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

AMA: When you first started hitchhiking, did you do it with a mate or alone? Any tips?

A new question for my Ask Me Anything (AMA)! This person wrote the following message about how I started hitchhiking and tips for first-time hitchhikers: Hey! I’m going to Europe next July (I’m Australian), starting off in Istanbul then wanting to make my way across to the UK. I’ve been over there before and pretty much just stuck to trains and whatnot but I’m thinking maybe this time hitchhiking is the way to go (not the whole way, I’m not that ambitious and have limited time). When you first started out did you do it with a mate or didContinue reading

Hitchhiking Failure of the Year: No Malta to Sicily

Philosopher Jagger once said “you can’t always get what you want” and that’s what happened last night. I couldn’t find a boat willing to take me to Sicily from Malta. It’s a hitchhiking failure! Therefore I was forced to use the extortionately priced ferry! After more than three weeks in Malta and almost one week at the marina, enough was enough. And I’m very sad about it. Mick Jagger also said, “but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need!” Though it was frustrating, the people from La Marina Trattoria were so kind to feed meContinue reading

Sicily to Mainland Italy: Hitchhiking Cosa Nostra

This morning’s hitchhiking selfie from Taormina, Sicily. I slept outside in public for two days in a row now, but it seems like I’m not going to find a shower anytime soon. So I’m curious if people will still stop for me tomorrow. I already covered Catania (in Sicily) to Salerno (on mainland Italy) today. I’m probably headed to the Amalfi Coast to camp close to one of the hiking trails tonight. We’ll see about that. The smartest move of the day was asking around on the 3-kilometer ferry from Sicily to mainland Italy for a ride to Salerno. IContinue reading

Kharkiv Cable Car: A Soviet Ride in Primary Colors

We rode the Kharkiv cable car on Wednesday, the 25th of August, 2021. I guess technically, it’s a gondola lift or an aerial tramway or something like that (Spanish: teleférico) and I’ve seen the Kharkiv one referred to even as a ‘zip line‘ (which it is absolutely not), I’m gonna keep calling it a cable car because it feels right. Contents1 Learning About the Existence of a Cable Car in Kharkiv2 Is This Mean Machine Dangerous?3 Possibly the Best Thing in Kharkiv4 Arriving in Sarzhyn Yar from Gorky Park5 Kharkiv Cable Car Vlog (<1 minute)6 7 Kharkiv Cable Car FAQ:Continue reading

Odesa Cable Car: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Experience a Bit of Horror” (Ukraine)

When joining a beer sampling in Kharkiv with Eugene and his friends, we mentioned we’re also going to Odesa during our trip through Ukraine. He opened his phone to show photos from beautiful spots in Odesa, such as the swamp tram (video link) that goes to Khadzhibey Estuary. We’d shared our experiences in the Kharkiv cable car with him. We thought it was hilariously unsafe for something that’s painted in primary colors. He then mentioned there’s another such cable car in Odesa, and oh boy, that one hasn’t seen a renovation. Eugene showed some pictures from inside the cable carContinue reading

Pirogue Sailing to Île aux Bénitiers: Our Second Lesson with Christopher

This happened on Tuesday the 18th of January, 2022. We took our second sailing class with Christopher, this time in his yellow pirogue. The main photo was taken by Christopher. Click the menu in the top-left corner so you have the “pirogue” layer on. This map contains the approximate routes of all 3+ sailing classes we took with Christopher. Here’s a video of all four classes, starting at the footage of the second class:  Christopher’s Yellow Pirogue We received the message that the wind was good for sailing a bit later than last time. Christopher asked us at 10:15Continue reading

Finland

Finland is a country I've already been to before. Helsinki is where I started and ended my three-day visa-free trip to Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was November, which was both magical and a mistake. This was during my semester abroad in Aarhus, Denmark in 2012. I've only seen Helsinki and Rovaniemi, so it's about time for a revisit with more depth. Things I’d Like to Do Next Time in Finland Hitchhike waaaay more; I only hitchhiked a taxi very shortly from the airport in Rovaniemi back in 2012. That's not really enough to draw any conclusions Revisit Helsinki as a digital nomad. I'd also love to take ferries to/from Helsinki to other Baltic Sea countries, such as Estonia Speaking of ferries and boats, Finland has a lot of islands that seem exciting, perhaps in summer. I'm mostly looking at the Hermanni Islands nearby Oulu and other islands of the Bothnian Bay. The same goes for the Ekenäs Archipelago in the… Read more >

Kayak Trip Day 27: Grein to Krummnußbaum

Events in this article happened on Monday the 15th of July, 2019. We propelled our inflatable canoe named Zucchini for 31.2 kilometers on the Austrian Danube. We started the day in Grein in the state of Upper Austria and ended the day in Krummnußbaum in Lower Austria. Three Nights in Grein We stayed at hotel Martha in Grein for three nights. Our room was very big and comfortable and the internet very good. The hotel mainly targets cycling tourists of the Donauradweg (Danube bike path), which meant they had cool stuff like a drying room for shoes. On Saturday we just workedContinue reading