INTERVIEWS

ADVENTURES OF A CONTINENTAL DRIFTER

The News & Observer
October 3, 2005
by Matt Ehlers, staff writer

CONTINENTAL DRIFTER
Look Who's Coming: Elliott Hester, vagabond
If you had the guts, you'd do it. But you don't, so you depend on people like former flight attendant Elliott Hester to make the leap for you. When American Airlines started offering leaves of absence after 9/11, Hester took a huge one, sold everything he owned and took off on a trip around the world.

He visited 22 countries on six continents in 18 months. Now he's back with a collection of travel stories, "Adventures of a Continental Drifter," and will be in Raleigh this week to talk about it.

Hester, 47, already will be familiar to readers of The News & Observer Sunday travel section, where his stories occasionally appear. He's since taken off on another globetrotting trip, with some time out for a book tour. He spoke from San Francisco.

Q - What's your favorite part about being homeless?
A - One of my favorite parts is that I haven't had to sweep a floor in years, or really clean up a room, so that's kind of nice. The thing I miss the most is that I haven't slept in my own bed in three years. And I've slept in more than 150 different beds, sofas, couches, cots. That can be sort of discombobulating at times.

Q - Where is your bed?
A - I don't have one.

Q - You don't have a storage unit somewhere with your stuff?
A - No, no. Really, I sold everything. I sold my car, my bicycle. All my furniture, I sold. I put ads in the newspaper. People came by and plucked my stuff away. The only stuff I have is that which can fit into my rolling duffel bag and my computer backpack. After traveling for that 18-month period, well, for that first year, my clothes were pretty worn out. So one of my last stops was Rome and I did some shopping there and upgraded my wardrobe. And I have some of those pieces of clothing at a relative's house in Chicago.

Q - How long do you plan to keep this up?
A - I really don't know. I wish I could tell you. I'm having a really good time now. And I know that this is probably going to be the only time in my life that I can do this. Once I stop and kind of get resettled somewhere, who knows, maybe I'll have a family or at least plant my roots somewhere. I probably won't get another chance to do this, so I'm going to do it for as long as I'm enjoying it.

Q - Traveling around the world like this, does it strain relationships?
A - Yeah, it does. In fact, my last girlfriend I met while I was traveling through Australia. We sort of hit it off and developed a really nice relationship. But she didn't appreciate the fact that I kept traveling. That's ultimately the reason we broke up.

Q - Are you going to stop traveling when you meet the right one?
A - You know what? I might do that. If I met the right woman, I think I would definitely consider it. Or if she would consider traveling with me, that would be even better.

The News & Observer


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