered and became a Buddhist monk - I'm kidding! Sailing across the Indian Ocean, I tried new things for the first time in my life. I have seen things that I will remember for the rest of my life.
And all that, almost for free. (Applause) That's essentially it, thank you all for your attention. (Laughter) Most people who see this video respond with: "Wow! I wish I could travel that way!" The thing is, most of us actually can! Before I started traveling. I was a stock trader. I worked 9 to 17 and had a lot of money. When the 2008 financial crisis came, I lost my job and all my money. And all my sense lost. It was at this time that I discovered a website called Couchsurfing. How many have heard of Couchsurfing? OK, how many haven't heard of Couchsurfing? OK, for you, it's a website that lets you accommodate travelers in your own home and at the same time allows you to be welcomed by other people, in their home as you travel. When I hosted people in my suite, over 150 of them, I listened to their stories and saw the spark in their eyes and thought, "Wow! I wish I could travel that way!" But I was scared.
The world is a very dangerous place, so the media say, schools, our families, the church, and so on. I was scared to leave my own comfort zone and go into an unknown world by himself. I was also scared to have money, but then there were the people I hosted said two incredible things. First: you don't have to be brave to travel, you just need a little the courage to start, to leave your city. The other thing is you don't have to be rich to travel. In fact, all travel expenses fall into three main categories: The first is transportation, getting from point A to point B. the second is accommodation, and everything else falls under the third. Food, drink and the like. They told me that if you were to minimize those 3 costs it can actually be cheaper to travel than living in your own city! I have listened to them in the last 5 years, I traveled the world, almost without money.
This is how I did it: first thing, I hitchhiked. In addition to being a very fast and free way to travel, hitchhiking allowed me to have an adventure even before reaching my destination. How many of you hitchhiked before? Enough of you ... Why? Are you crazy ?! (Laughter) I will play a short video entitled "Hitchhiking" let me show you my experiences and a couple of unwritten hitchhiking rules. (Music) When hitchhiking, the most important thing is to use common sense. First: you need to get out of town, countryside and the http://toptentraveldestinations.com like. You need to be on the road, know where you are going, really basic things. Lesson # 2: Raise Your Thumb. Most of you have one. You just do this. Hitchhiking lesson # 36: Look decent, shave, and so on. And try to wear clean clothes, or hide behind your backpack so no one can see what you look like. Lesson # 54: NEVER hitchhike at night. Be happy. This is your choice, you hitchhike, you chose it, don't be frowned on, don't look like this: (Salaries) Lesson # 58: Eye contact with the driver. You see? This one is almost stopped! Don't hitchhike alone.
I have a friend to hitchhike with. Meet Maria Juan. Lesson # 21: Talk to the driver while in the car, because your story is the only way you can pay them, They would like to hear some interesting stories, If you have them ... If not, listen to their story. Sometimes that is enough. Lesson # 9: Commit yourself, if you have a belt ... Lesson # 62: When the driver is asleep, take over. Always be happy! Hitchhiking, it's your choice ... Jeg, sometimes you have to wait a lot ... Be patient. Don't expect people to stop, because you will be wrong in 99.74% of cases. No matter how long you wait, the right ride will come. This is the most important hitchhiking rule, that's all you need to know.
In fact, there are no rules! Because * we would all rule! Go and enjoy life ... Challenge yourself. (Trumpet) (Applause) Thank you. There are other modes of transportation. One of them is walking, I believe you all know ... How many of you can walk? (Laughter) So, you just take your backpack and walk. Another way, and that is cycling. Not a completely free way, because you have to buy a bike, and repair it when it breaks down, but it is cheaper than conventional modes of transport. And the last way is to work in exchange for transportation. That's what I did when I sailed across the Indian Ocean, from Australia to Africa. I didn't pay anything, I just needed to work on the ship a little bit, eg watch at night, "cook" and the rest.
In terms of accommodation, most of the time I used Couchsurfing, because I have had experiences and positive reviews with him from the people I hosted. What I love most about Couchsurfing is not only that it's free, than it allows you to experience your destination in a completely different way. You are not condemned to sleep in a hotel room and paying tourist guides. You just hang out with your host and he shows you places in a city he probably would never have found. But also, there are a couple of alternatives, such as camping. If you have a tent, you can practically sleep wherever you want. In big cities, I mostly slept in parks in a Karimat sleeping bag. The last alternative is volunteering. There are so many opportunities in the world where you can work in exchange for accommodation, sometimes you even get food.
You may come across a beautiful room like this: As for the other expenses, one of them is food. In rich cities and countries, I used to mostly buy food in supermarkets and I ate on the street because that was the cheapest. Also, you can cook with your hosts, which can be a very special experience. (Laughter) At the very least ... These are actually Germans (Laughter) It was actually very tasty but also very cheap. Another way of feeding is "scuba diving" because over 40% - 50% of the food which is produced in the world is thrown away. A lot of people have problems with this and that's why they go to supermarket containers just before they close and take all the food that was thrown that day and still not spoiled. As for drinks, alcohol ... I mostly avoided cafes and restaurants and drank in parks. This way you can travel very, very cheaply, but there is another downside to traveling, which is that you can make money while traveling. How's that? I have done this several times. One way is performance on the street, for example I played guitar.
I'm not a musician. I know 4, 5 chords and four songs. So play it in a circle, you know? People are constantly passing by so they can't figure it out. (Laughter) The most important thing about street performers is having a story. I always had a small piece of cardboard for my locals to locate they wrote where I was from, what I was doing here, and what my story was. I think that's why people donated, some money, a few sandwiches, juices, and so on.
You can't make a lot of money this way, but enough for one day of expenses. Another way is to write; you can have a blog, open a Facebook page. After a while, write a book, and so on. But most of the money came from going to Australia. This is a job I did in Australia, I call it "professional traffic router". (Laughter) As you can see, it is very hard work. I tell people, "Please go this way, not this one." (Laughter) I mean, if they're blind ... (Laughter) So for that job, I was paid $ 20 an hour. (Audience sigh) Excuse me, I know you all hate me and so on ... (Laughter) Well, well ... In addition, I had free accommodation and food. (Laughter) I know, I know... In fact, here's one piece of information. This was during my trip around the world. It took me thirteen days to work on this job, to pay myself eight months of travel from Croatia, across Asia to Australia.
So 13 days of work in exchange for 8 months of travel. And what have I learned after all these trips? Did I find the meaning of life and such? That's what my mom asked me. You know, "Do you know how scared we've been all these years? Has it paid off then?" And my answer is always "definitely yes!" I have learned a lot of things, most of them are personal in nature so I will not talk about them. But I also learned some general truths. I learned that we should not trust the media and their "horror stories". I learned that we have to look out for Earth, it's the only one we have, right? And the only one with chocolate, right? I learned to overthrow all prejudices, which was probably the most valuable thing. I have learned that all people in the world, regardless of the various differences in cultures, races, religions and more, we are all essentially the same. I have one short story about the prejudices I encountered while traveling.
When I left Croatia for a trip around the world, everyone spoke to me "Be careful, the world is very dangerous. You'll hitchhike, you'll sleep in someone else's homes." "It's still OK to travel around Croatia, but as soon as you cross the border into Serbia" "Well brother, you know what Serbs are!" "Be very, very careful, someone could kill you." I thanked them for the warning and crossed the border into Serbia.
A phenomenal adventure, phenomenal people who drove me around town, took me out, I slept in their homes. All in all a phenomenal experience. I was leaving Serbia and heading towards Bulgaria. I was driven by a Serb and told him that Croats had warned me about Serbs. He said to me, "Bre, that's total nonsense. Croats and Serbs, we're all brothers." "But the Bulgarians! (Laughter) When you cross the border and enter Bulgaria ... " "Well you know what Bulgarians are like; full of gypsies, so you know!" "Be very, very careful, someone could kill you." (Laughter) I enter Bulgaria and again the same story. Phenomenal experiences and people very friendly. When I was leaving Bulgaria, I drove with a truck driver to Turkey and told him the same story that the Croats had warned me about the Serbs, and Serbs for Bulgarians. He replied, "Well brother dear, that's total nonsense!" "Croats, Serbs, Bulgarians ... Well we are Balkan brothers!" "But the Turks, my God! You know what the Turks are!" "It's very dangerous out there.
Someone could kill you." The Turks alerted me to the Kurds, the Kurds to the Iranians Iranians to Pakistanis, Pakistanis to Indians. And the Indians did not warn me of anyone! I don't know ... (Laughter) I guess it's the back front or something. (Laughter) I don't get it, but yes ... It was not only a journey lesson, it was also a life lesson not to believe all those horror stories people have told me. And one more interesting thing, when you get home ... People are scared to start traveling because they are scared which will welcome them when they return. Well, you're very likely to be a star. When you get home, everyone will treat you to beer, the girls will be like "Wow, you're a world traveler!" (Laughter) But after a while, you get bored. You will get bored of retelling your own story, people will get bored listening to it and you will be hit by the so-called "depression after travel". Then you'll have three options: The first is to stay where you are and get back to the old lifestyle, old friends who are still talking about the same things and they go to the same places.
Maybe you can get your old job back. And after a while everything is OK. You feel safe living there, but you miss that adventurous guy a little who traveled and had adventures wherever he went. Another option is to take your backpack and say "I can't live here" and head for the road again. Again, that adrenaline rush will come back, you'll meet phenomenal people, you will experience adventures day by day. But after a while, you will miss something. You're going to want to belong to a story. Your friendships will be passionate but short-lived. Love relationships will last you as much as a visa for that country. You will miss the place you call home. The third option is actually a balance between these two extremes: stay in one place, but don't lose the adventurous spirit.
Walk the streets you've never walked, start a conversation with strangers on the street, find a new hobby, find a new job, maybe write a book, give a TEDx lecture. You know, all that cool stuff. But is this style of travel for everyone? I don't think so. With phenomenal experiences and people you can meet with this mode of travel, there are downsides: You will often be lonely, hungry, sick, and suffering for home. But it all comes down to your instinct. If after all these ideas and information, you're still thinking, "Wow, I wish I could travel this way!" Then definitely get started! Forget about your fears, forget about having no money and just go.
Remember that famous saying, "Twenty years in the future," "you will grieve more for things you have not done than for those you have." Thank you very much
