This book appealed to me because the author's goal was to get to Antarctica. As a lover of penguins I hope one day to get there myself. While I would never attempt this kind of travel myself I was totally captivated by his adventure.
I have attended the Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert six times. It has its own culture which extends beyond the one week it's held. My view of this book was from the point of a view of a burner (i.e. a Burning Man participant). There are 10 Principles including Radical Self Reliance. Each attendee must read the Survival Guide and is responsible for bringing everything that is required for their survival for a week. Sometimes the event is referred to as That Thing In The Desert (TTITD). One joking reference to it is to downplay the extreme camping by saying, "It's just a week in the desert."
A person who arrives at the gate without what they need including water runs the risk of being denied entrance. You can't buy anything other than ice or coffee. People gift without expectation of anything in turn. It is not a barter economy.
Some individuals have the belief that "the Playa will provide". The Playa is the dried lake bed known as the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, USA. These people show up and other people get stuck looking after them. They're labelled "Sparkle Ponies". They take no responsibility for themselves.
So at first I wondered if Michael Wigge was going to approach this trip by begging or having other people enable his journeys. To some extent this happens but he has spent a great deal of thought on strategies to attempt along his path. Judging by his innovative flexible approach he would make an excellent burner.
Going from Berlin to Antarctica began with hitchhiking, couch surfing, and dumpster diving for groceries. This journey was well directed to its ultimate goal of Antarctica. Extensive planning was done in advance of departure such as arranging passage on a ship.
One original idea that impressed me was him dressing as a butler. The outfit was planned and packed.
Not all of his attempts were successful. Things that worked for him in one country failed in another. An example was asking restaurants for handouts.
Annual pillow fights which are a kind of flash mob are popular in some cities such as Vancouver, BC. These while not being official Burning Man events are quite often organized and attended by burners. One of the many uses of Facebook.
Michael Wigge utilized one-on-one pillow fights as a fund raiser. I thought his ideas for generating cash were interesting. Certainly if a person can busk at home that would help with this kind of travel.
He meets a variety of people and takes a few detours. I'll definitely read any other books that he writes. I recommend this one.
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