Traveler Viktor Aspidov: even a novice tourist can travel around Europe for three months for $500

Traveler from Moscow Viktor Aspidov conducted hitchhiking training in Veliky Novgorod. He urged Novgorodians to travel more and believe in good fellow travelers, and not in films about road maniacs.

Viktor Aspidov has hitchhiked in 70 countries around the world and is now teaching Russians how to hitchhike correctly and what they shouldn’t be afraid of.

— I came to Novgorod by hitchhiking. It's in my veins. Hitchhiking in Veliky Novgorod with its own special effects of rescue and survival. I've been to Novgorod several times when I went on business trips around Russia, or just hitchhiked on the weekends. This time I drove at night, it was cold. The driver went to bed and was only able to take me as far as the turn, to the entrance to Veliky Novgorod. I was forced to walk a little, and the final gesture of goodwill was on behalf of the woman who took me. Although women are less likely to drive, and hitchhikers are less likely to be hired. In general, hitchhiking in Russia is wonderful,” said the hitchhiker Victor Aspidov.

Victor’s criteria for a good hitchhiker are the following: waiting time (how long you stand on the road), travel time depending on the train (you can move quickly alone, or four of you), the hospitality of the drivers who take you into the car, and the hospitality of the people with whom you stop. traveler.

— One Kazakh who gave me a lift to Central Asia, said: “Allah said to help two people: mother and traveler.” And for some time now my mother is a traveler (she is 58 years old), so it turns out to be double support. By the way, traveling around Asia shatters all sorts of myths about this people, some unhealthy claims against migrants. People from these warm countries very hospitable and kind, we were met and received by entire villages,” shares Victor Aspidov.

The hitchhiker advised Novgorodians to expect only the best from travel and people. “What you expect on a trip will come to you” is a kind of motto of hitchhikers that always comes true. People in other countries and cities treat stopers as travelers who need to be sheltered and shown around the city, and not as tourists with a full wallet.

— Hitchhiking for me is a way to learn and receive information from the outside world, from the original source. Initially, when I was planning to hitchhike, I had no fear of people. Hitchhiking is a phenomenon for people who are not afraid of people. We treat existing reality logically and simply. The world is full of wonderful people, and hitchhiking was a confirmation of my worldview. There may be fears that someone will not stop for a long time, it may be raining, it may be cold, you may have to sleep outside of comfortable conditions. But I can’t imagine that a maniac or some kind of murderer can stop,” he says Victor Aspidov.

Note that in the “Novgorod League of Travelers” in social network, more than a hundred participants.

Evgenia Lamakh: Viktor Aspidov is a Russian traveler, theorist and practitioner of free wanderings, documentarian, journalist and hitchhiking tutor with his community in contact and a channel on YouTube. Victor recently celebrated his big anniversary: 80 countries behind him, and almost everything - hitchhiking! Victor, is this true?

Victor Aspidov: Good afternoon, Evgeniya. Yes, many travelers measure their movements in thousands of kilometers. All I have to do is count the countries. Hitchhiking for me is the maximum combination of advantages: transport, acquaintances, communication, my way of understanding the world, and, of course, the opportunity to get to the destination of the trip in good company.

Evgenia: Wow! How do you usually find travel companions?

Victor: I often travel alone, but I’m always glad to have good travel companions, and most often they are found by chance: either already along the way, or on VKontakte, and I even created a group for this there. And you can virtually feel a person by asking him specific questions, even by the reaction to the questions, sometimes something becomes clearer. Of course, I choose girls who are interested and not lazy. A couple of guys and girls are most readily picked up on the roads.

I find positives in everything. For example, when you travel alone, you are your own boss, you know yourself like the back of your hand. But being a couple is much more fun, and in order to avoid disagreements, we resolve all issues as they arise, rather than harboring a grudge: you can’t tell now - it will accumulate like a snowball, and someday it will cover you.

Evgenia: What is the most important thing for you when traveling?

Victor: It is better to plan your trips and prepare for them. And at the same time, it’s very tempting to just go out for some bread with a passport and go towards the unknown with the first hitchhiker... You can feel incredible freedom in this. Surrender to chance. Maximum time and minimum money. Spontaneous, natural and lively.

Hitchhiking is the most vibrant and eventful type of travel and the most effective way to get to know the world. The first and most important thing for me is people, bearers of culture: characters, habits, mentality. If it weren’t for the people, I would, for example, never have seen spearfishing in Cyprus, or seen a rodeo in Guatemala, or learned the life of the Indians in Colombia, and much more.

Evgenia: What three things always come with you when you travel? Maybe a bag of native soil?

Victor: Nooo, everything is more prosaic: backpack, passport, camera. While traveling, I take photographs and shoot videos, post them on my YouTube channel, collaborating with production. I speak Russian fluently and English languages, while traveling around Latin America, I learned Spanish, and in Turkey - a little Turkish. Such knowledge helps me a lot - I can focus not only on Russian-speaking viewers.

Evgenia: Victor, tell me, what unwritten rules should any traveler follow on the road?

Victor: The tricks I follow:

Travel document and note

A travel document is a document with stamps that confirms that I am a traveler and I have a conscious goal. This is such a simple tool that helps you visit attractions for free. The note describes the essence of your hitchhiking trip and helps in communicating with drivers and everyone around you. Such documents must be in English and the languages of the countries you are traveling to.

Applications on a smartphone.

A smartphone is simply indispensable now. I use it to shoot videos and take photos. I have offline applications saved on my phone that help me navigate the area, tell me foreign words and much more.

Local names.

I advise you to take a local name, especially if your real one is not found in the country of travel. You can’t even imagine how much this brings you together! Having tried it once, now I always do this, it immerses you in the culture - people smile, they remember you more easily, they trust you more and open up in communication. Yes, I myself feel more like “I belong.”

Open hand gesture.

On the road I catch cars with my open palm. This is an ancient psychological technique that shows that I am in front of you in full view, I have nothing in my hands, I am harmless. And often I put my backpack in front - they say, look, I’m a traveler. And so I am more visible on the road, especially when my friend is on my shoulder, and my clothes are brightly colored.

I present to you a hitchhiker, professional traveler, journalist, lecturer, author and participant in various hitchhiking reality projects - Viktor Aspidov. At his age, he has already seen the world - 77 countries behind him.

Victor successfully lectures and conducts master classes on hitchhiking and a free lifestyle, liberating and inspiring many people with his example. free travel and a vibrant life.

On the road in northern Argentina while traveling with the project “Two Americas, but One Russia.”

Hello! And right away, it seems to me, main question: What made you hitchhike?

Once upon a time I had no money and I dreamed of seeing the world. Having learned from friends about such a tempting method, making inquiries, I set off. And then hitchhiking became my philosophy, my university, my life, because the most interesting trips that's exactly how it turns out.

Traveling alone?

I often travel alone, but I’m always glad to have a good company of 1-2 people, but preferably no more, because the more people with you, the more difficult it is to catch transport due to the lack of free seats and your freedom is more limited by the desires of others.

What do you think: are there many like-minded hitchhikers?

There are many of my colleagues on the roads of the world, and hitchhikers are different from hitchhikers, but the desire to move unconventionally, to dilute the routine with unforgettable moments, unites many.

What difficulties and dangers do you encounter while traveling?

The biggest difficulties arise when more than one car stops for you, and you have to decide which kind people to sit with when they want to show you local beauties, which you did not know about, and a question of time and a dilemma of choice arises.

When you are cordially invited to visit, vying with each other, and you have to decide who to go to, and while visiting, you find yourself at a table that is bursting with incredibly tasty, lovingly prepared foods and drinks, and you have to try everything, and then you are seduced by enticing offers to live here ...

And it’s not a big deal, but still it scares and upsets some people, for example, sometimes it can snow, rain, or shine on you, a person or even a group may be looking at you. There may be catastrophes comparable only to the end of the world - you lost some of your things on your own or with someone’s “noble” help, but I’m sure this has happened to everyone in ordinary life, and, strangely, there was no apocalypse. Personally, no one has harmed me while hitchhiking on the road, since either good or very good people stop.

So many travels... there must have been funny incidents, can you tell us about some?

Yes, of course there were many of them. For example, in Poland, when I asked if the driver was going to Wroclaw, he answered that he was nearby. I hoped for the commonality of Slavic languages, but on the way it turned out that the Pole was going to the city of Radom, which was off to the side of our route.

In one of the reality projects with me on central TV, while hitchhiking, one of my tasks was to stop the car and arrange an overnight stay with the driver in a maximum of 15 minutes. In a few minutes I stopped three cars: on Rublevka, Kutuzovsky and in the center of Moscow. Imagine, the very first driver invited me to spend the night after a few minutes of communication and without a knife to my throat! Moreover, we managed to film the whole action on a video camera.

There was also a problem with a tractor driver, but it was not at all similar to the problems from mathematics textbooks. IN Yaroslavl region I was inspired to stop the tractor, the tractor driver and I sang songs, he invited me home and to the bathhouse, and then he invited me to go fishing! A lot of very interesting things happened. Selections from the hitchhiking reality project with me are posted on the YouTube channel. It also answers various questions about hitchhiking.

What should you take with you on the road? (what you can't do without)

Hitchhiking is freedom, and the less we have, the closer we get to its absolute, and as practice shows, we lose less. It is advisable to take clothes so that you are not judged for exhibitionism, hygiene supplies, if you wash and brush your teeth, although there are people who are above this, a change of underwear if you plan to wash, documents and a backpack where you can put everything. You can do without the rest if your head works and you use your tongue for more than just food. Then you will have to walk a little, and everything that is missing will appear as needed. The most important thing in hitchhiking is that you learn to understand how little a person needs to be happy, you find the truth, you begin to appreciate what you have and be content with the gifts that the Universe gives you.

77 countries - select a couple more expensive places for you. And what makes them special?

One of the most expensive places is Oslo and, in general, the whole of Norway, if you are talking about your wallet. And if about what is dear to my heart, then there are many wonderful countries with wonderful people. I can highlight Latin America, the Middle East, the Caucasus and Asia, which are incredibly good for their kind, cheerful, open and hospitable residents. Europe is also not indifferent, and at the same time, of course, Russia and Ukraine are especially close to me.

If you are hitchhiking, then in many places on earth the journey is fraught with stomach pain from frequent laughter and overeating. And also wrinkles from frequent smiles on your face and from the generous local sun. Speaking specifically about countries, the experience in each of them is unique with its events, meetings, adventures, and attractions. For me, the most important thing anywhere on the planet is people, because I love them, and they are the main carriers of culture. Without human factor It is impossible to understand the culture of the region, and you can immerse yourself most deeply in it through hitchhiking. Everywhere on the planet, many wonderful people are identified by simply voting “for them” on the track. Do you want to become a modern Diogenes and find real humane people? Then pack your backpack!

How many languages do you speak?

Our own, Russian, English, Spanish and a little bit of others. Car showrooms and homes of hospitable drivers and members of the travel site couchsurfing.org are the best audiences. To learn to swim, we need to jump into the water and row if we want to live, and to master languages, we need to hit the road if we want to live... happily and interestingly. It is not for nothing that there is a saying in Laos: “A person who knows another language has another life.”

On the road you communicate for free, with positive emotions you easily remember words and immediately apply them in practice, unlike tedious, ineffective and expensive courses in your city. In general, hitchhiking is cheaper than sitting at home.

Are you planning to write a book about your adventures?

Firstly, every person writes his own book of life, which, unlike a writer’s book, cannot be rewritten. Every day is just a page; if you are mired in a routine without bright moments, when you hitchhike, then a day can become a whole book full of adventures.

Secondly, people began to read less, but travel and write more about it, so I don’t plan to write something global yet, because necessity and demand are important. Although, for example, my story “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Canaries” won an international writing competition with a prize - tickets to Morocco. As you can see, there was a good incentive. There are a lot of different notes, many of which, as well as recordings on radio, TV, and online publications, I post on my page in

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