but there are other people as well ... people, who hitchhiked themselves and know how it feels, waiting on a highway in the right direction and about 400 cars passing before someone stops.

and these people are the reason, why it is worth it. cause hitchhiking works (well, not in england though), is free, interesting, challenging, a bit risky, but fun, if it works out.

here some impressions i had on my way from the octoberfest in munich up to berlin, via belgium and to paris.

9 am, berlin. standing with a sign "anywhere, but out of here" at the beginning of an highway.  a vw-bus stops and a rastafari gives me my first lift this day. where are you going? - amsterdam. cool, i m with you. and here we go. a free ride to amsterdam.

but through money reasons and no contacts in amsterdam with me (as it wasnt really on my way home to austria), i change my mind and end up ...

...close to the border to belgium, still in germany, 9 pm.
i need to make it at least to belgium tonight, as tomorrow is a german holiday and that means no people will drive to work. half another hour more .. come on, i can make it.

a car stops. a very small car. my sign says luettich, belgium. the funny looking man, gives me a smile and asks me, if i wanna go to luettich tonight. i look at my sign, and say that it seems so. he says, he d go, but only to the parking space. i think, what the fuck
should i do at the parking space .... then it comes to me and i smile, and say no thank you. ppuuh, that was close .... i guess it s time to stop hitchhiking today and go to sleep.
so i did and i slept well, till it started raining and i had to move from my spot in the bushes next to the highway.

next day, more luck. make it to a raststation with hundreds of cars, all going to paris ... only 4 hours. cool, and i decided to go to paris.

so here i stay, my sign saying paris. minutes pass and a truck stops, smiling and telling me he s going to france. i hop on, not knowing exactly, where the place is, where he drops me. and, i mean, he is a truck driver, he will know if it s in the right direction to
paris....

... 4 hours later, i m in calais. closer to england than to paris. super! and this sucker dropped me even at a place, where noone will ever stop on the way to paris. so after spending 10 hours hitchhiking, i m off where i began. 4 hours to paris.

i finally get a ride. with a french business man. he speaks only french, me not. all i know is rue de marcadet, the place of my friends and paris. after 4 hours of very quiet journey, he stops at a street in
paris and i read 'rue de marcadet'. i couldnt believe it. he gave me a lift from calais all the way to paris and dropped me off at the doorstep, and i cant even thank him ??!! well, i tried my best and i guess, he got the message. fuckin perfect.

time to go home. paris to haag. uuh, a very long way. i make it to the tollfeeblock on the right highway in direction to strasbourg (600 km). my sign says strasbourg and the chances are high, as all the cars
have to stop and pay and then they will see me. and so it is and a guy stops and gives me a lift in the right direction .... well, for about 10 km, then he drives off the highway and i end up in the botanic, telling him 'hello !!?? i need to go to strasbourg, how do you think i can go on from here?' getting a 'uuh, pardon' i need another 1.5 hours to get back to my spot. very funny indeed. i will never make it to strasbourg today.

a couple of rides later, i end up in strasbourg. the last dude gave me 10 euro, as he feels really sorry for me that i have to sleep outside tonight. very kind of him, as i havent had food all day long so far and
it is already 8 pm. 

i get another ride with an old ugly dude, who didnt know, where he was going, so we end up at a parking spot and he shows me on the map on my lap with his hand resting on my crotch, where he wants to go. disgusting and he got the message really fast. minutes later i m at a petrolstation looking for a bridge to sleep. then i see this truck ... recognizing the license plate i ask the driver if he goes by any chance to my place in austria. i still cant believe that. a truck from my neighbour town, which is 800 km away. and i get the lift and we drive all night long.

paris -- haag -- 20 hours -- hitchhiking. that s hard to beat.

so what can i say. if you have time and friends and wanna save money ... it s a wicked way to travel. and if you like old guys and lonesome parking spaces next to highway, i mean, hey ... this is paradise.

interesting. probably the correct expression for all that.

aight, i m back in vienna.

you can reach me under +43 1 5454313
i ll be mobile soon as well.

talk to you later

mucki