When you’re hitchhiking home and some nice Italian guy gives you a box of chocolates! As you might have heard, I’m not wild about chocolate. I think it can be okay and the Ferrero Rocher stuff is a nice energy boost. So I told the guy to keep his chocolates, but it seems like he had stacks and stacks of boxes and he insisted. Perhaps it was a benign smuggling business, who knows. Funny thing: in Europe, I receive chocolate from drivers all the time. It’s such a pattern across countries. Like, why do car owners buy too much chocolateContinue reading
germany
Hitchhiking Berlin to Stuttgart in No Time
So I left Berlin for Stuttgart to visit a friend and knocked down a good 670 km hitchhiking away from dreary to slightly less dreary weather. Just four rides and a total waiting time of maybe 20 minutes! There’s a reason why all the distance and speed-hitchhiking records are made in Germany! My previous hitchhiking experiences in/through Germany have always been fast and easy. Fast and easy is how I like my hitchhiking days. Right after taking this photo, I caught my final ride. I didn’t even finish my cigarette. My last driver made lots of jokes about the train constructionContinue reading
Geocaching and Tree Climbing in Treptower Park (Berlin, Germany)
I’m in Berlin now and today was a good day for tree climbing and geocaching. These were the only activities that kept me warm in this forsaken cold and moist weather… And tree climbing is way more fun as an adult! During one tree-ascent, Jonas found a geocache by accident, that’s when we started looking for more. If I sound grumpy, it’s because I’m trying to go 24 hours without smoking a cigarette. That sounded like a good bet to make last night with one of Jonas’ friends. Tree climbing is an excellent activity to keep one’s mind away from theContinue 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
Sibiu, Romania: Spontaneous Couchsurfing + German Influences Everywhere
“Hey! I’m looking for a pub or some place with WiFi and beer at the small square so I can find a couchsurfing host. Do you know one?” “Oh you can stay at my apartment! Do you speak German?” Meet Adelheid, my most spontaneous couchsurfing host ever in Sibiu Romania! Two days of fun and hospitality Did you know that Sibiu in Romania historically had a big German community? Their name is Rumäniendeutsche. Hence the German influences around town. It even has a German alternative name. Are you ready? It’s Hermannstadt, I shit you not. That’s honestly the most German nameContinue reading
Berliner Beers: I Have Arrived in Germany
Quick shoutout to my mom via Tumblr: I have arrived safely in Berlin in three magical hitches! There’s no need to pretend I’m not drinking delicious Berliner beers with my spontaneous couchsurfing host in this city. We all know I love to conclude a victorious hitchhiking day with a cold one. The thing in my other hand is my hitchhiking sign for tomorrow when I’ll try to hitchhike out of Berlin and to Poznań in Poland. Yes, this is just a transient stop in Germany. I used the empty slot on my old cardboard hitchhiking sign for today to write it down.Continue reading
ANWB: Geographical Knowledge and Hiking Socks
As a preparation for the next big hitchhiking trip through Europe, I visited the shop of this organization mostly known for towing your car named ANWB. It’s kind of like the Dutch version of Triple-A or another roadside assistance organization. According to these maps from the ANWB, Poland and the Baltic States are just North and East Germany. Ahem, should we tell them? Anyway, it’s nice that I received these free paper maps from them. I intend to use them mostly as a way to track my route with the pen I received from a young student of architecture in Zanjan,Continue reading
Copán to Kapan: A Reflection on Nine Months of Travel
Today is one of those days on the road to reflect on what you’ve done, where you’ve been, and what is ahead of you. Reflection days are the worst and the best, but mainly the worst. Here’s to the last nine months on the road. Since the 29th of December 2013 – minus 10 days in my Passport Nation (PN) – I have been traveling 2,5 continents by anticipated happenstance, sporadic opportunity, and a shameful slice of manipulation. That is already nine months of growth, but it would be silly not to acknowledge the decline as well. Many things and people haveContinue reading