EXCLUSIVE Meet the man hitchhiking 10,000 miles from Southampton to SOUTH AFRICA, staying in £2-a-night hotels and pitching a tent on rooftops Timo de Jong has clocked up 293 rides and spent £596/$788 on visas He is charting his journey on Instagram, where he has 135,000 followers READ MORE: Meet the couple on a quest to visit every Unesco Heritage site By Jessica Hamilton Published: 08:43, 28 August 2024 | Updated: 08:44, 28 August 2024 e-mail 2 View comments Hitchhiking is the stuff of horror movies for many travellers – but for one, hitching free rides from strangers is giving him the trip of a lifetime. Meet Timo de Jong, a 25-year-old traveller from Steenwijk in the Netherlands – who is currently hitchhiking from Southampton to South Africa . At the time of writing, he'd clocked up 293 rides, most of which have been completely free.
Timo's decision to take the 10,000-mile journey was fairly sporadic. Having never visited either place before, he told MailOnline Travel: 'I was in the UK visiting some friends and was looking for my next big adventure. I looked at the map, saw Southampton and thought to myself, "Hmm, that kind of sounds like South Africa.
" 'Next thing you know, I'm on the side of the road in Southampton, trying to get a ride out towards Dover.' Timo de Jong (above), a 25-year-old traveller from Steenwijk in the Netherlands, is currently hitchhiking from Southampton to South Africa. He's pictured here in Southampton So far Timo has clocked up 293 rides,.