Hitchhiking Around the World

By Jim L. Carr

This book is about a 22-year-old young man wanting to see the world on a limited budget. If he could get to Europe from Michigan, then he could hitchhike around Europe and beyond.
The author writes in a way that makes you feel that you are there with him as he has one predicament after another predicament.
This journey was before the cell phone, but somehow he and his friend meet up. After two weeks, they decide that it's better to split up and meet again in two months.
This young man continues his journey to Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, and Denmark.
Making his way to Bremerhaven, Germany, he asks for assistance from the American Consulate to get a job on a ship going back to the States.
The Consulate set him up with a meeting with a ship's Captain, and he was hired on an American ship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664137837

Jim L. Carr

Jim was born at home in 1938 and grew up in Michigan with three brothers and no sisters. He joined the U.S. Navy right out of high school. The author traveled extensively through Asia while in the Navy, and he got the travel bug. After four years, he was honorably discharged and wanted to see Europe. He and a friend left Michigan at age 22 to go to New York City to get a job on a ship going to Europe. Jim worked on two foreign vessels to get to Europe. Now 82 years old, Jim has a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and retired from IBM after 25 years. He and his wife, Joyce, have been married for 57 years. They have three married sons and seven grandchildren.

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 by Jim L. Carr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 11/13/2020

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

821364

CONTENTS

Chapter 1     Getting to Europe

Chapter 2     Romance in Vienna

Chapter 3     To Rome

Chapter 4     To Naples and More

Chapter 5     To the Isle of Capri

Chapter 6     Back to Rome and Skiing

Chapter 7     Surprise in Barcelona, Spain

Chapter 8     To Madrid, Spain

Chapter 9     To Lisbon, Portugal

Chapter 10   To Nazaré, Portugal

Chapter 11   To France

Chapter 12   To Paris

Chapter 13   To Calais, and More

Chapter 14   To Copenhagen, Denmark

Chapter 15   To Berlin, Germany

Chapter 16   To Bremerhaven, Germany

Chapter 17   On Another Ship

CHAPTER 1

Getting to Europe

A fter serving four years in the U.S. Navy, I was honorably discharged. When I got home, a high school friend, Larry, suggested we go to Europe. His idea was to work on a ship going to Europe and then get off there and hitchhike around Europe. While in the Navy, I had been to many places in the South Pacific, like the Hawaiian Islands, Midway, Kwajalein, Guam, the Philippine Islands, Okinawa, Japan, Hong Kong, and Bangkok. This idea would get me a chance to see Europe.

We started planning our trip. We would have to get passports and join the International Youth Hostels Association (YHA). The YHA has hostels in cities around the world, where you can stay for a reasonable price. Membership includes a booklet, like a passport, that has the hostels listed with a small map that shows how to get to the Hostel in the city where you are. We also had to bring backpacks, sleeping bags, and good walking shoes. As it was September, we had to think about the cold weather.

Larry saw an ad in the paper for drivers to take cars to different cities. He called and got a car for us to take to New York City. Larry had a cousin, Tom, who lived in NYC with whom we could stay.

The morning we left, my mom was telling me goodbye with tears in her eyes. We hugged and said goodbye. I didn’t know when I would be back. Larry was out front honking his horn.

We traveled from Detroit through Canada to stop and see the Niagara Falls. We got to New York City at about nine o’clock that night and stopped to eat. Larry called his cousin and got directions on how to get to his place. As it was just a one-bedroom apartment, Larry and I slept on the floor using our sleeping bags. After Tom had gone to work, we got up, took showers, and ate breakfast; we took the car to where we had to turn it in.

NYC is a busy place with so many people. We had to learn how to use the subway and did a lot of sightseeing. We got some food and took it to Larry’s cousin’s place and had dinner ready when he got home. He gave us bad news; we could only stay one more night because his landlady had complained that he had too many people in his place. After dinner, he took us to Greenwich Village and showed us around that area. He pointed out New York University (NYU), Washington Square Park, and the Washington Square Arch. We ended up at a trendy bar and hung out there for a while. These places were all within walking distance from his apartment. We got back to his apartment about eleven thirty, and it was past midnight before we got to bed.

The next morning, we were out in the city on our own. We wanted to find a place to store our backpacks during the day to go sightseeing without carrying them around. We found the Grand Central Station, and there were lockers there that we could keep our stuff. We started looking for a cheap place to stay at night. The only place that came close to our budget was the YMCA. The price was per person, so we decided that one would check-in, and then the other would sneak in. We bought a tour book and went to see all the free attractions. We would party late at night until the bars closed and then ride the subway till daybreak. Then we would get some breakfast and wait till we could check into the YMCA at noon. We would sleep till maybe six or seven o’clock and then get up and shower and go out to where the action was. We still had the YMCA room till noon the next day. We stayed in NYC for about a week before deciding to start looking for a ship job.

We went down to the docks where the ships were and found some guys sitting on a bench. We asked them how we could get a job on this ship. They said the best way was to talk to a Captain. We wondered how we could see the Captain. They told us to go on the ship and tell the first person you see, that you want to talk to the Captain. (I thought they were putting us on.). I thought that we would get thrown off the ship. To my surprise, we were taken up to the bridge and introduced to the Captain. When we told him we were willing to work for free to get to Europe, he said, First of all, this ship is not going to Europe, and besides, I can’t hire you unless you are in the union and you have seaman’s papers also. The best thing you can do is join the Scandinavian Seamen’s Union, and then you can sail on Finland, Danish, and Norwegian ships.

The next day, we went to the Scandinavian Seamen’s Union and joined for $5. Since we didn’t have any experience, we could only take boy jobs, like deck boy, cabin boy, engine boy, and mess boy. Every day they would post all the jobs that were available on a giant board.

If you wanted a job, you would take the post down and take it to the guy who would sign you in for that job. The broard also indicated where the ship was going. We waited for three or four days to find a vessel needing two boys going to Europe. We didn’t find any, so we decided to split up, and we would meet in Vienna, Austria. Larry had a pen pal there, and he had written to her, telling her we were coming. He got a job on a Danish freighter going to Europe, and I took a job on a Norwegian tanker that was going to Caracas, Venezuela, to pick up oil and take it to Europe.

As the ship left New York Harbor, we passed the liberty statue, and I wondered when I would return to the States. I was the officers’ mess boy, serving them their meals and cleaning up their mess hall. The crew mess boy was English, about twenty years old, and sailing since he was eighteen. We shared the same cabin, and he helped me a lot with my job. I was happy to have an English-speaking person as a cabin mate. I told him about my plans to travel to Europe, and he said something about meeting a lot of girls.

It took us about two weeks to get to Caracas and then one day to load the oil. We were then on our way to Europe, I thought. At some time, the ship got diverted back to NYC. I told the English boy that I was going to get off in NYC. He told me that I should tell the first officer to wire ahead to replace me. So after about four weeks, I ended up back in NYC. I knew how to get around in New York and get another job. It took about two days to get another job on a freighter going to Europe. This ship belonged to the same shipping company that Larry got his position on. The company’s name was The Torm Line, which was a Danish shipping company. I don’t remember the ship’s name, but it had a regular schedule of ports that it stopped.

So I was off again to Europe; as we passed the Statue of Liberty, I waved to her. This ship is a freighter, but it also had ten passenger cabins. When I signed on, the Captain told me that I was the passenger cabin boy, and the chief steward would show me what to do.

He also said, Being there’s an empty cabin, you can use it so you will be close to the passengers. He told me to let him know ahead of time if