[Vlad The Impala]

A man who planned to spend two and a half years walking from Britain to India without spending any money returned home because he could not speak French, a report said.

Mark Boyle, 28, wanted to prove the world could survive without the evils of money by making the two-and-a-half year trek with two friends, but was derailed when he reached Calais (only 33 km (20 miles) from England) because he could not speak the language, The Times of London reported.

It is reported that this idiot Boyle is part of the Freeconomy movement, which stands to eliminate money entirely from the world.

"Not only did no one ... speak the language, they also see us as just a bunch of freeloading backpackers, which is the complete opposite of what the pilgrimage is really about," Boyle said.



These people make me want to vomit!  You see them all the time in India trying to do their trip for free or by spending as little as possible.  Are these people so stupid that they don't realise a couple of things:

1.  People in India are so kind and generous that even if they have NOTHING, they will share it with you

2. The Indian economy relies to a great extent on income from tourism.  This income helps to improve the lot of the poor!

It is about time that India introduced a financial check of visa applicants and prevented these freeloading halfwits from entering the country.  After all, just try to get a UK visa if you have no money in your account or no account at all!

[john.sw]

According to the UK press. Mr. Boyle, who is a member of the Freeconomy Movement, wanted to do this important trek to bring the world "peace."

Being a good member of that aforementioned society of high thinkers and humanitarians, he thought he was going to do it without a penny in his pocket, too. The bunch of nutters that call themselves The Freeconomy Movement imagines that everything can be free, that money is unnecessary. In fact, they want to completely do away with money.

The Daliy Telegraph gives us the soul stirring details…

Quote

Mark Boyle, 28, who began his trip with only t-shirt, sandals and a bandage four weeks ago, hoped that strangers along the way would provide him with food and places to stay.

But disaster struck when he arrived in France because the French were not prepared to let this scrounging fool get away with it,.

Quote

After reaching Calais Mr Boyle made the decision to quit his trip because as he could not speak French people thought he was an asylum seeker or a freeloader and would not give him food or board.

Quote

Mr Boyle… apologised to his supporters and said that he was unable to find words to express his disappointment at having to quit.

Yes, the whole world is disappointed too, but maybe for different reasons.

Imagine these darn French people? Looking upon this scruffy, unkempt, penniless, freeloader looking for a free meal and imagining he is a scruffy, unkempt, penniless, freeloader looking for a free meal!

So, now humanity will have to wait for another scruffy, unkempt, penniless, freeloader looking for a free meal to bring the enlightenment to us all.

India can do without people like that, and so can Britain!

[digital drifter]

john.sw, on Mar 1 2008, 07:58 PM, said:

India can do without people like that, and so can Britain!

Hey, problem kids can't be left on French soil, you have to take them back(Sarkozy has a flaming temper, you know). And he doesn't speak French either.

Imagine, what your European neighbours would say.

[Shiver me Timbers]

That guys blog is a real piece of comedy gold, if it wasn't so sad......

Have a read....

here

[dzibead]

I'm afraid I did QUITE a bit of my characterisitic ranting about this fool on a certain other India travel website that will go unnamed here (but many of you will get my drift).  

A lot of people on that site were cheering him on, apparently taken with the "romance" of his journey but completely missing the point that this fool was supposedly trying to show that he could do the trip without cash, by barter alone.  Problem: he was't bartering anything, he was just expecting people to give him stuff - like manna from heaven.  This idiot and others who share his anti-money "economic theory" apparently haven't figured out that a pure barter economy (which probably hasn't existed since the Stone Age - or in Stone Age cultures that still exist in the places like the Amazon rainforest!) is extremely difficult and unwieldy, which is why money economies developed.  They think that money is the source of all our problems - as if money per se were the source of greed and selfishness instead of part of human nature.  It's hard for me to believe that anyone older than about 11 or 12 could be this stupid and naive.  And I must say, I enjoyed watching his utter collapse (but then I'm not a nice person).  As Conor said, his blog is Pure Comedy Gold.

[noflylist]

Sad truth is that, if they had made to Asia and India, they would have made it for our love of good story and novelty of foreign skin!

[jyotirmoy]

Who is the bigger fool? The guy Boyle or the people cheering him? Thank God he didn't make it to India.

[cyberhippie]

Falang Sadhus

Check out Dipak Giri, who has been a khareshwari i.e. 'standing sadhu' for over two years.

[cyberhippie]

Whilst I've no beef with the idea of it all, he really comes across as being completely green when it comes to travel.

Quote

The only trouble was the first decent sized town in Belgium was 170km away, and all we had was three tins of soup, a bag of trail mix and a chocolate bar to sustain us

Jeez I made it from Algeceris to Amsterdam on that  

Methinks he should spend a year in India on say 300 rupees a day, before contemplating setting the world on fire with free economy ideas.

It's not a new idea either, a friend drove a lass around western Australia for free, as she was trying to see Australia on less than a shoestring shall we say. She did quite well, seen a lot of Australia on the lam.

He's a bit airy fairy which I see isn't winning him any fans, would have been better if he'd just done it then wrote about his experiences, it might have been a touch more down to earth. It's doable, many people live outside socety and pay no respect to borders, tramps, hobos, illegal immigrants and just your plain old fashioned "bum"

[WonderWomanUSA]

Now here's a guy who is changing the world, one person at a time.

http://www.100friends.com/

[jyotirmoy]

cyberhippie, on Mar 2 2008, 09:33 AM, said:

Falang Sadhus

Check out Dipak Giri, who has been a khareshwari i.e. 'standing sadhu' for over two years.

Standing babas..... reading Shantaram?
There is one standing baba in Uttarkashi.

[Shashank]

Vlad The Impala, on Mar 1 2008, 07:45 PM, said:

2. The Indian economy relies to a great extent on income from tourism.  This income helps to improve the lot of the poor!

I would like to correct the misconception, no it does not depend on tourism, tourism is a very small part of it..just like any other industry.

[kullukid]

john.sw, on Mar 1 2008, 02:28 PM, said:

Being a good member of that aforementioned society of high thinkers and humanitarians, he thought he was going to do it without a penny in his pocket, too. The bunch of nutters that call themselves The Freeconomy Movement imagines that everything can be free, that money is unnecessary. In fact, they want to completely do away with money.

       Hilarious!!! He got it the wrong way round, we need to do away with languages completely.........doesn't he know "Money Talks"!!!! KK

[kullukid]

Vlad The Impala, on Mar 1 2008, 02:15 PM, said:

2. The Indian economy relies to a great extent on income from tourism.  This income helps to improve the lot of the poor!

Can't see this logic in this statement, surely it's the people doing it "on a shoestring" that filter money through to the poor by staying in budget accomo & eating at street Dhabas, rather than top of the range hotels where the only people that really benefit are the ones who are already "doing verreeee nicely thankyou very much" KK

[Judi]

kullukid, on Mar 3 2008, 10:22 AM, said:

Can't see this logic in this statement, surely it's the people doing it "on a shoestring" that filter money through to the poor by staying in budget accomo & eating at street Dhabas, rather than top of the range hotels where the only people that really benefit are the ones who are already "doing verreeee nicely thankyou very much" KK

Don't entirely agree with you there, KK.  Sure, 'top of the range' owners/shareholders/managers/whatever do " very nicely" for themselves, but they also give much-needed employment to many, many people - undoubtedly many more than the budget hotels do.  And to be fair ...... how many travellers stay in a hotel just to benefit the local population?  Most stay, surely, in hotels which suit their preferences and their purses?

[kullukid]

Judi, on Mar 3 2008, 11:07 AM, said:

Don't entirely agree with you there, KK.  Sure, 'top of the range' owners/shareholders/managers/whatever do " very nicely" for themselves, but they also give much-needed employment to many, many people - undoubtedly many more than the budget hotels do.

Well it's all relative, it depends what your definition of "poor" is, i would class people who work in "top of the range" hotels as one's who are already  "doing verreeee nicely thankyou very much" by Indian standards.
But hey who am i to get into an argument with the fairer sex unfortunately i'm too old but not sure about too wise for that!!!    KK

[crvlvr]

john.sw, on Mar 1 2008, 07:28 AM, said:

According to the UK press. Mr. Boyle, who is a member of the Freeconomy Movement, wanted to do this important trek to bring the world "peace."

Being a good member of that aforementioned society of high thinkers and humanitarians, he thought he was going to do it without a penny in his pocket, too. The bunch of nutters that call themselves The Freeconomy Movement imagines that everything can be free, that money is unnecessary. In fact, they want to completely do away with money.

You mean the high thinking community could not even organize the basics for his trip? According to his blog:

Quote

Members: 4438
Countries Represented: 87
Skills available: 1006
Tools offered: 18150
Spaces available: 66
No. of acres shared: 1.50

I guess France is not on of those 88 countries..  

Edited by crvlvr, 04 March 2008 - 06:13 AM.

[70s-80s overlander]

WonderWomanUSA, on Mar 2 2008, 06:20 PM, said:

Now here's a guy who is changing the world, one person at a time.

http://www.100friends.com/

Thank you! This guy is interesting! His list of 166 projects for about $60,000 total is an eye opener.

[WonderWomanUSA]

70s-80s overlander, on Mar 3 2008, 08:58 PM, said:

Thank you! This guy is interesting! His list of 166 projects for about $60,000 total is an eye opener.

Yes, I think he's got one of the right answers. No layers of "management" between the source of trhe money and the recipients!

[BillyDean]

I loved this part of his blog ...

"If my refusal to give up when things get really tough can inspire just one other person, it will have been worth it."