Maybe the most unique adventure you can go on whilst at St Andrews is Race2, a charity hitchhike from Scotland to a European city approximately 1,500 miles away. Previous destinations have been Prague, Copenhagen and Budapest. This year, the hitchhike was from Scotland to Madrid, a reading week that would be spent like no other. A lot of work had gone into Race2 for all racers involved, planning their route as best they could whilst accounting for the unpredictability of life on the road and raising money for the three charities Race2 supports. This year, those charities were Fife Women’s Aid, Centrepoint UK and Doctors Without Borders. Before setting off on Race2, selfishly, one of our biggest fears was that with all the fast-paced travel we’d be doing, we’d forget where we’d been, the stories we gained along the way and the little things that made the journey so special.
Last week, Nicole wrote an article about how travel is easier than ever, but at the same time, we’re losing the art of getting lost. Race2 allowed us to really stay in the moment, whether by begging people for a lift, staying positive with our teammates, or learning the unique stories and lore from our drivers. Whilst we’re now back in the bubble, with the stress of deadlines and a countdown of days til the next vacation week, we’ve been able to remember our trip through an innovative form of social media.
What is Polarsteps?
Polarsteps is an app “on a mission to help you plan, track, and relive every adventure. For explorers, by explorers.” Through the Polarsteps app, we were able to log photos and videos from our travels into a mini time capsule. At each location, you can write a small caption to jog your future memory and eventually see a full world completed from where you’ve been (or where you hope to someday visit).
Polarsteps can be posted in real time or by logging “histories” from your camera roll, which allows you to stay in the moment IRL.
How Polarsteps helped us remember our trip:
Nicole: One of my favourite moments, that I would’ve forgotten otherwise, was being left on the French motorway and running across 15 lanes of traffic, resulting in the French police questioning my life choices. The only photo that I had to remember such a unique experience was a blurry image of the police car’s registration plate.
Fatima: I loved being able to reminisce about the night spent in Dover, waiting to hitch a lift, and the pure joy we felt when we finally got onto the ferry at 3.30 am. Without Polarsteps, I would have definitely forgotten what the inside of Dover’s foot passenger terminal looks like, the smiles on my team’s faces when we got our lift, and the confusion we had when our driver’s AI music blasted EDM on YouTube for the duration of our journey.
Ultimately, a journey I had been worrying about (and excited for) for six months was completed in just 55 hours. With a journey that is so quick, it’s impossible to remember every detail. When you embrace getting lost and the side quests that can come from a unique way of travel, you’re able to have more fun, and with the help of Polarsteps, you’re able to remember the details.
Nicole had only 2 weeks to mentally prepare for the hitchhike (after she had gotten off the Race2 waitlist). So, for her, the experience, much like Polarsteps, was spontaneous and built on travel that cannot be preplanned through an aesthetic itinerary.
Essentially, the most meaningful aspects of travelling, like stumbling across a local restaurant or meeting new friends in a hostel, are built upon the stories where you just say “yes” and go with the flow.