The Anarchist's Guide to Travel: A manual for future hitchhikers, hobos, and other misfit wanderers.

by Matthew Derrick

Ever dream of dropping everything to adopt a minimalist lifestyle and explore the world -- but didn't know where to start? This how-to book will show you how to join the traveler underground; a world of hitchhikers, hobos, migrant punks, and other misfit travelers that don't fit into the standard mold. In these pages, you'll find out how to survive on next to nothing by getting rid of rent and other expenses, resources for finding seasonal work, and advice on saving enough money to last through your next leg of travel. It continues with a basic guide to almost every style of underground travel including hitchhiking, train hopping, van-dwelling, bike touring, and sailing. You'll even find a few tips for surviving mainstream forms of travel like charter buses and airplanes. Each chapter includes a list of books, websites, and other resources to expand your knowledge beyond the basics. If you've ever wanted to join a world of wanderlusters like yourself, this guide is the perfect way to drop out, work less, and experience the world around you from a completely different perspective.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

244 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 13, 2017

Reviews

[David Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Anarchist’s Guide to Travel: A Manual for Future Hitchhikers, Hobos, and Other Misfit Wanderers by Matthew Derrick (Creative Commons 2021) (917) (3674).

This is an outstanding overview for anyone who dreams of living and traveling on the cheap. This sketches a rough outline of the skills and tools needed to pursue a wandering hobo lifestyle.

The instruction needed to become fully immersed in this life would require many volumes and is thus outside the scope of this introductory guide. Nevertheless author Matthew Derrick does highlight and red-flag the many dangers and pitfalls that wandering travelers without financial means of support will encounter. Daydreaming readers absolutely must remember that many of these behaviors which the author at least tacitly endorses are extremely dangerous and can get an unsuspecting innocent (or a very experienced anarchist-traveler who lets their guard down for a split second) killed graveyard dead. Hitchhiking and freight-train hopping, while seemingly romantic, are DANGEROUS and NOT SAFE FOR HUMANS and WILL GET YOU KILLED.

I’ve recently read a selection of books on the history and culture of tramping and train hoboing. I have read a couple of “how-to” guides from the twentieth century; I have a passing familiarity with the issues author Matthew Derrick raises, and Derrick has a pretty good grasp of the perils of life on the road or the rails.

What Matthew Derrick adds to the mix in The Anarchist’s Guide to Travel is the twenty-first century anarchists’ perspective. What distinguishes Derrick’s volume from prior books on the subject is his underlying assumption that penniless wandering travel and thus homelessness is a valid and voluntary lifestyle choice, with the operative word being “voluntary.” Certainly there is romance involved in the idea of freely and ruthlessly gamboling through the countryside and subsisting entirely from the “fat of the land,” as it were. But the old timey hobos traveled not for fun and adventure but to survive as they traveled from temporary job to temporary job to keep from starving.

Readers should note the cautions that the author throws in: you will be filthier, colder, and hungrier than you have ever been in your life, and you will smell like a dumpster. You will be forced to procure much of your food (you know - the stuff you put in your mouth for sustenance and strength) by crawling around in dumpsters and sorting through trash behind commercial establishments.

Derrick states several times that panhandling for donations should be avoided at all costs (except when forced to do so for absolute necessities) because (1) it is bad form, (2) it is not fair to the donors who actually had to go out and work for the money that the traveler is begging, and (3) begging/ panhandling/flying a sign/“spanging” makes begging more difficult for other fellow penniless travelers whose needs may be infinitely greater.

The Anarchist’s Guide to Travel: A Manual for Future Hitchhikers, Hobos, and Other Misfit Wanderers should be viewed as a cautionary tale. It is useful as an introductory guide for beginners. It should be treated not as a “how-to” guidebook but instead as an armchair guide for daydreaming old hippies - like me. However, anyone who reads this volume and then assumes that he is fully prepared to jump into this lifestyle is foolish and is a walking corpse.

I purchased a brand new copy of this on Amazon on 7/24/22 for $6.43.

My rating: 7.25/10, finished 8/6/22 (3674).

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[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some reviewers have noted that this is a collection of blog postings made into a book.

The author admits as much: "This was especially crucial for the section on Finding People to Travel With. A huge thanks to MolotovMocktail, Kim Chee, EphemeralStick, salxtina, iflewoverthecuckoosnest, and Bedheadred; without their input on the original article the re-written version for this book would not have been possible."

So... yeah... depending on how much you want to spend $5-10 for a collection of blog postings, your mileage may vary on it.

The book is clearly self-published and has no editor, there was a few typos/errors (nothing BIG but as an example on Page 202: "What we’ll be referring here to as ‘boat punk’ can by [SIC] thought of by most normal people as just a cheap form of sailing."

For the most part, it's a very basic "how to travel cheaply" guide. I don't know if all the information is super useful if you're not going into the life-style, but I learned a few things about train-hopping and camping gear (alcohol stoves which can be "built cheaply" from a soda can for example!) that were interesting enough that even if you DON'T do the "travel punk"/"hobo" life-style, you might take some of the information (buying gear cheaply, cookware/alcohol stoves, RV/Van living) and apply it to your life.

Why two stars? Well, the information isn't super useful to me a wage-slave (sorry to Derrick, that's not his fault). And the book not being a super deep dive (a lot of it is linking to his web-page/SquatThePlanet or other pages/sites) into the concept knocks a few stars off and the editing sort-of knocked a star off for me as well.

But yeah... for $5-10 it's not a BAD book and if you want to support Matthew's site, it's not too bad. But I can't really recommend it.

[Bernard A · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Anarchist Guide to Travel" is a comprehensive guide for anyone who wants to be a part of the traveling punk subculture. Which is something I did after high school and wound up spending a number of years riding trains around North America. I wasn't going to read the whole book because I only wanted to read the last section on sailing. I start by reading the forward and became fascinated and spent a good two and a half hours going through and reading select chapters. People ask me all the time about how to hop trains, hitch hike and how to survive that lifestyle. I never have good answers because some things are just now at all easy to explain to someone who doesn't know the first thing about it. Matthew Derrick however does an excellent job. On everything from how to tell your parents your going to leave all your possession behind to go be homeless and hop trains like a hobo to the types of people you'll encounter and which ones to avoid. To how to find seasonal work and save some money to how to panhandle if you have to, even suggests clever things to write on a sign. Of course he also explains how the rail roads work the different cars, and how to stay safe. I think the train hopping stuff is what most people are going to buy this for but there is equally as good information on hitch hiking, van living, basically anything you need to know to travel on little to no cash including the more friendly places to go and when to go. Anyone who wants to live the life or is just interested in it read this book. Also the author runs a online community for people who are traveling or used to and he's very accessible I signed up and made my first post and a few minutes later he sent me a message saying what's up. www.squattheplanet.com

[Shelby Criswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt gives such a great overview of alternative forms of travel, and all of the various resources to make it happen. He doesn't give a shit if you have money or not, his mission is to let you know that travel is doable all at levels and in many, many different ways.

I've read this book before when it came out but just recently reread it in one night while biketouring as a refresher. It's definitely a book you can come back to and learn something again, especially when you're able to embark on a new kinda' trip (like idk... being a BOAT PUNK!!). This book is basically an overview of the vast amount of travel information on his website, Squat The Planet, but it is a nice resource to have when you don't feel like scrolling through tons of forums and want information quickly handed to you in a singular book.

There are a few grammatical errors in this book, but who gives a shit? I feel it is part of the appeal, since this is a DIY and indie work. It's like when you're making a zine and the copy machine prints a few bits of fuzzies on the page, making you realize this was handmade and crafted by one or two human beings rather than robots.

Plus, I might be partial to the illustrations in this book because I drew them, but I do have to say they are incredibly fun and play a great role in this read.

[Conor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review has never been a hobo, a punk, or homeless making it challenging to evaluate “The Anarchists Guide to Travel” by Matthew Derrick as I’ve no clue if the information communicated is useful or accurate. However, the author has been living this book for 15 years, making him as credentialed as possible on this topic.

That said, it offers a window to the somewhat scary subculture surrounding train hopping, squatting, dumpster diving, rubber tramping, and busking. Including cautionary statements to dissuade the armchair anarchist: “You will be filthier, colder, hungrier, and more tired than you have been in your entire life.”

For those looking to voluntarily drop out of mainstream society (or have been removed by force) this book is a hub for so many websites, organizations, and other books on living the hobo lifestyle that it’s worth picking up just for the additional readings.

[Justin Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matthew, on top of creating a great website for those living outside of society's norms, did a great job with creating a book that provides useful illustrations and lots of useful information and guides on how to travel, while being funny along the way.

The book was definitely written by someone with a more rebellious and liberal spirit that may offend some, but if you're okay with it, his advice is a good place to start for someone who wants to see more of the world, but are either too broke to buy several thousand dollar plane tickets and ship cruises, or just want to go against the social norm of consuming and throwing money at problems as a means of making your way through the world.

If you're a punk, poor, or just frugal, and you want to get out of dodge, this book is a good place to start.

[Corina · Rating 4 out of 5]

If your favorite fantasies involve leaving the security of the suburbs for life on the road, this is a very fun read. It is full of ideas for non traditional modes of travel that you might not have thought about or remembered when vacation planning. I bought the paperback version and there are many interesting websites throughout the book so the ebook version would be nice to have as well.

I’m not punk, I’m a forty three year old stay at home mom. This book is worth getting if a frugal, financially independent, lifestyle is your jam. There are many useful insights and tips on how to explore off the beaten path on your own terms.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great overview of all things travel punk! I bought it for myself and now I’m thinking about getting a copy for my favorite dumb traveler. If you already have a ton of experience traveling on the crustie cheap side of things you probably already know most of what’s in this book but I would still buy a copy for all the great references. Every chapter has lists of other books and websites to help you out, it’s pretty fun trying to type in some of the links but the knowledge is worth it!

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

while there’s a lot in this book I don’t plan on ever doing - train hopping, hitchhiking, etc. - I found this a really thorough intro to a nomadic lifestyle within the USA. incredibly helpful and I will be making good use of it.

[Baylor Bloomer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish it was more in-depth, but I haven't visited it in awhile.

[Devin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very nice way to open the mind to all the possibilities of travel. Finally breaking the notion that you need to be rich to travel the world.