A stowaway is a person who travels by means of transportation without a ticket.

The word stems from the 1800s where stowaways were a common phenomenon on trains, ships and buses. In Denmark, it was possible to travel without a ticket on the stagecoach if the coachman approved and if he was given some kind of compensation.

The famous Danish fairytale writer H.C. Andersen also travelled as a stowaway when he travelled from Odense to Copenhagen in 1819. He would sit on the boot with the coachman. He had to go outside the city gates in Odense in order to board the stagecoach and get off before the coach reached the Copenhagen city gates.