by Selsabil Beloued, reporter

Before heading to the University of Kent to start his master’s degree, Bernardo Machado, 22, decided to have some fun this summer by hitchhiking through Europe from Porto to Canterbury. 

He started his journey from Portugal with his cousin, looking for a summer job in southern France. They took a plane from Porto to Lyon where a friend told him he could sleep in her flat. Luckily, Bernard didn’t have trouble finding a job picking fruits. Their first time hitchhiking was right after they heard about another job opportunity a hundred miles from there, in a small town called Aubenas. “I was searching for summer jobs to help with my studies and also for an adventure and stories to tell to my grandchildren.”

He didn’t get the job but instead, Bernardo received a valuable lesson from his ride well-worth passing on. A kind driver saw Bernardo’s sign, offered them a ride and insisted to pay for their motel and trip to the restaurant once they got to Aubenas. It almost brought Bernardo to tears saying he couldn’t pay him back for his kindness. The man shook his head and said: “Just make sure that when the day comes and someone needs your help, you don’t hesitate.” 

After a vain job search, his cousin said they should find a way for him to return to Portugal as it had already been a month since they left. They took the TGV (express train) to Marseille where they found a shuttle bus heading to their home country. Bernardo wasn’t done just yet, he planned to visit his girlfriend in Italy so he said goodbye to his cousin and went back to hitchhiking. He scribbled “Italie” to his sign which caught the eye of a lady who then picked him up from the side of the road. It was the longest ride he’s had so far but the lady didn’t seem to mind and they had a nice chat. He talked about his Italian girlfriend and how much he was excited to see her.

So far, Bernardo only ever spent his money when it was absolutely necessary (for transports and when he couldn’t find a store that’d dispose of their fruits for free). He never paid for a ride but this lady was eager to drop him all the way to Turin and never asked for anything but conversation. She declined when he offered to pay and argued he should keep the money to take his girlfriend out on a romantic date.

Sadly, Turin wasn’t as nice to him; he couldn’t get a car to take him to Bologna where his girlfriend lives, and when he would ask for directions, people would think he was begging for money and snubbed him. After a rough night in a tent, Bernardo decided to take the bus to Bologna and called his friends to help him stage a romantic surprise.

His friends pretended to be the post office on a call to his girlfriend and told her to come home to sign off a “big package”. When she arrived, Bernardo burst out the box with a bottle of prosecco. Needless to say, she was ecstatic and they went on to visit Italy (you guessed it) hitchhiking. Bernardo spent the first half of September visiting his Italian friends and spending quality time with his girlfriend.

He travelled all around the country: Faenza; Teramo; Rome; Napoli; Pompei; Catanzaro; Palermo; Firenze; Bologna; Assisi; Terme di Saturni and then back to Bologna.

After saying goodbye to his girlfriend, he took the plane to London on the 19^th and hitchhiked all the way to his apartment in Canterbury. 

“There is a time to be a penniless pilgrim as you find the beauty of the true human generosity, and then there is a time to settle, search for some comfort and share the same compassion and willingness to help the next penniless explorers to come.”

Starting his master’s in a different country hasn’t been easy and Bernardo is still getting used to his student lifestyle, far different from his days on the road when every day was an adventure and he excited to see his girlfriend to share part of the journey with. “I miss my family and loved ones,” he said. “When you’re living day to day and you don’t know where you’re going to sleep, your perception of time is completely different.”

If you’re inspired by Bernardo’s story and would like to go backpacking through Europe, make sure you let people know you’re doing it, bring someone (preferably with experience) with you and keep your budget in mind.