Safarnameh A Traveller’s Journey Along the Hippie Trail

In 1976, Trevor Harrison embarked on an overland trip from Turkey to India, along a well-worn route popularly called the Hippie Trail. The Iranian Revolution and other regional conflicts shortly thereafter closed this route, but during the preceding two decades, millions of young Westerners made the journey in search of adventure, curiosity, and spiritual renewal, a journey whose cultural impact—and its myths—remain with us today.

This book is Harrison’s safarnameh—a Persian word describing a travel account. Drawing extensively on observations written during the journey, Safarnameh explores the physical, psychological, and emotional impact of long-distance travel and its lingering echoes. Interwoven with Harrison’s personal account are insights from in-depth interviews with forty-eight other travellers from around the world who made the same expedition during roughly the same period. Together, these voices amplify, confirm, and occasionally challenge prevailing images of the overland traveller. Harrison’s own experience situates this remarkable journey within the broader historical, cultural, and socio-political context of the time.

About the Author

Trevor W. Harrison is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Lethbridge and former director of the Parkland Institute. Known for his wide-ranging interests, he is the author, editor, or co-editor of ten academic books and is the author of three books of poetry and a collection of short stories.

Table of Contents

1. Preface
2. Acknowledgements
3. Introduction
4. 1. Beginnings
5. 2. Istanbul
6. 3. Detained in Syria
7. 4. Turkey Beyond Istanbul
8. 5. In the Shah’s Shadow
9. 6. The Pearl of Khorasan
10. 7. Wyhet
11. 8. The Road to Kabul
12. 9. Kabul
13. 10. Into the Hindu Kush
14. 11. The Khyber Pass
15. 12. Echoes of the Raj
16. 13. Into India
17. 14. From Agra to Benares
18. 15. Bombay
19. 16. Moira
20. 17. The End of the Trail
21. 18. You Can Never Go Home Again
22. Afterword
23. A Note on Interviews and Surveys
24. Bibliography

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). It may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that the original author is credited.