I'd do the road trips I did back in the day but in the comfort of a car. I'd decide on a whim to just head off and see where I ended up, rucksack and sleeping back with the bare essentials and just stick my thumb and see what happened. Hitch hiking was a thing back then so many nights spent in motorway service stations (open 24 hours), and many more spent roughing it in a sleeping bag in fields, the roadside or if raining finding shelter in school sheds etc.
These days it would be called wild camping but without the bushcraft or even a tent, a tin of beans would do cold. I saw so much of the UK and Europe for basically free choosing where I went to wherever the driver was going.
Not to be recommended unless you're terminally stupid, a friend of mine died doing the same thing in winter and got caught out in very cold weather.
Now that I drive I'll revisit those places chance took me.