You can get really authentic and pack a few friends into a vintage VW bus equipped with an eight-track and decorated with peace signs, but that's not essential. The important thing is to travel with a sense of fun. Don't let "the man" dictate where you go. Stop at places that interest you, especially if they are off the beaten track. Observe the materialism of American culture but don't let it get you down. It's all a gas. Climb back in your vehicle, laugh and play something trippy like the Moody Blues to help you mellow out. Stop along the way to picnic and paint daises on your friends' faces, then blow bubbles.
Leave the dress shirts and ties or high heels and pantyhose at home. It's so bourgeois to go to a foreign country and stay in four-star hotels. No matter your age, find a youth hostel to spend the night. Eat where the locals do. Talk with the natives and buy local crafts. Amsterdam, Marrakesh and Kathmandu are the hippie destinations par excellence, but it's the spirit of adventure that counts. Remember, though, to steer clear of drugs. Like the old TV ads used to say, "It you're busted over there, you're in for the hassle of your life."
What better way to celebrate the hippie spirit then to hang out with other people who keep the hippie spirit alive? The Burning Man Festival offers an opportunity to mingle with not only latter-day hippies, but techno-pagans and punks in a feast of freedom and imagination out in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. Bring a bike to get around and wipes to clean off the sand as you traverse this huge annual encampment of people who are at least part-time free spirits. If Burning Man is out of your price or geographic range, check out a Rainbow Tribe Gathering. Bring a tent or tepee and groove with other people who an international loose affiliation of individuals who "have a common goal of trying to achieve peace and love on Earth."
