Two friends have taken on the ultimate adventure – travelling across the globe on a shoestring by hitching rides on strangers’ boats.
Tommaso Farina and Adrian Lafuente, aged 25 and 27 respectively, call themselves “sustainable explorers”.
The travelling duo’s aim is to see the world while leaving as little a carbon footprint as possible.
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Planes – which emit around 90kg of CO2 per passenger per hour, depending on the aircraft – are an absolute no-go.
Instead, Tommaso and Adrian use boats to cover long distances as well as hike or use cars, often relying on the kindness of strangers to let them tag along.
They have spent 463 days travelling, without taking a single flight – having been to most of Europe and South America, as well as crossed the Atlantic.
The journey has cost them £11,800 so far – with 27 countries ticked off on the list to date.
“We have spent the last year touring across the world without planes,” Tommaso told Luxury Travel Daily.
“We are ‘boat hitchhikers’.
“Friends and family were a bit panicked when we first told them, especially when we decided to travel across the Atlantic in a sailing boat with no experience.
“Then we sailed across the Pacific on a monohaul boat.
“We found one of our ‘rides’ on Facebook, talking to a boat captain who offered us a seat.
“Our intention is to help in creating hope for a world where we, humans, are actually able to live in symbiosis with the rest of the vegetation, animals and other humans.”
Tommaso and Adrian, who are from Italy and Spain respectively, share their story with fans online as part of ‘Project Kune’ – which is their commitment to showing the world that no-flight travel is more than possible.
In the days before they first set off in 2023, the pair stocked up on fresh and canned food to last them 60 days at sea, spending just over £900 ($1,200).
So far, they have only hitchhiked on two boats – across the Atlantic and Pacific – and it’s definitely had its ups and downs.
But their travels are far from over.
Adrian said: “The first 10 days in the Gulf of Panama can only be described as absolutely terrible.
“We had very unfavourable winds, storms and big waves constantly.
“It was quite scary at first to think that we might flip upside down.
“The only way to overcome these difficulties was trying to stay as calm as possible, trust the boat and cheer each other up.
“On other days, when there were heavy storms, we took on water and our bilge pump was broken – so we had to bail water out of the boat the old way, with a bucket and a lot of patience.
“The Atlantic is smoother in the good season, we did it on a catamaran which is more comfortable and it only took 35 days.
“The Pacific is much longer and rougher, it’s been around three months since we started and we have visited some islands in the middle!”
The duo have been pals for a long time and get each other through the rough times.
Tommaso said: “Having been best friends for the last three years and spent every day with each other for the past year, we are quite used to intense and extreme situations now.
“Of course, there have been some fights or discussions along the way but that’s only natural.”
For anyone considering a similar adventure, the duo say you must be fully committed to get the full benefits.
They said: “Only do it if you are 100% convinced that it’s the right choice.
“The Pacific is a very challenging and a demanding adventure that we can’t recommend to everyone.
“The most undervalued skill to do such as journey is the ability of co-living: the most constant thing that will happen on the boat is living in the same small space with the rest of the crew.
“These are people you are trusting your life upon, other that trying to have a good relationship with.
“There is no ‘locking yourself up’ in the cabin.”
They have already crossed the Atlantic Ocean from the Canary Islands to Panama and after travelling around South America for six months, they are currently crossing the Pacific Ocean from Panama to Australia.
There, the pair intend to remain for six months before heading to Asia.
