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The Paris hitchhikers' gathering was a great success thanks to everyone who was there and the clear weather. It was a very inspiring gathering for many of us as we shared so many stories and skills.
We stayed camping on the Champs de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower for all the three days, entailing some deep and meaningful conversation with the local police force, but though we were generally left alone by them. In addition to the usual "get drunk/get laid" action that seems unavoidable in such occasions, we also had some very practical workshops and talks such as:
* Nomadic philosophy and practical skill-sharing.
* General survival tricks, whether in the wild or in the urban jungle.
* Much , much sharing of hitch-hiking experience. We had one big session of several hours of hitchhiking stories that we shared, where everyone seemed to share be sharing their best storiesstory. The Palme d'or goes to Fabrice and Pascal for the Stevie-Wonder-smile drug-lord.;)
* Friendships were formed or developed. A very important thing for such a loose network.
* Open space success !
It was very hard to leave that grass, a total of 150 people participated and some stayed until the very last end of it, as we were all thinking about the next event! A lot Many of people us are reactive very eager to find a way to meet again! We hope that our future events will have such nice days like these ones!
We opened a special 888-Evaluation page, for which we are also looking for your input. Go [http://www.hitchwiki.org/en/888/Evaluation there] and hit edit to share your thoughts.
===Press Coverage===
One of the aims of the event was to promote hitchhiking, also by means of press-coverage. We also had some nice success here, as there . There was some coverage from the main French press agency AFP, and the most popular French weekly magazine (Paris Match) did also a video for it's its web edition ([http://www.parismatch.com/dans-l-oeil-de-match/reportages/le-projet-888-rassemble-les-autostoppeurs-europeens/(gid)/46523 see video]) and , as well as some national radiostations such as radio-stations like France Info and France Inter. We also had press-coverage in Austria and the Netherlands, where in the latter we were aired on the a main TV news channel ([http://www.hitchwiki.org/en/Video:Robino_Hitchhiking see video]).
===The Documentary Project===
No less than 4 filmmaking film-making teams consisting in a hitchhiker and a cameraman hitchhiked to Paris. The four stories as well as uring including the events during the actual 888 weekend, and of interviews with Ludovic Hubler and Andre Brugiroux are going to will be edited in Copenhagen, Denmark , to make one single documentary. It will take some time of course to be have this finished, several months for sure, but we will keep you posted about thisit.
===Stories & Photos=== Some stories have been submitted, see for example '[http://www.hitchwiki.org/en/888/Reports/Sitarane A Nomadic Date in Paris]' by Julienand '2 weeks trip' on Hitchhiking is not a crime! [http://my.opera.com/patrishnik/blog/2-weeks-trip link] by Patryk, the youngest hitchhiker. It would be great if you also want to post you share your story... There is also a flickr-group for the photos, check [http://flickr.com/groups/paris-888/pool/ http://flickr.com/groups/paris-888/pool/]and feel free to add yours.
===Next year: [[789]]===
789? The second edition of the European Hitchhiking Week? We hope for you that it will be a pleasure once again to share another experience together. Of course, it will be very difficult to do better, but if all participate a little, it will be our paradise :) Check [http://www.hitchwiki.org/en/789 hitchwiki.org/en/789] for more information, and feel free to take part-take in the discussion.
===Some Hitchhiking Anecdotes===
* There was a lot of space in the car, I asked him take me to Orléans, he said: O.k. I will give you a ride! Oh no, I can't, my wheels will touch the car !!!
* One hitchhiker arrived from [http://www.hitchwiki.org/en/Linz Linz] after 21 hours of hitchhiking, he stayed . He then could only stay for 4 hours as he had to return home again to be back in time for his workjob.
* The last hitchhiker who arrived in Paris for the gathering actually stayed partying with her driver the night before. Could there be a better excuse?
* One hitchhiker had to go back 40 kilometers to pick up a phone he had left behind in a car.
* Another hitchhiker almost lost all his luggage because he said good-bye before he picked his luggage from the trunk.
* At least two attendees just took a plane from Berlin(!) to get to the meeting.
===(upcoming) events===
* 23 August - 5 September 2008/open end - [http://vivaconagua.org/index.htm?post?388 Viva con Agua] hitchhiking race from [http://www.hitchwiki.org/en/Hamburg Hamburg]/St.Pauli to the EXPO 2008 in [[Saragossa]] with the topic ''Water and Sustainable Development''.
* 5-7 September - The Annual [http://www.hitchwiki.org/en/abgefahren abgefahren e.V.] club meeting will take place at [http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&hl=de&geocode=3590061396587339222,53.082350,8.792220%3B5107824826627978613,53.551460,8.569310&q=oberkeil&sll=53.209322,8.698425&sspn=1.135002,2.323608&ie=UTF8&ll=49.998471,11.515388&spn=0.152277,0.420914&z=12 Oberkeil] close to [http://www.hitchwiki.org/en/Bayreuth Bayreuth]. Open for everyone. Workshops, talks, etc.More info > http://meeting.abgefahren-ev.de/
* 7-13 August 2009. 2nd European Hitchhiking Week, [http://www.hitchwiki.org/en/789 hitchwiki.org/en/789] location yet to be determined.
