How to See the World on $25 a Day or LessARTOFTRAVEL.COM

 

|Chapter 21

Travelers' Tips and Considerations

Miscellany
Telephone and Mail
Car Travel
Killer Snakes
Straight Talk on Drugs

Miscellany

Street Food

If you are going to eat street food in Mexico or other developing countries, only select and eat food you see being cooked, and cooked well. Don't accept something taken from a warming box, since you don't know how long it's been there, and germs multiply unbelievably fast in hot, humid climates. Watch your food being cooked, and get it well-done even if you prefer rare. Make sure the grease isn't rancid, and choose a vendor who is proud of his stand and keeps it clean.

I warned a buddy about a hot-dog-type-thing being removed from a warming box, but he insisted his stomach was really tough. The next day he was unbelievably sick, and he remained somewhat under the weather for several months. René S., Austin, Texas


The Marrakech Express

Don't take any night trains in Morocco. In fact, don't even go there. The Morocco you're thinking of died in the 70's, baby. Terry M., Austin, Texas

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The best way to put off Moroccan "guides" is to not let them know where you come from, and pretend to speak only Russian. Just walk by and say "Nyet!" and any other Russian-sounding garbage you can think of. Those bastards are amazing linguists, and if they can speak your language they will latch onto you and never quit, but they don't speak Russian, yet. Anonymous Englishman

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Because Americans tend to be friendlier, more generous, less cynical, and perhaps less world-wise than some other nationalities, we are prized targets for those who would deviously separate us from our money. The sheer volume and intensity of Moroccan hustlers present a special problem for average friendly Americans, including myself.

If you are approached by "guides," touts, or vendors trying to sell you tours, carpets, etc., you must give a firm but polite "no," and not act the slightest bit interested. Do not acknowledge or speak to anyone trying to sell you hashish. Do your best to give the impression you have been around the world twenty times. If a hustler sees an opening or weakness he will wear you down with constant harassment.

When you get off the ferry in Tangier you are literally swarmed with so-called guides, official and unofficial. Initially you may be better off hiring one as your hired guide protects you from other hustlers. But don't trust him any further than you can throw him. He may be mostly trustworthy, but you won't and can't know that.

As you go deeper into Morocco the hustler problem lessens, as it does in the off-season. While there are many friendly Moroccans with a wonderful sense of hospitality, you must learn to separate these good folks from the hustlers.


South of the Border
by
Paul S. Harder, Florida

  1. In Latin American countries it would be polite to keep a low profile with your money, instead of flashing it around. Use a money clip for the small amount you will be using during the day and keep it in your front pocket. When counting money for a purchase turn to one side and keep the money low and hidden with your hands. This is only good manners.

  2. Everywhere in Latin America is not receptive to bargaining. Some places the prices are as marked. Bargain when necessary, but only for things you really intend to purchase. If he meets your price you are expected to buy.

  3. Be sensitive to what you say. For instance, "stupid" in the U.S. is a minor insult, but in some Latin cultures it is a major offense.

  4. At high elevations like Quito be alert to quicker sunburning. Use a strong sunblock, a hat, and long sleeves.

  5. If you order drinks, the ice in it might be made from the local water everyone warns you not to drink. I stick to bottles and cans. Also beware of fruits and vegetables as they are grown and washed with the same local water.

  6. Yogurt may help your digestive (enzyme) system, especially if you begin eating it regularly a month before going down.

  7. While traveling we are always out of our familiar "comfort zone." Remember, other cultures and their way of doing things are not wrong; they are only different. This will help you enjoy your trip more.


State of Mind

  1. Don't travel the world constantly making snap judgments about other cultures. The best way to relate to a new world is to keenly observe it, to drink it in, to feel it, and to participate in it. Having an "attitude" to the world around you will mainly cut you off from it.

  2. Don't be too selective in what you want to see or experience. Leave yourself open to spontaneity. Often the best travel cannot be planned, or even expected.

  3. Travel not always in a hurried, busy, buzzed state, but relaxed, open, observant, and rested. Allow yourself to go slowly from time to time.

  4. Seek local music. Don't allow your Walkman to satisfy all your musical desires with canned stuff from back home. Music is everywhere.

  5. Talk to everybody.


Hard-Traveler Favorite Countries

We recommend all travelers to spend time in England, Scotland, Wales, and both Irelands. You could travel the entire world and these countries might still be your favorites. Moreover, language will only be a minor problem for Americans!

There is a big difference between the north and south of England. The North is better hitching, and the people are friendlier, with more time on their hands. (They are also more likely to be on the dole, and willing to entertain travelers.) The South is more crowded. Also, while London is one of the great cities of the world, it is NOT England. Jan and Marcia, California

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The two countries I have most heard described as "favorites" by hard travelers who have been everywhere are: Afghanistan (before the 1979 Soviet invasion), due to the incredible hospitality of its people, and India, due to its amazing people, and its unparalleled cultural and physical landscape. Tony, Yorkshire, England (Note: Tony has been traveling the world for fifteen years, is one of the greater travelers I've met, and is currently teaching English in Japan.)

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Everyone is surprised when I tell them my favorite country. The people are friendly, and they speak English. It's beautiful, with the most unspoiled beaches anywhere. It's cheap, and except for one island (Mindanao--there's an Islamic revolt), it's safe--The Philippines. Mats, Malmo, Sweden


Deciding Where to Travel

Even if you already know where you are going, milk the decision for all it's worth. Get yourself a good map or globe, and let your eye and mind wander. Assuming you have the money and haven't absolutely committed yourself, the whole world is open to you. Some countries require more effort and fortitude than others, but wherever it is (outside of wartorn or otherwise ravaged areas), you can bet there are other backpackers there leading the way. Mary O., Arklow, County Wicklow, Ireland


Keeping a Notebook

Give your thoughts, notes, and doodles room to live and grow with a good quality notebook. Spiral notebooks fall apart during a long trip. You can write what you do, how you feel, who you meet, brilliant ideas, etc. On my last journey I used an 8.5x11 inch sketch pad with an inch or so cut off on two sides to make it smaller. One friend wrote down the names and/or a description of every person he shook hands with or otherwise met. He says the memories recalled when he looks back are incredible.

*

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train. Oscar Wilde, Ireland


Camels

It isn't until the end of the second month that you really begin to understand the camel. I know this now, but I clearly remember after my first two hours of camel riding I thought I had it down. Then on the second day I thought I pretty much knew what was going on. Then after the first week I thought I struck a fair figure on my camel, and that I was more or less its master. Now I know it wasn't until a good six weeks later that I knew the least bit of anything about camels, camel-riding, the desert, desert people, or the sun. Turbo "Lawrence" Maserati, USA, on Rajasthan, India


Dealing With the Police and Other Officialdom

Be respectful, patient, and firm.

In some countries (including Mexico) where law is based on the Napoleonic code, the police may arrest everyone on the spot since your guilt is presumed, and you must prove your innocence. Therefore if for whatever reason the cops come, without unduly attracting attention to yourself, get the hell out of there as fast as you can! Don't stick around to see what is going on, especially if the locals are clearing out all around you.


Power Outages

Electric power goes off on a regular basis in many developing countries. Life goes on, however, as restaurants and businesses have candles ready, so it can be a nice time to have dinner or a few beers. JC B., Kent, England


Fire

In 1989 there was a fire at a backpacker hotel in the popular King's Cross section of Sydney. Five travelers were killed. Since then regulations in Australia have tightened, with sprinkler systems and smoke alarms now installed in all hotels. This is not the case in developing countries where many hotels are veritable fire traps. You may want to think about emergency exits when choosing a room.


Eurailpass, Europass, and Flexipass

The Eurailpass gives you unlimited rail travel through seventeen European countries for a specific amount of time ranging from fifteen days to three months. The countdown begins the day of your first train ride. If you are under twenty-six you get a break on the price, but it is still a reasonable deal without the discount. My only caution is the Eurailpass encourages some people to travel too much, too far, and too fast. You may not want your #1 European impression to be looking out a train window.

There are other passes which may offer a better value, such as the Europass and Flexipass. They both offer a certain amount of days of train travel over a set time. An example might be five days of travel over one month, or nine days over two months. Both cost much less than the Eurailpass. Check with Council Travel or other budget specialists for the latest information.


Trail Notes

How to Take a Dump Without Facilities
With a stick or other device dig a hole four to six inches deep, make deposit, cover. Bacteria in the soil will take care of it within a few weeks. Bury, burn, or pack-out in a plastic bag your toilet paper. Perform deed at least one hundred feet from any water source, trail, or camping place, and preferably out of public view.
Rock Cairns
Piles of rock on a trail which mark it. Trails may also be marked by ribbons, slashes on trees, paint, bits of metal, or, most often, the crushed rock and debris from centuries of pounding feet.
Where there should be a path, there usually is.
This is due to the daily travels of six billion people. Deciding which path leads where is the hard part.

Hydraulic Currents, etc.


Travelers' Knots

Of course the most important travel knot is the one which suspends your clothesline. (Drawings due Q2 1997.)

Bowline
For mountaineering and general lifesaving. Properly tied, it is the one knot which absolutely will not slip.
Double half hitch
Simple but elegant. Perfect for clotheslines. The knot I know best.
Slip knot
A modified double half hitch. Especially useful for adjusting tension on tent guy lines. Tugging directly on the knot slides it along the tensioned line, but tension on the line does not slide the knot.


Travel Drinking Tips

My travel drinking companions have ranged from backpackers from all over the world to local students, truck drivers, sheep shearers, sailors, dairy farmers, racetrack workers, apple pickers, the idle rich, machete mowers, doctors, businessmen, disk jockeys, money changers, rugby players, and beautiful women. (The sheep shearers, by the way, had the funniest stories.)

Photo: This gentleman retired sailor is one of many who have befriended me as a stranger in a strange land. His girlfriend cooked us a delicious meal, and we drank coffee and Norwegian moonshine until at least one of us was seeing double. He also directed me to an old sailors' home to see if anyone remembered my grandfather.
Drink water
with your alcohol because alcohol is dehydrating. Also, drink more water when you return to your room, or, if you don't have a room, when you finish drinking alcohol. You will feel better since much of the hangover and cotton mouth effects are your cells screaming for water.
Watch what you say
If a couple of young machos come over to share tequila with you in some quiet part of the zócalo, do not later get into an argument about which country is better, or who has the best football team. Offense can be taken over seemingly trivial issues. Of course most of the time you will be talking to friendly people who genuinely want to know your opinions. But do stick a finger to the wind before discussing politics, religion, or other controversial issues, and know when to lay off.
Bring your own
If you hope to party with native peoples in the backcountry bring your own vodka, whiskey, tequila, rum, wine, or palm wine to pass around. I got sicker than I thought humanly possible--with a monstrous and varied array of gut-wrenching eruptions and stenches equal to The Exorcist--on one gourdful of homemade corn beer.
While it was a muddy, ugly-looking brew with bits of straw floating about, I thought I had read somewhere the natural fermentation process would kill the harmful bacteria. Big mistake. Twenty-four hours later I was on intravenous fluids. (For interested beer connoisseurs: it had a horrible, sweet taste.) A German who had been living among the natives for five months (and who was humorously nicknamed by them "the Apache") suffered no ill effect.


Telephone and Mail

Telephone Brazil

Many phone systems use for a ring what in the U.S. sounds like a busy signal. The problem is you hardly ever know what signal means what, where. My philosophy is if you do manage to get any combination whatsoever of buzzing, ringing, or chirping, hang on for a few minutes and there's at least a chance something good will happen. Not always, not even usually, but enough where you should give it a minute or two, sometimes five or ten.

If you put in your money, dial the numbers, and never hear anything in the receiver, look around to see if any locals are glancing at you and smiling at each other. You probably have a phone which hasn't worked in years, so just say a few words into the receiver and hang up.

In the developed world calling home is fairly easy. Once I made a two-second call on a payphone from Paris to Texas for one franc: "Hey Dad! I'm calling from Paris! I don't have much ti..."

Countries with less advanced phone systems usually have special calling booths at the main post office, telephone company, or rail station. You can pay cash for the call by leaving a deposit, or call collect, usually.

In 1993 Guatemala, you could not call collect from there to Europe--there are similar situations in some other developing countries. Moreover, the sound quality may leave something to be desired. On calls from Guatemala to the U.S. the feedback was such I heard twice everything the caller spoke once: "Hello John, Hello John...I'm still in Guatemala, I'm still in Guatemala...I'm out of money, I'm out of money..."

I usually call home collect by using the AT&T Direct Connect operator, which you can reach toll-free from dozens of countries. You talk to an English-speaking operator and are charged American rates, which are the lowest in the world. You do not have to be an AT&T customer back home to use this service. Some guidebooks list this number, and you can call AT&T at 800-241-5555 to get a free card listing all current numbers. MCI and Sprint have similar services.


Poste Restante

Poste restante is the internationally recognized French term for general delivery, which means mail is held at the post office until the addressee picks it up. Poste Restante is not a sure thing everywhere, but you can move the odds into your favor by having the sender address the envelope properly.

Have your friends write "POSTE RESTANTE" and "HOLD" in block letters on the left-front of the envelope, then the address in the usual place as follows:

SMITH, Anna
C/O POSTE RESTANTE--HOLD
Main Post Office
Address
City
Country

Ask the clerk for the mail filed under your last name. If nothing is there, have them try under your first name. There may be a small charge for the service, and you will have to show your passport.

Most American Express offices also hold mail for customers. If you show them a few of their traveler's checks or an American Express card there is no charge. They accept envelopes only, no packages.

*

International Postal Reply Coupons are for writing to an agency in another country that requires return postage for a reply. They exchange these coupons for local postage. Buy them at the post office.

*

Lighten your load every few months by shipping souvenirs, film, and unneeded items home. Even a pound or two makes a big difference in the feel of your pack. It's worth the money. Mary C., Seattle, Washington


Car Travel

Driving in Developing Countries and Remote Areas

Water
If you don't have at least four or five gallons of water in the back, you don't have enough water. (Radiator requires one to three gallons, you require a gallon or more per day.)
These ubiquitous five gallon water carriers are perfect for car travel.
Tires
are the most important saftey item for every vehicle. Bad tread is bad trouble. Ask any professional driver or insurance adjuster.
Since flats are relatively common in developing countries and remote areas, two spare tires are infinitely better than one. If you only have one spare and you get a flat, suddenly you are in a precarious situation. (I had the five gallons, though.)
Night driving
is risky. Roads can be narrow and in terrible repair with no warning signs, strange things can suddenly pop in front of you, and other drivers have had all day to get loaded.
Danger
Large rocks in the road sometimes indicate a warning for something ahead. Most of the time, of course, there is no warning.


International Driving Permit

The International Driving Permit began with the United Nations Convention of International Road Traffic of 1949. It is now valid in 160 countries, for one year. This permit is available from American Automobile Association and other automobile club offices. You show up at their office with $10, a valid drivers' license, and a passport-sized photo of yourself. The permit is written in nine languages so the traffic cop who pulls you over can read it.

An IDP is not necessary to drive in many developed countries as long as you have a valid license from your home country. This is true even though a German license represents that the driver has spent thousands of Deutschemarks on up to a year of serious training in the arts and skills of managing an automobile, while a Texas license proves you've turned sixteen.

In Japan and many developing countries an International Driving Permit is required if you plan to get behind the wheel. I got an IDP for my first backpacking tour, but haven't bothered with one since.


Carnet de Passage

The carnet de passage is more than just a passport for your car. Because many countries charge high taxes on imported automobiles, it would be possible for backpackers to drive a car into a high-import-tax country and sell it at a great profit. Since governments don't want you doing this, they often require a carnet de passage, along with a whole list of stamps, visas, and documents to insure the car comes back out with you.

The carnet de passage costs about $400 and requires a secured line of credit with a bank equal to the value of the vehicle plus whatever the normal import duties for it would be. This ranges up to 300% or more of the car's market value in some African and Latin American countries. This insures the government gets its money if you sell or abandon your car within its borders. Check with your local automobile association for more information.

While independently cruising down Africa or South America is a great dream for many of us, the significant pre-planning, bureaucratic hassles, and financial hardships rule it out for most. Besides, local transport--from horse-drawn wagons in rural Poland to pick-up truck beds in Latin America--is far easier, cheaper, and more interesting.

In France, however, I caught a ride in a VW van piloted by an Australian couple. When they said they had driven across Asia from Australia, that they had been traveling for a year and a half, and that several months of that time had been spent waiting for documents to be approved for the van, I thought they were pulling my leg in typical Aussie fashion. When they let me out their story became more believable as I watched those Australian plates pulling away.

A Dane I met went across the Sahara and down into Central Africa with his father. He said that if anyone was thinking about taking an old jalopy across the Sahara into Africa, they should think again. Officials now will not let you make the trip unless you and your jalopy look capable of making it, and back. He said the route was littered with hulks of old VW vans, Fiats, Peugeots, etc. which probably never had a chance. Over several evenings of several beers I promised to put the following tip in this book.

When making a big trip across a desert, such as the Sahara, sheep bladders are the best and usual way to store the many gallons of water you will need. The water stays unbelievably cool and fresh when hung outside the vehicle. Jens Martin P., Glamsbjerg, Denmark


Buying a Car

Many backpackers buy cars in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States since cars and gas are relatively cheap in these countries, and distances are long. Australia and New Zealand have companies which specialize in selling cars to backpackers, and offer a guaranteed "buyback" price. This is of course lower than what was paid, but is a reasonable value.

I attended several auto auctions in New Zealand intending to buy a right-fine-old English motorcar and drive it for a few months while fixing it up, and then selling it for a profit. I still believe this would have been possible, but the right Morris Minor or Austin Mini never presented itself. It was no great loss, though, as hitchhiking is great in New Zealand--I even got a lift from one of their former prime ministers.


Killer Snakes--The World's Deadliest Serpents

While the chance of any backpacker even seeing a killer snake outside the zoo or market is nearly zero, there are things out there that can hurt you. Every year several thousand Americans die abroad. While most of these deaths are due to natural causes--you should be aware that reckless drivers, motorcycles and mopeds, shoddy airplane maintenance, food poisoning, malaria, evil, stupidity, and--once in a great while--killer snakes contribute to the toll.

Snakes kill about thirty thousand people each year, most of whom are barefoot farmers in Africa and Asia who work in the fields every day. And while the risk of snakebite to travel backpackers is extremely small, it is a most interesting risk.

King Cobra
Has a widespread range across Asia, including, but not limited to, India, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, southern China, and the Philippines. Fortunately, it isn't common anywhere. Cobras can erect themselves up to thirty percent of their length, so the king cobra in strike position can actually look you straight in the eye since they grow up to eighteen feet long!
Myths abound about the king, including that they mate for life, that they are the most intelligent of snakes, and that they love opera--especially Puccini. One king cobra bite can kill thirty men, or one elephant. Mostly, though, they eat other snakes.
Spitting Cobra
Found in Mozambique and South Africa, they reach a length of only six feet. Their venom, however, has a range up to double that, so wear goggles while cobra hunting since they aim for the eyes with blinding accuracy. Other cobras are the common Indian cobra (used by many snake charmers), the Egyptian cobra, and the Thai cobra.
Black Mamba
Is the most feared snake in Africa. They reach up to thirteen feet in length, and are said to be one of the fastest snakes, with slithering speed from seven to 500 mph, depending on the observer. They are also highly aggressive, even to the point of charging victims if you don't give them enough space. Black mambas are said to be so fast and aggressive that they can chase down a man on a galloping horse. Of course this is an exaggeration--a good rider on a decent horse can nearly always get away.
Green Mamba
Is arboreal. Sometimes two, three, four or more green mambas occupy the same tree. Unlike the black mamba, the un-aggressive green mamba prefers to get away by slithering to the top of the tree, rather than hurling itself twenty-five feet through the air to deliver a death bite to your face.
Puff Adder
Is found in Africa and the Middle East. Although usually not more than three feet in length, it has a grotesquely huge body, with a girth of up to ten inches. Although it is slow-moving and docile-appearing, its coloring is such that on trails it is easy to step on, which really pisses it off.
Saw-Scaled Viper
Is probably the world's deadliest snake in terms of numbers of people killed, which is in the thousands, annually. It is widespread from West Africa, across Asia to India and Sri Lanka. It's about two feet long, has a vicious disposition, and is fairly common--especially in fields--where agricultural workers are the usual victims. When aroused this snake rubs its tail across its body in a kind of violin funeral solo.
Tiger Snake
This snake is found in southeast Australia, but not in Melbourne, only in the bush. It reaches about four feet in length and probably possesses--drop for drop--the snake-world's deadliest poison. Australia is the one place in the world where the majority of snakes are poisonous.
Taipan
Found in the jungles of northeast Australia and Papua New Guinea, few bite victims survive more than a few minutes from this ten-footer, since it injects a large amount of very deadly neurotoxic poison. Fortunately, if you remain calm it's a fairly easy death as far as snake-bite-deaths go. The Taipan is very rare.
Barba Amarillo or Yellow-bellied Tommygoff
This is the most feared snake of Central and South America, and I must agree it has a terrifying, evil look. Commonly misnamed fer de lance (another deadly snake which only exists on a few Carribean islands), death from this creature is remarkably painful due to its hemotoxic venom. After a bite you may begin bleeding from your eyes, gums, tongue, ears, and even skin as your blood vessels explode. The tommygoff reaches up to seven feet in length, and is often found on banana and coffee plantations, in pairs.
Bushmaster
The largest poisonous snake of Central and South America--up to ten feet--it is found in only the absolute most remote areas. Its venom is both hemotoxic and neurotoxic so it gets you all ways.
European Adder
Found in every European country except Ireland, this two-foot serpent is very rarely seen, and rarely bites.
Rattlesnake
Americans have no reason to feel inferior about the quality of their poisonous snakes. These common and widespread serpents (found in forty-six states) have huge folding fangs which inject venom most efficiently.

Again, snakes should be one of the least of your worries. I met a herpetologist in Belize who had been actively looking for the barba amarillo for six weeks without success. (I saw one, and a rare coral snake, but then I was looking too.) Nevertheless, here are some precautions to file away in your massive, active, and creative brain.

1. Most bites occur on the hands and below the knee. Never put your hands or feet anywhere you cannot see. Step on top of a log or rock, and then go over.

2. Use a flashlight when walking trails at night. Most snakes are most active at night, but are easily spotted with a flashlight. Snakes are also very active after heavy rains or flooding.

3. Venomous snake bites are indicated by one or two fang marks. Locals may want to take you to a snake doctor, but you must get to a medical professional. Snake doctors gain their reputation because locals may think every snake is poisonous, when most bites are actually from non-poisonous species. You need anti-venin and scientific care.

4. Stay calm--heart attacks after non-venomous bites are not uncommon. Since venom is biologically expensive for a snake to produce, there is a good chance a venomous snake may not have injected you with a full amount of--or any--venom.

5. Tourniquets often lead to needlessly amputated limbs. Most professionals advise against them.

6. Infection is also a possibility, so clean and disinfect wounds thoroughly.

7. Your chances of being bitten by a poisonous snake are probably one-millionth being run over by a bus or having a serious moped accident with a fruit stand.


Majdanek Photo: Near Lublin, Poland


Straight Talk on Drugs

Penalties for drug use are brutal if not inhuman in many countries, and in some there is no hope of a fair or speedy trial. Recently a young Austin woman was arrested in Mexico for trying to take too many Valiums across the border, which she had legally purchased in a Mexican pharmacy. After spending a year in prison she died the day after she was released, apparently due to asthma.

Two Houston teen-age girls were arrested in Bangladesh for trying to smuggle several kilos of heroin. Although they knew what they were doing was illegal, they were conned into believing they were going to make a quick and easy $10,000 courier fee. The standard death sentence was commuted to life in prison due to their young age. (They were pardoned three years into the sentence after extensive diplomacy by an American Congressman. Who's that lucky?)

Twenty years ago two Australians in Malaysia received the death penalty for possessing a small quantity of heroin. Today being caught smuggling drugs from Thailand results in a limited expected lifespan, either by execution or by a harsh prison system which requires substantial money each month just to keep you alive.

While Saudi Arabia beheads a dozen or so poor souls for drug offenses every year, California sentences poorly-educated minority fellows with drug problems to twenty-five years without possibility of parole for having in their possession a quantity of illegal drugs the size of a pea.

But draconian drug laws don't only apply to the underclass. In Oregon a bright honor student will be sitting out college and medical school for sending his best buddy a sheet of LSD through the mail.

Nevertheless, there are a number of places around the world where drugs are used more or less openly, and I know that some travelers do and will partake--so it is to these potentially foolish few and young people I'm speaking now.

Often this drug use is not legal, but merely tolerated or ignored by the authorities. In some of these same places, however, catching a traveler with even a small amount of soft drugs is a real feather in someone's cap, as well as a financial windfall. It is well-documented the police in some countries employ drug dealers to sell to travelers, so they can then bust the traveler and extort money from him and his family. And they will get it, or he will do hard time, because U.S. laws do not apply, and the U.S. government will have little or no influence. Midnight Express is no joke.

If you must smoke marijuana while traveling understand--clearly understand--that a stoned fellow traveler does not necessarily know "the score." He could be much more stupid than either you or he realize. And anyone approaching you on the street and anxious to sell you drugs may be in league with the authorities for any number of reasons.

On the other hand (straight talk isn't necessarily simple talk), it isn't unusual for outstanding citizens of the world (truck drivers, doctors, dairy farmers, former travelers) to bring you home to meet the spouse, and while they're throwing something on the barbie to pop open a few beers and offer you a fresh clipping from the nine-foot plant in the corner of the backyard.

And you won't hear it from this traveler that sitting around your campground passing a peace pipe with a German, a Dane, and an Arab is some terrible crime. At its best this can be a ritual of communication like sharing a bottle of tequilla with colorfully-dressed fellows in the high country, or English tea service at a bed a breakfast. (And if you don't drink tea no one is going to force you to do so, but you can always join the conversation and munch a crumpet.)

But also understand the local stuff may be ten times more powerful than that mild Mexican you tried a few times back home, with possibly alarming physical and psychological effects for the inexperienced. My exit from my first Amsterdam coffee shop could only be described as wildly paranoid if not psychotic, and certainly not the result of too much caffeine.

If you must eat magic mushrooms while traveling the same applies, but be aware the effects are not easily predictable. Only use them in a pleasant, private setting with a friend after you've read a book or two about the subject. (Mental health requires care.) Be appropriately wary of traffic, don't climb trees, and don't go swimming way out over the horizon. In Bali an Italian backpacker is said to have gone for his last swim after breakfasting on a mushroom special.

Of course the vast majority of travel backpackers never use any soft drugs and have the greatest times on the natural highs of travel and adventure. They understand that even soft drugs can be distracting from the books they need to read, the concepts they need to learn, and the people they need to connect with.

But almost no travel backpackers use hard drugs such as cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine. These drugs begin taking away from your ability to travel and live life the moment you use them. Do not even try them one time. The older generations are absolutely right about some things.

Don't be so foolish as to travel with a stash, and never cross a border with it. Customs officers are trained to detect subtle signs of nervousness. When the officer asks for your passport he will let it hang in the air before taking it. If you're even slightly nervous that passport will be flapping an obvious breeze. Then there will be a discussion while he watches your chest heave and your face flush, and probably hears your heart pound as you begin a detour to hell.


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How to See the World on $25 a Day or Less is copyright © John Gregory 1995, 1996, 1997. Except for personal use (like showing to a friend), it may not be reproduced, retransmitted, archived, or altered without author permission (
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