EUROPE: Golden Rules for a Golden Thumb

I'm usually not one for boasting, but I must admit, if there's one thing I'm proud of in life, it's the total distance I've hitchhiked in the past 9 years of my life. Starting out with short distances in America at the age of sweet 16, I've now hitchhiked over 25,000 miles (over 40,000 kilometers) in 44 countries on 4 different continents (N. America, Africa, Europe, and Asia). So, while I'm 100% sure that there are others who've hitchhiked more, it's safe enough to say that I have experience in the sport of hitchhiking. This post is in response to a comment on my last post and to some of the questions I've received during my travels from those who are interested in trying out this method. I did post something similar to this a few years ago under the title "Golden Thumb", but in this post, I'll go into more details and divide my suggestions and experiences into regions. Today, I will just post about Europe. 

General Information: If you're a virgin to hitchhiking, Europe is the best place to try long or short distance hitchhiking for the first time. Hitchhiking is not illegal in any of the European countries (as long as you're not in the middle of a highway, of course!), the police in most countries will not bother you, and it's quite safe, despite what people may tell you. I know, I'm a solo female traveler who's hitchhiked from France to Estonia to Romania to the UK, all alone, and sometimes even with two truckers in one truck... although I must say now that for a first-timer, I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS! Please, I'm a poor starving scholar, do not sue me. People in general will know that you're hitchhiking, so that will never be an issue, and depending on who you are, it'll be easy to get a ride.

The Rules:
1. Smile! I know this can be hard sometimes if it's -10°F (-23°C), it's snowing and you've been waiting for 2+hours in the cold. Still, no driver wants to pick up a grumpy, unfriendly hitchhiker! Looking friendly and cheerful will make the driver want to pick you up more. of course, you don't need to force a grin and look like some psychopath à la Jack Nicholson in The Shining (1980). 

Try to go for a natural smile/grin, just don't smirk... that's not very inviting either. 

2. Look/Be Clean! OK, I do understand that it's hard to look nice and beautiful while you're on the road. I'm not saying you need to look like you're ready for an evening ball with prince or princess charming. Just look like you don't smell... and won't mess up the driver's car. I've hitchhiked in everything from an old Soviet-era manual steering truck to a Porsche... I'm sure the guy who owned a Porsche wouldn't have picked me up if I looked like I hadn't showered in weeks, had mussed up, wild hair, and dirt all over my clothes and face. Even if it's not a Porsche that picks you up, any proud car owner would prefer someone who's not smelly. If you're a man who has a shaggy beard like Hagrid, shave it off.

If you love your facial hair, at least trim it neatly... but hopefully not like the Hitler-stache. 

3. Make/Have a Sign. Before embarking on your first hitch, it's best to figure out where exactly you're heading! Of course, it could be fun to hitchhike without any aim (although I've only done that once in the Balkans), but it's best to have a specific destination and know the specific route to get there. You should know the highway you should stay on and write them down. In Europe this is the best way not to get lost and to minimize time wasting. Here is an example of a sign I used to hitchhike to Luxembourg:

Note, on the top I have my destination city (Luxembourg). -> A4 is the highway name that I need to stay on and (METZ) is the town that lies between my starting point (Strasbourg, France) and my destination (Luxembourg, Luxembourg), which shows the direction in which I need to go. I also put the city name in Luxembourg in Luxembourgish to appeal to any possible locals and the polite W.E.G./S.V.P./Bitte all mean "Please" in Luxembourgish, French, and German, the three main languages of Luxembourg. The "Please" on the bottom of your sign is completely optional, but I feel it adds a nice personal touch of appreciation, so I always put it on there. This is an example of a good sign that helps both the driver and you! 

4. Know the Roads. Perhaps this is not as necessary for a group of 3 strong, young men hitchhiking (haha, good luck with that!) but if you're a female and especially if you're doing this alone, you should know the roads. Google maps is your friend. Love it, use it, and never forget it. For Europe, you can get road directions to and from any city in Europe. Let's say for your first time, you're hitchhiking from Paris to Brussels. Enter it into Google maps and voilà: 

It tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the route, take highways A1, A2, and E19. So on your sign you can put "BRUSSELS" or "BRUXELLES" (in French) A1 -> A2 ->  E19. For a nice personal touch you can add "Please" or "SVP" (S'il vous plaît). 

5. Know How to Communicate. Sometimes you might get into a car with a driver that doesn't speak your language and you don't know how to speak with your driver. As an aficionado of languages, I have been lucky in this department, communicating in a mixture of English, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Italian, and Swedish, I can get by in pretty much all of Europe without too many communication difficulties. Still, even if you don't know many languages, you should at least be able to say hello, thank you, and perhaps a few key phrases in the language of your driver or one that your driver will understand. It also helps to hitchhike in a country where you know the language since instead of a silent 3-hour ride, you can have an interesting conversation or two. 

6. Decline Rides. Let's say you've been waiting for 3 hours and you're desperate. Or someone has gone out of his or her way to stop for you, while it seems only polite to accept a ride from every single person that stops, that does not oblige you to take the ride. It is perfectly fine to decline rides if you feel uncomfortable. I take risks, sure. I've hitchhiked with two truck drivers in on truck from Lithuania to Latvia, but they were colleagues of another truck driver who'd picked me up in Vilnius. My initial impression of them was good. They seemed to smile genuinely AND I could communicate with them since they both spoke Russian and I could get by with that language. I am not stupid with my risk-taking, though. In Slovakia, a car with about 5 Ukrainians stopped and offered me a ride. The initial vibe I got from them was negative. They didn't seem genuinely friendly and in a car with 5 males... hm... and I was a solo female... hm... probably not smart. I declined the ride. It was OK. In Estonia, a Turkish truck driver stopped, but he spoke no English, no Russian, no French... none of the language I knew and I knew not a single word of Turkish, so I declined the ride. It was fine, he wasn't offended and nothing bad happened. He moved on I got a ride from someone else. The point is, don't feel obligated to get into every car that stops. There are countless reasons to decline rides... the ride isn't going far, it's going off of the main highway, you get a bad feeling from the driver, etc. and it's all right to say, "Thanks so much, but I think my route is a little different from yours." Of course, that is one bad thing about having a sign, since you've already listed your destination, but in Europe, this has never been a problem. 

7. Hitchhike from Rest Area A to B. Rest areas, auto stops, service stations, service areas, whatever you call them, they are areas right off of the highway where you can get gas/petrol for the vehicles, a bathroom break, a bite to eat, a chair to sit on, and in some countries (like Germany) a shower! In Europe, these are the best places to hitchhike from. Once you get your initial ride out of a European city, ask your driver to drop you off at the rest area nearest the driver's destination. For example, if you're hitchhiking from Germany to Slovakia via Austria, an Austrian driver going to Linz can drop you off at the service area right before the Linz Ausgang (Linz exit). In most European countries there is a service area every 50 kilometers or so, and these are the perfect places to get off to get your next ride. From the Linz service area, you can get another ride perhaps right before Wien (Vienna) and get off at a rest stop before that city. From that pit stop, it's a quick jump to Bratislava! While hitchhiking is not illegal, it is illegal to hitchhike directly on the highway/freeway/expressway where cars cannot stop safely, so it's best to get rides from the service areas. They are easy to access and cars are slowly driving out of them to meet the speeding cars on the highway. When hitchhiking out of them, position yourself in a place where you can get the maximum number of drivers to see you, usually near the exit of the rest stop. I personally find this the best method. Other hitchhikers prefer to talk to random people and ask them for rides inside the food court or near the gas stations... but I prefer the traditional hitchhiking method, thumb out, near the exit, holding a sign with a smile on my face. 

8. Better Safe than Sorry. There are obviously some risks involved in hitchhiking. Even I, as fearless as my friends think I am, do play it safely. How? As a female hitchhiker, I NEVER hitchhike past sunset. OK, I confess, there was one time I hitchhiked at night... maybe two times. Overall, though, 99% of the time, I only hitchhike during daylight hours, especially when I hitchhike alone. I recommend this not just for solo female hitchhikers, but also solo male hitchhikers, or even those traveling with partners. You can always sleep in the rest area food court or some place where you can find a seat, curl up and catch a few Z's and start bright and early, as soon as the sky begins to lighten, the next day. Also, by safe than sorry, I mean stay sober and alert at all times when hitchhiking. I don't judge people who drink or engage in trying recreational drugs, but when hitchhiking this is probably the worst thing you could possibly do. Do not drink alcohol or take anything that might affect your judgement, even in the slightest. Also, always have some food and water with you while hitchhiking, as well as some cash. It doesn't have to be an exorbitant amount, but it should be enough to buy you a meal and a big bottle of water. If you're hitchhiking to meet a deadline or catch a flight, you should always have backup cash or card in case you're not going to meet that deadline and need to take an emergency train/bus/boat/plane/horse to make it. 

9. Go with Your Gut. This rule isn't just for Europe, but it's for hitchhikers in general. The gut feeling you get when the driver first stops and rolls down the window, or stops and you open the door, you get creepster vibes, don't accept the ride. Trust me, you'll be surprised how many times your gut feeling is right. I ignored it a couple times and those couple times were the only times I had "issues" with my drivers. Luckily, nothing happened and I escaped, mostly unscathed, but it was when I was ignoring that gut feeling, which I should not have waived away.

My Top 9 European Countries for First-Time Hitchhikers (in no particular order)

1. Ireland

2. France

3. Czech Republic

4. Slovakia

5. Germany

6. Lithuania*

7. Latvia*

8. Estonia*

9. Slovenia

*If you speak Russian, I highly recommend these countries for first-timers. If not... perhaps other countries where English is more prevalent like the Netherlands, Denmark, or Norway would be better picks. 

My Top 9 European Countries to Avoid for First-Time Hitchhikers  (in no particular order)

1. Greece

2. Italy

3. Serbia 

4. Montenegro

5. Portugal

6. Ukraine

7. Croatia

8. Spain

9. Albania*

The above list doesn't signify that the countries are particularly dangerous for hitchhiking, but rather, the average wait times were longer, which could be discouraging to first-timers. 

*The only reason Albania is on this list is because most people expect you to pay them for the ride. Similarly, some drivers in Romania also ask you to pay. Usually this is not a problem if you tell the driver that you have no money before getting in the car in a language the driver would understand (learning some key phrases in Albanian for Albania or surprisingly French/German/Italian/Romanian for Romania). 

Wait Times (Lowest 1 -> 5 Highest) 

1. One Female

2. Two Females

3. A Couple

4. Two males

5. Groups of 3 or more. 

Additional Notes: Don't get discouraged if you have to wait for more than a couple hours when hitchhiking out of a city! This is perfectly normal and there's nothing wrong with you. City drivers, most of them, aren't leaving the city, that's the main reason why they don't pick you up. Getting out of the city in the hard part, everything will be a breeze after that. For instance, I once had to wait nearly 2 hours to get a ride out of Paris and likewise a ride out of Milan. Also, this should go without saying, but you should travel lightly, meaning no heavy suitcases or multiple bags. The best thing to have is one backpack, which should be visible to the driver. You should place the bag in front of you as you hold your sign and thumb out so that the driver knows exactly what he/she/they are getting into when they stop for you. 

DISCLAIMER: Hitchhike at your own risk and have fun!

Sweden for the Holidays

I opted out of going to Ireland with my boyfriend this holiday and went the opposite direction, to Sweden.

As part of my conditional citizenship (since I've never lived in Sweden and the only reason I have citizenship is through my American-born, but Swedish-bred mother who lived briefly in Sweden in her youth), I'm required to prove my "significant ties" by visiting often. I could just get it over with and live in Sweden for a couple years, which would then no longer require me to visit often and I'm seriously considering this after my studies.

So Sweden in a nutshell:

I wanted to get to Sweden by the 24th at the very latest, so I decided to estimate a very comfortable 4 days to hitchhike there from England. Sweden was reached in 2 days, so the journey went speedily along with no problems, only issue being the ferry crossing from England to France. Did have to shell out some dough for that, but otherwise, it was smooth sailing.

Since it was so close to Christmas, I'd decided to dress up festively, donning a Santa hat, painting my nails green and red, dressing in a green dress over a red turtleneck sweater and some winter boots over my jeans. People who picked me up all commented on my holiday spirit (I used white poster board for my hitchhiking signs, using green and red marker to write the city and highway names). A couple people asked if I was going to the North Pole (all in good jest, of course) and a couple who picked me up wondered if I was hitchhiking home for the holidays. In a way, this was true. Sweden is as close to home as I can get at the moment. I do have extended family, 2nd cousins and the like, in Sweden as well as a couple close friends. Overall, the trip through continental Europe and to the German-Danish border was a breeze.

I did end up sleeping at a rest area in Germany, right on the Danish border, only because it gets so dark so fast in the winter months, only to wake up with the sunrise and start again. Swedes seemed to love my festive mood, and my Swedish (shameful, really) was put to the test. English was always an option, but I should really work on my Swedish more. I reached Stockholm by sundown and met up with my old friend Erik (who is my mother's cousin-in-law's brother's son) and we headed to Uppsala to meet his direct and my indirect family members for Christmas.

Right before turning virtually vegan for 2012, Christmas dinner in Sweden... let's just say that it's a good thing that was a New Year's resolution! Traditional Swedish julbord (Christmas table... basically a Christmas-version of smörgåsbord) is chock FULL of animal products: Swedish meatballs, herring, salmon, eel, buttered bread, cheeses, sausages, hard boiled eggs, ham, pork, bread dipped in pork broth, rice pudding, Janssons frestelse (cream-filled potato casserole with onions and sprats). Were I vegan, the only thing I could have eaten were potatoes, beets, some breads, and cabbage. Luckily, I wasn't on my vegan diet yet... and I stuffed myself to the gills. Seriously, I don't remember eating so much in my entire life. My stomach actually hurt after I finished my meal.

The feast didn't stop there. Swedes also celebrate the "Second Day of Christmas", known in other parts of Europe as St. Stephan's. My extended family doesn't stop there. They serve this type of food until the 13th day of Christmas (also known as Epiphany in other parts of Europe). Luckily, I was out of Uppsala and the fattening, animal-based foods by New Year's Eve. Back in Stockholm, I went out with Erik and some friends to celebrate 2012 then lazed about, working on vegan recipes and using him as a guinea pig for about a week before deciding to head back to England.

Hitchhiking back was somehow more gruesome than the way back in. Perhaps the holiday spirit was worn out and I was no longer dressed like Santa's helper. It still didn't take more than 2 days, but it felt like the wait times were longer in between the rides. Again, had to shell out some cash for the ferry from France to the UK, but made it back with no major issues.

So now I'm back (just got back last night, actually). Not particularly excited to start working again, but hey, that's life. I wouldn't say this trip to Sweden for the holidays was particularly eventful. Just saw family and friends... other than the fact that it was in Sweden, it almost felt like just a normal holiday. I quite enjoyed it. Hm... I'm beginning to wonder... at 24, I should be doing something more wild with my life, shouldn't I? Well, suppose that will have to wait until spring or summer.

Calculating Total Distance Hitchhiked

Having obsessive compulsive behavior, I keep several thorough lists. One list lists all of my hitchhiking adventures and the routes I used, which helps me calculated the approximate distance I've hitchiked since I participated in this dangerously addictive sport about seven years ago at the age of sweet sixteen. Since then, and adding my most recent trip, I have hitchhiked a total of... wait for it... 26,847 mi (43,206km), give or take a few miles (or kilometers.

To give you an idea of this distance, the circumference of the Earth at the equator is 24,901.55 miles (40,075.16 kilometers). In the past seven years, I have hitchhiked an approximate distance surpassing one trip around the Earth! Normally, I dislike bragging, but even I must admit that the total distance hitchhiked can't be dismissed as an insignificant feat. Now, if I successfully hitchike to Stockholm and back this week and next, it'll add up to an additional 2584 miles (4159kilometers) under my belt.

Perhaps the limited amount of free time has me daydreaming of hitchiking or perhaps the prospect of handing in a completed 100-page (25,000-word) thesis soon and going on a short vacation for Midsummer sparked this post, but I really need to do something other than writing, reading my paper, and looking over my mountainous pile of books and papers. I suppose I should let you know that I most likely will not post anything for a while after this one. I need to finish my thesis, then I will visit Sweden for 2-3 days (the total trip hitchhiking to and fro will take approximately one week), then, I just heard back from my guest lectureship application at a university in Korea, so I will fly to Seoul on June 30th for 3 months of work. It's going to be a busy couple of weeks!

Today's Random Picture:

Around the World by Thumb

I had a discussion with my Polish friend today. Despite both of us having hitchhiked for approximately the same number of years, he finally admitted that I'd surpassed him in total distance covered by thumb. In fact, I recently calculated the approximate distance I have hitchhiked since I first began as a clueless 16-year-old.

Total Distance Hitchhiked: 23,659 miles (38,075kilometers)

Even I was impressed at this number. It's about 1,300 miles (2,000km) shy of the distance around the world at the equator! I think the next time I hitchhike, wherever that may be, I may successfully cross this threshold number. After that... I think I'll feel ready to try boat-hiking to Antarctica! Penguins, here I come!!!

Today's Random Picture:
Sometimes children are funny...

Dracula and Democrats

My mind concocts eerie plans sometimes. One such strange idea was to drink red wine in the Poenari Castle in Romania at night on Halloween, which was promptly added to my "List of Things to Do Before I Die". So, in order to complete this (possibly considered absurd) wish-list item, I decided to hitchhike to Romania for Halloween. The distance covered, round trip, was to be approximately 3,167mi (5,097km) and the time I had to do it was from Thursday 2p.m. to Tuesday 1p.m. to be in time for my first class the following week. Despite the seemingly impossible time constraints, I successfully managed to get to the castle and back, just in time for my class on Tuesday (arrived back around 12:40pm!), cutting it just shy of being late to class.

Overall, the trip was... exhilarating! I headed south towards London, which was a relatively easy hitch with a jolly old driver who was going to visit his son. From service stations near London, I avoided the the London circle and headed southeast, toward the port in Dover, which meant a ferry crossing. This took a longer time but was completely manageable, but it took 3 car-exchanges to get to Dover, the third car actually crossing over the ferry to France, which was a pretty sweet deal on my part. From Calais, France I hitchhiked with a Belgian truck driver headed to Brussels, in Brussels with a German businessman headed home to Köln, then from Köln with a mother and her two children going to the airport in Frankfurt am Main.

One of the downfalls in hitchhiking during the fall and winter are the shorter daylight hours. By the time I was in Frankfurt, it was already pitch-black and impossible to go further, temperatures beginning to plummet, and drivers less willing to pick up a stranger. Thus, I decided to do what I've done countless other times, sleep at some random shelter, which happened to be a rest area near Frankfurt am Main. Early next morning, I headed out with a change of cardboard signs and successfully hitchhiked to Regensburg, changing cars twice. Once in Regensburg, heading toward Austria seemed problematic, once again. Seriously, for reasons unknown to me, no one in Germany seems to want to go to Austria! Instead of waiting indefinitely for a miracle-car or truck that would take me to Austria, I decided to hitchhike shorter distances toward Austria, with drivers going to smaller towns and villages in Bavaria (Hunderdorf, Deggendorf, Windorf). Finally, after almost giving up and perhaps decided I'd be better off hitchhiking through the Czech Republic, I hitched a ride with an Austrian truck driver going to Linz.

Finally in Austria, for some odd reason, the average wait-time was almost as good as in Slovakia or the Czech Republic this time around! The maximum wait-time in Austria ended up being only 7 minutes! With that I managed to hitchhike all the way to Budapest, Hungary with a German-speaking, half-Hungarian, half-Slovak driver who seriously wondered if I was in the right mind wanting to complete this insane trip, just to cross off one, silly, childish thing on my list. My response was that you only live once and so, why not do all the crazy things in life? In Budapest, I was able to contact an old friend who welcomed me into her home for the night and we caught up on a lot of things before I'd have to head out early on Saturday morning to head across the Hungarian-Romanian border.

Trying to read Hungarian is like... trying to stare wide-eyed at a needle pointed at your eyeball. This language is completely baffling to me and with so many consonants right next to each other, it makes me wonder if it really belongs in the Finno-Ugric language family... perhaps Finnish and Estonian took all the vowels and Hungarian was left with a combination of consonants? Once out of Hungary, after changing cars another handful of times, I found myself in a car with American tourists! Who would've thought? They, however, were headed to the Bran Castle, the much more famous and much much touristy "Dracula" castle in Romania. I attempted to convince them to go to the Poenari Castle instead, but they had already reserved a hotel nearby the Bran Castle and didn't know the area around Poenari too well. Who could blame them? That's what "normal" travelers do. They have concrete plans and hotel reservations. I guess I overlooked the fact that I am not a "normal" traveler. Still, thanks to them, while refueling in somewhere in the middle of Romania, I purchased my bottle of red wine. Then my time with fellow Americans came to a close once we reached a point where Autostrada Transilvania (Bran Castle) split off from E81 (Poenari Castle). I have to admit, Autostrada Transilvania sounds a lot cooler than the road I had to take, "E81"... how sterile!

Oh Romanian roads... how could I have forgotten you? Average wait time was 3 minutes! So with an exchange of a vehicles, friendly drivers eager to communicate in a mixture of Romanian, French, Italian, and German, I found myself on the impossible-to-pronounce Transfăgărăşan road. Transfăgărăşan... try saying that 3 times fast! In any case, by the time I was dropped off there, it was already getting pretty dark. I was told there would be electric plant at the foothold of a cliff/hill and should I manage to find the stairs in the dark, I could stumble my way up the 1,500 steps to the castle. Boy, that was quite a work-out. Finding the actual staircase took a while in itself. Then, walking up the stairs took at least a good 20 minutes. It didn't matter if I was the "stair master" due to the 4 flights of stairs I walked up and down on a daily basis for 4 years as a full-time high school student, those steps were still something, at least going up.

Saturday evening in the "haunted" castle on Hallow's Eve had attracted a few tourists, not necessarily for Halloween, but just because. I spoke with some of the tourists I met while there and told them about my wonderful plan of drinking red wine at night on Halloween inside the castle, to which they lauded my courage. I shared my bottle of wine with them, but saved myself a glass's worth for later. As the night got darker (and colder) the tourists slowly trickled away and I was eventually alone by the time it was midnight. I stood in a corner with my red wine and drank, completing my weekend mission. After emptying my bottle, I realized I had no plans as to what I would do now. Poenari is located on a cliff near villages, no major place for shelter could be found. I decided to sleep in the empty castle.

Unfortunately, that plan did not go over very well. It was cold and the sounds of howling dogs (or wolves?) kept me awake. In the end, I decided it just was impossible to sleep and decided to walk down the cliff. 1,500 steps down from the castle, I found myself on Transfăgărăşan again and walked aimlessly, attempting to warm myself up from the cold. Then I saw a bright light coming from behind me. I turned around, curious. They were high beams from a car as well as what looked like a light being blasted from a mini searchlight. It pulled up next to me and I immediately realized it was a police car. The policemen asked me what I was doing, first in Romanian then in English + French. Despite knowing how crazy it would sound, I told them exactly what I was there to do, what I did, and what I was planning to do. They laughed and then gravely told me it was not safe to sleep in the castle and it was very dangerous, saying that bears and wolves are in the area and I could get attacked. I didn't realize there were wild bears in Transylvania. Then they said they'd find a place for me to sleep and told me to get in the cruiser.

Second time hitchhiking with a cop car was perhaps even better than hitchhiking in a cruiser the first time, which was in Sweden and the police merely dropped me off at a better location from which I could hitchhike. Instead, the Romanian cops took me to what I assume was a convent. They dropped me off and they came out and talked to one of the nuns of the convent in Romanian. Following their talk, they told me that I could sleep there for the night! Wow! I was so surprised and thankful. After offering as many awkwardly, American-accented "mulţumesc"s as I could, I bade farewell to the policemen who then drove away as I entered the convent.

It was much warmer and much more comfortable there than in the abandoned castle and in the morning, a nun even packed me some food to carry with me. I guess I looked like I was starving or something. "Mulţumesc" is the most useful Romanian word you'll use as a hitchhiker! I hitchhiked early Sunday morning back towards Budapest. After a plethora of car-changes and more than 15 hours of hitchhiking, I was back in Austria, where I ended up spending a night in a rest area. 

Monday, I was beginning to feel a little desperate since I was still a long distance away from England. Luckily, going from Austria to Germany is a lot easier than the other way around. About 12 hours of hitchhiking later, I found myself near Brussels and decided to contact people I'd met 4 years ago with whom I'd kept in touch. They warmly invited me to stay with them in the spare bedroom and I was able to spend a lovely, pleasant night with them. Unfortunately, I had to get up quite early the next morning to get back to England, so I had to leave them as soon as the sky started lightening. 

It took about 6.5 hours to go from Brussels to Cambridge, but in the end, I made it by the skin of the tooth, just in time for class on Tuesday. That was my mini-adventure. 

In more recent news, I realize saw that the election results from Tuesday are trickling in. I personally am an independent, neither a Democrat nor a Republican, but usually, I agree with more Democratic party platforms than the conservative Republican views. So I was a little concerned that the Democrats have lost about 60 House Seats and while they have a bare senatorial majority (51 seats of 100 as of now), the huge Republican majority in the House (240 seats of 435 as of now) is bound to make things difficult for the Democratic party agenda. Again, I was unable to vote (or perhaps unwilling to go through the paperwork to cast a ballot overseas) but my brother and sister (who turned 18 in September!) both voted for the first time this year! They are, as I am, independents, so they voted neither party. It is a little depressing to know that the chance of an independent candidate winning a major house or senatorial election is about the same as a snowball's chance in hell. Personally, I think the Swedes got it right with proportional representation, but I think America is too stubborn to change the two-party system.

Today's Random Picture:

Baltics and Back

I won't make the same mistake I made last year by putting off posting an entry about my summer travels. Trying to keep this entry relatively succinct, I'll summarize my last month or so in as minimal but efficient detail as possible, since I plan on posting (probably within a week or so) more detailed entries for each country on my website.

Before celebrating my 23rd birthday, I decided to visit a handful of micro-states (Liechtenstein, San Marino, and Monaco). Knowing no one living near Liechtenstein or San Marino, I made sure I had my sleeping bag and tent with me. Hitchhiking to Vaduz from Strasbourg wasn’t all too difficult, nor did it take long. I spent most of the day in Vaduz, which turned out to be more of a village than a city, admiring the scenic layout of the town and the fairy tale-like Vaduz Castle situated on a cliff. Then it was off to San Marino. San Marino was also a very scenic and beautiful town. Having nowhere to go or to sleep I camped out for the night.

Bright and early the next morning, I hitchhiked to Nice where a classmate of mine was spending the summer in his parents’ summer house. Day trips to Monaco and the beach were made during my relatively short stay there, but I had to go back to Strasbourg before heading north towards Scandinavia. I barely made it to Stockholm in time for my birthday, but I did make it! Tomasz even hitchhiked from Poland, though with an added incentive to visit Norway, to help me celebrate. It was like the first time I was in Stockholm already over 3 years ago. It was January then, when Tomasz and I took a flight to Stockholm from Gdansk, surprised to meet Erik for the first time at the airport. Ah… memories.

After my birthday, Tomasz and I hitchhiked to Oslo, where one of my ex-roommates now lives. He was from the arctic region of Norway but was studying a year in the U.S. at my university over 2 years ago, graduated, and is now living and working in the capital. Oslo was a nice city, though the weather could have been kinder. I seriously wanted to go to Kjeragbolten but the inclement weather (it was cool and rainy) combined with Tomasz’s hesitance temporarily delayed this trip. I would have gone alone, but I had no camera and I wanted to take a picture standing on the famous rock between the cliffs… so if my Polish travel buddy who had a camera was unwilling, it meant that the incentive to go alone was weak. We hitchhiked back to Sweden together before we parted ways, I continued east while he went south back towards Denmark, eventually back to Poland.

I managed to hitchhike on a ferry via a Finnish truck driver who was leaving Stockholm to go back to some town I’d never heard of in Finland. His Finnish made me laugh and my attempts to speak his language amused him. Overall, it was a perfectly entertaining ferry ride. As we approached the shore he pointed to the slab of land saying, “There’s Finland!” It reminded me of one Conan O’Brien episode with “going to Finland!” (Karin and Ken know what I’m talking about =D). There was still light out but whether I would make it to Helsinki in time or not seemed questionable. Risking hitchhiking past sundown, I got off the truck at a seemingly deserted rest area and waited with my sign. The problem was not that cars didn’t stop. The problem was there were no cars. My bright and cheerful demeanor faded slightly as I waited for what seemed like forever.

Then, as the sun started to set on the Finnish horizon, came one of the horrific moments of my life. It was as if someone turned some switch or pushed some invisible button. As soon as the sun hit the horizon, I heard a strange buzzing sound. This eerie sound grew louder. Frantically I turned around in search of this strange and mysterious noise. There it was… a moving gray cloud… no… it wasn’t a cloud… it was a swarm of mosquitoes!!! Suffering from a seemingly incurable phobia of bugs (or anything with more than 4 legs), I felt my heart sink into my stomach, my palms got clammy with cold sweat, and my body felt stiff and numb. Mosquitoes seem to love my blood for some strange reason. I already had over 20 mosquito bites and this swarm of hundreds of mosquitoes would probably eat me alive. Running as fast as I could with my heavy camper’s bag, I darted towards the rest area building for shelter as the swarm of blood suckers flew towards me. Just then a car honked next to me, and, as I’ve told my friends, I’d rather take my chances with a psycho killer than a room full of bugs, I got into the car without even asking where the driver was going.

Patience is the key to virtue. Once in the car, I learned I’d waited at that rest area for nearly 5 hours but the driver of the car was going to Helsinki. I almost wanted to kiss him when he said that. Not only did he save me from the mosquito army but I’d be able to get to Helsinki before it was too late. In Helsinki, I stayed with Tom’s (my half Finnish, half Swedish friend) friend. It was a pleasant city, but quite small and empty, especially at night.

After Helsinki I left for Tallinn on another ferry. This time, I hitchhiked to Estonia with a Belarusian driver. My Russian was tested to its limits during the relatively short ride. Once off the ferry, the car got stopped by Estonian customs (probably because he was from Belarus – non-Schengen, non-EU, evil Lukashenka, etc.) and it was strange for me since it was the first time the driver had to get out of the car, open his trunk and show a bunch of documents for the car and the like. Estonian customs didn’t really question me too much at all. Once I showed them my ID, they just glanced at it then returned it to me, the custom’s officer grinning broadly, probably realizing I’d just hitchhiked from Finland with the Belarusian driver. I was dropped off in Tallinn and the driver continued his trek back to Belarus.

Once in Tallinn, I realized I had no place to sleep and decided to do what Tomasz did so often, sleep at an airport. It was ok for one night. The airport security guard let me off the hook one time when I mumbled some story about a flight in the morning and not having any Estonian krooni. The second night, he wasn’t so forgiving, and I had to head back to the city and wandered around the outskirts of Tallinn. Tired beyond what I could physically handle, I decided to call it a night and sleep at a bus station outside and took out my sleeping bag. Just as I was about to fall asleep, I suppose it was sometime past midnight, someone asked me a question in English, albeit with a rather strong Russian accent. Bewildered and half asleep, I sat up on the bus stop bench and saw the speaker. He asked me what I was doing. When I told him I was going to sleep at the bus stop, he laughed. Not just chuckled, but really, laughed. I really didn’t, and still don’t, understand why this is so funny, but once he managed to subside his laughter, he said he lived a block down the street in a student dorm and his roommate had gone home for the summer so there was an extra bed. His offer seemed genuine so I accepted the offer.

Meeting Sergey at the bus stop made my stay in Tallinn one hell of an experience. He was Russian but from an eastern Estonian town bordering Russia, so his Estonian wasn’t exactly perfect and he’d been studying, working, and living in Tallinn for the past 3 years. The next morning, I met his friend Sasha, who was also Russian, and they showed me around the city, I discovered milk being sold in plastic bags at Estonian supermarkets, and, despite them trying to dissuade me, tried traditional Estonian food. In short, it was a learning experience.

Time running low, despite wanting to spend more time with my new-found friend, I left for Latvia. The first driver out of Estonia was an Estonian businessman who only spoke Estonian and Russian. Never before did I think Russian would be such an indispensable language during my travels in the Baltic States. My impression was that the Russian language was a reminder of the Soviet times, times that the Baltic people wanted to distance themselves from… but nevertheless, anyone in their late 20s and definitely everyone over 30 spoke Russian. Not to mention significant Russian minorities living in these countries. Initially, I started learning Russian because I liked the way it sounded, but after this experience, I realize now that it’s probably one of the most useful languages I’ve learned so far, especially when it comes to hitchhiking in Europe. My Estonian driver took me to a town close enough to the Estonian-Latvian border.

Hitchhiking in the Baltic States, I would soon realize, is extremely, extremely easy. I waited no longer than 5 minutes when a Lithuanian truck driver stopped and I’d hitchhike into Latvia with Lithuanian truck drivers. I hitchhiked with the first Lithuanian truck driver who spoke only Russian and Lithuanian. He told me he had colleagues leaving to go around Riga. So, after a 20-minute ride, I had to get off his truck to get onto another truck, the one going near Riga. Initially, I felt a little… uneasy since once in the truck, there were two male drivers who spoke no English (again, only Russian and Lithuanian). People I hitchhiked with always told me never to hitchhike with truck drivers, especially in Eastern Europe, and especially not with two. On this occasion, they were a couple of the friendliest Lithuanians I’ve ever met in my life. The older truck driver had a 25-year-old daughter studying for a doctorate degree in political science and the younger driver also had a daughter who was just 3 years old. I got to practice a lot Russian all the way to a rest area near Riga.

As they wished me luck, they told me I was about 20km away from the center of Riga, a distance I thought I’d be able to handle without any problems. Once in Latvia, I realized a lot of people spoke Russian or were probably ethnically Russian. For instance, at the rest area, a bunch of Russian boys were hanging out talking… I honestly have no idea why they were hanging out at a gas station but I didn’t feel like asking them since the sun was about to set and I still had to get to Riga. I waited no more than 2 minutes when a car stopped. A young veterinarian was going straight to Riga! She also spoke perfect English. We immediately “clicked” so to speak and she said I was more than welcomed to stay at her apartment for a few nights. Riga was wonderful thanks to her. We went out for drinks, walked around town, had some heart-to-heart talks, ate traditional Latvian food… it was simply amazing, not to mention her lavish apartment (my apartment in France seemed like a crap shack compared to her place). I even stayed a day at her parents’ place by the sea since they were away on vacation. Ieva and I were both sad that I had to leave Riga, but I’m sure we can keep in touch; at least, I hope so!

I hitchhiked out of Riga first with a Lithuanian businessman who spoke perfect English. Actually, he was one of the most knowledgeable and interesting drivers I’ve ever met. I learned a lot from him, about Lithuania, Latvia, the languages, and history… even some more scientific things that I’m rather weak in. Since my driver was going to Kaunas and I was planning on going to Vilnius, I had to get off at a rest area in Panevezys. From there I got a ride with a Lithuanian engineer who also spoke English. I suppose these series of rides and drivers were my luckiest moments of my trip in terms of finding English-speaking drivers.  Once in Vilnius, I slept at the airport at night and explored the city during the day. It was a beautiful city that seemed almost cozy at times.

Hitchhiking out of Vilnius was also a cinch. I easily found a ride with a bunch of Lithuanians, but this time, none of them spoke English and I had to revert to Russian. Once near the Lithuanian-Polish border, I hitchhiked with an old Polish truck driver into Poland. What I didn’t realize at the time was that this ride would basically foreshadow the rest (or most) of my hitchhiking experience in Poland. I only hitchhiked in Poland with my Polish friend Tomasz. Obviously, with him being Polish, language barriers were never an issue. Without him, hitchhiking alone… well… that was a completely different experience.

In a nutshell, hitchhiking in the Baltic States = super easy. Hitchhiking in central Europe = super easy. Hitchhiking in Poland = super easy but extremely frustrating. Waiting was not a problem in Poland. The problem was language. In the Baltic States, all my drivers spoke either English or Russian and either or very well. In Poland, most of my drivers knew no English and even if they understood some Russian, they spoke very little. Thus a series of mishaps began. I hitchhiked to some small town about 100km north of Warszawa with the old Polish truck driver. He didn’t talk much and my attempts to converse with him were in vain since my Polish was almost completely forgotten and my Russian was not well-understood by my driver. English would be even less comprehensible so I didn’t even try after he told me he didn’t speak English.

Oh Polish roads… the best place to hitchhike on Polish roads is from the bus stops when there are no rest areas. “Real” highways are not very common. I got picked up by another Polish truck driver who spoke a little more Russian than the last, but he asked me some strange questions and I felt quite uncomfortable. I managed to get off the truck at the first opportunity. The next driver was nice but communication was impossible. So impossible that he wrote down the number of kilometers he was going to drive me. I realized I was heading toward Warszawa and I figured it might be easier to find drivers from bigger cities… maybe drivers who spoke English. Then I had one of those rare bad experiences with my driver. Luckily nothing happened and I was able to defend myself (kickboxing and years of athletics do help!). I had to mentally prep myself for a few minutes and prepared my sign again. Then I hitchhiked with a very old man who took me just another village over. Waiting time was short but the distance covered was also progressing in sporadic, short bursts in Poland.

Then luck came back to me. A Belgian driver picked me up and with him I spoke in French! Ah French, finally communication was possible! He took me to Warszawa, though not to the center since he was going to head west and I was heading southeast towards Ukraine. In Warszawa I hitchhiked with a single father who lost his wife very recently (he still wore his wedding band, how cute!) and was from Katowice!!! Tomasz’s hometown! It makes me think; maybe people from Silesia are the nicest Poles around? He was going to pick up his two daughters from his mother-in-law’s place in Terespol, a very small Polish town bordering Belarus. He spoke and understood some Russian and after having heard a lot of Polish throughout the day, I managed to eek out some phrases and expressions in Polish in combination with my Russian.

Seriously, if I fail at life, I’ll move to Poland and become a comedian. My Polish made him laugh and my attempt at recounting some of my stories (camping, sleeping at bus stations, getting kicked out of the airport, etc.) were apparently highly entertaining. To him, I was one of the strangest and funniest people he’d ever met; to me, he was one of the nicest people I’d ever met. Despite the language barrier, he could clearly see that my attempt to entertain and my apparent lack of sleep had tired me out and so, he told me to sleep and I was extremely grateful I could relax for a while. Once I woke up, we were perhaps 50km from Terespol and it was nearly midnight. He told me I could stay for a day or two in Terespol if I wanted, to rest, before going to Ukraine.

I suppose he explained the situation to his mother-in-law and I was given a warm blanket and a pillow and spent a very rejuvenating and comfortable night in their living room. I spent a day there and met his two daughters, aged 8 and 3, so they spoke absolutely no English nor Russian, so it was quite amusing trying to communicate with them. They had giggle fits every time I tried saying something in Polish. I then tried to go to Ukraine… a very unsuccessful attempt. After much frustration, I decided to call it quits and head back to France. Being in southern Poland, I decided I’d take a break in Bratislava where Pavol lives, so as to take a day’s break before going to France. Going from southeastern Poland to France seemed impossible to do in one day while the sun was still up. I had one more negative encounter hitchhiking in Poland, this time with a Lithuanian truck driver, but again, nothing major, and I was extremely relieved to be out of Poland and in Slovakia, where, for some reason, more people spoke Russian or German than in Poland.

I hitchhiked into Slovakia with a Slovak truck driver, communicating in a mixture of German and Russian, but no major communication problems existed. He took me all the way to Bratislava. I was able to get in touch with Pavol and stayed a night at his place then headed out the next morning towards France. Knowing ahead of time that hitchhiking through Austria is slow, I decided to go by way of the Czech Republic. It was a breeze to go through this way. From Bratislava to Brno, I got a ride within 2 minutes with a Czech businessman who spoke English. Then from Brno to just around Prague, the 2nd car that passed by me stopped, which happened to be a Czech truck driver who spoke a little bit of German and Russian. Then from a rest area near Prague, the 3rd car that passed by me stopped. I was hesitant since it was a Polish license plate, and yes, he was Polish and language was an issue, but no matter, he sped me all the way to Germany in about an hour.

Once in Germany, I could resort to German or English (mainly German since I want to become fluent by the end of the year) and I waited no more than 3 minutes on average (it was raining) for cars to stop and the last driver that picked me up was a Swiss diplomat who went out of his way to drop me off about 1 km from Strasbourg before heading south to Bern. My vacation ended smoothly and despite a couple mishaps along the way, I don’t regret anything and it was truly one hell of a trip.

My few days back in Strasbourg were spent mainly cleaning, packing, meeting old friends, and taking care of any other minor details in preparation for my departure. I hitchhike to Paris from Strasbourg and spent my last day in the first European city I fell in love with before boarding the plane back home. I managed to smuggle some unpasteurized fresh cheeses from France and surprisingly border control said nothing. The only thing the border control officer said to me as he was taking my fingerprints and flipping through my passport was, "So, Miss Kim, you seem to travel a lot. Are you planning on using up all your visa pages before your passport expires?" His comment made me grin and I answered, "If at all possible, why not? Traveling is a passion of mine." He grinned back and I passed through to hand in my customs declaration where the officer, luckily, did not smell my Camembert and brie.

Out of the airport with my luggage, I spotted my mother right away, a small blond woman leaning eagerly over the railing with eyes narrowed as she seemed to scan the faces of every female traveler with a backpack. "Mom!" Recognizing my voice, she ducked under the railings to hug me, tears in her eyes. I was quite shocked to see how happy she was to see me. Usually she was not so emotional on the phone... So now I'm back in the States. I'll be leaving for another adventure soon, so, until then, my life is going to be rather... boring =(

Unplanned Trip to Portugal

As many of you already know, I went to Portugal! Why the sudden trip to Portugal? Well... I figured I'd have to visit one time or another and I thought it would be better to travel to Portugal now since it's "closer" in my mind than places like Norway or Finland. I realize now, after having hitchhiked there (total hitchhiking time took about 29 hours, but that included a detour to Andorra), it's actually not *that* much closer than Norway or Finland. Too late to realize that now, but still, I'm not regretting my decision. The weather there was beautiful almost every day; sun shining, clear blue skies, and a comfortable heat in the lower 80Fs (upper 20s). Another reason for coming to Portugal: I suddenly got a place to stay, a week of lectures I could delay and put off for June, and I really needed a tan!

Rainy, gray, and cloudy Strasbourg turned me into a pale zombie. In the mornings, I scared myself sometimes, actually. I mean, I really don't like the combination of features I received from my parents. In the winter, when I don't tan, I can become extremely pale. That can be "OK" in itself sometimes, but pale skin combined with dark hair and blue eyes... it looks scary in the morning, trust me. So, as my sister mentioned when I talked to her on the phone, I needed a tan, fast. While this was happening, my ex-boyfriend and I have recently been trying to be friends. We did sort of enjoy each others' company and I like to keep in touch with people and so, in the midst of our conversation, I mentioned that I was planning to hitchhike to Portugal. He enthusiastically insisted that it was a great idea since I could have a free place to stay there. His best friend (whose wedding I'd attended) lives in Lisbon with his Bulgarian wife. They would be vacationing in Malta for the next week or so and they'd be able to lend me out the apartment if I could get there before Sunday.

Thus, armed with my trusty thumb, a cardboard box, and a permanent marker, I hitchhiked southwest from Strasbourg. I spent a night at a friend's place in Toulouse and the next morning, bright and early, I hitchhiked to Andorra to add to my collection of countries visited. After Andorra, I was in Spain. Spain took a lot longer to hitchhike across than Germany. Still, I was at the door of Alexandra and Ben before nightfall.

I took day trips from Lisbon to places in southern Portugal throughout the week, most notably:

Salema

Lagos

... and Faro

Of course, my base was Lisbon

After my stay in Portugal, my ex-roommate Victor, who's back in Madrid, invited me over to lunch to meet a celebrity obsession of mine, Spanish goalie Iker Casillas! I'm still waiting for pictures from Victor since I dropped my camera while taking a picture in Madrid and it cracked open... I break everything... And the camera was relatively new!!! I only bought it last year, so I was pretty sad about it breaking. In any case, after the fateful encounter (it was actually anticlimactic to meet Casillas since I had extremely high expectations), I spent a night at Victor's place in Madrid. I hitchhiked to Toulouse again and spent another night there on my French friend's floor before heading back to Strasbourg early the next morning. 

Now I've been back here in Strasbourg and extremely bored. I want to go travel again!!! 

Today's Random Picture: 

Golden Thumb

My friends, most notably Pavol and Erik, have dubbed my thumb the "golden thumb". I've calculated that over the past 4 years, I've hitchhiked a total of approximately 11,333 miles (18,240 kilometers) give or take a few miles, which is a distance I realize, is pretty impressive if I don't say so myself. To give you an idea how much distance that is, the Earth's diameter at the Equator is 7,926.28 miles (12,756.1 km) and at the Poles is 7,899.80 miles (12,713.5 km). The circumference of the Earth is 24,901.55 miles (40,075.16 km) at the Equator and 24,859.82 miles (40,008 km) at the Poles. Perhaps it's now safe to say, since I've hitchhiked a distance equivalent to nearly a trip halfway around the world, that I'm an "experienced" hitchhiker. 

As such, I've decided to share some advice about this sport for those who are interested in trying out their own thumbs on the road. Here are 5 Golden Rules of Hitchhiking:

1. Hitchhiking is not for the timid or for the weak. You have to have a sense of adventure if you want to hitchhike. It's perfectly normal to feel a little scared or nervous the first time you hitchhike a longer distance, but you should still be fearless enough to smile as you stand and wait for a driver to stop. 

2. Patience is the key to virtue. Sometimes, you might not get a ride. Usually, I hitchhike alone and, I do admit, as a solo female hitchhiker, I have a pretty easy time getting cars to stop. Still, I have had some instances when I wasn't able to find a good ride out of some Albanian and Romanian villages. Be prepared to entertain yourself if you're traveling alone and don't feel down. Hitchhiking can be one of the most rewarding things you can do in your life!

3. Talk with your driver! Oftentimes drivers pick up hitchhikers not only because they're nice people and want to help, but because they want someone to talk to on a lengthy trip. Having a conversation with your driver may lead you to have drinks or dinner or better yet, a floor to sleep on once you reach your destination. If you're especially lucky, you may make a friend for life from someone who picks you up! 

4. Have a sense of humor. Sometimes, when it rains or when it snows or when inclement weather turns its ugly head, you might feel desperate or hopeless. Don't let the weather get you down! In fact, I find it easier to hitchhike in bad weather since people often think, "Oh, that poor hitchhiker standing in the rain". Even if you don't get a ride, keep on smiling and things will work out in the end =)

5. Be prepared. Make a sign if you know where you're going. It increases the speed and efficiency of your trip. In case of an emergency or other situation where a ride is absolutely unattainable, be prepared to either set up a tent outside or have a debit/credit card or enough money to take public transportation the rest of the ride if you're in a hurry. For instance, when I was hitchhiking to the airport in Frankfurt from Poland to catch my plane back home, I managed to hitchhike all the way, but was prepared to pay for a bus or train ticket should I get stuck somewhere with no ride. Also, have some food and water with you since it's very possible to "be stuck" while hitchhiking longer distances. You might get hungry and no one wants to die of dehydration in the middle of nowhere! 

Don't come back and sue me for endorsing this sport! Hitchhike at your own risk and trust your gut instincts! If the driver in the car seems like a total creeper, it's perfectly OK to decline the ride! I've had to decline a couple rides from men who seemed very creepy and I know I made the right decision because after I decline, they yelled and swore as they drove away. Hitchhiking is extremely addictive, so brace yourself for that as well. Now that I'm completely hooked, I can't imagine going back to conventional or "normal" ways of traveling in a foreign country. It is one of the most rewarding life experiences you may have and you may also meet some of the kindest souls on the planet!

Today's Random Cartoon: 

København and Stockholm

This time I won't be so lazy and get this over with before it gets to be way over my head that I never get around to blogging it (like what happened to my hitchhiking trip in the Balkans, Greece, and Turkey this summer... I will eventually post it, I suppose, but so much happened during that trip it's burdensome to blog about now...). My spring vacation was considerably shorter than my trip to the Balkans, anyway, so I'll post it while it's still relatively fresh.

Denmark, dubbed the "happiest place on Earth", was a country I'd never been to, but have wanted to go to since I learned about the international happiness survey. Having learned my lesson from summer (being stuck or days in Albanian and Romanian villages where cars came by infrequently), I decided stick to larger cities. My plan was to hitchhiked to København (Copenhagen) by way of Germany and, I will have to brag a little, it took just over 11 hours to get there!

I woke up bright and early at the ass crack of dawn to hitchhike to Denmark. In fact, when I woke up, the sun wasn't even fully risen yet and the sky outside had a dull and grayish overcast across the sleepy city of Strasbourg. Packing some edibles (bread, water, fruit) and donning my clothes, I grabbed my small backpack and headed out to catch a tram to get closer to the German border.  Crossing over the border from France by foot, which was relatively easy, seeing as how I live on the border of Germany now and all, I hitchhiked a ride out of Kehl with a German business headed for Frankfurt (am Main), a city I'm familiar with having hitchhiked to/from already.

Once at the rest area near Frankfurt, it was a 3-minute wait before getting picked up by a middle-aged woman and her mother headed to Hamburg by way of Hannover! It was my first time hitchhiking with two women! Awesomeness! They taught me many things =) including being wary of marriage... the woman was freakin' awesome. She was a mother of twins who were both 10 years old and lived with the father of the children but decided against marriage. She also warned me not to get married or get into a serious relationship before figuring out what kind of a man he was (i.e. does he clean the house, wash dishes, do laundry, etc.) Good advice from a more experienced woman, I suppose! Though, I never planned on getting married or entering a serious relationship any time soon to begin with. Progress continued on pretty rapidly and efficiently, one of the many reasons for why I love hitchhiking in Germany so much. After a quick stop at Hannover, at which the woman dropped a package, I was in Hamburg in no time at all. Hannover... ach, ja, die langweilige Hauptstadt Hannover. I guess you wouldn't get this joke if you don't know German and/or haven't watched this YouTube clip:

Once at a rest area in Hamburg, I bid farewell to the two women and waited a mere 5 minutes before getting a ride to Kiel. Being a smaller city, I suppose, explains the fewer number of drivers and thus the fewer number of drivers willing to pick up hitchhikers? I took the opportunity to eat my ration of bread, drink some water, and saved my pear for a later time. It never takes terribly long to catch a ride in Germany, I suppose. From Kiel, after waiting about 15 minutes, a driver said he'd drop me off in a rest area near a city called Flensburg. Unfortunately for me, I'd never heard of this city before I and just took his word for it when he said I'd be able to get to Denmark from there with no problems.

By the time I was at a rest area right near Flensburg, I was ready to cross the border to Denmark. A driver headed for a Danish city called Kolding picked me up and I made it across the Danish border. My driver, who had hitchhiked himself a couple decades before, actually told me I'd be better off if he dropped me off before reaching Kolding. Apparently rest areas are limited and hitchhiking would be near-impossible if I were to go past Kolding. I took his word for it and I was dropped off in what seemed to be a somewhat rural area.... and a very quiet rest area, before his destination. Once in Denmark, progress seemed slightly slower than in Germany as I got a ride after an average of 5 to 10-minute wait with drivers going shorter distances. I passed hands from drivers headed to Ejby, Vissenbjerg, Højby... then took a car headed for Nyborg, crossing over to another island of Denmark, to a rest area near the city of Slagelse. From Slagelse I was taken to Køge, where, it seemed, I lost momentum. By the time I was in Køge and already I felt like sunlight wouldn't be out for too long.

But I suppose people are in a charitable mood during the holidays, whether they are religious or not! A family picked me up! Never before had I hitchhiked in a car with a family... but like they say, there's a first time for everything. Usually, I think parents don't want to pick up hitchhikers, either because they think it's dangerous or they think it will have a bad influence on their children in some way (maybe I'd inspire these youngsters to become hitchhikers?). But I suppose this family was not your average family since they picked me up happily and let me stay in their home for a few days! They had two young children, Michael and Christian who were 9 and 15, so I was really surprised that they didn't think I'd make a bad impression on them and turn their innocent young boys into future hitchhikers. I later found out through a conversation I had that they themselves hitchhiked across Europe as youth and said it was a little sad that it had become a "dying sport". Still, without fail, they did say it was "dangerous" for a girl to do it alone. They'd apparently hitchhiked together as a couple before they decided to have children, but never as individuals.

By the time we'd reached København, it was already almost 21h and discovering I had no concrete plans as to where I'd be sleeping, the family insisted that I stay with them for Easter! How could I refuse? Good luck was smiling at me and embracing me, so I accepted. Their home was quaint and cozy and the futon in the living room was comfy. I had an incredibly good night's sleep that night.

Easter morning, I had a "traditional" Danish Easter breakfast with the family. Danish isn't a language I'm very familiar with, so my limited knowledge of Swedish, combined with German, made them laugh a few times and they encouraged me to speak in English, which would be good for their two sons who were learning it in school. I was given some Easter candies and the family took me to show me around the town later that day. On Monday, the parents didn't have work so it was another day spent with the family and I was thoroughly saddened to see that the famous mermaid statue was nowhere to be found! Apparently it was sent over to Shanghai for an exhibit and wouldn't be back for a while. This means I have to go back to København, if not just for the famous mermaid statue! It was a nice city and much more lively than Strasbourg, so I'd definitely prefer living in København to living in Strasbourg... though French does sound a lot nicer than Danish. I guess I'd probably prefer life in Paris to life in København if I had to choose. Still, it was a fun city.

Tuesday, the parents went to work and I was left with the kids who had off from school. I made sure to cook and clean, trying to be the best guest I could be. I was shown around town by the children, who attempted to teach me some Danish in exchange for my English =). It was pretty adorable, especially the little one, Michael, who thought it was pretty amusing that he spoke better Danish than a 22-year-old! I decided I'd head over to Stockholm the next morning. I prepared a very French dinner for my lovely Danish family the night before my departure. The boys' parents, Peter and Vita, offered to drop me off at a rest area just on the outskirts of the city before going to work, which would make my hitchhiking easier than from attempting to hitchhike out of the center.

The next morning, I was dropped off along with a package of some Danish pastries (Yes! They have Danish pastries in Denmark!!!) to eat in case I got hungry along with some Easter candy... which was an added souvenir since I'd already bought some candy the day before, but I guess for Danes (with the #1 per capita consumption of candy in the world), you can never have enough candy! I thanked them for everything and their generous hospitality, at which they simply smiled and laughed, saying I was welcome to their home any time I wished and they gave me their address, business cards, and wished me the best of luck. This is why I love hitchhiking! Once you start hitchhiking and meeting people like this, your life and your world view will never be the same.

Once on the road again, I hitchhiked a ride with a driver going to Malmö, a city on the southern tip of Sweden. Hitchhiking to Stockholm took about 4.5 hours from København, which I must say, isn't too shabby. My maximum wait time was 15 minutes and once in Stockholm, it was still the early afternoon! I called up Erik on my arrival at which he exclaimed, "What? Already? Who did you ride with? A Formula-1 driver?!" I might as well have been =) Progress was fast, what can I say?

In Stockholm, I realized a crucial mistake of having forgotten a jacket or coat. Despite it being mid-April, the weather was freezing, quite literally. The temperature hovered around 0C at night and in the morning and throughout the day, it rarely climbed up past 5C. In such weather, I lost all motivation to hitchhike to Finland or Norway, which, according to Erik, would be even colder. I decided to just relax for once during vacation, which is something I'm not terribly used to doing. Still, I guess a relaxing vacation is nice once in a while. I felt no pressure to go on a sightseeing rampage like I normally do since I'd been in Stockholm 3 years ago with Tomasz. Instead, when the temperature was warmest, I talked throughout the city, reminiscing, walking the streets that gave me a pleasantly eerie feeling of déjà vu and spent some time making Swedish and American foods with ingredients that I couldn't find in France.

Once strange thing I learned this time around in Sweden: some clubs downtown don't let you in unless you're 25!!! Another we tried to get into wouldn't let me in because I wasn't 23!!! And you thought the U.S. had harsh rules and uptight bouncers? Think again! Talk about age discrimination! Didn't take too many pictures in Stockholm since most of the city I'd already photographed before. I will upload everything to Picasa eventually... just need to find the motivation to... and also if my camera and laptop cooperate with each other, which, as of late, they've haven't been... Oh why does technology hate me so much? While I was in Stockholm, I did update my documents and got a new ID card and all that jazz. Was there for about a week before deciding to head back to Strasbourg before classes started. I figured I'd give myself two days, so I left on Wednesday to Denmark. I did get controlled by the Swedish police while hitchhiking out of Stockholm. According to the policemen who stopped me, I was standing in a place where cars couldn't stop. When I apologized profusely in what I call "svengelska" (mixture of Swedish and English), explaining my situation, they smiled and said they'd give me a ride to a better location. Sweet! Now I can say that I hitchhiked with policemen! They dropped me off at what they deemed to be a better place to hitchhike out of, wished me luck, and drove away. They were right, I got a ride out of Stockholm after a 10-minute wait!

This time around, I made it just near the border of Germany and Denmark, in a very rural area before it started to get dark. I ended up hitchhiking with a farmer, who invited me to stay with him and his wife for the night since the sun was already setting and it would be better to sleep in a warm house than in a cold rest area on a bench. I happily accepted and met his lovely wife who fed me a warm dinner and they gave me one of the spare bedrooms. They apparently have 4 sons, all of whom have moved out, leaving a couple vacant rooms in the house. Actually, it was quite funny because they thought I was a child! They both thought I was a high school student or a first year university student until I told them I was 22! Apparently I didn't look much older than 17 or 18 in their eyes. Maybe what my friends say is true. I haven't changed much in the past 5 years in terms of looking more mature as I should. I still have some baby fat on my face... damn. I guess if I'm anything like the women in my family, I'll finally lose some face fat when I'm in my 30s. My mom was (and from what I've heard, both grandmothers were) prettiest in her 30s so maybe the same will ring true for me too?

After a warm dinner and a warm shower, I slept in a warm, *real* bed for the first time in a long time. I slept like a rock for a good 8 or 9 hours before starting my journey again. The Danish farmer dropped me off at a nearby rest area  and it was smooth sailing from there. On the journey back from Denmark to France, the maximum wait time was 10 minutes and the minimum wait time, 1 minute! I hitchhiked with 3 German businessmen and 1 German businesswoman, 4 cars, just like last time, to get to Strasbourg. It was also the second time I hitchhiked with a solo woman driver!

Now I'm back in France with a pang in my heart and an ache in my stomach... an ache to travel more. This short break just wasn't enough... I can't wait until the week is over so I can go out and venture somewhere (preferably somewhere warmer: I'm thinking Andorra and Portugal?) once again and add some more beautiful memories to my collection. =)

Today's Random Quiz:

You Are Flares

You are a true free spirit, and you enjoy playing with fashion. Your look tends to be eclectic. You tend to be a bit rebellious. You're more likely to dress for yourself than dress for the occasion. You are both peaceful and jovial. There is a happy calm that surrounds everything you do. You are broad minded, well read, and well traveled. You are open to anything that comes your way.

What Kind of Jeans Are You?