How I solo travelled 5,000 miles across the world without spending a penny
Courtney Allan, from Canada, originally planned to visit the UK for three weeks in late 2023, but after finding public transport too expensive, she decided to hitchhike, catching her first ride from near Bath.
She proceeded to hitchhike through Europe to Morocco and then to Cape Town in South Africa, spending less than US$20 (£15) on transport across the whole African continent, in what she called an 'intimate' experience.
Taking around a year from December 2023 to December 2024, she said the epic journey across Africa involved more than 400 rides through 16 countries, spanning more than 8,000 miles across every terrain.
She said she is currently returning to South Africa, starting this time from China, and is in central Russia at the moment, having already travelled more than 5,000 miles for free as a result of hitchhiking.
Nearly 50 days into the trip this year, she said Mongolia is a 'top contender for the most beautiful country (she's) been to' and she has 'not yet felt in danger'.
'When I think of who I am now, it's an exponential growth from who I was when I first visited the UK two years ago', she said.
'I feel incredibly blessed. Hitchhiking was so not normal for so long, it didn't even seem like an option.
Courtney said the epic journey across Africa involved more than 400 rides through 16 countries
'It's becoming more common though, and it's such a great way to see the world for free.'
Courtney initially only planned to visit the UK for three weeks in 2023, with return flights from her home city of Toronto in Canada to London.
Finding UK transport expensive, however, she decided to hitchhike from Bath and has never looked back.
'My first lift was with a Welsh woman,' Courtney said.
'She was so bubbly and she tried to give me money. That happened a lot in the UK!'
Courtney then hitchhiked into Wales, through Cardiff and up to Snowdonia.
She loved her UK hitchhiking experience so much that she decided to continue, following her thumb through Ireland and mainland Europe to Africa.
'I was scared and, looking back, I was very North American about the whole thing to begin with, but I realised that people are just people wherever you are,' she said.
She then proceeded to hitchhike the length of Africa from Morocco to Cape Town, a distance of more than 8,000 miles.
'Anyone can travel through Africa with lots of money but you're in a bubble,' she said.
'When you're hitchhiking, you're with the people who live in that country. You get a much more intimate experience.
'It's such a good way to meet local people and get the best things to do in a place.
'This isn't the stuff you see on TripAdvisor.'
She said she travelled south through 16 countries until she reached Cape Town around a year later in December 2024.
In that time, she said she spent less than 20 US dollars on transport, of which more than half was spent on a single ferry across the Congo River.
Despite catching some 400 rides, she said she only felt physically unsafe once – but hastened to add that this was in one of the few taxis she took, not while hitchhiking.
She said 'nothing bad has happened' to her and the trip would have been impossible without the much-maligned mode of travel.
'People always say, 'Oh, what's the worst thing that happened?', or, 'Did you get hurt?', but there was nothing bad at all,' she said.
'My budget would have gone up by thousands if I had been paying for transport.'
Courtney is eager to encourage other women to enjoy the benefits of travel.
She continued: 'Women are often scared of going out into the world because of the risks.
'But there is a risk everywhere, every day, no matter what you're doing. You can't let them get the better of you.
'For me, the benefits of being able to explore the world outweigh those risks.'
Courtney's highlight of the trip in Africa was a train ride in Mauritania.
She said: 'I don't know if you'd call it hitchhiking, it was more train hopping, but we rode 200km into the Sahara Desert under the stars. The skyline was incredible.'
Her favourite ride meanwhile was with a woman in Guinea.
'She was so confident and drove us half an hour out of her way. I was like 'hell yeah', finally we got picked up by a woman and she's a boss!' she said.
Despite loving her experience in Africa, Courtney's favourite place to hitchhike was Ireland.
'I barely waited for more than 10 minutes,' she said.
'It was super quick and I was picked up by mostly older women.'
Courtney returned home to Canada in December 2024 but soon made plans to get back on the road, this time hitchhiking from China to South Africa, starting in May 2025.
You can follow Courtney's journey on her Instagram page @hitchhikercourtney.
She said: 'I think this will be my last big hitchhiking trip, although I think I will always hitch. I'd love to get into bike-packing though.'
On her top tip for hitchhiking as a woman, she said: 'Trust your intuition. The first three seconds you can gauge the situation.'
She admits she turned away her first ride in China recently, because the driver had an open bottle of spirit and gave off a strange vibe.
But she continues: 'People are looking for a finite answer on how to keep themselves safe but there isn't one.
'I think the world is generally safe and many people will look out for you if you are a solo woman hitchhiking.'
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