The Very First Hitch-Hiking Experience

Well, since more than a year I am a member of HC (hospitalityclub.org), in the first months when I was in Istanbul I couldn’t get the idea of the site that much. But starting with my Erasmus exchange program in Germany, I get to meet lots of HC members and had a chance to get to know them, get to see the traveller/hitch-hiker spirit in them. Now on then I’m appreciating this kind of attitude.

Finally, in May, I participated in a camp/meeting event. That was my first big time, after we did a “Free-Hugs” in Freiburg. I couldn’t believe how multicultural that camp was. And of course English was like the official language of all the people. Lots of fun, looots of fun. Swimming in the lake, sunbathing, getting to know, learn about the cultures of countries that maybe you’ve never heard the name of and so on…

Prior to a more detailed HC-Camp entry, I would like to mention about my very first hitch-hiking experience. The experience that brought me to Berlin, to the camp from Furtwangen, a little bit more than 1000km. away.

Before, I think I didn’t have the courage or maybe I couldn’t understand how entertaining it can get. Martin told me that we would be able to do that and convinced me on this. He hitch-hiked several times in Germany, in other European countries and even in Latin America. So I could easily say that he was quite experienced in that area.

We set out departure date, Martin was going to bring the tent and maps, so all I had to was just to take care of my backpack. And surprisingly I did. :p We had decided on a very early departure hour from Furtwangen, because it was quite a long way and in hitch-hiking you never know what you are going to face.

Then, the big day started. For hours we couldn’t get any long and efficient rides. All of the rides we’d taken were just 10 or 15 minutes of drives. So we had lots of different cars and of course different drivers.

Well, basically there are 2 types of hitch-hiking: One, you go to a gas or a service station, you wait for cars to come and ask them personally one-by-one if they can take you. In the second way, you picked yourself a spot probably just before the highway -for us it was the case, since in Germany, hitch-hiking on highways are forbidden- rather with a paper or a small cartoon that says the place you want to go or the highway you want to take.

We did both. Sometimes we asked personally, sometimes we just stood by the road. Well, now I think the second way is more effective. Why? Because, in Hockenheim at a service station and a restaurant, a place that lots of people so frequently come and go, we had to wait 3 and a half hours. Amazing! I couldn’t believe it. We asked almost 70, 80 people. They didn’t want to take us. They were going somewhere that wouldn’t take us any further or they had some lies, like they are leaving the motorway from the first exit and such.

Well, till the end of the day, we could make it just till Braunschweig, Wolfsburg. It was already 11 pm and we decided to stop for the day. It had already started raining. Quickly we picked up a place for our tent. Martin built it up in just like 6, 7 minutes. Then we were already in. It was raining and of course. But was kinda fun. No internet, no mails, some special time with no responsibilities. Everyone has to experience it, and not just once, at least once in every 5, 6 months. Really relaxing…

On the next day, we got up again in a way early. That time I think we were more lucky. We didn’t have to wait much. And at the end we could reach the train network in Berlin. From that point we took the train and got to our camp. More than 1000 km., more than 1 day. Quite fun… Later on I will be with you with another entry about the hitch-hiking tips. Till then you can check out our hitch-hiking journey. I noted down every single ride that we took. A total of 13 rides!!!

  1. 07.35 -> Furtwangen
    07.40 -> Gütenbach

  2. 07.44 -> Gütenbach
    08.10 -> Waldkirch

  3. 09.10 -> Waldkirch
    09.25 -> Emmendingen

  4. 09.45 -> Emmendingen
    09.57     -> Autobahnanschluss

  5. 10.48 -> Autobahnanschluss
    11.00 -> Mahlberg

  6. 11.37 -> Mahlberg
    13.05 -> Mannheim

  7. 16.35 -> Mannheim
    18.46 -> Kirchheim

  8. 19.17 -> Kirchheim
    21.18 -> Harz

  9. 21.49 -> Harz
    22.22 -> Braunschweig

  10. 22.50 -> Braunschweig
    23.10 -> Wolfsburg

  11. 09.13 -> Wolfsburg
    09.17 -> Wolfsburg

  12. 09.20 -> Wolfsburg
    10.56 -> Spandau

  13. 11.01 -> Spandau
    11.04 -> Elstal Bahnhof

July 4, 2007 | Filed Under travel

 

Comments

2 Responses to “The Very First Hitch-Hiking Experience”

  1. Zukhov on July 4th, 2007 10:17 pm

    Oh man!!!… I really envy you… I would’ve liked to be there with you both… Achhh… I really have to try that at least one time in my life (but not in Mexico… thats dangerouse hahaha).

    Looking forward to Amsterdam!!

  2. Daniel on August 21st, 2007 6:00 am

    I have to say, that I could not agree with you in 100% regarding ery First Hitch-Hiking Experience, but it’s just my opinion, which could be wrong :)

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