Even Jesus was a hitchhiker…

The 21st of July

This was about the time to set off and head towards Portugal. I was waken up after a few hours sleep by my parents telling me that they were going 70km in my direction with a car and if I wanted a lift I had to hurry. That wasn’t good news, but the lift sounded great. I packed my stuff and half awake got in the car. We arrived in Olsztyn, my parents dropped me on the hitching spot towards Warsaw and after few warm good-bye words I was on my own. Apparently it was my lucky day, cause I barely had finished smoking a cigarette when the car stopped. This was straight ride to Warsaw. The businessman didn’t feel like talking so I enjoyed sleeping in a conditioned car while it was about 35 degrees outside. I woke up in Warsaw.

The 22nd of July

I woke up in the morning and realized that I didn’t want to stay in Warsaw a night longer, mostly because of the heat. It was horribly hot, especially in the centre of the town and I was fed up of 35 degrees all the time. I hit the road around noon got to the hitching spot with a tram. Amsterdam was my destination.

At the beginning my plan was to go to Koln and apply for Russian visa and make it to the Bajkal lake after attending the gathering in Portugal but I had changed my mind. I had realized that I didn’t have that much time and if I wanted to do that I’d have to be in rush and stress, hitch every day huge distances which I didn’t want to dom chilling is the plan for this summer

When I got to the hitching spot I met 2 Estonian guys and a Latvian guy. The pair was headed to Berlin, Latvian guy to Rotterdam. I told them about the gathering in Portugal. After a short talk I stuck my thumb up and waited for a lift. After half an hour a car going out of gas station stopped, the window opened. 2 ladies took me 50 km furter, to a perfect hitching spot towards Berlin and further. I got a lift after a few minutes to Lodz from a trucker, so yet again 50km further. Again, spot was perfect, the sun was shining strongly. It took me a few minutes to stop a huge truck. This awesome, super-nice 60 years old trucker was willing to take me all the way to Berlin.

He asked me:

‘You know why I picked you up? ‘

me: ‘Probably because of the heat?’

him: ‘Noeees, you look cute and I could read from your face that you were a hitchhiker who’s seriously going to Berlin as the sign says, not someone who’s got  bad intentions’.

500km in a truck with this man sounded nice. We had nice conversation all the way long, I got to know his whole family just from hearing: son studying in Technical school to be a car mechanic, talented one, lovely daughter studying journalism in Katovice and loving wife, Unusual thing happened on the road, when we were driving down the highway it started to rain and temperature went down to 20 degrees, so 16 degrees difference. After 10 km it stopped raining, and it started warming up. Withing 20 km temperature got back to 36 degrees, amaizing, isn’t it ? We stopped before the border cause he wanted to get more fuel. He exchanged vouchers he got from pumping for 2 dinners and we had an awesome polish dinner with black coffee. We moved on, made it to Berlin around 10 pm. I was dropped on the first gas station on the ring, it started to rain. I started asking around and one of the Polish truckers took me to the next gas station – michendorf. It was late in the evening, still raining. I met another hitchhiker, German guy was going to Leipzig. I saw another Polish truck pull over. I talked to the guy and it turned out that he could take me onto A2, but he could only drop me in AUTOHOF, which wasn’t that cool, cause it rained. I still jumped in the truck and we started calling people on CB radio, it was one of these moments when I know that within 30km I’ll find next trucker going my direction who will pick me up. After a few km I swapped trucks, I was in the truck to Hannover, another Polish trucker When we arrived it was 3pm, I was exhausted, lack of the sleep had occured to me. I put my hammock on the ground, cause there were no 2 trees in the near where I could put it up and I totally didn’t mind sleeping on it using it as a blanket just by the highway. I woke up 2 hours later fresh and ready to go and had a cool view of the sunrise in front my face. I barely got on the side of the road and saw a Polish truck coming. I waved my hand up and down and the truck stopped. I opened the door and yelled over passenger’s chair – ‘ONTO A30?’ – ‘YEA, GET IN MATE’. I was exhausted but this guy was so nice that I didn’t even think about sleeping even for a while. Nice conversation kept me awake, coffee cooked on the stove  on the gas station woke me up. We drove till Rheine Nord, where I asked him to drop me. I jumped off at the junction, spot didn’t look bad despite little space for car to pull over. I stayed there one hour, nothing happened. I saw a hitchhiker coming up. It turned out that he was also headed to Amsterdam. Petr from Czech Republic and I stack our thumbs up and waited. Our communication was very limited, he didn’t speak English well. We got a lift to the border after another hour waiting. Spot looked good but we made a mistake, cause we should have gone to the highway junction with him, but we got off on the gas station which seemed to be good at the beginning, but it turned out to be the worst spot ever. Quite suprisingly I noticed another hitchhiker. What turned out is that it was the same guy I met in Warsaw who was going to Rotterdam, Latvian guy. We hitched for a while with 3 but it didn’t really make sense, so Latvian guy decided to go on his own. After long time waiting, around 2 hours I’d say we got a lift to Hengelo. The owner of restaurant took us to the on-ramp 20km further. We cooled down in a canditioned car and carried on hitching. Yet again, long waiting period, we get a lift just a few km further, to Arnhem. Only dutch-speaking elder gentelman gave us a lift. I overslept our junction and got up when we were on A50 already. We got off at the first exit and got on the local road to Amersfoort. It was only 10km to A1 highway, so we decided to walk it and hitch at the same time. A business man going back from work stopped and took us towards Amersfoort. This wonderful person, married to German woman speaking Russian took a detour and drove us 30km down the highway. We were dropped in a perfect spot. Out of nowhere I asked Petr a question:

‘hey, you are Czech, I’m Polish, why don’t you speak Czech and why don’t I speak Polish, we might be able to understand each other better?’,

he answered: ‘ye, why not ‘

me: ‘so say something in Czech’

Petr :  [in Czech] ‘what do you want me to say?’

me:  [in Polish] ‘anything, just speak Czech’

Petr: ‘do you understand me ?’

me: ‘woaaah, that’s awesome !’

We enjoyed speaking more or less mutual language for a while longer when car stopped. Old man was going to Bussum, just 20km before Amsterdam. He spoke little English, no German, mostly Dutch. We got to the next on-ramp. We managed to stop a car but police showed up and sent us away from the spot and at the same moment the driver who was going to Amsterdam Nord was forced to drive away. We were kinda pissed off, cause it had been 6 hours since we teamed up and we just moved 200km forward. However, 10 minutes later a young, easy to get along with guy took us to Amstelveelen. We arrived there at 4pm, so it took me 28 hours to get there. We shared numbers and e-mails with Petr, had a spliff in a coffee shop then split and followed each other’s way.

It was really good hitching, despite bad timing. Awesome people, non-stressed atmosphere and the feeling that I was not in rush, and that I’m not going to be in rush for the next 2 months. More days like that please.

So far I have no plans regarding to the future, the last point of my plan is Sines, Portugal, then I’ll see what happens. At the moment I’m considering joining Viva von Agua race from Hamburg to Vama Veche in Romania or hitchhiking around Morocco, Western Sahara and Mauritania.

More to come

This was like one of the most amaizing days ever. I hit the road late friday morning. I found myself at the junction where from I was picked by Spanish truck driver. This cool fellow told me the story how he got to know his South African wife when he was on the road, brilliant one ! I was also introduced to some good Spanish music. He drove me for nearly 100km and drop me at the service. I didn’t wait too long, English truck driver picked me up. This one was an easygoing type, really easy to get along with. After little chat he offered me some green herbs increasing humour, I didn’t deny. We had a freaking good time talking about various things. When I got off the truck I found myself on the ring of London. I got a short lift from an English priest who was going to take the weeding. Then, after probably an hour or even more standing on the terribe heat I got next lift from elderly guy. This one kept telling me to take as much from the life as I can, enjoy it and don’t waste it doing nothing, hell true though. The junction I was dropped at looked quite good, but noone would pick me up for over an hour. 2  ladies stopped after some time. They dropped me on the straight road to Dover, far past London. I got off, grabbed a snack and continued. When I was walking down the road with the sign on my back ‘DOVER’ a Mercedes stopped. Young fellow from India offered me a ride to Dover with detour to the harbour where from I could hitch a car over the channell. This guy was frankly amaizing, didn’t mind talking about India and shared a lot with me. When I got off I had been so thirsty and hungry that I barely could manage hitching, but the sun was slowly going down so I had to hitch a car over the channell. Suprisingly, cause I thought that gettin a lift over the channel would be difficult, I got a lift after half an hour from Polish truck driver. I got in quickly and finally could take a rest. When I asked him where he was going, I was expecting Belgium at best, but he wanted to be home as fast as possible and it turned out that he wanted to drive all the way from Calais to Poznań non-stop. 1300km with a truck, without break for a sleep sounded insane to me, but whatever, why would I complain ?! We ended up driving non-stop, with short breaks for coffee till Poznan. We made it even further, to Września where I got off. After 17 hours in a truck I could finally feel the temperature in Poland. Walking with my 20kg rucksack on 35 degrees wasn’t enjoyable, but whatever. After a few minutes I got another lift to Grudziądz, then another one across the city. The guy shared with me snickers and redbull, took a detour as well, to make sure that I would be fine. Yet again, no longer than 10 minutes it was when I got a lift. 2 guys were going to the village nearby, but still 20 km further. They helped me out with cardboard so that I could have a sign. It was getting dark, I was horribly exhausted (around 36 hours awake). I put on my high-visibility clothing and carried on. When it was completely dark I saw some Lithuanian car pull over. I ended up in a car to Olsztyn (70km from my place) driven by lady who was going with her son back home from holiday. She was very helpful and nice, even spoke bit of Polish. She made sure that I was on the bus stop where from I took bus to my place, cause hitchhiking with 800 pounds in one’s pocked ain’t best idea in Poland during saturday night

It was early wednesday morning when I hit the road. I got a fast lift to Olsztyn, then to Ostróda. Standing at the perfect spot, watching cars passing by, next car stops. The guy was going to Poznan, excellent option as for me. He dropped me at the gas station on the highway A2, couldn’t be better spot though. After perhaps 5 minutes truck stopped. Uzbek gipsy driver was going about 100 km further, almost to the border. The driver was pretty cool, he told me all the cool stories from Uzbekistan, shared a lot. When we arrived to the parking lot there were like 200 trucks. I felt kind of like in a kingdom. The first trucker I asked for a ride agreed on taking me across the border. When I jumped in it turned out he was going to Hamburg, kinda off the road. However, we kept calling drivers on CB radio and I got the next lift. This truck driver was going to England, Coventry which was very much on the way to Mansfield, my destination, but you know, they cannot drive more than 9 hours a day. He drove me to Magdeburg where I switched cars using CB radio again. Young driver driving his mini-truck was going to Belgium, looked like an awesome ride, but.. He had to find a petrol station which was off the road, cause he was allowed to use just those by his boss. The struggle had started then. We lost about 2 hours looking for this petrol station, at the beginning it seemed cool to look for it, but after some time I was simply freaking out. The guy was falling asleep all the time, that we nearly crashed a couple of times. We finally made it. Then his CB radio and lightning bulb broke down + he entered the pin code of the card 3 times wrongly and the hard was blocked. When he fixed that and was ready to go I noticed another polish mini-truck coming up. It was another young guy going to England. After a little talk he agreed on taking me with him. We drove together from Bielefeld in Germany to London ring.

Crossing the channell

When we got to Dunkerque we were asked for ID cards and the truck was checked on the French side. Then we got to English side. We were asked for ID cards again, I was sitting on the right side, so I was passing them. Then the guy asked me ‘what’s driver’s name?’. I was like ‘uhmmmm’. I do not really know what it meant, but he was probably checking me if I was related with the driver or not, whatever. I didn’t answer the question, he stared at me for a while, gave the IDs back, let us go. As for me, it doesn’t look difficult to cross the chanell, however, it might be easier with a normal car than with a truck, but as you can see trucks work as well. We carried on and after smoking a cigarette we boarded the ferry. 2 hours on the ferry, mostly spent on sleeping and watching if Dover cliffs were visible yet.

England

When we left the ferry we kept on going. Adam drove me to London ring where I got dropped at the service station. I was suprised how frequently the cars were passing me by. Getting a lift was just a matter of time. After perhaps 20 minutes girl driving from the east of England picked me up. She was going to Oxford, so I decided that it’s gonna be easier to go through Oxford than trying to get on the other side of the ring to get on M1. That’s what I did. When we were getting closer to Oxford she offered me a place to stay over and since it was getting late and I had been for 36 hours awake I decided to accept that. When we reached Oxford I experienced great English hospitality. Rachel’s mother used to hitchhike a lot, so I eagerly listened to her stories. After a great time in Oxford I hit the road the next day.

I was at the highway’s junction quite early in the morning. An old man stopped after approximately 20 minutes, took me a little bit further, to the place where the highway was starting (M40). He dropped me, I had to walk up a little bit. While walking a man pulled over and asked if I needed a lift, I noddded. He was going to Manchaster. I decided to take the road through Stroke on Trent. When we got there, he decided to take a detour, about 50 miles to make sure I would be fine. We arrived in Mansfield around 1 pm.

Little summary

The first day lasted for me 36 hours, I got from Bartoszyce to Oxford, which was 1850 km.

The second day lasted 4 hours and I made it from Oxford to Mansfield, which was a bit over 300 km.

The whole trip lasted 40 hours. I passed 2150 km, so the average speed was over 50 km/h.

The funniest thing is that I got here at 1, started looking for a job immediately and 4 hours later I got a job already. I’m gonna be upholder, starting on monday. Things look good, gonna stay here 2 months then hitting the road again, next destination is Barcelona

These days I’m too lazy to share anything, so I’ll just drop some info what has happened recently. 4 days before the Easter I got a phonecall from Latvia that a friend and some fellow hitchhikers are leaving Riga and are headed to Amsterdam.  I didn’t think much, just felt like going. I barely made it to Sochaczew, which is about 250 km I would say from my place, called a friend and it suddenly turned out that I didn’t know the plan and that they were going to stay in Berlin for 2 days, which would be impossible for me to make it back home before Easter then. Then I went to Warsaw where I stayed.

The next day I hitched to my home town, stayed there for a night and…

The day after I hit the road. My destination was Poznań. We didn’t really had any purpose to go there, but in the end it was a good fun over there.

Finally a day before the Easter I started hitching back home. I buddied up with some hitchhiker who was going more or less my direction, so we hitched together and unexpetedely ended up having some pot together (I even made a sign which I signed ‘for the Easter’. I thought it would work but people looked weird way, I sometimes had a feeling that they thought I was looking for a place to stay during Easter, not a ride home, but it was nice experiment. I ended up going 10 hours, while reverse way took me 7 hours.

As the conclusion I’d like to add that I’m freaking bored these days, trapped in my home town because of the exams which I’ll have to pass in 2 weeks. Since then I’ll step onto the land of opportunities and choices.

Thanks for paying attention

Over & out

On the 16th of March I hit the road and was headed towards Warsaw. We started together with Platschi (www.platschi.tk) at Grunewald highway exit and made it quite rapidly to Michendord. There we split up after being dropped by some German who used to hitchhike a lot when he was young. I put my thumb up and barely listened to 2 mp3s when Polish truck stopped and took me to the border. The spot was just excellent, even though the cars were driving already fast. Wind was a bit annoying though, cause every time the truck was passing by I was getting this blow of evil wind on my face. Anyway after a couple of minutes I got a lift to Łódź. Young driver was quite funny. He was driving his 5 years old BMW 525. We got to Łódź in no time and then he took 20 km ~ detour to make sure I’m at the good spot.

From the spot where I was dropped, I barely put on hat on my head when the car stopped. This was awesome guy who was flying on these paragliders. He dropped me right in Warsaw at the place where I was supposed to go, cause he lived near by.

On the 17th of March, the day after I was going to go back home. After perhaps 5 minutes hitching I got a lift to Mława, which is over 100km ahead. The guy didn’t stop talking on the phone, business shit. Then I got this lift from a super-friendly trucker to Olsztyn + detour to the hitching spot. Actually it was one of the few detours truckers have ever taken for me. Whole town was covered with snow and it kept snowing. The weather wasn’t so awful though. Anyway I got a lift after a couple of minutes straight away to the city where I live. Day was more than succesfull, more days like this please !

The 11th of March

This day started pretty good cause I passed my driving exam on the first attempt! I started hitching from Olsztyn towards Warsaw. I barely put on my headphones and played the music when first car and took me 30 km further. For the next lift I had to wait around an hour, but the driver was awesome. He was doing some kind of catering business all around Poland and European countries driving his car. He dropped me like 70 km further, where I got stuck again, this time for 3 hours. I encountered 2 hitchhikers, a guy around 40 years old and lady around 60 years old I would say.  The wierdest thing is that I caught a lift after 3 hours, and the lady was still there, 400 metres further (spirit, eh?). The last lift was with elder couple and they took me directly to Warsaw.

On the 12th of March I hit the road and was off to Berlin. For the first lift I waited 3 hours. Guy with Poznanian plates stopped, opened the door and said : I`m driving fast to Poznan and smoking joints. Truly good thing happened to me after 3 hours freezing. We drove pretty fast doing funny things on the road and laughing at everything. When he dropped me off at gas station I started asking around. The third truck driver, Russian decided to help me out and take me to the border. Really good communication, I was rly glad cause I could understand Russian he spoke, so we could talk some. During the ride driver was so kind and eager to entertain me that I got a beer for free, just to relax. He dropped me off at the border, where I got a ride immediately with a Polish trucker to Berlin.

The 25th of January

So, after a short break the idea was to go across Baltic countries to visit friend in Riga, then pay a visit to the community which lives in a house in Tallinn. First step was Bartoszyce- Riga.  When I woke up the weather wasn’t really encouraging. -25 degreeds could be felt easily. Like most of the times, my father gave me a lift to the suburbs of the town. Suprisingly hitchhiking was going well, I got to the border easily.  Then Russian speaking guy gave me a lift to Marijampole, where I was told not to stop, whatever. When I asked question what was he up to in Poland the anwer was ‘kontrabanda!’. Anyway, even though the guy was nice, this wasn’t the best idea to get dropped there, I got stuck for more than an hour on freaking cold. Then I found some Polish going in direction of Kaunas. After this lift I switched trucks twice using CB radio and got directly to Riga with Polish truckers. Day was good, I enjoyed hitching and my first day in Latvia. It took me around 14 hours to pass around 600km

Staying in Riga, mostly chilling with a friend was great, I hadn’t had that much of free space for months before then. After 4 days playing X-box, chilling, drinking beers and hanging around Riga I kept going down via-baltica road. Next destination was Tallinn.

The 29th of January

The weather wasn’t that harmfull anymore, temperature was around -5. Spot in Riga was perfect, I just knew that it would be  impossible to be stuck for a long time on the ring of Riga. My expectations came true and I got a lift to Parnu, which was 200km ahead, 100km before Tallinn. Young guy driving with his amaizingly hot chick turned out a nice guy, we were having nice conversation all the way long.

Lift to Parnu, then detour to the hitching spot, on the road again. I enountered 2 hitchhikers, so I took the further spot. Apparentely I got a lift first, from elder lady going to Tallinn. Day was great, first days in newly discovered country as well. 2 lifts, around 4,5 hours on the road

Time spent in Tallinn I also class as well spent. Lots of people met and suprisingly nice atmosphere, in the city, as well as in the whole country. This was also my first time in Estonia and I got much more than I had expected. I thought it would be more of  Russian-alike country with post-soviet atmosphere in the air, but what I saw, heard and felt was closer to Scandinavian culture. Pretty interesting, but this is how I felt – all positive though

After spending my weekend there next goal was to hitchhike 2000 KM all the way from Tallinn to Enschede, Netherlands. The idea was to hitch during the daylight to Poland, across Poland at night and during next day through Germany straight to Enschede.

The 1st of February

So, the day before we had some entertainment at Johaness’ place, where we watched movies and so on, perspective of hitchhiking didn’t look good, cause I crashed on bed 5 hours before the alarm rang. Despite that fact, I woke up at 6 am pretty easily and made my way to the spot. After around one hour of freezing, I got a ride to Parnu, with a kind, old man speaking English. Again, his kindness led to detour to the opposite side of the city, where I could hitch easily, without walking across the town. After just a while I  noticed a Polish truck coming up, so I flipped over my sign from ‘Riga’ to ‘PL’, Polish truck stopped. The guy took me to Riga.

Then I got a lift across ring, where I did the same trick with board on which I wrote ‘PL’. Polish mini bus took me all the way to Suwałki. Till then, everything was going as planned, it was around 6 PM, I was behind Polish border.

Spot in Suwałki was awfull, I met some hitchhiker who had gone with train all the way from Lyon in France to Frankfurt on the border without paying, interesting ehh ? :d I got a lift after more than an hour, and the trucker actually thought I was a whore, so that’s why he picked me up, but I ended up having a lift to Augustów. Then, small disaster started. Well, not so much of distaster, but I didn’t expect it that way. I had to wait pretty much for each lift, I was getting stuck at every spot I was being dropped. It took me 4 lifts to get to the spot I wanted to be (Sochaczew – city on A2, where the main road to Berlin starts). I got there early in the morning, was around 5 I’d say. On the way there I had quite interesting ride with Russians, who I asked for a lift – classic Russian disco music, total mess in a truck and those 2 guys, speaking via CB-radio all the time). Unexpectedely they spoke Polish, clearly and fluently.  When I got to Sochaczew it started going well, I got first quick lift onto the highway, then swapped 2 trucks and I was already 300~ km further, 70km before the German border. Then I got a lift to Hannover, with incredible guy ! I wouldn’t have said that he was a trucker if I hadn’t see him in a truck, so wise, talkative and intelligent.

In Hannover I again switched cars with CB radio, got a lift to the border, then once again, just few km further to the ramp, where from I caught a bus to Enschede centre. Those 2 days were also succesfull, despite being stuck over night in Poland.  In general 36 hours on the road, 2000km passed.

Holland was also nothing but chilling with friends, literally. This is what I needed, this is what I got.

Then on the 5th of February I hit the road, went back home .

The way back was nothing interesting, this A30 road is pretty boring, took me 13 lifts to get back home, took me 26,5 hours to do that.

One interesting conclusion, it hadn’t happened before this trip to me.

In total I had

41 rides, of which 20 were trucks, so quite balanced.

See you one day

The 17th of December

Hi there, after a while. This time there was no goal in my trip. I was simply headed to casarobino to check out how are things there. The way started with a lift given by my parents to Olsztyn, 70km further. Olsztyn was quite snowy and windy, about -10 degreeds. I managed to get a lift further, then another one, short as well. 3rd driver who stopped took me straight away to Poznań, where I had 2 options. After a while it turned out that I chose the worse one. Standing on the petrol station, already dark, about -15 degreeds. It had been over an hour in such unpleasant circumstance untill I got a ride just a bit KM further, but then the magicial power of CB radio started working and I ended up being brought to Amsterdam without hitching or asking, just switching cars via CB radio.

22th of December

Despite being unlucky in Amsterdam and waiting 1h for a lift the way back was much more interesting.  Young guy took a detour and brought me to the closest petrol station. There I had a lesson of my German and fixed myself a ride to the next petrol station. This one seemed to be kind tiny, but after a couple of minutes kind Dutch man decided to take a detour and help me coming back for christmas. From then on paradise had started. Reluctant Polish driver decided to let me board his truck and drove me to Germany. Then I switched trucks on the rest stop. Driver seemed to be happy to have picked me up and immediately offered a cup of tea and told me to take cigaretters whenever I feel like smoking. After some time another guy was asking if anyone wants to go back to Poland. As the previous driver would drive me just to the border, and the other one was willing to take me to Łódź I accepted. This one was a little bit boring and his driving skills were far from good. This guy wouldn’t listen to my advices which were tested and drove a bit around, whatever. Then I had a couple of lifts from Łódź including first league soccer player, boss of LUKOIL petrol station and some other great drivers because of whom I didn’t feel like sleeping leading me home.

The way back took me 22 hours, the way to Amsterdam 24 hours.

This is what I call entertainment

The 2nd of October

Bartoszyce – Druskininkai

As it’s been a while since I hit the road, I eagerly woke up in the morning and did so. The distance wasn’t extremely long, about 400km. I started hitchhing at around half past ten and after 6 minutes I got a lift from two girls who were one year older, going to the university, 70 km further. That was a nice once, aspeciall that the girls were quite pretty Then a bit of walking and another lift after 25 minutes around 150 km further. It turned out that the guy was a boss of some company building roads and parkings, really interesting guy though. Then after 21 minutes a very senior stopped to take me about 50 km further. Actually the guy was going back from the funeral, driving 70 km/h, while telling me all these non-interesting stories about his family  In Ełk I got a lift after 13 minutes, this time it was a guy working on the construction, this one kept telling me how he worked in Great Britain, and how great taxes system is (everything is caused by the Queen’s brilliance. When we got to Augustów it started getting late, but in the end I managed to stop Lithuanian car and get a direct lift to my destination and suprisingly this guy spoke Polish ! I arrived in ruskininkai at 19:05, after a great day hitchhiking.

The 4th of October

After a weekend of partying and chilling the time had come to go back.

I hit the road quite early, around 10 am and got a lift after 4 minutes. This young guy also spoke Polish, quite interesting? He dropped me off in the border town, where I managed to stop border guards who gave me a lift to the border after half an hour. I barely crossed the border and an old couple driving fancy car stopped and took me to Augustów. This day for hitching so far seemed to be good, I picked out an apple, started biting it, while it was a half of an apple I got a lift around 200km further. It was just 50 km left to my home town, but apparently my luck had been gone, cause the guy who pulled over in order to picked me up did it after one hour and took me home. During the last ride I’ve learnt everything about hunting boars xD

See you again guys !

Right, short explanation before I start it. We were hitchhiking back home, I mean I and 2 friends of mine. I asked one of them what is he going to do shortly, he said nothing. I asked, why wouldn’t we hitchhike a bit ? He agreed, we made an appointment one hour after arrival. We packed our backpack, took 2,5 euro, thats all we had had and we set out !

A friend of ours brought us to the hitching spot, so the beginning was easy.

We started hitching at 17:21, 20 minutes later we were picked up by ‘a guy with sunglasses’ who took us 20km further. He asked where do we want to be dropped, we told him to choose destination. We were back to hitching at 18:04.

Just 1 minute later a friend of mine stopped, who took us 50km further. We hadn’t seen each other for a while so there was a lot to talk about and he was very much wondering about the trip and we eagerly explained. He dropped us on the road which goes in direction of Warsaw. In the end we got from him a bottle of water, some food and 2,5 euro as a support – thank you very much dude ! We raised our thumbs up at 19:00,

15 minutes later worker goin’ back home picked us up and brought us to Olsztynek, 30 km further (19:37). We started our nomadic lifestyle and asked random girls on the petrol station for cigarette (we didn’t have them on us frankly).  There was a guy selling berries, we started talking to him, got some berries, shared with him our water and kept on moving.

At 20:10 some Greenpeace volunteers picked us up and brought us directly to Warsaw. They were really nice guys, one of them hitchhikes. All together we ate some vegetarian food and talked massively. Later we took a nap and when we woke up we were in Warsaw. We asked them where do they want us to go, they decided south, means direction Katowice – Kraków. We had to take a tram to the airport and keep hitching, obviously no ticket in the tram. Hitching spot we reached at 23:56.

As you can imagine it was middle of the night but still, at 00:35. We didn’t have any plans, we were considering goin’ to Italy and Slovenia. The guy who stopped was headed to the south. It turned out that it was a long ride across half of the country. He was driving around delivering medicines to the pharmacies and hospitals. In the end he gave us a few cigarettes and dropped us 30 km far away from Slovak border at 11:20. We still had some food that we took with us, so we made some sandwitches, obtained apples from the local trees and started hitching at 12:00.

At 12:18 the old guy stopped and took us few km further – 12:20. That was the first person speaking this southern dialect, for me a funny one.

We started walking towards the border while at 12:43 3 young guys took us to the border. We got there 4 minutes later. We shortly found out that there’s a big grocery, where we spent the money we had. We bought lard and it turned out that it’s such a good one. After a few sandwiches we crossed the border and started hitching. A few minutes later I realized that I don’t really feel like going abroad, so I asked Mateusz if it would be fine with him to hitchhike in Poland instead of going somewhere, he nodded.

We walked back to Poland and immediately, at 14:23 around 40 years old Slovak stopped and took us to Krosno. We got there at 14:55

There we just had to wait 2 minutes and a pizza supplier brought us to the end of the ring of Krosno, before he delivered pizza. The guy was young and it was pretty funny to talk with him. We got there at 15:17

18 minutes later another young guy picked us up and dropped a few km further, on the bus stop. The place looked decently. It was 15:45.

At 16:06 a student stopped. It was a young guy, but his driving skills were >cough< amaizing >cough<. We gave him a nickname ‘Calm Catholic’. He dropped us somewhere between Krakow and Katowice at 19:45. After this ride Mateusz lost willingness for hitchhiking and wanted to go back home (well, the driver was seriously weird and the ride was extremely slow). We tried to hitchhike towards Katowice / Kraków and head back home, but we gave up and started looking for a sleeping spot. We noticed camping 500m far away, we went there and explained the idea of the trip. They let us sleep there. We didnt have any tent, just sleeping bags and suddenly it started raining. There was a toilet, shower and sink, means 3 rooms. We fell asleep there, woke up early in the morning.

The next day was full of optimism, we decided no to go home but keep on hitching. We took a shower and hit the road. It was 7:45, for the next ride we just had to wait 8 minutes. The guy took us to the next big town, Chyżne.

There we got another ride immediately, it was a young guy who we had some nice conversations with. He decided that we would go south, towards Bielsko-Biała. After warm farewell we were granted  a map of Poland. It was 8:35

2 minutes later an old guy who was going to pick up his family from vacation picked us up. He took us to the road going up north, just because they said in the radio that the weather in that region would cool down 10 degreeds and there would be storm. (9:45)

The weather forecast was right, it started raining. We started waiting for a lift under the bridge while eating sandwitches (again ) while 15 minutes later the old mountaineer stopped. This guy’s accent was crazy, in spite of the fact he was Polish I barely understood him, whatever. He was funny, we had fun. We jumped out of the car at 10:20, with tone of fruit from the guy at the bus stop, covered by roof in the crazy rain

Well, this part of the trip we call ‘Chapter II, through the lands of Silesia’. Let’s see

The truck driver stopped 50 minutes later, took us just a few km further, to the big ‘on the road restaurant’. We arrived there at 11:20.

We decided to warm up in the restaurant, the waitress agreed. We stayed there about 40 minutes in order to wait untill the rain calms down, another ride about 15 km further at 13:30, this time it was a business couple coming back to the office. 13:36

Even though I hitchhiked a few times across these lands, I had never occured so much troubles there if comes about hitchhiking, probably we were extremely unlucky.

Another car pulled over at 14:30, so almost one hour later. What’s interesting, he was a priest, what more interesting, he ran over Mateusz’s foot. We were talking about our trip and about some church issues. In the end we were granted 2,5 euro. We thanked warmly, jumped out and kept hitching at 14:40

I realized that it doesn’t make sense to go 10 or 15 km, so we decided to wait for a long ride. We turned down 2 rides, and the third one took us At 15:06 young, also funny speaking guy pulled over his car doing it in really insane way and took us to Ruda Śląska which looked interesting. In the end we got a bottle of coca-cola and some warm words for motivation.  It was 15:48.

While waiting for a lift, we got some cigarettes from the local people. Anyway, hitchhiking didn’t go really well and the weather was simply fucked up. 2 young very funny guys who barely spoke Polish besides they were Polish picked us up at 17:10 and took a detour to in order to drop us by the entrace of the highway A4. It was 17:30.

There we wanted a long ride, 4 cars stopped but we turned them down, but these were going towards Katowice, we wanted to go opposite direction. 5th guy who stopped told us that he would take us to the petrol station in Katowice, but in direction of Wrocław. We agreed, as there were no cars going to Wrocław at that spot. We were picked up at 18:30 and it turned out that he’s going to Rotterdam. We wanted to go with him but he had just space for one person, unfortunately ! He dropped us at 18:51

We went to the cheapest supermarket ever and got some food. Suprisingly we were missing 0,1 eurocent. The guy standing in the line behind us supported us with this small coin, we went back to the petrol station – 19:16. On the petrol station we met undoubtedly interesting person – a guy who’s been cleaning car’s windows there for 2 years. We talked a lot.

The next lift we got at 21:07. There were seriously no cars goin, and the people goin’ our direction were either full or not eager to pick us up. This guy was going to western France to work there, however, we just needed a lift to Legnica and there we were going to go north, following A3. He turned out such a nice person with lots of stories, mostly about France and we jumped out at 23:48. There we were trying to get a lift but it seemed impossible. We reached comfortable place, dropped our small backpacks and fell asleep wrapped by sleeping bags.

The next day it was around 7 degreeds, we were freezing due to lack of clother (we were hangover while packing). We reached the spot we picked the day before to hitchhike at 6:55. Next lift we got after 2 hours, not that I complain, it’s not too bad, but still sucks, doesn’ it ? The guy brought us just 25 km further. After refilling a bottle with water we got to the hitching spot at 9:31.

The next car stopped after 2 hours and 45 minutes, I guess it had been a while since I had to wait that long. Anyway, the guy told us if we need a lake he would take a detour and drop us just by the lake I know. I agreed, because I really like this one, good experience from the last year. We got there at 13:39, immediately jumped to the lake. We met some local people as well, talked a bit, promoted sport called hitchhiking and hit the road.

It was 14:42, and after 10 minutes an old guy took us to the closes village – 7 km further, dropped us at 15:07.

This was my favourite moment of the trip ! Why ? Because…. We walked over 10km, and for the next lift we had to wait 3 hours. Well, it was kind of fun, crossing these interesting villages, eating apples, pears and plums, but still, 3 hours, it simply suprised us. The guy took us to the closest town to the so-called ‘main road’ – 18:35

There, it went easily. Even though there was no space to stop the car, after 3 minutes we had a ride 25 km further with young, quite easygoing guy.

Again, this time 2 minutes, we were in a car to Poznań. We got dropped around 21:00.

There we had really funny story. A friend of mine noticed petrol station far away, we decided to walk. Since there was no other way we had to march down the highway. After around 10 minutes police stopped. They started screaming that we are not supposed to be here and so on. When they calmed down I asked for the lift to the petrol station, the first one, who was talking started thinking. He asked the driver, and the driver answered shortly ‘who the fuck do you think I am, a taxi driver?’. We were kicked out of the highway, decided to walk to the damn petrol station. After a while we realized that there’s no petrol station, so we reached the ramp and started hitching, but the place was like the worst place I’ve ever seen for car to pull over. We didn’t manage to get a lift. We decided to go around Poznań through villages, but the next day. We found the suitable place and fell asleep somewhere in the bushes.

Yet again we woke up full of optimism again,  besides it was 5 degreeds this time The idea of going through countryside was gone, we decided to cross the town on feet, which would take 2-2,5 hours and take different road. As we were walking down the street, we noticed a car with plates from Warsaw. I knocked on the window and asked ‘excuse me sir, I’ve just noticed that your car is registred in Warsaw and we need a lift there, we are hitchhiking around Poland, are you willing to pick us up ? ‘ , he answered ‘unwillingly, but I will pick you up anyway’ He picked us up at 7:45 and took us to Sochaczew, like 200km further – 10:05. He was really intelligent and smart guy, we talked about currency, crisis and the economic situation.

Yet again, for the next ride we were forced to wait 2 hours and 25 minutes, Mateusz wanted to change hitching spot but I was totally stubborn and I didn’t listen. We managed to catch really small car full of luggage, the guy said that he would take just one. We convinced him to sort the luggage and fit ourselves, he agreed. The young lifeguard took us to Szczytno, so that was over 200km ride (in our country it’s like a diamond). We got dropped at 15:30. We started hitching at 15:45, just next to the plum tree.

30 minutes later an old guy took us to the town located just 20 km far away from our city and dropped us at 17:15.

We were picked up immediately, 3 minutes later and arrived home at 17:35.

The trip wasn’t anything special, but the fact that we managed it almost without money was cool ! I’m definitely gonna try it again