Capn's Blog

[CapnAwesome]

Would make for a badass legit travel blog.  Then, when you're famous..we can all say we knew you when.

I don't know if I really want to do that. Seems time consuming. I am however writing a book. I'm done with a rough draft and about half way through the first draft. It's called "how to be a dirtbag"

It's more of a 'how to' as in 'how to travel on the cheap' rather than a story book. But I will include some stories in it. If I ever get it done maybe I'll write one that is all stories or focus on the south america hitch. On this trip I did 6 months in Central and South America on 1700 dollars.

Oh, that's a detail that I left out actually. I made about 2000$ to go on this trip, but at the time didn't have a back account, so for the whole trip I had the money hidden in my shoe, inbetween the sole and the bottom of the shoe. It's actually an important detail for later in the story.

Goddamn. It's almost hard to comprehend now that I'm a little older and live in my own RV (not too dissimilar to the ZigZag express). I mean I still travel a lot and on the cheap. I just did three months in Spain and only spent about 1500$ (which includes my airfare, baggage etc.) Maybe even less than that.

[The Grand Nudger]

What outlet do you go to for tickets?

[CapnAwesome]

What outlet do you go to for tickets?

Skyscanner.


But the real secret is that I have extreme flexability. For example going to Spain I flew out of Seattle to Malaga. but I just searched the whole months ohttps://news.google.com/?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:enf Janurary and Feburary for the cheapest ticket, then stayed and did bike delivery work in Portland until I was ready to leave. Left my RV at my mothers in eastern Washington, took a shuttle to Seattle.

Now because I was going off of saving, and am not paying rent back in the US, it didn't really matter to me what city I flew out of in Spain or even Flew back to as long as it was on the west coast. So I found a ticket direct from Barcelona to Oakland for 150$ that was almost exactly three months (the max Visa for Europe) after my flight in. I bought it the day before I flew to Spain because I thought maybe they'd want a return ticket, (as it turns out they don't give a shit. )

I flew back to Oakland, hitched into Yosemite, got a ride from a climber to Bend Oregon, and hitched back up to eastern WA. Not everyone can be that flexable because their lives are structured so differently than mine, and because they are paying rent.

[The Grand Nudger]

They usually one offs, or can you get..say, six or seven seats on a flight at prices like that?

[CapnAwesome]

They usually one offs, or can you get..say, six or seven seats on a flight at prices like that?

I don't know. But there were empty seats on my flight back. In fact they moved me and I had enough empty seats to lay down.

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They usually one offs, or can you get..say, six or seven seats on a flight at prices like that?

How I search for flights, and why I perfer skyscanner is that they give you the option to search from all of the USA (or a specific city) and they give you a 'cheapest month' option.

https://www.skyscanner.com/transport/fli...tedoday=01

So say I want to go to Spain, I search like that, and lo and behold there is a 179$ flight from LA to barcelona at the end of September (and a similar one from Chicago). So then I just need to figure out how to get to Los Angelous and where to Leave my RV. So what I'd probably do is either leave my RV in eastern washington, find a super cheap flight or grayhound from Seattle to LA or drive down to Joshua Tree where I know someone I can leave my RV with long term, drop it with them and take a 20$ shuttle bus to LA.

Again, it really only works if you have long chunks of time off and flexibility.

Actually this is a pretty useful conversation, I should be this in my book.

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Then the other thing is that once you get to many of these places, they are way cheaper to live in than in the US. So I actually end up spending less money backpacking and biking through Spain than I would just living my normal life, because Spain is so goddamn cheap. Mexico and South America are like, even cheaper than that.

[Shell B]

So a gypsy, you are. ^_^

Sounds like a fun life but maybe with risks?

Especially if you're a woman. No way you'd be able to do that as a woman, at least not by youraelf. Rape central.

Lol, I thought more about the sanitary issues, having your period, etc. Not for me. I like a daily shower, constant access to a toilet and mini week or weekend adventures. I'm definitely not averse to making a forest my toilet, but I plan around my body and my sanitary needs, like all women.

[CapnAwesome]

For example, that 1500 dollars in Spain is 500$ a month, including my airfare. Now I live on not much in the US, but I suspended my phone and car insurance while in Spain, so it was actually way cheaper to be there than here., I definitely spend way more than 500$ a month here.

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Especially if you're a woman. No way you'd be able to do that as a woman, at least not by youraelf. Rape central.

Lol, I thought more about the sanitary issues, having your period, etc. Not for me. I like a daily shower, constant access to a toilet and mini week or weekend adventures. I'm definitely not averse to making a forest my toilet, but I plan around my body and my sanitary needs, like all women.

There was never an issue with access to a toilet. Not that I can recall. I don't think I took a crap anywhere other than a toilet on that whole trip except when we were in Cochamo, which is a mountain range in Northern Patagonia. Even then I was mostly crapping in a toilet. I probably crap in the woods maybe twice a year.

Showering isn't really that much of an issue either, if you are willing to shower with cold water, which often times is your only option anyway in South America. In the US it's never an issue. I actually have a shower in my RV. There are also reusable solar showers that heat with the sun. They are about 20$ and work really well. Also almost every town in the US has a public pool which is normally a couple of dollars.

There are plenty of women on the road by themselves. Right now I'm in Lander, Wyoming and it's chock full of girls on road trips either by themselves or with other women. A shocking amount really. It's almost a parity with the men for the first time since I started traveling. I need to get one for myself!

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Actually I'm going to re-comment on the rapey thing too, because there is literally probably no safer place for a woman than in a climbing campground, which is where I mostly live. I have never heard of any violence being committed against any woman in one even a single time. It would be impossible to do with so many climber dudes around. Yet people live in dangerous cities all the time without a second thought. I think CL lives in one herself.

[SaStrike]

I'll have one The epic of Cathy and Sterling (part 2) please.

[Shell B]

I’d still freak if I couldn’t afford a good tampon.

[CapnAwesome]

I’d still freak if I couldn’t afford a good tampon.

Tapons are sold all over the world. It's not like you leave the first world and there are no tampons. Plus they are lightweight and easy to pack.

Of course I'm not intimately familiar with all the ins and outs of tampon use, but I've never heard any ladies on the road ever say it's an issue.

If it's about affording it, again not really an issue. Not like tampons are breaking the bank or anything.