Hobo travel journalism/Printable version

Hobo travel journalism

The current, editable version of this book is available in Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection, at
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Hobo_travel_journalism

Permission is granted to copy, distribute, and/or modify this document under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

General information

So, with some experience of traveling to distant lands (or even starting from zero), multiplied by the ability to express your thoughts literarily, you decided to go on a journey to subsequently describe what you saw.

I’ll make a reservation right away — drive away dreams and fantasies that someone will pay for the costs associated with the upcoming trip. Also, it is advisable to forget about staying in hotels (especially "star" ones) and refuse to visit Western countries.

Dirty, stinking poverty areas, noisy oriental bazaars with heaps of garbage, mehmunsarays (low-budget Eastern accommodation, often combined with diner) where guests sleep on the floor — the prospect that awaits you. "Rest abroad" and all its nuances, actively advertised by travel agencies on television and on the Internet, have nothing to do with the topic of this textbook.

If your goal is to find income and get a job, close this page: after reading the textbook material, you will gain knowledge of the opposite nature, associated with the elements of extreme and, perhaps, the complexity of the upcoming route.

The theory of long journeys carried out at low cost should be studied before picking up a ballpoint pen, after which you can begin to practice.

I warn you in advance: you should not exclude the possibility that the material prepared by you will not be published in any printed publication and the reason is not at all that it is bad.

In our time, the heads of a few print publications (there are few of them left due to competition with online publications) do not scatter fees, trying to attract authors working on a charitable basis; sometimes even a symbolic reward for a well-written article with beautiful photos may not be allocated.

As an option, for starters, you can offer the print publication a few articles for free, for testing, in order to establish yourself.

Quote from the literary works of the author

Once, when I was a teenager, with a backpack behind my shoulders, in shabby clothes and a hat with wide fields, went down from the highest, as it seemed to me, Crimean mountains, to where in the lowlands rural children grazed a flock of sheep. The shepherd boys surrounded me from all sides, mistaking for a wanderer and started asking... I told them about the world trip, African cannibals, described aborigines traditions and much more. The chappies listened as enchanted, opening their mouths from amazement: they have never been beyond the neighboring village. However, the fifteen-year-old narrator in those days was not yet a traveler, I deceived them... and I also deceived you: this story is fiction.

Route selection

Textbook logo

Geographical objects and people that you will meet in the process of moving along a predetermined (or spontaneously overcome) trajectory are of fundamental importance — they will be the subject of future articles. Therefore, the route should be thought out in advance, and if it includes ten or more countries, outline a plan for the first three or four of them — further actions may be improvised and unpredictable.

First steps

If you don’t have experience of long trips with repeated crossing of state borders, you can start "internship" with a small simple route. For the first time, a one-day hike, carried out in the vicinity of permanent residence, is suitable. If there are natural or historical landmarks in your area, you can go there, making sure to bring a camera: an article without illustrations looks incomplete; the responsible persons of the periodicals to whom you plan to provide your material may reject it.

Using colorful epithets and allegories, adding historical information and your own assumptions, you can describe a simple country trip to, say, the ruins of a historical site, resulting in a fascinating article (see the example in Wikisource at the link below). Don't forget at the same time that the above is something like a warm-up: in the future you will have to conquer the expanses of Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin America. Hobo travel journalism is built on this.

Equipment

If you are going on a small one-day hike (for initial practice), you can pack luggage of any weight and volume, but on long expeditions you should use ultralight backpacking. It is strongly recommended to leave bulky photographic equipment with removable lenses and other accessories at home: you will need it someday for other purposes. For example, for props: to decorate one of the author's articles with your own portrait with a camera in your hands... by screwing a massive long-focus lens to it.

About the travel notepad

I don't recommend writing articles on the road: this method is good for a blogger, but not for a journalist. You should make notes in a pocket notebook, so that when you return home you don't forget the main points on which the article will be based. You should also leave brief comments on the photos — for identification purposes: the name of the object depicted and the time of the photo. I know from my own experience: when the number of frames is in the thousands, and the number of countries covered in one trip is close to ten (example), it can be difficult to remember upon returning what is shown in a particular photograph.

Quote from the literary works of the author

Any route, be it Africa, Asia, or the islands of Oceania, I go twice: the first time in reality, the second — when I write about it. Everything that happened: adventures, joys, problems — live now in my memoirs, travel notes, in the imagination of those who have read my books and articles. It will stay when I am gone into the world of shadows.

Examples of articles from Wikisource

Looking for an ancient treasure

Topics

Textbook logo

The briefing was read and studied, the route was chosen. It's time to move on to the main…

What to write about?

The theme may be the adventures of the author using non-standard ways of moving around the globe (see the section "About the hobo tourism" below in examples of author articles from Wikisource), including accommodation options; food in the native "canteens" side by side with representatives of the lower classes of society and a description of the dishes used by them.

In addition, articles can cover any aspects of travel and everything related to them: the use of hobo tourism methods in this direction of journalism does not mean at all that the thematic content of your material should be devoted to describing the author’s hobo adventures (or displaying the life of homeless natives); in this case, as mentioned earlier, this is just a way of implementing.

Title

The title should attract, intrigue, without disclosing the content. It should be remembered that a sonorous headline will not save a "gray" text from the wastebasket: the reader, looking at one or two paragraphs, will set aside your article ... for use as wrapping paper.

Based on what you are going to write about, you need to plan a route. But you can also go “from the opposite side”: spontaneously wander around the world, and then adventures will find you, perhaps even fall “like snow on your head” (see the section “Unplanned extreme” in examples of articles from Wikisource).

Some recommendations

If you are going to write on an ethnic theme — about “semi-savage” tribes living in the jungle overgrown with lianas — you should choose the countries of Africa or the island states of Oceania for the upcoming route (see the section “Ethnic Theme” below in examples of author articles from Wikisource ).

On the Asian mainland, people who look “a la Neanderthal”, alas, have not survived (and if they have exist somewhere in the forests of Indonesia, it is almost impossible to find them), it is better to go there in search of other topics, for example, for writing articles about the architecture of ancient civilizations. For this purpose, Cambodia is suitable, where there are more temples than mosquitoes in Africa; besides it — Thailand, Laos, etc. No less (and even more) attractive is visiting some states of Latin America, in particular, I recommend Mexico and Guatemala, which are replete with buildings of the Mayan civilization that are in varying degrees of preservation.

The theme of traditional cuisine is applicable to all Third World countries: one can describe both daily meals and extravagant delicacies that can shock a European (see the section "Culinary Features of Exotic Countries" in examples of articles from Wikisource).

Photo shooting is required.

Penetrating indigenous nations cultures

It is living in the homes of indigenous peoples (as a temporary guest), and by no means visiting museums and restaurants of ethnic cuisine, that is of paramount importance for getting to know the traditions and customs. The use of cultural travel methods allows a journalist to experience the intricacies of the national culture of the inhabitants of a particular country.

To fulfill the plan, it is not necessary to contact in advance through “social networks of hospitality” with residents of “overseas” countries: spontaneous acquaintances in this case are more effective. In addition, in the tiny, godforsaken villages of Africa, Asia and Oceania, there is often no Internet, and it is precisely such settlements that are of interest to hobo travel journalism.

Example from Wikisource

Crimean guru in Sumatra

Gallery

Author in different parts of the world

• 
  As a "teacher" in a rural school
  (Sumatra, Indonesia)
• 
  Breakfast at the Aboriginal
  (Pentecost Island, Vanuatu)
• 
  In Pashtun clothes
  (Kabul, Afghanistan)
• 
  With pygmies
  (Bundibugyo District, Uganda)
• 
  Visiting Malaysians
  (Sukau, Sabah, Malaysia)

Returning from distant wanderings (rubric in the newspaper "Republic of Crimea")

Journalist's certificate issued in 2012

“Returning from distant wanderings” (in ru: «Из дальних странствий возвратясь») is a rubric in the newspaper “Republic of Crimea” (in ru: «Республика Крым»), published in Simferopol from 1994 to 2014, whose columnist was a Russian traveler, travel journalist Viktor Pinchuk. The date of the first publication of the author is October 2007, the last material was published in April 2014; a total of 80 travel articles, some of which are freely available on the Wikisource website.

Articles

• Мечта об Африке, или девять дней в Эфиопии — 4. 10. 2007. — № 31 (760);
• Сон афганского узника — 6. 08. 2009. — № 27 (843);
• С рюкзаком по Сирии — 10. 09. 2009. — № 32 (848);
• «Гульгула» в Бамиане — 8. 10. 2009. — № 34 (850);
• Подарок вождю — 22. 10. 2009. — № 36 (852);
• Угандийскими тропами — 12. 11. 2009. — № 39 (855);
• Акуна матата — 10. 12. 2009. — № 42 (858);
• Ман тахи дастам… — 21. 01. 2010. — № 2 (863);
• Хороша страна Монголия — 11. 03. 2010. — № 9 (870);
• Пешком через пустыню — 25. 03. 2010. — № 11 (872);
• Там, где правил Чингисхан — 15. 04. 2010. — № 13 (874);
• Незнакомый Египет — 13. 05. 2010. — № 17 (878);
• Прощание с Монголией — 3. 06. 2010. — № 20 (881);
• Бог един… в 200 лицах — 5. 08. 2010. — № 27 (888) — there is an English translation available;
• Грузинский транзит — 26. 08. 2010. — № 29 (890);
• Инструктаж для пилигрима — 9. 09. 2010. — № 30 (891);
• На пути к Али-Шадр — 7. 10. 2010. — № 34 (895);
• Джамбо, Кения! — 4. 11. 2010. — № 38 (899);
• Кения-2: приключения продолжаются — 25. 11. 2010. — № 41 (902);
• Кения-3: фотомодели у хижин — 14. 12. 2010. — № 43 (904);
• Кения-4: калейдоскоп событий — 23. 12. 2010. — № 44 (905);
• Кения-5: пора домой! — 13. 01. 2011. — № 1 (907);
• Исфахан и дырявый карман — 20. 01. 2011. — № 2 (908);
• Мы все учились понемногу (воспоминания пионера челночества) — 27. 01. 2011. — № 3 (909);
• Проблемы водоснабжения в Африке — 24. 03. 2011. — № 8 (914);
• Дорога в Судан — 7. 04. 2011. — № 10 (916);
• Заморим червячка? О странных блюдах стран заморских — 14. 04. 2011. — № 11 (917);
• Сияха в Судане — 21. 04. 2011. — № 12 (918);
• Челночный дебют в Кечкемете, или первый блин комом — 28. 04. 2011. — № 13 (919);
• Судан – 3: автостопом по стране — 12. 05. 2011. — № 14 (920);
• Дискотека по-арабски — 19. 05. 2011. — № 15 (921);
• Судан – 4: прохладный уют пирамиды — 26. 05. 2011. — № 16 (922);
• Джераш — «королевство» в королевстве — 2. 06. 2011. — № 17 (923);
• Судан – 5: околовизовые мытарства — 9. 06. 2011. — № 18 (924);
• Мечети Самарканда — 23. 06. 2011. — № 19 (925);
• Восхождение на Мангуп как избавление от тоски по Африке — 7. 07. 2011. — № 21 (927);
• Судан – 6: беспробудное занудство — 17. 11. 2011. — № 22 (928);
• Судан – 7: предвыездные мытарства — 24. 11. 2011. — № 23 (929);
• Третья афровылазка продолжается — 23. 02. 2012. — № 7 (940);
• Япония для нищих — 15. 03. 2012. — № 8 (941);
• «Гуманоид» в гостях у самураев — 22. 03. 2012. — № 9 (942);
• Продолжение бомжеключений — 23. 03. 2012. — № 10 (943);
• Ватащи-ва бимбо хито дэсу — 5. 04. 2012. — № 11 (944);
• Сказки и быль о Японии — 12. 04. 2012. — № 12 (945);
• Двадцатая страна — 24. 04. 2012. — № 13 (946);
• Заметки «японского» бомжа — 24. 05. 2012. — № 15 (948);
• Остров размером с деревню — 7. 06. 2012. — № 16 (949);
• Вот и всё: вокзал и аэропорт… — 7. 06. 2012. — № 17 (950);
• День рождения на Демерджи — 21. 07. 2012. — № 19 (952);
• Какая она, Замбия? — 15. 10. 2012. — № 32 (965);
• Вперёд, в африканские дебри! — 25. 10. 2012. — № 33 (966);
• Что было дальше? — 8. 11. 2012. — № 34 (967);
• Седьмое чудо света — 15. 11. 2012. — № 35 (968);
• Намибия. Первое знакомство — 6. 12. 2012. — № 37 (970);
• В гостях у смерти— 17. 01. 2013. — № 1 (973) — there is an English translation available;
• Робинзон нелепого «круиза» — 24. 01. 2013. — № 2 (974) — there is an English translation available;
• Мой адрес — не дом и не улица… — 31. 01. 2013. — № 3 (975);
• В каньоне «рыбной» реки — 7. 02. 2013. — № 4 (976);
• Через Замбию в Бурунди — 14. 02. 2013. — № 5 (977);
• Две страны за двое суток — 21. 02. 2013. — № 6 (978);
• Снег на экваторе — 7. 03. 2013. — № 7 (979);
• Всё имеет свойство заканчиваться… — 14. 03. 2013. — № 8 (980);
• Полгода по островам… — 4. 07. 2013. — № 18 (990);
• Снег на экваторе — 7. 03. 2013. — № 7 (979);
• На Борнео через Калимантан — 18. 07. 2013. — № 19 (991);
• Брунейские приключения начинаются… — 1. 08. 2013. — № 20 (992);
• Новый год на Змеином озере — 22. 08. 2013. — № 21 (992);
• Назад в Малайзию: туда, где ещё не бывал — 5. 09. 2013. — № 22 (994);
• Две лестницы и 100 долларов за подъём — 19. 09. 2013. — № 23 (995);
• Фауна малайского Борнео — 3. 10. 2013. — № 24 (996);
• Два Сусанина для одного иностранца — 24. 10. 2013. — № 25 (997);
• Медицина по-малазийски — 14. 10. 2013. — № 26 (998);
• Крымский гуру на Суматре — 13. 12. 2013. — № 28 (1000) — there is an English translation available;
• Печальная школа автостопа — 16. 01. 2014. — № 1 (1002);
• Жемчужина Западной Суматры — 30. 01. 2014. — № 2 (1003);
• Наяву на Яву прибыл… — 13. 02. 2014. — № 3 (1004);
• Череззаборный «тур» на Боробудур — 19. 03. 2014. — № 5 (1006);
• В джунглях культурной столицы — 27. 03. 2014. — № 6 (1007);
• Остров действующих вулканов — 19. 04. 2014. — № 7 (1008);
• Через три острова… автобусом — 24. 04. 2014. — № 8 (1009).

Wind of wanderings (rubric in the newspaper "Crimean Time")

Journalist's certificate issued in 2009

Journalist's certificate issued in 2014

“The Wind of Wanderings” (in ru: «Ветер странствий») is a rubric in the newspaper “Crimean Time” (in ru: «Крымское время»), the columnist of which was Russian traveler and journalist Viktor Pinchuk.

In 2014 the staff of the printed edition was completely renewed, only the name of the newspaper remained the same. Since then the travel column was called "Adventures of Crimean Wanderer".

The date of the first author′s publication is March 2007. For the entire period of work 34 articles of the traveler have been published, some of them are freely available on Wikisource.

At present the newspaper has ceased to exist.

Articles

• Индия даром — 29.03.2007. — № 35 (2421);
• Монгольский хуйвалдагч (отрывок из путевых заметок) — 11.10.2007. — № 113 (2499);
• Египет на десерт — 28.02.2008. — № 23 (2555);
• Зловонная «экзотика» дальних дорог — 3.04.2008. — № 36 (2568);
• Зачем пигмею противогаз? — 8.05.2008. — № 49 (2581);
• В поисках загадочных карамоджас — 22.05.2008. — № 54 (2586);
• Груша-Африка — 29.05.2008. — № 57 (2589);
• В жёлтой жаркой Африке не видать идиллии... — 17.07.2008. — № 75 (2607);
• Дед Масай и масайцы — 31.07.2008. — № 81 (2613);
• Дебре-Зэйт – посёлок у семи озёр — 18.09.2008. — № 101 (2633);
• Один день в Афганской тюрьме — 11.12.2008. — № 137 (2669);
• Новогодняя поездка в Каир — 25.12.2008. — № 143 (2675);
• По дорогам Сирии — 19.02.2009. — № 17 (2694);
• Узбегим дурдонаси — 5.03.2009. — № 23 (2700);
• Бродяга в Хашимитском королевстве — 9.04.2009. — № 38 (2715);
• Седьмая страна, или грузинский ночлег — 30.04.2009. — № 46 (2723);
• Ни слова по-турецки! — 4.06.2009. — № 59 (2736);
• Страна сэндвичей — 18.06.2009. — № 64 (2741);
• Эхо афганской войны — 3.09.2009. — № 95 (2772);
• Два дня на Тарханкуте — 10.09.2009. — № 97 (2774);
• В городе пальм — 1.10.2009. — № 103 (2780);
• Незабываемая Петра — 5.11.2009. — № 113 (2790);
• Три койко-дня в Грузии — 24.12.2009. — № 27 (2804);
• Начальная школа автостопа — 30.12.2009. — № 28 (2805);
• Автостоп: теория и практика — 6.01.2010. — № 1 (2806);
• Посылка из Кабула — 4.02.2010. — № 9 (2814);
• Женщины третьего мира: традиции и нравы — 11.03.2010. — № 18 (2823);
• Ты помнишь, как всё начиналось? — 18.03.2010. — № 20 (2825);
• Немного «секса» для дехкан — 24.06.2010. — № 44 (2849);
• Очень вкусный... паучок! — 25.09.2014. — № 38 (3393) — there is an English translation available;
• Заметки международного БОМЖа — 4.09.2014. — № 35 (3390) — there is an English translation available;
• Где обитают людоеды? — 11.09.2014. — № 36 (3391);
• Девять шагов с «мыльницей» наперевес — 7.08.2014. — № 31 (3386);
• В поисках затерянных племён — 16.10.2014. — № 41 (3396) — there is an English translation available.

With a backpack around the planet (rubric in the newspaper “Southern Capital”)

Journalist's certificate (now invalid) issued in 2021

“With a backpack around the planet” is one of several titles for the travel rubric in the Simferopol newspaper “Southern Capital”, whose columnist was the Crimean travel journalist Viktor Pinchuk.

Date of first publication, October 2007; a total of nine articles have been published, four of which are freely available on Wikisource (in Russian and English).

Articles

• Легко ли живётся простому человеку в столице Крыма и столице Египта? — 28.09.2007. — № 39 (820);
• Забытая нами страна — 16.10.2007. — № 48 (822);
• Индия. Страница из путевого дневника — 26.10.2007. — № 43 (824);
• Почему эфиопы не любят фотографов, или Цена эфиопской души — 23.05.2008. — № 20 (853);
• А вы бывали на озере Кьога... в Уганде? — 20.06.2008. — № 24 (857);
• Что такое МОСАРЕТУ, а также о комфорте по-африкански — 19.09.2008. — № 37 (870);

• В «обезьянник» — по собственному желанию — 23.07.2021. — № 28 (1500) — there is an English translation available;
• Ограбление по-африкански — 6.08.2021. — № 30 (1502) — there is an English translation available;
• В поисках древнего клада — 13.08.2021. — № 31 (1503) — there is an English translation available.

Around the World (rubric in the newspaper "Crimean Observer")

One of the articles

“Around the World” (in ru: «Вокруг света») is a rubric in the “Crimean Observer“ (in ru: «Крымский обозреватель») newspaper, published in Simferopol in the early 2000s, whose columnist was the Russian travel journalist Viktor Pinchuk.

The author's first publication was in October 2007; seven articles have been published since the paper's inception, two of which are freely available on Wikisource (in Russian).

Articles

• Путешествие на родину Чингисхана — 16.10.2007. — № 42 (220);
• Один день в египетской деревне — 19.02.2008. — № 7 (237);
• Кто такой Хануман? — 25.03.2008. — № 12 (242);
• В гостях у пигмеев — 29.04.2008. — № 17 (247);
• Много ли пулемётов в деревнях Кении? — 25.05.2008. — № 20 (250);
• Пирамиды за колючей проволокой — 9.09.2008. — № 36 (266);
• Что я делал в Момбасе? — 16.09.2008. — № 37 (267).

Around the world (rubric in the newspaper "Republic")

“Around the World” (in ru: «Вокруг света») is a column in the Crimean weekly “Republic” (in ru: «Республика»), published on the territory of the peninsula until 2014, whose columnist was a Russian travel journalist Viktor Pinchuk.

Date of first publication — January 2011; During the existence of the newspaper, the author prepared nine articles.

Articles

• Иммигрировать в Украину: они действительно об этом мечтают — 12.01.2011. — № 1 (35);
• В Турцию на две недели, или в Африку на три месяца? — 1.12.2011. — № 30 (30);
• Что едят там, где нас нет — 22.03.2012. — № 11 (45);
• Всё включено. Клопы тоже! — 10.05.2012. — № 18 (52);
• Проехать Азию: поезда, автобусы, маршрутки — 6.12.2012. — № 48 (82);
• Азиатская еда: денег мало? Не беда! — 27.06.2013. — № 24 (109);
• Гость – на кровати, хозяин – на коврике — 14.11.2013. — № 44 (129);
• «Африканский водопад оставил меня без штанов и чуть не убил» — 22.05.2014. — № 18 (153);
• От дуриана до мангостина — 29.05.2014. — № 19 (154).

Travel notes (rubric in the ProX magazine)

One of the articles

“Travel notes” (in ru: «Путёвые заметки», untranslatable pun, where replacing the "е" with an "ё" changes the meaning) is a title of heading in the youth magazine “ProX”, where, along with other authors, the Russian travel journalist & adventurer Viktor Pinchuk was published.

The first author's material was released in 2007; During the existence of the publication, six articles were published, one of which is freely available on the Wikisource (in Russian and English).

Articles

• Эфиоп и Я — 2007 — №7 (10);
• Хуйтэн по-монгольски — 2008 — №1 (14);
• Медаль за отвагу — 2008 — №1 (1) — there is an English translation available;
• Афганский пленник (ч. 1) — 2009 — №1 (21);
• Афганский пленник (ч. 2) — 2010 — №1 (23);
• Такую Сирию турфирмы вам не покажут — 2010 — №2 (24).