So yesterday we left way too late. One of the things that takes the most time when you hitch hike is getting on the highway. Once you're on the highway you can just hop in cars at the gas stations and tell them to drop you at the last one that they pass before they abandon your personal route. We started at around 11 in the morning and I remember the sun was burning at 39 degrees on my skin while we were on some Spanish national way to Perpignan. If you ever wonder about the where abouts of the places I mention, don't be lazy and check google maps! So, we started a bit late, and by the time we got onto the highway it was well past noon.
Before we left we were checking the distances that we had to travel. Cause Iva had to go to Zagreb and I had to go back to Offenburg. Her route was quite a bit longer so she was annoyed with the fact that we started so late because she thought she wouldn't make it to Zagreb before midnight. in fact, I haven't received an email from her yet but I'm sure she'll be fine; before we split up we met this cool dude from Australia who was hitching to Milano, so I told her to stay with him until that point. Anyway, I was rocking the highway of France! Going through it so fast, I was sure I would be in Strassbourg somewhere in the middle of the night, and would arrive in Bad Antogast somewhere in the morning; I could not have been more wrong.
You see, when you hitch hike there are a few things to consider. First off you need to know where you want to go of course, and secondly you need to make yourself a route of how to get there, going over the highways passing the big cities. And the best checkpoints to use along the highways are gas stations for various reasons. You can pick your car, you can go to the toilet, buy food and water, you have a better chance of getting people to take you because of the personal interaction, and people who fill up their car are likely to go a long way.
However, the most important thing is that you know how the traffic is flowing. All the roads are connected somehow, so getting somewhere in your own car is not so hard, but people who stop at gas stations often go in a specific direction; 90% of the people at the gas station will drive in the same direction! This means 2 things: it's very easy to get a ride when you're at the right spot, but it's also very hard to get a ride when you're at the wrong spot. Getting this sense of traffic, - knowing in which way the people are going - is the most important when it comes to hitching. Standing at the wrong spots can take you hours, standing at the right spots makes your trip go as fast as if you were driving your own car. This was the mistake I made at Dijon; standing at the wrong places.
I was stuck in Dijon for 5 hours, starting at around 1 in the morning. It felt like it was freezing out there, so my motivation to ask for a ride became less and less because nobody would go into my direction and it was so freakin' cold! I decided to stay inside for a while, in the end I ended up making an attempt as sleeping for about 1 hour. Then I decided to just go out and keep asking; after all, you won't get anywhere by just sitting inside complaining to yourself about how cold it is. But like I said, nobody went into the direction of Strassbourg, so I decided to go with the flow and head a little bit north. I was thinking to just flow my way back south and end up in Strassbourg eventually. But every time I would go north and stop at the next station, those people would go up north even more! I ended up close to Cologne, which was way out of original route. Looking back at it, I think I made at least 500 kilometers too many!
It was at this point that I started getting desperate; time was ticking and I didn't want to sleep another night outside cause I was tired already. I even remember myself crying out of despair. At least I quickly managed to pull myself together and to just focus on solving my problem. It was then that I met a beautiful woman who offered to help me out. She and her husband drove me onto the highway that was going all the way south to Strassbourg and left me there at the first gas station; she even gave me a sandwich that she had just bought! It was a really good sandwich. Anyway, once I was at the right road on the right side, I flew through Germany even faster than I did through France; hitching in Germany is the bomb. I like the hot ride, fast living gas giving mentality of the Germans when it comes to traveling on the autobahn.
I told myself I was gonna be at Offenburg at 10. In fact I was in Bad Antogast at 10! Now while I'm typing this I'm a really happy panda. I wonder if Iva made it home earlier than I did; it probably won't be much of a difference. Oh and one more thing: sometimes people are not so sure about whether they should take you or not, although most of the time people are really generous and will not hestitate to take you with them. This happened to me in France; the guy had room and was going the right way but was not so sure. I said "what, you want me to flip a coin?" and that broke the ice. It came very spontanious but it's a great line to use if anyone is in doubt of taking you with them.
So now I'm back in Bad Antogast, parted from Iva, and Isaac; I wanted her to take him with her. We'll meet up in October around my birthday. And now, my friends, I'm gonna get some well deserved sleep. Night!
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