Pierre Trudeau

From Hitchwiki
Revision as of 13:35, 17 November 2008 by Robino (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Pierre Elliot Trudeau was a hitchiker in Canada who later became Prime Minister. Among other countries he hitched around Indochina and the Middle East. He was also known to hitchhike sometimes while he was Prime Minister, much at the horror of his bodyguards

'Pierre Elliot Trudeau: The Fascinating Life of Canada's Most Flamboyant Prime Minister', is a book that also deals with the former prime-ministers hitchhiking adventures, in the Middle East. An excerpt:

It was May 1948, and Palestine was convulsed in war over the new state of Israel. Amman was the second Middle Eastern stop on the hitchhiker's trek towards the Far East. It was a tempest of foreign press and frightened Arabs. He was glad to leave it behind and decidedly pleased with his ingenuity regarding transportation. Travel as a foreigner without proper documents was risky, but the 29-year-old student didn't care.

Trudeau left university in 1948 at age 29 to tour Europe and the Middle East. He hitchhiked with a knapsack and rode a motorbike. He visited Austria, Hungary, and Germany, and after that he traveled to Eastern Europe. Then he went to Pakistan, India, Burma, Afghanistan, Indochina, Thailand, and accordingly also to China. He returned to Canada in 1949.

As a Prime Minister he also advised young Canadians to hit the road and see their country. "Hit the road. Drive or hitchhike and see what Canada’s all about", is what he said in 1970.

wikipedia:Trudeau