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by Sitarane

Hippies, explained to my parents.

2011-08-15 in Uncategorized

My parents are devout catholics, but not fundamentalists, which is handy for this post since that’s the most common religious group on Earth. They believe that “work is health” and that one must “win his bread with his own sweat” and they might claim that money isn’t happiness, but not wholeheartedly. I bet they’re a bit confused about the part where Jesus says it’s almost impossible for a rich man to get into paradise.

Hi everyone!

I have arrived in a very interesting place. I think I’ll stay here for a few days at least, to rest from my relentless travelling. The place is… how to say… interesting.

It’s not easy to find the words to describe it accurately. It’s a bit like a scout camp for adults, but permanent. And without the chieftains and the hierarchy. Since the “camp” is permanent, the tents are more like houses. You know how scouts tend to build lasting structures if they stay in the same spot for a week or two. Well, just imagine if they stayed through the year. And since there is no hierarchy, everybody do what they wants.
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by Sitarane

Vienna Calling | A CouchSurfing worship workshop

2010-07-22 in Uncategorized

I decided to go to the CouchSurfing event “Vienna Calling” at 7am on the very day I left. I had mixed feelings about it mainly because I have mixed feelings about CouchSurfing.

CouchSurfing is a website that networks travellers and locals for exchange of hospitality. The concept is called “hospex”, for “hospitality exchange”. CouchSurfing is by far the website with the most members (more than one million) but it is managed in a really autistic way and, as soon as you try to get involved a bit more than by hosting or travelling, you hit the Great Wall of Stupidity.

In addition to that, I dislike the “Facebook-like” general philosophy of the website and prefer to use a smaller network called BeWelcome for my own travels. There, I have more guaranty to avoid the McDonalds, Apple and Mtv customer. But I went anyway because

  • I dreaded to stay at home with nothing else to do than looking for a job
  • Some of my friends were going there and I wanted to see them
  • I hoped to get to get some information about the way the CouchSurfing project is managed directly from the horse’s mouth, as the founders and managers of the thing would be there

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by Sitarane

Odessa 789 – Hitchiking off the beaten tracks

2009-08-07 in Uncategorized

Travelling no-budget is much harder than low-budget

I left home (CasaNostra, Hamburg, Germany) with 92 cents in my pocket.

My first intention was to go to the bank, squeeze a handful of euros out of my drier and drier bank account, use it to buy a metro ticket to get to the hitchhiking spot to Berlin and meet up with the other kids there. But when I got to the ATM, it didn’t let me slide my card in it.
This one was in the dirtiest corner of St Pauli. I figured a drunk fuck had kicked it numb the night before and moved my way to the next ATM, a couple of blocks down the Reeperbahn. It reacted the same way (i.e. it didn’t react).

I tried my luck in a couple more until I came to the verdict. My debit card was as dead as Michael Jackson. So I pushed further a little to my bank so that I may scream on them a bit, as it was only 4pm and they should be still open. They were closed. It was Saturday.

The same evening I was supposed to be in Berlin to catch up with the 789 kids. And the day after (Sunday, so), I was leaving Germany for at least two weeks of travelling.
I travel low budget, but 92c weren’t going to carry me long.

The destination was Odessa, in Ukraine. I was going there because a bunch of friends and I had decided to organize a little gathering of hitchhikers there.

After having hopped all the ATMs of the area, it was already quite late to start hitchhiking. I had no food but a roll of bread and I needed to get a metro ticket to the hitchhiking spot anyway. It was way out of walking-reach.

After pondering on if I should not cancel the trip altogether, get a job, find a steady girlfriend and set up a savings account, I decided to blackride the train (which is very much against my religion, mind you) and hitchhike anyway. There would be food in some trash can in Berlin for sure.
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by Sitarane

An alien perspective on music festivals in general | Woodstock 2009

2009-08-04 in Uncategorized

I’m not a big fan of music festivals. Somehow, the concept doesn’t compute well with me. But sometimes, if it’s free and I have nothing better to do, I go have a look.

That time, I went because it was on the right place at the right time. I was on my way from Hamburg to Odessa, and on the very day I was supposed to cross the Polish border, there was a festival featuring one band that I sort-of like. In addition to that, my ex-roommate was going to be there and we see each other once a year only. So I went.

The festival is called Przystanek Woodstock. It’s a massive Remix of the Woodstock festival concept. And it is no less than the biggest open air festival in Europe.
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by Sitarane

888 | A nomadic date in Paris

2008-08-08 in Uncategorized

My name is Julien; I’m 27 years old; I come from Reunion Island, in the Indian Ocean; I’m of French nationality; I live in Hamburg, Germany and I started hitch-hiking to Paris from Poland on the 4th of August 2008.

There is no need to explain here why I’m from the Indian Ocean, living in Germany with a French passport. But I can tell you that I was in Poland (city of Kostrzin, right at the German border) for a three days long rock festival that saw a 200,000 people attendance. Three days living between a tent and a stage, with a very fluctuating weather that left me and most of my stuff covered with a thick crust of dust; far away from the nearest shower.

The reason why I was hitch-hiking to Paris it also makes sense to present to you: A small group of enthusiastic travelers had decided to organize the first European Hitch-hiking Week. Or was it the first “International …”? I’m not sure; and I suspect that the organizers don’t know for sure as well, and actually don’t care. The aim was to give one location and one time for a rally, and broadcast it to all the hitch-hikers of the world. The place was decided to be the “Champs de Mars” in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France; and the time 10pm on the 08/08/08, hence the name of “Project 888″.

The aim was to attract the public attention on this forgotten mean of transportation, and allegedly have a great time together. Now back to present day.
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