Good morning from the island of Corfu! Yes, that is correct, I managed to hitch to an island. This wasn’t super intentional… but cool! I’m now at the huge marina of Gouvia on the Greek island of Corfu and it’s super early. Why am I here so early? Because a kind soul allowed me to sleep on the deck of her husband’s boat. Once the people wake up I’m going to try hitchhiking a boat. My approach? By walking around with this hitchhiking saying ‘Italy’ to try and find a sailing/motor yacht to cross the Ionian Sea. Do I feelContinue reading
Europe
Here you’ll find lots of articles about my hitchhiking and kayaking travels in Europe. As you may know, Europe is my ‘homing’ continent where I’ll – like a stinky pigeon – always return to even if I’m trying to stay away from it. And to be honest, it’s not bad; there’s always more to explore.
I undertook many of my trips around Europe while at university in Maastricht (the Netherlands) and Aarhus (Denmark). That’s why I dropped out. I honed my hitchhiking skills here and set the most personal records and firsts such as:
- First solo hitch: from Kirkenes Airport in Norway to Kirkenes town with a military guy with his son
- Longest distance hitched in 24 hours: ~1200 kilometers from Maastricht (the Netherlands) to somewhere east of Lubljana (Slovenia)
- Most hours in one ride: 3 days with one British driver with a rental car in southern Spain and Portugal (his contract said he couldn’t take the car across the border)
- First plane hitch: over Malta (A to A)
- Longest sailing yacht hitch: from Corfu (Greece) to Malta, which was 340 nautical miles over 2.5 days. Here’s my CrewBay profile
Besides hitchhiking, I also kayaked a long distance in Europe down the Danube river in an inflatable canoe named Zucchini. But before I did that trip with my partner Jonas, I returned to university to finish my degree to erase my student debt. Thesis here.
As you can see, it’s not always a fun continent for me; it’s also the locus of worry about the people and pets I’m close to, of bureaucratic fuckery, and of most of my childhood memories. For most of my life, Europe has tied me down. Now I’m trying to experience it from a place of choice and freedom.
If you are not interested in the Danube trip, you can click this link to not show the Danube posts.
Ioannina, Greece: Hitchhiking Clearly Ain’t Dead
Posting live from a BP petrol station outside of Ioannina in Greece, where two French hitchhikers decided to come as well! Hitchhiking clearly ain’t dead. Now we’re chatting about our travel itineraries and hitchhiking around the Balkans and southern Europe. They are going in the direction of Patras and Athens. I’m going to Igoumenitsa so this is where our roads intersect and split again. Greece is definitely part of the ill-defined Balkan Trail. We exchanged contacts, so I might see them again once I’m in France hopefully later this year! How do you like my hitchhiking sign in Greek script? TogetherContinue reading
Election Day in Albania—I’m Hitchhiking to Greece
Election day has arrived in Albania! An excellent day to leave this beautiful country I’ve fallen in love with. Why? Because many Albanian citizens take a drive from where they work in Greece – and other countries – to do this democracy thing. After casting their vote, they drive back across the border with a free seat for me. This marking on the finger in the picture is to avoid people from voting twice (or more). I know what you’re thinking: pretty easy to scrub off. But none of the people in my car has simply wiped it off yet. I’mContinue reading
Hitchhiker’s Picnic in Tiranë, Albania
Finally, I met up with this French guy who is also a hitchhiker! His name is Yohan and he runs the French blog Les Voyages de Yohan (it’s in French). We’ve been talking for weeks, trying to meet up but it happened eventually in Tiranë! He was with his friends from France and Germany. We just had a little picnic in the park near Tiranë’s pyramid, chatting and chilling in with a cute puppy. The guy who took this picture told us he managed to quit smoking by joining the Church of Latter-Day Saints. When saying goodbye to my newContinue reading
Vlorë and the Zvërnec Monastery: a Day Hike
Events in Vlorë and Zvërnec (Albania) happened on Monday 15th of June, 2015. Good Morning Vlorë My hosts left for work in the morning. My plan was to take it easy since I had picked up a cold in Sarandë, or when hitchhiking from Sarandë to Vlorë. The idea I had for ‘taking it easy’ was going on a nice long hike (10 kilometers one-way) with lighter luggage. Within a reasonable distance, the hike to the Zvërnec Peninsula and Island northwest of the city center seemed like the best plan. My hosts confirmed it was pretty there. Walking out ofContinue reading
Horse with a Backpack in Gjirokastër, Albania
Would you look at this Albanian horsie! Is it a horse? Or is it a mule? Alas, I have no clue. There were many of them in Gjirokastër and many of them carried a backpack of sorts. This made me think that we have a lot in common. I know, it’s not a whole lot to go on. But I wanted to share this picture with y’all nonetheless. Seeing a horse just parked outside a building makes me think this town is a bit like a western movie. I refrained from asking for directions to the saloon. Perhaps one dayContinue reading
Sarandë to Vlorë: Albanian Coastal Hitch
Goodbye Sarandë and hello Vlorë! Though this road was desolate and there was only a little bit of shade left to stand in at noon, I caught a direct ride with a truck driver from Berat on this amazing coastal route. Tea and Tears But before I caught a ride to Vlorë, I had to walk along this road in the sunshine. It was quite a long walk. With the heat getting to my brain, I made a stop at a building on the south-west side of the road that I hoped would be a shop of some kind. IContinue reading
Three Hitchhikers: Autostop à Trois in Albania
Three hitchhikers, one car? Why not?! Meet this lady from Oxford in the United Kingdom. She decided on a whim to go hitchhiking with us from Gjirokastra to Sarandë one hot afternoon. Now I know you have questions. Did it work with three people? Sort of… we decided to split up. Dongbum would hitchhike alone and Trudy hitchhiked with me. We let Dongbum catch a ride first. Then we caught a ride, but our car had enough space. And when we saw a familiar face standing next to the road, we urged our drivers to pick up one more hitchhiker!Continue reading
Freecamping a Hotel Garden in Gjirokastër, Albania
Good morning from Gjirokastër! Me and Dongbum went freecamping next to two hotels with permission from both owners. That’s very kind of them! And honestly, it’s one of the better places to pitch a tent; the grass is well-kept and it’s nice and quiet most of the time. The hospitality and flexibility of Albanians to make us feel welcome has been astounding. I had a pretty comfy night in my tent. The air is nice and dry and it doesn’t get very cold at night. Though I still don’t experience ‘peak’ camping comfort as I don’t have a camping mattress,Continue reading