Spain 1,

Oct 15, 2024,

Hi everyone,

The greater part of this post will be a general review of what circumstances brought me here today. For some of my readers, this will be a review that you may wish to skip through briefly. I graduated from Mcgill University in 1970. My marks were above average but not good enough to get me into medical school. Some of my patients reading this blog may not wish to know this fact. In any case, I decided to go on a trip to Europe with my friend Bram. Our first few days in Paris were a bit strange as we didn’t really know what travelling was all about. Eventually we decided to hitch hike to Marseille. Hitching was legal and safe in those days in Europe, everyone did it. We split up for various reasons on the way and met up at the youth hostel in Marseille. The rules for successful hitching were simple: 1. Always hitch with a girl. That provided her with safety. Motorists would easily pick up a couple. 2. 2 guys alone would never get a lift. 3. You could get a lift as a single guy but it could take a little longer.

We stayed in Marseille for a few days, drinking cheap wine and lying on the beach. It was my first taste of meeting youth travellers from all over the world. Youth hostels in those days were cheap, safe and a good method of meeting people and learning the ropes of successful travelling. We decided that hitching was time consuming and that we need ‘wheels’ for the trip. Many kids bought old VW vans if they were travelling in a small groups. They often slept and cooked in the vans. We hitch hiked to Milano and bought 200cc Lambrettas.

I had my first of several motorcycle accidents in France. I was riding alone in the dark and it was raining heavily. I slid off the road on small stones and went over the handle bars. I was not wearing a helmet as it was not obligatory. I was scraped everywhere except for my head. A French teacher came by and took me to his house. He gave me oily salve for my wounds. I stayed with his family for 3 days while he arranged to have my bike fixed. This was the first of many kindness’s that I got from strangers over the year that I travelled.

I met up with Bram several days later. Bram then had his own motorcycle accident, a little more serious as he was taken to a hospital and the bike was destroyed. That put him off on travelling. He went home in 6 weeks and I returned home in 6 years, with 1 year spent travelling, 5 years in a French medical school, French friends whose friendship I have maintained for life and a beautiful French bride.

My time in Spain was a real eye opener. I had never travelled alone in my life and had no experience riding a motorcycle. Necessity is the mother of invention and I learned fast. I was in Spain and Portugal for 2 months. I loved Spain then and am happy to be here now again. My budget then was $3 a day. $1 for gas, $1 for food and $1 for a hotel. I slept out on beaches, parks and often in a ditch on the side of the road. Anything to save money. I road across North Africa and took a ferry to Italy. The bike was stolen in Italy. I hitch hiked for 6 months. I skied for 2 months in Austria, Italy and Switzerland. I hitched through Italy and Greece eventually ending up in Israel. I slept on the beach for 1 month and worked on a kibbutz for 2 months. At the end of the year, I went to France where I stayed for 5 years studying medicine.

My parents and my girlfriend kept my letters, eventually giving them to me and one day I will write my memoires.

Love,

Brian