Watch: This man went on an exchange trip around Europe, swapping items with strangers everywhere
From latex shorts to gluten-free pasta, a glowing soft toy, and even dog tags.
Bored with your possessions? Consider taking a leaf out of Chris Awake’s book.
A filmmaker and musician from Lithuania, Awake, went on a trip across Europe, constantly exchanging items with people he met along the way – and filming it all.
He started with a small jar of sesame butter. Yes, sesame butter.
What happened next involved bartering an eclectic collection of items, including pasta, jam, a magazine, a pair of shorts, a glowing kitty soft toy, an NES controller, a dictionary and even dog tags in Paris. It began as a fun game, but ended up becoming a great way to bond with strangers on the road.
There were a few moments that felt like they were meant to happen. For instance, he got a notebook in Portugal that said “alma” (soul), and a street artist gave him an album that had the same theme somewhere inside.
Awake already knew some of the people he exchanged things with. Some others were friends of friends, and the rest were strangers he bumped into while hitchhiking. “I hope this might inspire you to travel more – and maybe exchange items with people you meet – for me it was all about connecting these people together,” he wrote in the description of his video.