Russian guy travels across the US on freight trains. Amazing.

Check out this video. The guy is so positive and friendly. He must have been stopped by police a hundred times but never arrested.
What a cool story.

I'll watch the video later. I actually did a little research on this topic a while ago. They have a different attitude toward people hitch hiking on trains in Russia. It's kind of considered a right, police don't bother hitch hikers too much.

as long as they are Russian citizens - now a tourist from the U.S. who decides to sit inside with the other passengers and go to any place in Russia he likes .... bad idea if its not a place his passport says he can go

What's so amazing?
In the twenties and thirties, thousands of Americans traveled across the US on freight trains in a way less tolerant time.

+1

this video was not shot in the 20's! the experience is totally different. watch the video

Hold him hostage until he pays his fair bill.

I watched that whole thing then noticed there are like 20 more like that. I dont think i've the time to watch them all but that was pretty good.

It must be so strange for someone from Russia to come to the US and find that moving around the country poor is just about illegal. Cant hitchhike, cant jump trains and almost every piece of property you walk across is private and the police will come and throw you off of it. Go down by a lake and make a drift wood fire and then firemen show up stomp out your fire and tell you that you cant camp here.

The US is a horrible place to be unless you have money.

There is no place on earth where the "poor" are so rich as in the US.

U.S. poverty measured against greater world poverty = richly poor

still doesn't sound like much of an upgrade if you're living in the U.S.

Yes but the US is one of the worst places for artificially restricting the poor.

Oh, I dunno...the poor in the third world can, and are, shot dead for trespassing. No need to report it to the police - just hack them up the rest of the way and feed the parts to the pigs.

And our Russian friend is hopping freight trains without much difficulty. That can be a capital punishment offense in more "enlightened" parts of the world.

In the USA, pan handlers can afford rent - forget about avoiding starvation - from their begging.

Our poor are not restricted any more than in any other country, and have more freedoms than the vast majority of the world's poor.

No, people of any economic status cannot trespass at will, start fires wherever they please, squat wherever they want, or have a right to transportation at will (hitch hiking, jumping trains, etc.) in the USA. For this I am thankful. If somebody decides that they should be able to put up a tent in my back yard, start fires, and then demand I drive them wherever they want to, their freedoms as a poor person is not going to be uppermost in my mind.

+1

Well said.

There is a segment of our society that envy's other members who have more, whinning about the "1%" and claiming that large portions of that wealth should be redistributed (presumably to people like themselves). Meanwhile, looking at the world overall, these U.S. whiners are themselves members of the world's "top 1%" or pretty close to it... and it never seems to occur to them that under the same "principle" they espouse, their own wealth should be redistributed to others in the world.

Poor in my country and most modern Western European countries get decent levels of welfare and universal health care and housing.

Not saying to stir - but it's a fact.

Cheers and have a good one.

Plenty of programs exist in the US as well that fill those needs:


Medicaid
HUD subsidized apartments
Food stamps


And those are just at the Federal level. Most States also have their own local welfare programs.

No ID no aid

No address (domicile) no ID

No ID no work

No work no house

rinse repeat

there are quite a few who fall between the cracks here

+1

Cool to see some rail-riding action!
As far as I understand, hopping freights in the US has become increasingly difficult over the years, and the old hobo lifestyle has almost died out with it.
Kind of a shame though, always had kind of a romantic appeal to me, even though the real life on the rails was probably more hardship than fun.

This Vice documentary on the subject is a good watch.

"The poor in the USA are in grave distress," the activist said, after literally flushing away 1.5 gallons of drinkable water down the toilet and watching the tiny spider he killed go with it. Kinda puts things into perspective.

Allicat, obtaining ID to gain government services is a must, and should be. Otherwise one could just show up to a welfare office, give any name they desired, and walk away with cash.

However, we have around 11 Million people here in the USA without valid ID that not only hold jobs, but buy houses and raise the children they brought here illegally. The few that have "fallen through the cracks" here in the USA are most decidedly wanting to be in the cracks.

No matter how wealthy a country is, there will always be vagrants, bums, and yes, those who are impoverished by the fickle finger of fate. What was it the man said? "The poor will always be with us."

guys this was not meant to be a political thread, politely, knock it off. this is just a video about a guy traveling by freight trains

That's my bad longbow. I didnt mean for my flippant comment to spiral this thread down to PWEC.

no worries

one thing that i thought was interesting is that they tend to catch the trains while running. i was surprised at how fast a train could be going and they'd still be able to catch it and jump on. you wouldn't think someone could get on it but there's the video of him doing it.. they sure are brave

If any of these train travelers screw up and get hurt I sure hope they don't think they can try and sue.

No not brave, just plain stupid.

This video made me think of what my father did after being discharged from the Navy in 1946. The Navy had a policy of paying a discharged sailor so many cents per mile from his discharge location to his home. So my father lied to the Navy, told them he had a job lined up in San Diego so that the Navy would discharge him there and pay him for the 2300 miles home to SC, which they did. He then proceeded to hitchhike across the entire United States. The only public transportation he used was the last 10 or so miles home.