Since this is my very first post, first of all I want to say a warm hello to everybody.
I am planning a trip on the road (just backpack, hat, trekking, hitch-hiking & long distance walks avoiding public trasportation as much as possible and sleep in my sleeping bag where ever I can) in France all alone (at least until now I haven't found anybody willing to join) - basicly I intend to depart from Ivrea (Valle D'Aosta/Italy) and head to Carcassonne (Languedoc/France), crossing through Valle D'Aosta, Rhone-Alps, Provence, Languedoc-Roussillon; about 700 km long. My budget is around 500 euros. I should be ready to depart by middle of May 2009, time it takes me to get ready. Oh and at the moment I don't speak french at all, but only english as international language so I am going to buy a French Phrase Book:)

Concerning hitch-hiking, here in Italy people in most of the cases do not give free rides to those who do hitch-hike so I would like to know what it is like the situation in France?
Another point I want to ask is: what are the best things to do when sleeping "on the street" in a sleeping bag to avoid that the backpack being stolen overnight while I am sleeping?

Also, any other suggestion or advice from anybody who travelled on the road through south France is welcome.

Dear Long Haul,

A few things:

First off, while I have not hitch hiked in France, I have spent a significant amount of time in the country and I can not recollect EVER seeing a hitch-hiker. Like in Italy, it's just not something people do. The rail and public transportation systems tend be good enough in these countries that most people opt for that or expect you to opt for that option rather than sticking out your thumb. As I said, because I have not once seen a hitchhiker in France (let alone tried to get a ride) I would bet this is an extremely undependable way to get around and you should definitely not count on being able to score free rides.

Now, in terms of this whole "sleeping on the street" idea, well, honestly, I don't think it's a good one. Not at all. I could give you a pointer about sleeping on top of you backpack, but really, I just think it's silly to think you are going to be able to find safe places to just find a corner and curl up in your sleeping bag. If you are by yourself, out in the the open and sound asleep if someone wants to rob you they will be able to. Period. Unless you are able to work out a deal with your French phrase book with the local homeless winos to watch your stuff (though they may just rob you), there just isn't a good way to do this. If you have a super tight budget and avoid paying for as many hotel rooms, book overnight trains and sleep on the train or in the station (since hitch hiking is pretty much out anyways). There are also hostels and cheap chambres d'hotes and gites (rooms in people's homes) where you can get a bed and a roof over your head for not too much money.

The other thing is that straight tent camping is actually rare in France. Even people trekking through the Alps do not camp, but stay in refuges along the route. If you find yourself on these hiking routes, staying in these refuges (dorm style, rustic accommodations) are inexpensive.

Lastly, it sounds like you will be crossing through the Alps, which even in May can still be snowy and quite cold. It is common for these areas to get snow well into May, so it would be very difficult for you to sleep outside without the proper gear and equipment.

There's my advice,

Julie

What you are proposing, Long Haul, is certainly possible -- but it isn't advisable. Myself, I would not really enjoy traveling like that, since it would require constant vigilance, which is exhausting. Not really having much of the language at your fingertips will make it all the more challenging to deal with law enforcement and others, which will likely be inevitable if you plan to mostly sleep outside, in the open air, on the street.

That said, you want this book, which paints a fairly realistic picture of what you are considering. While there is a fair bit of romanticizing of traveling all punk rock style, the book does a decent job of capturing the reality of this kind of travel.

With gear, you could do a reasonable trek in the areas that you discuss. But I agree with Julie -- the weather is unpredictable in the high mountains. You may have to pay more attention to forecasts/storm warnings than you might otherwise like to, simply to be safe.

I suggest this site for hiking route ideas. Take a look and see what you think....

I'm not going to pretend to have any experience of traveling the way you want to or of the areas you're going, but here are two articles from my favorite travel blogger that offer some insight to staying on the streets. Part II is from his time in Paris.

http://www.tysontrips.com/writing/2-21- ... nhome.html

http://www.tysontrips.com/writing/3-31- ... home2.html

can’t be much help about here, sounds like a adventurous idea ,and that youu has been watching the Movie Into The wild. For those how have not seen the movie Young man does just as long haul would like to do but different location where people will pick up a hitch hicker in America and Alaskas. At the end of the day he does not make it out of the wild and yes it a true story. great film. I know off topic.
Why make things so hard, you can still be adventurous without it being so stressful. Call me a wimp not my idea of a holiday.

jet-set jules wrote:[...] I have spent a significant amount of time in the country and I can not recollect EVER seeing a hitch-hiker.

Hi Julie, thanks for answering. Here in Italy, I've seen a hitch-hiker only once in my life and it's common opinion that people do not give free rides. Well, I tried hitch-hiking here in north-east and I got free rides, not as easy as in Romania but I got them.

jet-set jules wrote:Lastly, it sounds like you will be crossing through the Alps, which even in May can still be snowy and quite cold. It is common for these areas to get snow well into May, so it would be very difficult for you to sleep outside without the proper gear and equipment.

No, I forgot to mention this, I will not go high on the mountain because I am travelling alone and up on the mountain it is very dangerous since there isn't a travel mate to help if anything bad happens. Concerning the Mont Blanc, I think I will take the cableway (10 euros one trip) which crosses over the mountain from the surroundings of Courtmayer to Chamonix. Then from Chamonix I'll head to Grenoble and from there down to Provence.
On the whole trip I am planning to avoid getting high on mountains - I am planning to stick to the roads as much as possible.

@ Minerguy: thanks for the links, I found some things useful on one of them.
@ AmazingJulesVerne: is interesting the fact that as avatar you use a flag of the pirates - did you put any special meaning in that?

I have hitch-hiked in France (only once though, in Britanny). I'm a bit surprised at some of the other reactions, it didn't seem like an unusual thing at all to me, and it was very easy: I think the 2nd or 3rd car that passed me stopped. So it's certainly worth a try, especially in rural areas with little public transport like Britanny.

seraphim wrote:I have hitch-hiked in France (only once though, in Britanny). I'm a bit surprised at some of the other reactions, it didn't seem like an unusual thing at all to me, and it was very easy: I think the 2nd or 3rd car that passed me stopped. So it's certainly worth a try, especially in rural areas with little public transport like Britanny.

Hi Seraphim, thanks for reply - as a matter of fact, the response of Jet-Set Jules - with all respect - is the typical mentality you hear around from most of the people that do the usual boring thing: go to a city for few days, book a room at a 3 star hotel, walk around the city for few hours, get back to the hotel, have the dinner served in the room and do the same thing for the rest of the days. Basicly, they are not in a foreign place - they are just like at their homes; they do what they can do in their hometown. If you ever been here in Venice this is what you see from 98% of the people that come to visit the isle (the historic part of the city is on the isle not on the mainland). This mentality (fear of sleeping in open air, fear of getting stabbed while asleep, fear of hitch-hiking because the remote - really remote - possibility of getting in the car of a criminal or psycho, etc... and most of all fear of giving up to all the safety and stability you have at your homeplace) is what I expect to hear from everybody who does what I described above, but not from someone on an adventure travel forum.

frankie75 wrote:Why make things so hard, you can still be adventurous without it being so stressful. Call me a wimp not my idea of a holiday.

What I want to do it is not a holiday, nor a vacation or similar thing - it is more than going somewhere to know and understand the culture of the people that live there, it is a trip downinside myself. Somebody once told me: the greatest battles are those that you fight against yourself: face your fears to become stronger. I travelled on the road before, but never sleeped on the road. I hitch-hiked before, but not in France. I have travelled all alone to places that I have never been before that time, but not to places where it was spoken a language that I did not speak.
It awaits me something that I have not experienced before, something that most of the common people are afraid to do... I am scared and of course I am afraid of what it may turn out to be like, but I believe that also the reward it is very precious: the moments that I will live and the experience that I will get is something that no one can really express or teach. It is a reward that I will carry with me as long as I will live. But, the reward, I will get it only facing my fears and "killing my monsters".

Hitching is France is very difficult and it can take forever to get rides. I have often given up and just taken public transport. Comparatively, Italy is a much easier place to get a lift!

Drum bun!

I like your attitude and yoour realization that your greatest obstacle will be in overcoming fear. I tried something like what you are doing on a limited time frame in just going into the cascade mountains, actually the Enchantment Lakes, all by myself. I remember my first night camping alongside the trail and calmly going to sleep ( I can hypnotize myself) and then in the middle of the night I hear this Ooh Ohh sound but not like and owl, and it is coming closer to my bag, but very slowly and I try and ignore it, but it keeps coming, so finally I decide I better grab my flashlight and see what it is and low and behold it is a porcupine about 5 feet from my head.

Now I have always been afraid of Porkies putting quills in my head ever since I saw one at my brother head as he was sleeping and thinking, i sure hope he doesn't wake up right now or make any sudden moves.

So anyway, i grab a long limb and poke at the porkie and yell at him, thrwo a few rocks and away he goes. But, will he stay away. So I hypnotise myself back to sleep but with a suggestion to wake up if i hear a porkie, but only if he is within 10 feet of me, which works for most of the night until the porkiie comes back and disturbsw my sleep again and I have to chase him off.

So these were the things I had to face, nothing really like you will face, cause the human animal is much less reliable and more fearsome. I would get myself some cat bells and some string and try to make a perimeter aroound your sleeping area, if like your sleeping in a park in the bushes, sort of like we used to scare bears away but we used cans and rocks in the cans, then you have some warning.

Good luck

@ Zoomcharlieb: As a matter of fact I keep thinking that the very first night will be the most difficult to overcome because most of my fears concentrate on how to sleep in the open air avoiding my backpack being stolen. A female friend of mine from U.S.A. which travelled a lot on the road in the U.S. told me to use the backpack as a pillow, sleeping with my arms over it and to carry with me a pepperspray in my pocket. She also told me not to put in the backpack anything precious (money, documents, etc...) and always be ready to lose the backpack.

Another question: I'll go away with only 500 euros - do you think it is better to carry all of them as cash or should I put half of them or something on a credit card and take the credit card with me?

I have hitchhiked in the UK, Australia, and a few times in Asia. I think that the most important thing is that you look presentable and not like crazy mountain man or something like that. People can be leery of picking an average looking person up, and if you are slightly unkempt, it will make them less likely to stop.

Second, you don't mention how long you want to travel for. 500 euros won't get you too far, even if you don't have to pay for transportation. I don't know if police in France would ticket you for vagrancy or sleeping in a park. That might put a large dent in your budget. You might want to see if you can hold out until you have something more like 1000. Such a big part of the culture is cafe culture in France - it would be a shame if you couldn't treat yourself to partaking every once in a while. A newspaper, a coffee, a croissant, whatever your thing is.

Third, wear a leather belt, and use a small / cheap bike chain to attach it to you. It won't prevent someone from stealing it if they really want it, but at least you have a fighting chance of waking up from the disturbance of having your waise jossled.

You may want to learn some conversational french. People often pick up travelers for the convo - you will have a harder time getting to know the culture if you can't talk to them.

Anyway, good luck.

PC

Just get some string and tie it around your balls and then to the pack and when someone tries to take it from you in your sleep you will wake up and be screaming, in pain, and that will scar them off.. How's that for a suggestion? Not good? Maybe tie around wrist instead. Better?

Make sure you put everything either in pack or sleeping bag, don't leave shoes out laying around, even though they probably stink to high heaven. I have to put my daughter's boots back in her tent, 4 days in from the nearest road in Peruvian highlands. It would have been hell to pay wallking out in flip flops.

I think I saw tents along the Seine in Paris, so somebody was camping.

PhotoChick wrote:you don't mention how long you want to travel for.

I intend to depart from Valle D'Aosta, pass through Rodane-Alps and Languedoc reaching Carcassonne then head back home through Languedoc, Provence, Liguria and Emilia Romagna.
I doesn't matter how long, but how far - I'll stay away all the time that it takes; time it is not a problem.

PhotoChick wrote:Such a big part of the culture is cafe culture in France - it would be a shame if you couldn't treat yourself to partaking every once in a while. A newspaper, a coffee, a croissant, whatever your thing is.

I believe that here in Italy we have a lot better coffee than in France, with all respect - actually from what I heard from friends who had been in France, coffee there really sucks compared to what we have here. And then, I am not going there for what I am doing here at home at breakfast time all days: coffee or cappuccino plus croissant or krapfen for breakfast is common all days routine here.

zoomcharlieb wrote:Just get some string and tie it around your balls and then to the pack and when someone tries to take it from you in your sleep you will wake up and be screaming, in pain, and that will scar them off.. How's that for a suggestion? Not good? Maybe tie around wrist instead. Better?

You must be hearing such responses all day long from people around you that now it comes natural to you talking like this to everybody.

The summary of this trip I did I posted it here: hitchhiking-in-france-travel-experience-t43492.html