The hippie trail is the name given to the overland journey taken by the members of the hippie culture in the 1950's to 1970's. The journey started from Europe extending all the way to South East Asia mainly through countries like Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Nepal and India.
The main purpose of the trip was to travel for cheap. Wherever the travelers went they collaborated with restaurants, hotels and cafes. Journeys usually started from major cities like London, Copenhagen, West Berlin, Paris and Amsterdam. Most journeys pass through Istanbul where the routes divided. The usual route passed through Tehran, Herat, Kandahar, Kabul, Peshawar and Lahore into India.
In order to keep the cost low people usually hitchhiked or take cheap private buses that travelled the route. Ideas and knowledge were exchanged at hotels, cafes and other well known gathering spots. Hippies tended to travel light seeking to pickup and go wherever the action was at any time. Their style of travel were hippie styled buses, hand crafted houses built on trucks and buses to go about a nomadic lifestyle.
Most of the travelers who travelled on this magic bus hippie style settled down in various parts of south east Asia. Their shops, restaurants and cafes could still be seen in many parts of India, Nepal and other countries on the route.
Being lucky enough to be able to talk with a guy(Charlie) who came to India on the magic bus in the 1970's definitely gave me an idea about how traveling in our country was way back then and how it is right now.
Charlie(67) has been in India for the past 45 years and he came into India as a teenager riding a bus and was actually part of the hippie movement. According to Charlie the so called "Hippies" don't exist anymore and people have taken the "hippie" word in a different sense these days indulging themselves into drugs and other substance abuse activities and not actually travelling.
Getting to listen to Charlie's stories and experiences was one of the most memorable moments in my travel life. When asked if he would still travel at the age of 67 if given an opportunity he replied "he would love to get back behind the wheels again and hit on the gas."
