TVG Trains Better Than Hitching
High speed (TVG) trains travel over 200,mph. In 1965 when a college friend and I traveled through Europe; it took all night to get from Dover to Ostergard on a roller coaster boat! But then in 1965 the Captain invited us up to the steerage! In 1965 we also hitchhiked…which I wouldn’t recommend doing now either. Can you imagine just having to get from one city to the next in the rain having to stick your head in the window of a stopped car or truck to get a “hit” about how safe it was!
In Bayonne France; having breakfast in a small hotel built in the 1700’s we talked to an English woman at the next table who is now living in Spain and who also traveled through Europe and South America by hitching rides-but she quickly added that it was no longer safe for anyone to hitch (or “autostop” as it was called in Europe.
Incidentally, in the summer of 1965 John Kennedy called up the first group of “advisors” to go to Viet Nam: The rumor spread like wildfire that there was going to be a draft call up before the summer was over! Young hitchhiking American males were abandoning their travel and enrolling in any summer school program they could find in Europe by the hundreds to avoid the draft. That summer that I turned 21 jerked me into one of my most early formative experiences.
Tags: Bayonne, Europe, Europe, France, Hitching, Trains
Zoe