Hitchhiking is the stuff of horror movies for many travellers – but for one, hitching free rides from strangers is giving him the trip of a lifetime.
Meet Timo de Jong, a 25-year-old traveller from Steenwijk in the Netherlands – who is currently hitchhiking from Southampton to South Africa.
At the time of writing, he’d clocked up 293 rides, most of which have been completely free.
Timo’s decision to take the 10,000-mile journey was fairly sporadic. Having never visited either place before, he told MailOnline Travel: ‘I was in the UK visiting some friends and was looking for my next big adventure. I looked at the map, saw Southampton and thought to myself, “Hmm, that kind of sounds like South Africa.”
‘Next thing you know, I’m on the side of the road in Southampton, trying to get a ride out towards Dover.’
Timo de Jong (above), a 25-year-old traveller from Steenwijk in the Netherlands, is currently hitchhiking from Southampton to South Africa. He’s pictured here in Southampton
So far Timo has clocked up 293 rides, most of which have been completely free. He’s pictured above in Ghana sharing two seats in the back of a convertible with two other travellers
Timo has been documenting his journey online, posting daily videos to his Instagram account, where he’s accumulated 135,000 followers. He’s pictured above on the side of a road in France, attempting to hitch a ride
Timo, who has been travelling full-time since he was 18, has been documenting his journey online, posting daily videos to his Instagram account (@hitchikertimo), where he’s accumulated 135,000 followers.
He began the trip back in February. In Dover, he managed to hitch a ride to France with two Romanian men who were catching the ferry and welcomed him into their car. This didn’t cost him anything as the ferry charges per vehicle rather than per passenger.
From France, he continued his journey through Belgium and down to Algeciras in Spain. Once there, he bypassed ferry costs again by hitching a ride on a truck bound for Morocco.
He then hitchhiked through Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria, where he took a boat to Cameroon and hitchhiked to the Republic of the Congo.
We caught up with him at the 9,000-mile/186-day mark when he reached Ousso, a town in the northern Republic of the Congo.
Timo has encountered a lot of surprises along the way – the main one being his friend and travel companion Courtney (pictured right), a hitchhiker who he met at a hostel in Barcelona 26 days into the trip. She decided to travel with him to South Africa
Timo is pictured left on a ferry from Algeciras in Spain to Morocco. He managed to bypass ferry costs by hitching a ride on a truck. In the image on the right, Courtney is on the side of the road in Morocco
Timo says the best part of hitchhiking is ‘the dopamine hit you get during the first few seconds you see the car pull over for you’. Pictured left is a road in Guinea, while the image on the right shows Courtney waiting for a ride in Gambia
Timo explains that there are many ups and downs to hitchhiking. He says: ‘The worst part is the waiting, especially if it starts raining. But the best part is the dopamine hit you get during the first few seconds you see the car pull over for you. [It’s] honestly amazing and unlike anything else.’
Having passed through so many countries, Timo has also encountered a lot of surprises along the way – the main one being his friend and travel companion Courtney, a hitchhiker who he met at a hostel in Barcelona 26 days into the trip and decided to join him on the journey to South Africa.
He’s also been surprised by ‘how kind everyone has been’ on the journey, ‘especially in the poorer African countries where people pretty much have nothing, but are still willing to share the few things they have with you’.
Pictured above is the boat Timo and Courtney took from Nigeria to Cameroon
Pictured left is a ‘mouldy mattress’ in Conakry, Guinea, which Timo describes as ‘one of the worst nights I’ve ever had’. The image on the right shows a room at a hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where Timo stayed free of charge
So far, Timo has spent just over 4,000 euros (£3,400) on the trip, 700 (£596) of which has been on visas. He says: ‘Rides are almost always free. I’ve accidentally gotten into a taxi twice before and had to pay for those, and the boat from Nigeria to Cameroon. But except from that, they’ve all been free.’
Timo primarily stayed in hostels in Europe, but ‘those pretty much disappeared’ once he reached Africa, where he mainly stays in hotels or uses Couchsurfing [a free app that helps travellers find accommodation].
He explains: ‘Depending on the country, you can usually find a hotel between five and 15 euros a night.’
Nigeria has been ‘one of the cheapest countries’ he’s visited so far. Timo says he and Courtney found a hotel there for 8,000 Nigerian Naira a night, which converts to less than £2/$2.65 each.
The traveller has also been sleeping in his tent, pitching it in locations ranging from rooftops to a truck trailer.
One of Timo’s favourite locations so far is Mauritania in Northwest Africa, where he hitched a ride on the iron ore train, one of the world’s longest trains, from Nouadhibiou to Zourat, stopping in Choum. The train runs on a single 437-mile (704km) track and passes through the Sahara Desert.
Timo’s journey on the train, which carries up to 84 tonnes of iron per cart, took three days. He was covered in iron dust by the end and, in an Instagram video, said: ‘I genuinely don’t think I’ve been this dirty before in my entire life.’
While some may perceive hitchhiking as risky, Timo claims he has never encountered any real threat. He says he is ‘not too worried’ about taking safety precautions but, if possible, tries to avoid hitchhiking at night.
He adds: ‘The only real “danger” I can remember is when some kids (around 15 years old) tried to steal my phone near Barcelona. Luckily, it was a pathetic attempt, and they weren’t professionals.’
The above image shows Timo’s tent pitched on a local’s rooftop in Dakar, Senegal
Timo’s tent is pitched here on the back of a truck in the Republic of the Congo
What happens if he can’t hitch a ride? Timo says: ‘It sucks.’
But, he says: ‘As long as there are cars on the road, someone will eventually stop, so we usually just wait.’
The waits can be long and unpredictable.
Timo says: ‘In Cameroon, we ended up waiting for four hours, and then it was starting to get dark, so we checked into a hotel. The next morning, we tried again and managed to get a ride within a few minutes.’
Despite this, Timo, who has been travelling since he left school in 2017 and saving money from working odd jobs, primarily at a car factory, says he’s having ‘an absolutely brilliant time’. He adds: ‘Some days are hard, but it’s not like that’s unexpected. I knew full well what we were getting ourselves into and I definitely don’t regret it.’
To complete his journey, Timo plans to hitchhike to Angola, take a ferry from Cabinda to Soyo, and make his way across Namibia to enter South Africa.
What will he do when he gets there? He says: ‘I’m excited to explore the whole country. But after that, It’s probably time for me to go home as I’ve been travelling for quite a while and have only been home for ten days since September 2021.’
One of Timo’s favourite locations he visited was Mauritania in Northwest Africa, where he hitched a ride on the iron ore train (pictured)
Timo is shown here in the Sahara, where he got invited in for tea while hitchhiking
