Hobo In Paris is an online magazine, distributed weekly via email, for all of you hobo expats living in Paris.  Hobo In Paris is your hobo "jungle"--a community of expats living in this extraordinary city.  

Hobo In Paris seeks to inform, interact and occasionally even amuse along the way.  Look around--and come back often--for expat activities, experiences, insights, stories, rants and even a little helpful information.  In other words, pull up a broken crate, open your ears, eyes and bindle and join us by the fire.

For those of you who didn't grow up packing all of your life's essentials into a red bandana and searching your yard for the perfect stick to tie your bindle to while threatening your parents that you were going to join up with the next hobo coming through town, we'll explain . . .

A hobo is a born traveler.  A hobo is a person, probably a bit of a loner, who is always on the mover, looking for a meal here and there, looking for lodging here and there, looking for work here and there . . . and maybe even a drink or two.  

Hobos have been traveling by riding the rails of North America for over 100 years, usually on freight trains, going from town to town and region to region, making friends along the way and experiencing the countryside.  Other hobos, in a broader sense of the term, get around by whatever other transportation is available to them.  The essence of being a hobo is being on the move.  It is a way of life, it is an attitude, it is a state of mind.  

A hobo has an adventurous spirit, is fiercely independent, loves to travel and lives a nomadic lifestyle--itinerant and constantly going somewhere.  A hobo is synonymous with rough edges and living on the land.  Hobo live confures up images of the country, the West, folk music, bluegrass and the wildernesss.  

For the record, hobos distinguish between three types of people often seen by the outside world as being of the same breed, but who actually live very different lives:  a hobo is a traveler who is willing to work, a tramp travels but will not work and a bum will do neither.

Are you a hobo?

Hobos have their own sense of community and culture.  A hobo has a "moniker" (a hobo name) and is friends with other hobos--his "hobo family".  That community has its own unique forms of communication, in symbols and slang.

Think of hobo symbols as a pre-internet form of SMS or IM, for the open road.  Hobo symbols might look like random markings, but leave an important message for other hobos.  A hobo etching an icon of a picnic table into a fence post is telling other hobos coming through town that someine living in that house might fix him up some supper.  

Hobo vocabulary is rich as well:  a "jungle" is a place where hobos take refuge together for a night, often around a fire near a train depot, finding food, drink, warmth and, not least of all, a sense of community.  From language to writing to gatherings, hobos have a sense of culture and community.  Just like you.  

Hobo life is chronicled in literature.  Here are a few items you may enjoy:

One More Train to Ride by Clifford Williams

Hobo by Eddy Joe Cotton

American Nomads by Richard Grant

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Yep.  Although not many of us hobos in Paris got here by hopping in a boxcar (except, of course, for our hero, patron saint and anthropological test subject Jimmy Trout, in our hearts all of us expats are travelers--hobos away from our countries of birth, away from most of our familirs, here looking for a meal, lodging, work . . . and maybe even a drink, a joke and a story.  Whether you're an artist or a musician, an attorney or an investment banker, chances are that you're just as much of a hobo as Jimmy.

We're here to learn about our new place and to make new friends.  We might come here as loners, but we find community, just like hobos in a jungle.  

Hobo In Paris is comprised of recurring columns (including videos and photos) on a wide variety of subjects--from the hidden gems of Paris to cultural clashes, from humor to restaurant reviews--all centered around the expatriate experience.  The site also includes classified ads by Franglo and the Expats Paris site.

Our recurring columns are:

French Tease by Mollie Coyne. Your weekly 400-word teaser on all things cultural in Paris—just enough to peak your interest.

Tumbleweed by Jimmy Trout.  The journal of our intrepid trans-Atlantic traveler Jimmy Trout; join Jimmy for a view of Paris from the other side of the tracks.

Treading Perrier by Isabel Ortiz. The adventures and misadventures of our token corporate expat, gallantly fighting her way through everything from currency conversion to current events, from high finance to high heels, in the dyslexic, bi-cultural world of investment banking in France.

Shadow on the City of Light by Martin Lowe. Random missives on all things France, from the unique perspective of the inimitable Martin Lowe.

Outbound Train by Mollie Coyne. Notes scribbled on napkins and tablecloths from Galway to Greece, from Munich to Marrakesh, from Barcelona to Budapest, on countless travel destinations within a rock’s throw of Paris, mostly compliments of Europe’s official hobo airline, Ryanair.

21st Century Dharma Bum by Brian van der Horst.  he offers tales and tips on beginner's mindfulness and inter-cultural competence for the dedicated dilettante.

The Grub Hub by Mollie, again.  Restaurant reviews for hungry hoboes desperate for a break from hobo soup and cans of beans.

France vs. Catalina by Catalina Candrea. France through the eyes of an Eastern European married into French civilization—cheese, strikes and comic books included.

We also have guest columns from time to time.  Perhaps YOU would like to write one?

Look up at the right side of your computer screen and you'll see a little sign-up box.  Just enter your email address and click "subscribe".  It's free, will only take you two seconds and comes with a money-back guarantee and a can of beans.  Want to unsubscribe?  You sure?  Okay, just send us an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it with the subject line "unsubscribe".  And no, we're not case-sensitive.

You guessed it rightly, friend, your hobo hosts are Mollie and Andy Coyne, along with friends--some regular contributors, some intermittent guests--unloading their baggage right here before your eyes.  

Mollie and Andy are from South Carolina, USA.  In true hobo form, this is not their first hobo trek.  Before arriving in France, they spent years in Amsterdam, New York and Washington, D.C., not to mention a half-dozen cities, towns, hamlets and islands in South Carolina.  

Three columns--French Tease, Outbound Train and The Grub Hub--are written by none other than Mollie Coyne.  Mollie moved to France from New York in 2003 with the intention of staying for just one year.  She lives in the leafy and lovely Ivry-sur-Seine, just outside of the 13th arrondissement, with her husband Andy and their 2.4 children, Lisa, Bart and Maggie.  A born multitasker, she gracefully dodges burning cars and rioting teenagers while picking her kids up from school.  

Tumbleweed is written by Jimmy Trout, a native of Pointe de la Hache, Louisiana, USA.  Jimmy has spent most of his adult life and a good part of his childhood living a non-traditional, itinerant lifestyle.  Now he's taking his hobo show on the road in Europe for the first time and sharing his adventures with us.  

Treading Perrier is written by Isabel Ortiz.  Isabel is from the Coyoacan section of Mexico City, Mexico and spent most her childhood in California, USA.  She is a financial analyst and is the most well-heeled expat among our contributors, having been sent abroad by her employer, a leading international investment bank, on stints in Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Santiago and Bangalore.  

21st Century Dharma Bum is written by Brian Van der Horst.  Brian has worked in journalism as an editor and columnist for Playboy, New Realities, Practical Pschology and The Village Voice.  He is the author of the books Folk Music in Amerca, Rock Music, and The Outcome Strategy and over 1,000 magazine and newspaper articles for Viva, Omni, Cosmopolitan and the International Herald Tribune, among others.  He has also been an aquisitions editor for J.P. Tarcher Books, Houghton-Mifflin and hosted a television program San Francisco.  He currently writes for Intelligence, a newsletter on neuro-computing.  He has lived in Europe since 1984.  

Shadow on the City of Light is written by Martin Lowe.  Martin is from Wales and has spent his career in Europe and the USA doing such things as photographing Whiskas® cat food cats with Dimitri Tolstoy (the great grandson), auditing lingerie stores, and publishing a floral art book (www.newlandsbook.com).  He landed back in Paris one freezing, foggy, offworldly morning in January 2005 ... TBC.

France vs. Catalina is written by Catalina Candrea.  Catalina has lived in Paris since 2003 and brings with her lovely stories about Eastern Europe.  She loves the French countrside, French literature and French wine and cheese, but struggles to watch French movies and laugh when everybody else does.  No matter how hard she tries, she still doesn't really like comic books.  

Sure, why not.  As you can see, our standards are pretty low.  

Our weekly columns cover a variety of subjects and there's always room for more.  Hobo In Paris also includes occasional one-time guest articles written by people too lazy to write weekly columns.  If you have experiences to share with your fellow hobos and would like to contribute articles, then email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .  

Hobo In Paris is the sister site of Expats Paris.  We're your expat home online and Expats Paris is your expat home offline.  Come to Hobo In Paris for an online magazine dedicated to the expat experience in Paris and go to Expats Paris to find Meetups taking place offline, out in the real world.

"The finest internet-based journalism I’ve seen in fifty years.”

    Bob Woodword

 “It’s hobo-rific!”

    Pope John Paul II

 “Huh?”

    Hubcap Charlie

 “Now we know what you jerks are really doing here in my city; get out.”

    Mayor Bertrand Delanoë

 “Relaxing and refreshing—like codeine in your coffee.”

    Elvis Presley

 “The hottest thing I’ve read since the Starr Report.”

    Henry Kissinger

 “Great soul.”

    Mahatma Gandhi

"My brother would have loved this.”

    Raúl Castro

“Four thumbs up, way up!”
   Mollie Coyne

You have two options for sharing questions and comments with us:

For inquisitive queries and helpful insight or if you wish to contribute articles, email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .  

For spam, useless jabber and other garbage, just write it down, shove it in an empty wine bottle and toss it in the Seine.  We'll be there shortly to pick it up.  We promise.