So I walked by the fire fighting station in Beja, Portugal, and decided that was the place I was going to sleep at. I’m coining this ‘bombeiro-surfing’ and it results in instant new friends! I don’t speak Portuguese – yet – but I know that ‘bombeiro’ translates to ‘firefighter’. And as you know, ‘surfing’ is short for couchsurfing—but without the help of the CS platform, of course. (See mosque-surfing, yurt-surfing, and café-surfing) But all joking aside, I’d read or heard somewhere that bombeiro-surfing is actually a legit thing to do when traveling in Portugal. I’d link to where I saw it beforeContinue 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.
Gibraltar: Tech Problems and Blind Hitchhiking
I’m back in the UK! Last night I found a last-minute couchsurfing host in the Spanish border town of La Linea. He was so kind to drop me at the border today. So now I can go hitchhiking Gibraltar and explore the monkey rock. The guy who took this photo is a born and raised Gibraltarian. He organizes some of the concerts for the national week here. Many people in the streets dressed in the national colors in anticipation of this week. It culminates on the 10th of September when it’s their national day. The border crossing to Gibraltar wasn’tContinue reading
Yurt-Surfing in Andalucía, Spain
How life gives you awesome people: what began as a spontaneous one-night freecamping invitation after a bad ride, turned into a three-day yurt-surfing adventure with my new friend from Hungary! Turns out she lives at this awesome place hidden in the woods with alternative housing. Housing such as yurts, caravans, and other ‘outdoor furniture’ (Spanish law is strange). The first night I pitched my tent next to her caravan, from where you could even see the Rock of Gibraltar! After that, we crashed at a yurt (i.e. yurt-surfing) at her neighbor’s place, because the winds were too strong. Yurts areContinue reading
Hitchhiking the Scenic Route in Andalucía
On the move again! I just left Málaga to hitchhike the scenic route towards Granada. Though I might go to Ronda or Gibraltar directly to catch some speed again on my way to Portugal. We’ll see what happens. I’ve no idea where I’m going, but it’s fun to pointlessly hitchhike in some direction just because of a nice mountain pass, though in Spain you can’t be picky. So far the average of 50% rides with foreigners and 50% with locals holds up, which is the highest I’ve ever experienced. I even caught a ride with some Dutch people in thisContinue reading
A Little Tibet in Spain: Karma Guen Buddhist Center
Oh my, this mountain vista from the stupa of the Karma Guen Buddhist center in Vélez-Málaga is stunning! Yes, I didn’t spontaneously leave Spain for Nepal or Tibet, although I’m hoping to visit in the future. I visited this Buddhist retreat center in Andalucía with my sort of spontaneous Couchsurfing guest from Russia. Lots of the people at Karma Guen are actually Russian, so we received a tour of the place in Russian and English from one of the people that’s involved there. The whole demographics of this center was very international. We got our blessing at the main hallContinue reading
The Sierra Nevada from the Road (Spain)
Dramatic skies, flawless tarmac, and mountains everywhere: the Sierra Nevada in Spain! Just some shit-stains on the window, still it’s a pretty good photo taken through the windshield! Here’s the Google Streetview version, much cleaner: This day I finished my speed hitchhiking trip towards Málaga in the south of Spain. It was a pretty rough trip of continuous hitchhiking for four days because Spain is just not that easy to get around. The people at the HitchGathering that told me hitchhiking in Spain was difficult spoke truth to power. My lowest point was when I was stuck at a roundaboutContinue reading
Inspirational Quote: Not All Those Who Wander Were Told to “Get Lost!”
Time for an inspirational quote about travel: Not all those who wander were told to “Get Lost!” ~ Iris the Hitchhiker I’m really on a creative roll for the whole inspirational quotes kind of thing after finding peace, love, and tranquillity in the south of Spain 🙂 first of all, you should know that I find a lot of ‘inspirational’ quotes very uninspiring. They’re often vague, promote airplane travel, or sound like the ramblings of someone who just rage-quit their job. Secondly, I like to mock shit occasionally. When scrolling through my Facebook feed, it’s literally full of stuff likeContinue reading
Check, I Hitchhiked the Millau Viaduct (France)
A couple of days ago I was still in France completing one of my “Hitch Bucketlist Masterpieces of Human Engineering”: the Millau viaduct! One of these pillars that keeps it all standing is taller than the Eiffel Tower and it spans the entire valley. My French driver spoke good English as he had just been back from a five-month backpacking trip himself. He told me more stories of the bridge as there were loads of protests against it. A one-way voyage over the bridge costs a whopping €9.40, so I offered to contribute. My driver rejected the offer. This bridgeContinue reading
Hosted by my French Friend in Frontignan, France
Remember this guy from the hitchhiker’s picnic in Tirana? We just reunited in France, where Yohan’s family lives in Frontignan. Thanks to this French friend and his family, I have a comfortable bed for one more night before I have to go speed-hitchhiking to the south of Spain. Together, we made a little calculation yesterday and it’s more than 1500 kilometers I have to do if I want to avoid Barcelona and Madrid (yes please)! I have about five days to make it to meet the other side of my family there. At the HitchGathering, some women told me theContinue reading