Model blags free 10,000 mile trip to Australia

A mother-of-two travelled 10,000 miles across the globe to Australia without having to spend a penny by blagging free rides via planes, buses, tuk tuks - and even an alpaca.

Elaine Harris, 38, kick-started the 10-day adventure of a lifetime on July 21st leaving her home in Scotland behind on a tractor.

The model then went on to visit the likes of Germany, Slovakia, Israel, Bangkok, Cambodia, Vietnam and Kuala Lumpur before arriving in Sydney - without digging into her purse once.

To mark the end of her incredible journey, Harris climbed up the Sydney Harbour Bridge despite being understandably “exhausted”.

To save money during her trip, the mum survived on one meal a day with 10 protein bars hidden in her backpack. She also had to ration water and the charge on her phone whilst hitching lifts from lorries and lending money for food.

“The lack of sleep and food was probably the hardest thing for me,” Harris admitted. “I was relying on people to feed me because I was in transit the whole entire time. I think I went through seven days without having a proper bed to sleep on.”

According to the adventurer, a gruelling 25-hour bus journey from Bangkok to Vietnam via Siem Reap, Cambodia was one of the hardest experiences of the trip.

While hitching lifts from strangers also proved to be a daunting experience at first.

“Hitching for the lorries was terrifying,” she said. “My heart was in my mouth but I honestly didn't come across anything negative within the ten days.”

The mother travelled from Dundee to Glasgow on the back of a motorbike before hitching a ride from a truck driver to Dover, where she got the ferry to Calais.

She arrived in Brussels on Tuesday where she then hitch-hiked her way to Lohr Am Main in Bavaria, Germany. Harris later visited Slovakia, Hungary and Israel - where she eventually caught a flight to Bangkok.

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From there, she embarked upon the 25-hour bus ride to Vietnam via Cambodia where she bagged a lift on a tuk tuk.

For the final leg of the journey, she took a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney.

Not only was the challenge something to tell the grandchildren about, Harris helped to raise funds for The Cape Verde Dental and Optical Clinic, of which she is a co-founder of, which provides free dental and eye care to children.

“I thought about doing something were you take a chance on people being good,” she said. “I felt like most stories that are reported are about the dangers in the world so I thought of something which will show the good in people.”

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“It's about the goodwill of people. If it wasn't for those people helping me along the way I wouldn't have managed to get to where I got to,” Harris continued.

“This journey has not changed my perception of people but it certainly has restored my faith in people. It's just incredible.”

Donate money to The Cape Verde Dental and Optical Clinic.

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