After hitchhiking to India with no money, Tom Thumb found himself penniless on the beach in Goa and his strategy for survival was to write a book, Hand to Mouth to India, about the journey there. Someone bought him pen and paper to write it and the manuscript was almost lost when a cow began to munch it while the author was getting a coconut.
He sold the book on flea markets, at trance parties, on the beach and in cafes, before hitchhiking from Istanbul to Israel with 70 copies in his backpack which all tumbled out on the floor at the feet of immigration officials at the Israeli border.
Hand to Mouth to India was then published in London in 2000 and is the main reason that he has the rather silly pen name of Tom Thumb.
If you have a great story to tell and would like to feature it on the Road Junky podcast feel free to be in touch to tom@tomthumb.org
Or just come and share it around the fire in the Sahara Desert at one of the Road Junky Retreats that take place each winter in Morocco.
www.roadjunkyretreat.com
Sound design for this episode by James Stevens
Theme song by the No Mercy Sisters with Adam Most and Ali Rasim Kocal.