Bigmouth Strikes Again: Carrie Marshall's blog

I am not a freeloading backpacker, says freeloading backpacker

A nice story in The Times:

Mark Boyle was a man with a dream. He was so convinced that a world without the evils of money is possible that he set out to walk from Britain to India without spending a penny in order to prove it.

As the report notes:

The former head of an organic food company is part of the Freeconomy movement, which wants to rid the world of money altogether.

Unfortunately he barely made it to mainland Europe. The French weren’t keen on giving Mr Boyle and his companions any freebies. They were cold. They were hungry. They came home again.

According to Mr Boyle:

“Not only did no one…speak the language, they also see us as just a bunch of freeloading backpackers, which is the complete opposite of what the pilgrimage is really about.”

And Gary looked from the news to The Onion, and from The Onion to the news, and from the news to The Onion again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.

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Comments

0 responses to “I am not a freeloading backpacker, says freeloading backpacker”

  1. Jonathan

    I loved this story too. The BBC news piece on it was especially funny; that they had to do it in such a factual unbiased manner made it all the more ridiculous.

    He seemed to blame the language barrier a bit as well – did he not consider that?! Wouldn’t be so bad if they language became an issue once he got a bit further afield, but Calais? Most of the French folks there speak English anyway…

  2. tm

    This really does hark back to the glory days of the BBC news web site. The best line to appear on their little ticker tape thing being this, shortly before the invasion of Iraq…

    UK Human Shields leave Iraq due to safety concerns. More soon.

  3. Gary

    I do wonder if there’s a detail missing from the story – was Boyle actually planning to offer anything in return for food and lodging? Because if he was then I’m being completely and utterly unfair on him. And of course if he wasn’t, then he’s a bloody idiot whose vision of a world without money requires other people to spend their money on him.

    Wouldn’t be so bad if they language became an issue once he got a bit further afield, but Calais?

    Heh heh heh.

  4. Squander Two

    > he’s a bloody idiot whose vision of a world without money requires other people to spend their money on him.

    Quite.