Have you ever dreamed of setting off on an adventure across Europe, meeting new people, seeing exotic places all by the power of your thumb? A young college student from Pennsylvania did just that in 1968 and retells his travels in his book "1968 And I'm Hitchhiking Through Europe." This book offers what you may expect in living the hitchhiker's life and setting abroad to experience new people and new cultures.
At only 21-years old, Joe Mack spends the summer before his senior year at the University of Pennsylvania traveling through Europe by hitchhiking from one country to another.
The time period places great significance in what was occurring in the world and how an American got to experience foreign cultures as well as an alternate look at his own country. In the summer of 1968, the world was witnessing the horrors of the Vietnam War. Young college students, including Mack himself, were questioning their government and participating in anti-war rallies and protests.
The book opens with Mack's introduction to the art of hitchhiking and what it takes to survive by relying on others. Throughout the book he discusses the trials and tribulations many hitchhikers face, starting with the simple hope of finding a ride.
"Getting picked up is like winning a lottery. We are traveling for free, meeting other people, being invited into their cars and sometimes into their homes. This is the experience of a lifetime," Mack wrote.
Mack documents every location he visits and every person he meets. By many chances of luck, he was able to get directions from a European who spoke English and Mack developed a conversation with them. He'd meet other hitchhikers and even find himself catching up with them later on by coincidence in a whole other city. He experiences many highs and great opportunities which makes his trip worthwhile.
"Twenty four hours ago, I had been in Southern France; now I am in Central Italy," Mack wrote. "Yesterday's dinner, the hotel room, breakfast, and lunch all combined had cost less than three dollars. I spent zero for transportation. I was living the hitchhiker's life."
However, don't think that he didn't have his share of troubles. Mack encountered many predicaments, including days without eating and sleeping outside in freezing temperatures, the sexual advances of a middle-aged man who offered Mack a ride and a pummeling by a Swedish police officer who thought he was aiding a fellow hitchhiker in the mugging of a civilian.
When Mack is able to sit down and converse with newly met Europeans, he discusses his experiences in protesting the Vietnam War from his college campus. Many Europeans at the time were intrigued by the riots and police brutality toward protesters at American college campuses and questioned him about his experiences.
Mack would also recount his time with a French college professor, who shared his experience earlier that year with the French student protests of the European education system that resulted in riots. These were turbulent times all over the world and Mack was able to relate his tales with many other people from a whole other culture. Also brought fourth during this time period were the realities of the Cold War when Mack visits both sides of the Berlin Wall.
"The West Berliners love their city. At night, I saw thousands of people just walking on the sidewalks, sitting on benches or in the café," Mack wrote. "East Berlin is an entirely different city. Evidence of the war was easier to spot with many bullet scarred walls and barren ground where buildings once stood."
Mack explores the rich environment of historic European cities such as Venice, Vienna and Paris. In each city he visits he keeps track of every person he comes across, either remembering them as nameless faces or people that he got to know very well by forming a temporary friendship.
"1968 And I'm Hitchhiking Through Europe" isn't necessarily a "how-to" guide for aspiring hitchhikers and world travelers, but rather offers a sense of adventure for not only his generation but also every young generation with dreams of seeking the experience of a lifetime. At the same time, for anyone who wants to follow in his foot steps, Mack offers a word of caution. He recommends that a person shouldn't travel without a plan of action and should be ready to entrust all his or her hope in the kindness of strangers.
The entire book plays out as a narrative, where Mack documents every place he ate and slept and every person he came across, whether a helpful European offering a ride or a fellow hitchhiker offering advice on how to survive on your own. The book is not necessarily in chronological order and does go into flashbacks of stories from traveling in a separate country or meeting a certain person. This is one flaw which can easily confuse the reader since it always seems Mack is in a new city every few pages.
Overall, Mack's autobiographical accounts make for a great recreational read when one is seeking adventure, even if it's only in your imagination.
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