[Powerinourhandsl]

In My Twenties i went over from the Uk to work in Spain. It started off well , but after 6 months the work i had been doing dried up , and so did its accomodation. To make matters worse on the last day working someone broke into where i was staying and took my passport and practically all the money i had.
Being young and proud, i refused to contact my parents to ask for a bail out, so packed my bag and started walking towards Barcelona where there was a British Consulate. I was in Southern Spain and Barcelona some 300 kms away.
Walking along the road in the middle of nowhere i saw 2 men walking towards me. They were spanish , but in the same situation as me. No work , no money , and this instant recognition of circumstances made us stop and chat. They were going south for the orange picking and said i should join them. It seemed a good idea but i thought it about tme to head home. After telling my story to them they told me to go into the social security offices Valencia and ask for a travel grant. Apparently , at that time in Spain you could get a ticket from the social to get you to your next job or get you home if you were desperate. So , i said goodbye and off i went.
A day later and after hitchhiking all the way i got to Valencia late at night. I was hungry, so entered a small cafe, and asked to speak to the cook. It was late and the place was about to close, but without fear i asked if she had any food that was about to be thrown away. She looked at me hard and said sit down. 2 mins later she reapeared with a big bowl of stew. I thanked her , with tears in my eyes.
That night i slep on the hard shoulder of a motorway, great places as no one walks around those areas at any time of day and you can sleep well wthout worrying about being seen.
The next Morning i marched into the spanish social offices LOL. after waiting 30 mins i got to a desk, and explained my plight. They then sent me to another desk, then another office. In the office i was told that the grants for travel were no longer given in Valencia , although practically every other provence had them. He then said that i should not worry and just get on the train, when challenged for a ticket , just politely say you have not got one , whereapon the ticket inspector will kick you off the train. So you can travel on the trains, but you have to be prepared get off every so often and wait for the next one. He then told me about a soup kitchen in Valencia, so i thanked him, and went off to the kitchens.
The Soup kitchin was in a church building. I could tell i was in the right place as there was a large crowd of people milling around out side. Bags were not allowed inside and had to be left in a sort of left luggage office in exchange for a ticket. The dinning hall was enormous, and there were at least 300 people in there ( God knows how many go there today) but we were given a good 3 course meal, and on exit a Bocadillo ( french bread sandwich ) to take away.
Off i went to the railway station , and selected an express train to Barcelona, it took an hour and a half to get kicked off, then a wait of an hour before getting the next one. I finally got to Barcelona after 6 hours and 3 stops.
i slep rough in Barcelona that night then went to the consulate to get a passport. They normally charge for that service , but i had nothing to pay so had to give it to me free. Well not a passport more of a consulate letter.
And to cut a long story short i did the same all through what remained of spain and france, When i finally got to the channel they would not let me on without paying, So i had to ring a mate up in the uk with a credit card to buy me a student ticket for 15 pounds to get to the uk.

Southern spain to England, hitchhiking and train freeloading took 4 days. But when you want to do something you can. When you have nothing to loose and everything to gain it is easy.

PS returned to Valencia a year later to pay the bill.......