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
europe
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
Monaco Adventure Travel
Besides meeting the newbie hitchhikers from Czechia yesterday here in Monaco, I also met these two cyclists from Poland who are doing a big European tour. I met them in the daytime when I felt more optimistic about adventure travel in Monaco and hadn’t downed a beer yet. But I haven’t seen any backpackers or that category of travelers since… Greece..! That was more than one month ago and suddenly I meet two duos in one day! That gives me some hope. These guys also have a Facebook page (that I still need to find) but unless you speak Slavic,Continue reading
Czech Out Monaco
I just arrived in Monaco and met these crazy Czech guys with a SpongeBob-themed ukelele. They’re newbie hitchhikers and we’re about to make things go down for real. Probably at the Monte Carlo casino – a.k.a. the James Bond casino – if we can get in. They were already drunk before I met them and I was in a similar mood. So I knew they’re also working hard to make Monaco a backpacker place despite its unwillingness to cater to the EU’s poor and poetic ones. Prepare for nasty updates. But ooh la la, I haven’t thought about Czechia in a long time.Continue reading
Ultimate Hitchselfie on Gozo! (Malta)
I’ve always wanted to take a hashtag hitchselfie like this! This happened on the outskirts of Victoria on the island of Gozo in Malta. Yep, that red car stopped right when I was taking this picture. That’s why I look so distracted. I was also torn between talking to the driver first and picking up my camera first. I chose my camera and then made a run for the car. The guy made a nice drive around Marsalforn and invited me for some guitar playing at his house before dropping me at Ramla Bay to go swimming. I hope IContinue reading
The Blue Lagoon from Comino
Ain’t it pretty? I took this photo from the super small island of Comino here in Malta. What you see in the picture is the tiny islet of Cominotto (“little Comino”), which features a cool and fairly scary cave. One can swim the 100 meters across the narrow bit to Cominotto (which I did), but a fair warning for potential currents and jellyfish is needed. On my way to Cominotto, I had no problems. Though on the way back, the currents dragged me away quite a bit. Then at one point I could reach the seafloor with my feet, tookContinue reading
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
Literal Book Worm (Kruče, MNE)
This little fellah – a literal book worm – was reading along with me last night. I led the bendy boy off the page and onto a wall to not squish him. I’m reading the book The Price of Salt/Carol that Aleksandra had lying around her place by torchlight. It’s basically about two women on a road trip, which makes my thumb a little itchy to hitchhike on to Albania. I’m slowly preparing to leave Aleksandra’s elaborate hospitality here in Kruče. I didn’t meet her via CouchSurfing, but this has been my longest surf so far! Apparently, I arrived here on the 16th of May.Continue reading
Croatia’s Adriatic Highway: Makarska to Kupari nearby Dubrovnik
I took this photo while hitchhiking the coastal road of Croatia from Makarska to Kupari nearby Dubrovnik in a truck. There’s more than one ‘Autoroute du Soleil‘ and the French don’t own the rights to beautiful north-south holidaymaker routes! If you’re wondering where you need to go to travel here, look up Croatia’s D8 road. It’s part of an international road called the Adriatic Highway. It goes from Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina, then Croatia again followed by Montenegro. Here are a video and the Google Streetview version of that video for location accuracy: 2020 update: The onlyContinue reading