memes

The difference is restrictions didn't exist as much. I can't just go to my local port and get a job on a ship without a resumé and experience, without a passport etc. The main lodging in modern life is buying or renting, so it's also pretty much homelessness unless you have a job lined up already. Even travel within the US, the best bet to sleeping without money is sleeping in a car/van (if you have one!) in something like a Walmart parking-lot (or a rest area)... even then it's going to depend on the area and you still might get hassled by cops (or now, maybe ICE).

And hell, if people lived the old way, I probably could do that. I can peel+chop+fry a potato (or most other vegetables) no problem. I'll sweep the floor, I can carry things, I'll help with important/risky things, and if I have food+shelter I don't particularly care about money. Admittedly, I would be higher risk of death at sea though (either heat-stroke or that I can't swim).

Though this is completely different in the EU... because of: Freedom To Roam, the Schengen Area, hostels.

EDIT: Also going back further, many humans could survive travelling that way likely because they were part of a group. Solo-travel this way is possible now, but I'd say it's a bit more than courage. It also takes knowledge and preparation, likely health, and again navigating risks. Not to say any of that is new for travel, though I'd say getting arrested or maybe ran over are. And this also falls back more into survival rather than travel for leisure as people think about it now.