Man hitchhiking 10,000 miles from England to South Africa - 1,000 miles in
A travel-mad man is hitchhiking 10,000 miles from England to South Africa.
Timo De Jong, 25, set off on his mammoth journey on February 11 and is currently in Toulouse, France. He is about 1,000 miles into his journey, which he has estimated will take roughly a year. Timo finished school in 2017 and has been travelling ever since - hitchhiking throughout places like Japan and Central America
But now, Timo has decided that the next challenge that he will undertake is to hitchhike trans-continent - from Southampton, England to Springbok, South Africa. Timo, of Steenwijk in the Netherlands, said: "So I have hitchhiked a few times and I tried it in April last year in Japan."
"It's very expensive there so hitchhiking seemed like a good way to save some money and it was such a great experience. I flew to Mexico afterwards and I thought let's keep going, so I hitchhiked all through Central America and to Colombia. When I returned to my friend's house in the UK afterwards, I got out a map and saw Southampton and South Africa and thought, that will work!"
Timo did lots of research about the logistics of travelling from Southampton to Springbok and found a Facebook group of people who had driven the route before. They had lots of helpful tips including information on safety and VISAs - which reassured Timo that this was possible.
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Timo De Jong trying to get a ride to Toulouse (No credit)
Timo De Jong, 25, hitchhiking (No credit)With his 40-litre backpack on his back, he set off towards Dover to catch a ferry to mainland Europe. Timo said: "On the Dover to Calais ferry you pay for every car that goes on but not per person. I met these two Romanian guys and asked who came over to me and asked if they could borrow my phone charger.
"They said I could come with them but I would have to wait as their car had been seized by police as they didn't have insurance! I spent eight hours waiting with them. Eventually, after they sorted everything out, we got on ferry." From there, Timo travelled to Belgium to see some friends.
Timo has lots of friends throughout Europe that he has met on his travels, so he is taking his time. This has caused him to receive a few angry comments online wanting him to speed up the process. Timo said: "Some people get angry under my videos. They just want me to move every day! I want to take my time, see friends and see more of the world. I am in no rush."
Timo already has ideas about where he would like to go, once his mission to get to South Africa is complete. He said: "South America would be great to hitchhike through. I also want to go to the Middle East and Eastern Europe, the worlds a big place! But first I think I will go home and see family, I have only been home for 10 days in the past 2 12 years!"
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