Atlantica - 01.06.2006, Qupperneq 59

58 AT L A N T I CA
annual travel insurance policy and text each other on
tri-band mobile phones. We take drugs that extend
mortal life rather than spiritual horizons. And the
Americans are back in Vietnam, though this time
with MP3 players rather than M-16s.
It is little more than thirty years since a genera-
tion’s wide-eyed adventures transformed both their
lives and the countries they traversed, unleashing
forces which changed forever the way we travel
– and view – the world. We still live with the conse-
quences of those journeys. For better or for worse,
we are now the Intrepids. a
Rory Maclean’s new book, Magic Bus: On the Hippie Trail from Istanbul to India is published in the UK by Penguin Viking this summer. Visit www.rorymaclean.com.
An Intertrek Bedford with 27 passengers crossing Iran in 110 degrees F (43ºC) heat. Top speed 40 mph on dirt roads. Drivers stopped at borders, for historical sites, and
– sometimes very frequently – for the infamous ‘loo stop’. Sometimes variations were forced on the schedule by extremes of weather, road conditions (e.g. landslides),
medical problems, visa problems and even closed borders. When Afghanistan became a republic in 1973 and the King was deposed by his brother-in-law, the borders
remained open for about a week. Then the authorities decided that Afghan visas had to be for “The Republic of Afghanistan” and not for the “Kingdom of Afghanistan.”
PHOTOGRAPHER: CHRIS WEEKS 1975
MAGIC BUS: A REAL TRIP, MAN
In the middle of his journey, Rory Maclean’s Magic Bus makes a stop at
the Tourist Information Office in Afghanistan. “The only printed material
available is a personally signed pamphlet from the government’s new
Minister of Tourism,” he writes. “It assures me that many parts of the
country are safe for visitors. Unfortunately, the minister is unavailable
for interview. He was recently assassinated.”
The unexpected still awaits the new generation of intrepids and
Maclean’s Magic Bus is the perfect vehicle to merrily shunt the reader
along the groovy journey of discovery that is the hippie trail. At each
stop from Istanbul to India he introduces some of the ageing hippies
and local entrepreneurs who made it all happen. Often humorous and
always engaging, Maclean’s story inspires a new generation eager to
find their own paths. ER
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