Interview: Hitchhiking, Busking & Sleeping In Temples

[Flashermac]

In an era when love and peace perfumed the air and travellers hopped on hippie buses taking them from Europe overland to Asia, Londoner, Barrie Scott embarked upon what turned into a four year epic adventure (1967-71)! Hitch-hiking, busking, sleeping in a Thai temple with monks, building a boat with some travel buddies and sailing to islands that hadn’t seen foreigners since colonial times, his story sheds light on how the concept of backpacking has changed over the past 50 years. For the better? We ask Barrie what he thinks…

 

How long did you travel for and where to?

 

It was four years in total – six months en-route to SE Asia firstly hitching round France picking grapes, Spain and Portugal + Tangier, then France to India overland, Bangkok Jan ‘68 – Darwin Jan ‘69 followed by two and a half years in Australia.

 

How were your travels perceived by family & friends?

 

Some said I was screwing up my life by throwing in the airline job I had. Curiously there were more people my age warning me about my future than elders. The 50s and 60s were an era when people were forced to hang onto security but now it was 1967 and the air smelt of possibilities! My folks were mostly okay about my decision, my siblings had paved the way – my brother was in Canada and my sister in Italy. The old man bollocked me dutifully but my mother was great, said she knew it was coming – “just write lettersâ€, she said. When she died 20 years ago I discovered she’d kept all of them.

 

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http://www.southeastasiabackpacker.com/interview-hitchhiking-busking-sleeping-in-temples-what-was-backpacking-south-east-asia-like-50-years-ago