> people taking those buses enjoyed life more than most do today
Benefits of being rich.
A £150 round trip ticket in 1957 is the equivalent of £4,600 today, and in an era when average wages were around £400 per year [0].
Taking months off to bum around the hippy trail in the 1960s spending almost half of the average person's salary would have put you in the upper middle class to say the least. Alternatively, imagine spending £15,000 on a multi-month trip in 2026 like going to Antarctica, ascending an ultra, participating in the Dakar Rally, or racing the Iditarod.
Plenty of Brits in the era (especially the lower middle class and upwardly mobile) would have decided to spend that money on a ticket to move to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or America instead.
Especially when it was £20 to move the whole family (kids were free) to Australia. My great uncle and aunt did just that, after national service he was in business working for Walls ice cream. Took himself and two kids off in early 60s, were in a a Nissen hut for a few weeks til he found a job over there.
Commonly known as the "Ten Pound Pom" scheme [0] which ran from 1945-1972
An incredible return on investment. I bet many ended up with higher wages, better health, better housing etc (though I think about 1/4 ended up returning, at a large expense)
> Taking months off to bum around the hippy trail in the 1960s spending almost half of the average person's salary would have put you in the upper middle class to say the least.
Worth noting that a substantial amount of people doing the overland route were hitchhiking with any vehicle than came along, or were sharing a ride with another westerner who charged less than a commercial bus. The journey was so accessible that Yugoslavs, not a poor nationality but not a rich one either, were a prominent group on it.
I know a couple people from my parents' generation who did the hippie trail in their early 20s and they certainly aren't rich. Basic Austrian middle class.
From there you can easily extrapolate how much it deviated from contemporary wages (roughly 30,000 Austrian schillings a year for a Viennese industrial laborer with a union contract in 1964).
A lot of people who think they are from middle class backgrounds are actually in the upper cream of society but never realize it.
Here's economic data for wages and household income in Austria back in 1965 [0] (page 2 and 11).
Not completely true. I had a friend (now departed RIP) from a working class background who managed to get over there, before the Beatles. He worked his passage on a ship to India before heading inland. It could be done.
I'm curious about the passengers on the bus and doubt everyone went the full distance on it.
The class system in the UK is not entirely wealth related. Therefore you could be rich enough to afford it and not upper class or upper class and not able to afford it.
Upper class in traditional British usage refers to old money — the titled, old landowners, gentry etc.
I’m sure a lot of working people would enjoy life more if they didn’t have to work as much as they do in order to provide shelter and food to their families.
Benefits of being rich.
A £150 round trip ticket in 1957 is the equivalent of £4,600 today, and in an era when average wages were around £400 per year [0].
Taking months off to bum around the hippy trail in the 1960s spending almost half of the average person's salary would have put you in the upper middle class to say the least. Alternatively, imagine spending £15,000 on a multi-month trip in 2026 like going to Antarctica, ascending an ultra, participating in the Dakar Rally, or racing the Iditarod.
Plenty of Brits in the era (especially the lower middle class and upwardly mobile) would have decided to spend that money on a ticket to move to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or America instead.
[0] - https://fred.stlouisfed.org/data/AWEPPUKQ