Experiment

One says to me, “I wonder that you do not lay up money; you love to travel; you might take the cars and go to Fitchburg today and see the country.” But I am wiser than that. I have learned that the swiftest traveller is he that goes afoot. I say to my friend, Suppose we try who will get there first. The distance is thirty miles; the fare ninety cents. That is almost a day’s wages. I remember when wages were sixty cents a day for laborers on this very road. Well, I start now on foot, and get there before night; I have travelled at that rate by the week together. You will in the meanwhile have earned your fare, and arrive there some time tomorrow, or possibly this evening, if you are lucky enough to get a job in season. Instead of going to Fitchburg, you will be working here the greater part of the day. And so, if the railroad reached round the world, I think that I should keep ahead of you; and as for seeing the country and getting experience of that kind, I should have to cut your acquaintance altogether.

–Henry David Thoreau, Walden

I propose an experiment to test this but I request a volunteer. I will walk from Perth to Dundee or vice versa (about 30 or so miles) and whoever volunteers will get to the destination by any other means, the catch being that you cannot pay for it using funds you already have. This means that you will have to earn your fare for the transport and get to the destination before I get there for free.

Any takers?