Considering Europe.. Cycle? Hitch? Busk?

[clockwise5000]

Sorry for the lack of structure/rambling...

The postal service says my passport should be here tomorrow. Once i see it, I think I'll to book a flight from New York to maybe Spain. (cheapest from JFK). I think I saw some flights for $200-$250 as soon as two weeks in advance.

I was thinking about buying a bicycle when I get there, but I might just end up hitching around. I did just get a decent bike with a rear rack and panniers. But it's nothing special, and probably wouldn't be worth it to ship it. Not sure though if I want to hitch or bike. I guess I'll start out hitching until a deal on a bike comes around. Also, though, I feel like I'll get more kick downs and have better conversations if I hitch. But, I feel like I'd go at a more relaxed pace on a bike. When I'm hitching, I often just spend all my time either eating (fast food), sleeping, walking, or waiting for a ride. If I were to bike, I could carry more gear (food, stove), I could take breaks whenever I please, and just kind of hangout whenever I get tired. I feel like I would use more time to better myself at forms of busking.

In the states and in Mexico, I juggle in intersections for money. I'm nervous about doing this in Europe because I feel like there is a lot more competition. Though, perhaps in medium-sized cities I can get a feel for it.

I have money to get by for probably a few months, so I'm sure it's something I'll just ease into.

I know Spanish and am on level 12 of Portuguese on Duolingo. I definitely want to check out Portugal.

Also considering going to Morocco, and perhaps eastward towards the middle East and Asia. Warmer weather than Europe, surely.. And I've heard that Spanish is actually related to Arabic, so I could start working on some Arabic. French and German seem so foreign to me.

Eastern Europe seems interesting. Languages sound very gnarly. I know a few words of Albanian.

TDlr; Going to another continent to see what's up, eat some new food, hopefully learn some language and work on busking skills. Still believe that my heart will live on in Latin America, but I can't knock what I haven't tried.

 

[clockwise5000]

Sorry for the lack of structure/rambling...

The postal service says my passport should be here tomorrow. Once i see it, I think I'll to book a flight from New York to maybe Spain. (cheapest from JFK). I think I saw some flights for $200-$250 as soon as two weeks in advance.

I was thinking about buying a bicycle when I get there, but I might just end up hitching around. I did just get a decent bike with a rear rack and panniers. But it's nothing special, and probably wouldn't be worth it to ship it. Not sure though if I want to hitch or bike. I guess I'll start out hitching until a deal on a bike comes around. Also, though, I feel like I'll get more kick downs and have better conversations if I hitch. But, I feel like I'd go at a more relaxed pace on a bike. When I'm hitching, I often just spend all my time either eating (fast food), sleeping, walking, or waiting for a ride. If I were to bike, I could carry more gear (food, stove), I could take breaks whenever I please, and just kind of hangout whenever I get tired. I feel like I would use more time to better myself at forms of busking.

In the states and in Mexico, I juggle in intersections for money. I'm nervous about doing this in Europe because I feel like there is a lot more competition. Though, perhaps in medium-sized cities I can get a feel for it.

I have money to get by for probably a few months, so I'm sure it's something I'll just ease into.

I know Spanish and am on level 12 of Portuguese on Duolingo. I definitely want to check out Portugal.

Also considering going to Morocco, and perhaps eastward towards the middle East and Asia. Warmer weather than Europe, surely.. And I've heard that Spanish is actually related to Arabic, so I could start working on some Arabic. French and German seem so foreign to me.

Eastern Europe seems interesting. Languages sound very gnarly. I know a few words of Albanian.

TDlr; Going to another continent to see what's up, eat some new food, hopefully learn some language and work on busking skills. Still believe that my heart will live on in Latin America, but I can't knock what I haven't tried.

 

[HayleezKomet]

thats awesome!! ive always wanted to do what you're about to do!! have safe travels

 

[outlawloose]

Hitchhiking in Europe is super easy - your best resource is hitchwiki.org I never had a long wait, unless dropped off at a terrible exit. If you're going a short distance, like from a city center to the onramp by the edge of town, you can also ride the passenger trains for free if you don't mind playing cat and mouse with the ticket inspectors. I managed to ride the length of Italy on the Regionale trains, only paying for tix when they finally caught me - I'd spend a few Euros for a fare to the next stop, then get off and ride the next train for as long as possible. Repeat until destination.

I dont busk or spange but my current housemate made good bank while travelling Europe from jamming on his diy trash-drumkit, mainly in the centre of towns. Seems like a good way to meet people too. I bet if you write a sign that says your a travelling performer, and youll more likely get more kickdowns / housed up

 

[clockwise5000]

anybody have any input on how difficult it would be to hitch to JFK? how far out do the bus/trains extend of new york?

 

[OutsideYourWorld]

Biking or hitching, you can't really go wrong. Different types of adventures. Morocco is definitely worth checking out... But it's a bit of a culture shock. Be prepared for EVERYONE trying to get money out of you.

Eastern Europe is my favorite. Cheap, awesome food and alcohol, lovely people, interesting history, easy to hitch...

Last year I hitched from Budapest to the Kyrgyzstan border and it wasn't hard. Just took a while Highly recommend it. And keep going!

Once you get there, just be open to all travely adventures that are sure to pop up. You're gonna have a blast if you let yourself just fall into it all. Don't feel like you have to see everything (As I did when I first started out in Europe). Do what feels best, and roll with it. The thing I developed after a two year trip in Europe was finding out the tastiest deserts/street food in a country.

 

[outlawloose]

anybody have any input on how difficult it would be to hitch to JFK? how far out do the bus/trains extend of new york?

Whats wrong with the subway?

 

[clockwise5000]

That's what i mean, train/subway whatever. Flight departs from Newark Liberty Int on Nov. 10. Probably going to leave Michigan on Thursday, giving me a week to hitch there. Probably going to cross at Sarnia, Ontario, and back through Rochester, NY. Trying to avoid Ohio. Plus, I imagine Canada will be better hitching, or there are trains, too. Aannd.. Yeah. I guess if I'm not close by Nov. 7th-ish I'll Greyhound it.

 

[Matt Derrick]

anybody have any input on how difficult it would be to hitch to JFK? how far out do the bus/trains extend of new york?

I've flown out of jfk many times. Once you get to the NYC area you can forget about hitchhiking, there's just too much city for it to be practical.

The subway system was quite good last time I was there, and you can get just about anywhere from New Jersey to New York state (including all of Manhattan obviously) for just a few dollars. To get to jfk you have to take the subway all the way out east past queens. Its pretty much the last stop. From there you transfer to a special airport transit subway which I think costs like 5 bucks. That takes you the rest of the way to the airport so overall it's super easy, it just takes several hours because its such a long distance.

 

[Tude]

hey all - I merged these these threads as there were two original threads (same) and before I could delete one - people had responded to both - so merge. Hope I didn't confuse anyone