1978 SUPER, ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT TRAVEL DIARY OF ONE YOUNG WOMAN'S HIPPIE ERA GRAND TOUR OF EUROPE TAKING DRUGS, SLEEPING IN TRAIN STATIONS AND MUCH MUCH MORE

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On offer is a sensational 122 page hippie era 'Grand Tour' manuscript diary handwritten by a young woman named Linda Westergren determined to let it all hang out in the spirit of t he 1970s drug, sex and rock 'n roll era. Written while in her early 20s the diary is a study in hippie era travel and indulgence and the writer shares it all. The trip to Europe is with a friend and they travel around Europe staying in hostels, tents and in train stations. The title page boasts: "Trip to Europe starting July 31st, 1978. Written mostly on trains, in depots and tents!" They meet several men, smoked hashish and pot, drank and drugged quite a bit, and the writer describes their travels sometimes in a quite rank and salty language. She really holds nothing back. As with so many young people coming out of "the sixties" which many call the age of "irresponsible excess and flamboyance." This diary documents it well. The diary consists of handwritten pages and starts when they arrive in New York City getting ready for there adventures in Europe. Here are some snippets: 1978 "July 31st, We arrived in New York about 11:00 A.M. We had to get J.'s youth hostel card downtown so we took a cab (robbery). Wrong place! Got to ride the infamous subways, twice even. At JFK, we had a four hour layover and didn't get out till 4:00 A.M. We were the only ones awake and drinking on the plane. The day, a trial in patience!" "August 2nd, Arrived in Paris, with one change over in Metz France at 8:30. We thought we had troubles before, get a load of this! Well, this time we had enough sense to exchange our money to francs but we have no idea what they're worth. By noon we were ready to come home. 99 percent didn't speak English, the youth hostels are $10 a nite, too much and the campsites are too far away. To top it all off, we can't figure out how many francs the phone takes. We got a tip on a reasonable hotel, but couldn't find the number and there is no information operator in Paris. Lugging our packs (38 pounds) around, no sleep really and nothing in English we were almost in tears. Well, got a hold of the hotel, now the subway. Naturally, went the wrong way, but we made it. Ah, no showers. Into the sink we go (showers cost more). Feel better! Went to the market and got fresh fruit, bread, cheese and dynamite salami. Now, were getting the "franc" down…with a full stomach and soft bed J's already passed out at 7:00 and I'm close behind. Things are looking better!" (Brussels, Amsterdam camp site, "hash", Copenhagen, Tivoli) "August 9th, Took a train out at 11:19 P.M. last night and arrived at 8 A.M. Didn't get much sleep on the floor. The train was packed. D. was going to Oslo but decided to go with us to Stockholm. Found a camp right near the beach, Camp Angby. We're really camping out this time, no hostels yet. Right in the middle of evergreens over the rocks and tree roots. We washed clothes on the 4th and they never completely dried so everything was starting to smell and almost mildew. Every time we tried to hang them out it rained so today we had to wash everything all over again, by hand. Thank God it was sunny. By the time that was done it was about 5:00 so we went onto Stockholm to get something to eat. We had Wienerschnitzel. I always thought that was wieners but it's veal in Swedish. Then we went on to an island where Tivoli, the Swedish amusement park is. Spent the night in a discothèque. All the songs were in English. Not having much sleep the last two nights, headed for camp about midnight. D. decided to stay the night so we had three in our tent. It was pretty cold so we kept even warmer." "August 13th, Got up early enough to be into town by 9:00 but German's don't care to pick up hitch hikers, I guess. Finally caught a ride, then by tram and bus and to the depot by 9:30. Too late! The bus that goes down the Romantic Road to Fussen. Left at 9:00. All the stores are closed on Sunday in Germany so there was nothing to do. Well, I decided to buy patches of all the countries we go to and sew them on my pack. Also, I met a guy on a train that had a real neat lighter I wanted so I looked at all the shops in Wurzburg. Got a couple but it was still only about 1:00. J. and I decided to take a ride, rather than sit in the train depot. Off to Frankfurt. No patches or lighter. Still bored!! Got on another train to Born. Nothing there but a Mac Donald's. Get this. They sold beer. So we sat in Mac Donald's and guzzled beer until we were almost drunk. An hour later got on the train to Wurzburg (it's only about 4 hours) and passed out. Got in at 1:00 A.M. and slept on the train depot floor until 6:00. Looking up at a German officer at that hour, I thought he was going to line me up against the wall!" (Zurich) "August 16th, After walking thru Zurich, decided to go to Lucerne. Left about 2:00 and got in about 3:30 and went strait to the camp ground. Put the tent up in the mud, no grass. It had been raining here too! With that done, we went in their rec-room and ate. Shortly two guys from London came in and two guys from the states. They sat and drank wind and beer and ate. The British guys sounded just like B. Shit! We just drank coffee at first then broke down and bought some wine. Another international party! British are even funnier when they slur their words. J. wanted pot and never got any, too bad, and Mike kept wanting in our tent while J. was in theirs. But he was so loaded it reminded me too much of Evergreen. Still, got to look those guys up in London." "Rode with two chicks that drove us so crazy we had to take 2 Actifed's!" "August 20th, Slept till 9:30 but didn't get out of the hotel till 11:30. At least the clothes dried all but the jeans naturally. We were going to take a bus but since we didn't really know where the hell we were, we decided to take another cab to the train depot and leave our packs. Found out the bullfights didn't start until 6:00 so we had 6 (can't add) hours to kill. Went to a fast food and had coffee and that's where we met them!! The waiter-bartenders were the nicest looking guys I think I've ever seen. None of them spoke English but we started to joke with them. We had about 4 stiff drinks and were having a good time. Some how we got it across to them that we like them. They got off at 3:00 so off we went with them to who knows where. I don't think it was either of their apts. But probably Pedro's sisters. Our affair lasted only one hour and we were off again for no apparent reason. We asked them to go to the bullfights with us but reasons unknown again, wouldn't, so of all places, back to the train depot and strait to where they worked. We didn't want tot go up to the counter but could see all the lips flapping. It really hurt our feelings. We left without really saying goodbye and stared walking. Hailed a cab to the bullfights which was real fascinating. Only problem was, being a little high, at first it almost made me sick. After sobering up it was exciting! We got back to the train depot at 10:00. We were still bummed about those guys. Decided to leave them a note but the mission was never fulfilled. Wasted away too much time and ended up missing the last train and our backpacks were locked in storage and by midnight the train depot was closing. We ended up jumping a fence and another fence for a swim in the pool and about an hours worth of sleep in the grass." (Barcelona, Carioles, Pisa, Florence) "August 31st, Unbelievable but true when we woke up W. was with another friend waiting outside our tent since 8:00. Apologized severely for the day before and tried his best to talk us into staying. Broke camp by 10:30 and went with the guys. Stopped for groceries and back to the fucking park again!! Poor sweet S. was so bummed when we left at 1:00. Exchanged address and off to another adventure as they say! Got to Brindisi at 9:15. From a tip we went to get tickets and barely made the boat at 10:30. Met John just before boarding. When on board, met (she mentions many names) and played 20 questions and drank till 1:00. Fell asleep on the deck to the rocking of the boat. Puke, no not really." "September 7th, Needless to say we missed the boat and Frank said "I told you, you would." The girls needed to go into town so decided to give us a lift. It was raining again. 5 in a VW and 2 backpacks, we headed down the mountain. On the way down, jewel was driving and coming up on an accident she applied her brakes (which had failed) and ran into a taxi. Didn't do any damage to the taxi but scary, had a black eye. Got the bug to the shop mid-afternoon and went to eat. With the weird schedules of the boats and buses, we ended up missing the last bus and no ferries that day. By 9:00 the bug was ready and once again headed up to the campsite by 10:00. J. and I thought we'd never get off the island. Built a fire and slept by it till the boys got back at 4 A.M. They had discovered Onzo on ice. Frank was pretty bombed so I kind of gave him a shi-y time and made him sleep in his own sleeping bag. What a bad as- I am. He said he was glad to see me back though." "September 14th, Didn't get up till 11:00. Got our tent up in time for it to rain. The guys walked into town and we took a bath in the ocean. Sun never did shine that day. It stopped raining long enough to wash our clothes (in the ocean I might add) and to take a sh-t. Gathered wood and tried to build a fire. Made rice and meat, etc. with ocean water and couldn't eat it. Too salty. All in all the day was a disaster also. The island has no trees! We call it "Skull Island." "A note to myself. I take this vow today, the 7th of November, to be back in Europe within 2 years!!!" Her friend decides to head home back to the states and she stays awhile longer with the new friends she's met. The diary measures about 4" x 5 ½" and is overall VG. ; Manuscript; 24mo - over 5" - 5¾" tall; KEYWORDS: HISTORY OF, LINDA WESTERGREN, GENDER STUDIES, EUROPEAN TRAVEL, GRAND TOUR, HIPPIE ERA, DRUGS, HASHISH, POT, WOMEN'S STUDIES, HOSTELS, ROUGHING IT, AMERICANA, RAILROAD TRAVEL, HANDWRITTEN, MANUSCRIPT, DOCUMENT, LETTER, AUTOGRAPH, DIARY, JOURNAL, LOG, KEEPSAKE, WRITER, HAND WRITTEN, DOCUMENTS, SIGNED, LETTERS, MANUSCRIPTS, HISTORICAL, HOLOGRAPH, WRITERS, DIARIES, JOURNALS, LOGS, AUTOGRAPHS, PERSONAL, MEMOIR, MEMORIAL, PERSONAL HISTORY, AMERICANA, ANTIQUITÉ, CONTRAT, VÉLIN, DOCUMENT, MANUSCRIT, PAPIER ANTIKE, BRIEF, PERGAMENT, DOKUMENT, MANUSKRIPT, PAPIER OGGETTO D'ANTIQUARIATO, ATTO, VELINA, DOCUMENTO, MANOSCRITTO, CARTA ANTIGÜEDAD, HECHO, VITELA, DOCUMENTO, MANUSCRITO, PAPEL, Show more