I having trouble embedding this video, for some strange reason, so here's the link instead.
And yes, it's in Dutch, but it's very closely related to english, so listen hard, and you'll understand enough to get the point.
Now I'm off to buy myself a Heidi outfit. Or maybe an aquarium...
I just realised that I can make maps with google and embed them here. I mean, I knew I could embed maps, but hadn't thought of doing it here.
So I made this one of the trip I did in the first 2 weeks of January this year, which is a good excuse to blog something about it. The beginning was by bus, as I was travelling with my friend Anne, and she had a time limit, but from Herceg Novi up the coast, to Zagreb and back to Sarajevo was all done by hitchhiking.
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Trip highlights include:
The bus ride through the icy mountains to Podgorica. At one point I looked down from the bus window and saw nothing but the river a looooong way below... Also, the bus went 7 hours without a single toilet break (and no toilet on-board either). In fact the two girls who did attempt a toilet break at one of the places we stopped to load more passengers ended up being left behind (but were delivered back to us 15 minutes down the road)
The sheer amazingness of the Dalmatian coast and the walls of Dubrovnik:
Getting a new sweater & 3 pairs of socks from a guy who picked me up while hitching:
The weather, particularly in Split:
The Sea Organ of Zadar (and yes, I know this should be a video so you can hear it, but I haven't uploaded one yet!)
Unfortunately, by the time I got to Zadar, I was pretty sick of travelling alone and staying in hostels, as the couchsurfing thing really did not work - I didn't even manage to meet anyone. So I had way too much time on my own, and too much time to think, and ended up all melancholy.
But then I arrived in Zagreb, and spent 4 days hanging out with great friends who cheered me up and convinced me that I really should be living in Zagreb, and not Sarajevo.
So now I am!
Today I think I set a new record. I hitched from Sarajevo to Zagreb in precisely 8 hours and 10 minutes door to door. AND I went the scenic route, through Banja Luka. The bus is, I believe, 8 hours, but then you need time to get from bus stations to homes etc. Tonight I got dropped almost at my door.
Also, in the last 3 days (I hitched from Zagreb to Banja Luka on Monday, BL to Sarajevo on Tuesday, and back to Zagreb today, Wednesday - a flying visit to collect the last of my stuff from SJ) I travelled with a total of 9 people - all male, all driving alone, all but two appeared to be working. And I didn't get harassed once. In fact, all the people I travelled with were nice comfortable people with whom I felt quite safe. "Talkative man" (one of the two non-workers, and the other was an off-duty policeman) was the only one who raised my stress levels, and that was only because he didn't seem to understand the concept of 'I only speak a LITTLE serbo-bosno-croat', even when I said it in s-b-c. And several times. He seemed to think that just meant he should talk louder (but not slower, which might have helped!) He attempted to discuss a wide range of topics with me, most of which I didn't get, although I'm sure one of the things he told me was that all croats were 'not-good people' and that I was ok hitching in Bosnia, but I should never do so in Croatia. He also attempted to ask my opinion on the world financial crisis (I think). I most intelligently managed to say 'nije dobra' (not-good) and then made much use of 'I'm sorry, I don't understand'.
Everyone else I travelled with, pretty much, was happy talking our own s-b-c/english pidgin (which usually became more and more english during the trip as they realised they could understand me and I could understand them and they gained confidence in their english abilities). And the Konzum truck driver threw in random Italian and a bit of German as well, just to keep things interesting. I do like those conversations. (And then that night in Sarajevo I got to talk German and French, bringing my total languages for the day to 5. This is why I live in Europe.)
Here's my rides list for the trip:
White Van to Toll booths
Truck to Gradiska border.
Off-Duty policeman to Topola
Car to Banja Luka
Medium-sized truck to Donji Vakuj
Konzum truck to almost-Sarajevo
Van to Tramway
Red Van to Banja Luka
Talkative man to Topola
New white people-mover to my door.
(And yes, I know I've had a bit of a winter hiatus. And I might write and fill you all in on what I've been doing in the last month or two, or I might not. You'll just have to deal with it. Suffice it to say that I live in Zagreb now, and my social life and mental health are much better because of it).
I completely forgot Australia's invasion day. Oh well.
I have had 3.5 excellent meals that involved VEGETABLES and VITAMINS in the last 4 days. One of the meals was brilliant Vegetarian Club take away, another was vaguely asian (soy sauce and ginger, and the third was CURRY! My taste buds are entirely overwhelmed at the unaccustomed flavours, and my body won't know how to deal with all the health factor. I will now go eat chocolate to compensate. And tomorrow, while hitching, I will be on my normal hitchhiking diet of pretzels, bread, cheese and chocolate spread. This is bound to balance out all that healthy stuff.
I can't believe how much stuff I've accumulated in the short time I have been in Sarajevo. I am leaving some here and will have to come back to get it sometime in the future.
I have, however, completely failed to accumulate new boots. My old ones are still held together with tape (at least I've replaced the strips of plastic bag) and I'm really hoping it's not rainy or snowy tomorrow. Although I suspect it will be both.
The thought of hitching to Zagreb tomorrow is a little daunting now that I have stupidly stayed up way too late and still aren't going to bed even though I'm down to only 6 hours sleep, and hitching on not-enough sleep is silly.
I haven't found a room to rent in Zagreb yet, but I at least have somewhere to stay for the first few days.
Cindi Lauper's songs seem to get better with age. I think I'll go play True Colours again.
This has been on my phone for a week waiting for of to find wifi to upload it! I've had net access but no wifi! Anyway, i'm now back in sarajevo, and made an effort to get this online!
The people you meet.
I've just spent a night in Zadar, and an in the middle of an adventure trying to get out of the city to my chosen hitching spot.
I worked out from the extremely non-geographical bus map that bus 2 was probably my best bet for getting to vaguely the right part of town. But i was at the wrong bus stop for the no. 2, so i attempted to walk to the right one. I had no idea if i was on the right road (the bus mass don't have anything as useful as streets marked), and the stop i found was the first one i had seen with absolutely on information. Typical, no? So i asked a little old lady if the next stop would take me to the bus station (where all the buses go, so i could transfer to the 2 there). She said yes, and then proceeded to tell me lots of things i didn't entirely understand, despite my 'samo malo hrvatski' protestations. She told me about her bells palsy that made it hard to talk, and then about ads brother in canberra. The next bus arrived, and happened to be a 2, and on the bus we continued our conversation. And she gave me not one, but 2 four leaf clovers, laminated onto cards with the dm drugstore logo, but still, very sweet of her.
Of course, when we arrived at the bus station, i had to explain that i wasn't taking a bus to Rijeka, but hitching, and therefore wanted to stay on the bus. Communication was being a little slow, but a lady behind us suddenly piped up in german, and said the bus was just going to the centre. I got off to check the bus map again, which didn't help, and in the end decided to ask the driver if he was going where i wanted.
To my great surprise, he answered my pigin croatian question in an accent more australian than mine. One of those old fashioned european immigrant accents that make me think of melbourne. And sure enough, it turns out he spent many years in melbourne, but left a few decades ago.
So i was able to explain where i wanted to go, and he said 'are you hitching?', to which i said yes, and he told me to wait 20 mins, and his next run would take me exactly where i wanted to go. He said he'd drop me off in a good place.
So i spent to 20 mins waiting, and now i'm back on his bus, presumably heading the right way!
A few hours later... Well, since then, i've spent ages standing waiting at toll booths, including one in the snow, 3 rides, including one sharing the back of a tiny car (a yugo, i think) with 2 dozen eggs and a dead wolf, and one offer to take me to Rijeka in return for services i wasn't willing to render.
And now i'm in a truck heading for zagreb. I had both signs out- for rijeka and zg, as standing in the snow was not being pleasant, and i wanted to give every car that passed (there was only about 1 or 2 every 5mins) as many options as possible. Rijeka was a late addition to my plans anyway, so it seems somehow right that i'm not going to get there. I was sorry to miss the coast road, anyway, but it seemed risky to in that way- the highway was likely to be faster, and i didn't want to get stuck at dusk in some tiny place. I'll have to come back sometime in warmer weather, when i can hitch the coast road with a tent, and not care where i end up.
That truck dropped me at the toll booth in zg, which wasn't the most useful place to be in the freezing cold and the dark, but i managed to get a ride in only about 10 mins or less, with a lovely young guy who took me all the way to a useful tram stop that took me to where i an staying. And told me that today was the coldest winter day this winter, with temps from -13 to -7. Considering i had planned to stay on the coast today and had therefore dressed for the positive temps, it's no wonder i was cold!
Here's another adventure. The last guy who picked me up just outside Ploce, is so excited that i'm australian, he now wants to drive me 80km out of his way all the way to split. He has a sister in sydney, you see, and visited her 20years ago for 3 months. His few words of english, german, and my collection of random bosnian words are enough.
So now i'm in his holiday apartment block in some small town, drinking nescafe and attempting to make conversation without really having a language...
3 hours later... My friend Stipe got me all the way to the centre of town in Split, and managed to only be slightly inappropriate once. And then he was so guilty, he drove me all the here. And gave me a pack of socks and a zip up cardigan (he apparently sells them) and a bunch of food, so i did ok out of it!
The 2 rides i had before that were good, too. Once i got to a decent spot out of Dubrovnik, the second bar stopped, with a lovely lady who drove me 20km past her house, just for fun. Then i waited a half hour or so before a small truck picked me up. We spoke entirely in croatian. Interesting that i seem to manage that now. Big difference from the last hitching i did here! I still resort to sorry i don't understand a bit, though!
So now i'm in the main square in Split, using the free net, as the one in the hostel is down, so my fingers are beginning to freeze, and i think it's time to go inside!
So yesterday wasn't good. Today is/will be better. I got nearly enough sleep, buried under 6 blankets in the unheated hostel room, the sun is attempting to shine, the shops are actually open, so i've eaten something that isn't pizza and managed to change some BAM into kuna, and there's an easy bus to what i hope is a good hitching point to split. It just doesn't in very often, so i've got half an hour to wait. But then i should be at the spot by 2.30 (late start, but it's only 200-something km to Split). My shoe is still held together with plastic bag string, but hopefully i'll find something better sometime today or tomorrow. Like a shoe repair person. That would be good.
Dubrovnik, i'm told, is the most expensive town on the coast. It's definitely very pretty, and the walk around the walls was very impressive, but it feels like a town that only exists for tourists, and is only a shadow of itself in the off-season. The combination of shops and services that close completely for the winter, and the few remaining professional tourist-hasslers, is not a good one.
Here's hoping Split is better!
I woke up cold due to the heating being turned off overnight.
I woke up in a HI hostel with institutional bilious-yellow shiny walls.
The 'coffee' that came with breakfast wasn't. It was chicory, and horrible chicory at that, served with old milk.
The coffee I paid for after that was watery.
The sole mostly separated from my boot (technically last night, but still). They are my only shoes here.
I discovered Croatia's new law that prevents shops opening on sunday. I couldn't buy even sticky tape to fix my shoe, or anything to eat that didn't come from a restaurant.
I spent the first hour stopping every 5 minutes to fix the bit of plastic bag I was using to hold my shoe together. Eventually I worked out a system that worked. It's so stylish to have a strip of plastic bag tying your shoe together.
I failed to get a single response to any of my messages to couchsurfers on the Croatian coast.
I ended up paying 18euro for an unheated hostel room (not in the horrible HI though).
I've spent the last two hours in the hostel cafe/common room thingy with no one but the girl behind the bar, and the music is loud and awful.
I don't know what I'm doing because I suddenly don't feel like my original plan (Dubrovnik, Split, Rijeka, Zagreb, Sarajevo) is a good idea, given the lack of couchsurfing possibilities, and the expense of the coast, even in the off season.
Maybe I should find a ferry to Italy instead.
This place is about to close, and I still don't know where I'm going tomorrow. And if I'm hitching, I should probably start early!
One hour down, only 21 to go. Assuming we're on time, of course. And i'm not bored yet. The romance of long distance train travel is still preventing boredom, much helped by my private sleeper compartment. At least, so far private- there are two beds and a lot of stops to go yet.
And we just went through a tunnel that took several minutes and was so pitch black i couldn't see anything. Even the light from this phone didn't seem to make any difference.
So i wrote the above at the beginning of the trip from belgrade to istanbul, and now i'm sitting here waiting for the train to leave to go back. I tried to find a more sensible solution, like a bus from Nis, but no luck, so i'm going all the way back to belgrade and then catching the daily bus from belgrade to sarajevo on sunday, after yet another night in belgrade. And then i get to stop for a while. Having just been reunited with all my stuff that i left at roger's place here, i'm very much looking forward to putting it somewhere and not carrying it any further. I own too much right now. But i will appreciate having it all in the next 6 months, i'm sure.
The trip overall from paris has been slightly exhausting, but a lot of fun, mostly. The mix of hitching and trains has been good, and i've had great people to stay with in each place. In Augsburg Stefan and i cooked feta and pumpkin fritters with the insides of a jackolantern and went to a party until 6 in the morning, which made me take the train the to Zagreb the netw day, as i didn't want to risk hitching on so little sleep (you need your wits about you to stay safe, really!). I also went to the cathedral there and failed to notice the world's oldest surviving stained glass.
In zagreb, i was met at the station by Vlasta, the couchsurfer who had recognised me from my profile the last time i was there, and while i didn't leave the house much, i appreciated her lovely flat and hospitality so much that i stayed i second night, sacrificing a completely unnecessary day in istanbul to adjust my plans. And then the one time i did leave her house in Zagreb I was very nearly witness to an extremely messy accident. My tram was one of the first in line at a major intersection when a truck ran over a motorbike at high speed. I didn't see the accident, thankfully, but the results very soon after. The bike was just about in half, and the rider, well, let's just say it was very messy. And all over the place. Since then i've been extraordinarily careful crossing roads and wearing seatbelts, even though drivers in the balkans often take it as a mild insult to their skills.
Leaving zagreb sucked, as usual. I'm not the first hitchhiker to notice that Zagreb is a pain to get out of. It was 3.5 hours after i left the house before i got my first ride. I got slightly lost on the trams and then waited half an hour for the right bus, and then discovered the freeway entrance to belgrade i wanted was closed due to roadworks, and then got stopped twice because i match the description of a missing slovakian, or something. The first guy who stopped me was in a car, and stopped just as i had resolved to walk the couple of km part the roadworks. I hadn't even had a thumb out, so i was surprised. But if just wanted to know where i was from, and, once he realized i wasn't slovakian, he told me about the missing girl who was described as having a green jacket and brown bag and backpack, just like me.
When the police stopped a kilometre or so up the road, i was initially i little concerned, as i had passed a big 'no autostop' sign a few hundred metres back. But they just checked my passport and asked if i had run away from a man and a woman in a car, which had apparently been reported by one of their colleagues. I assured them i hadn't, and that i wasn't missing, nor Slovakian, and asked how long the roadworks went for (not far), and where the next gas station was (12km). They gave me the standard 'bus or train is better' talk, and then told me to be careful hitching and drove off, apparently unconcerned that i was illegally standing on a highway.
A couple of km later i saw to the toll booths, and as i was approaching them, was picked up by a turkish truck. Musa was a very nice and respectful guy who didn't follow the standard 'where is your husband' script at all, which was refreshing. He also insisted on using 3 or 4 different languages in most sentences, which was fun, but as they were turkish, german and italian, i could cope! He told me 'bir saat fahren, stop, mangiare' which sounded fine to me. And he fed me well, along with his other turkish truck friends, who collectively spent some time trying to convince me to ride all the way to istanbul with them, or at least to invite my 'madam friend' to have dinner with them in a truck park 10km from belgrade. I refused, knowing the train would be faster, and why on earth would my friend want to spend an evening in a truck park!?
Any way, i abandoned them waiting at the border, too impatient to wait in the long line of trucks. I walked through the border, getting the usual 'where's your car? are you walking to belgrade?' comments, and stood on the other side waving my sign at cars. Within 10mins or so i was in a comfortable mercedes van with a nice guy who spoke a bit of english, on my way to Belgrade at double the average truck speed. The van turned out to be a funeral services van usually used for the transporting of bodies, but i had seen when i put my pack in the back that it was empty!
45 mins later we were all having coffee at Diane's place, having been driven right to the door, which is always nice.
The next morning, Diane accompanied me to the station on her way to an early shift at work, and, despite missed buses and major traffic, i managed to buy my ticket and get on board with whole minutes to spare!
The train ride i have chronicled previously, so i.ll skip forward a bit to istanbul, where i stayed with Roger again, which is always relaxing, and this time actually managed to catch up with Suzanne, another Interlang colleague from many years ago.
I spent friday doing not a lot and repacking my stuff, and then just had time for an eggplant kebab in a restaurant before heading to my 10pm train, and starting this second-last leg of my trip, which has so far been wonderfully uneventful.
12 hours later...
Next time i hitchhike!
Bloody trains! And train people! It all started when the serbian traveller in the room next to me translated for the woman on the other side to tell me that they are not sure what is happening but that unless i want to wait in my carriage until 8pm in Sofia, i should join them in changing trains. But very quickly as the other train would leave very soon after we arrived. I was a little confused, as the trip is supposed to be direct, and usually they just tack our carriage onto the other train. But i got ready, just in case. Before i could get a comprehensible answer out of someone other than a fellow traveller, we pulled up in Sofia, and i watched the lady throw her stuff out the wrong side of the train and scramble across the tracks to the other train. Some guys told of to get my stuff and follow, quickly, which i did, with one of them carrying my lightest bag, and they rushed me through the subway (better than over the tracks!) and onto another train, muttering about reservations and no time to get them and money and i don't know what. Still being in turkish mode, i was having trouble communicating, but insisted i had already paid for my reservation on the turkish train, (and never got either a receipt or the 4 euro change i was owed, which i wasn't happy about). On the new train, one said he would sit with my stuff while i got a reservation, but was all stress and go go go, while sitting on my brown bag with all the important stuff in it, which i wouldn't leave without. After i yelled at him in expletive english, he stood up, i found my bag and followed the other guy back to the turkish train, where the turkish conductor and bulgarian guy had a 3 word conversation in a mix of languages that seemed to let the bulgarian guy know that i had paid for my reservation, so it was all ok. So we hustled back to the new train, where the first guy started demanding money from me, in any currency. I think he was an official porter, as he waved a name badge at me, but i wasn't going to give him money when i had no idea what was going on at any point in the whole proceedings. And when i hadn't asked for help in the first place. In the end i poured out my purse of leftover dinar and lira into his hand, which he wasn't very impressed with. By this point i didn't really care, tho. Eventually he went away, and i started working on calming down, smiling at the older lady who was in the compartment with me to reassure her that i wasn't actually crazy, just a little stressed. I then sat down to check i hadn't lost anything in the excitement. Phone was there, and wallet, but a strange lack of passport soon became evident. After searching everywhere, i realised that the last time i had it out was for bulgarian passport control in the early hours while i was mostly asleep, and that it might have fallen down the side of the bed when i put it on top of my bag instead of in (yes, stupid, i know, but i didn't expect to have to leave my compartment until belgrade, and would have found it). As the train hadn't moved yet, i went out to the door and asked the first official looking person when we were leaving. He used his watch to indicate in a couple of minutes, so i asked where the turkish train was, and he said something with a hand gesture i thought meant 'gone', which i thought odd, as i had been told it would be there til 8 in the evening or something. Thoroughly sick of attempting to communicate in slav (and yes, i know i'm about to start learning it, but i'm allowed to be sick of it anyway) i spotted a young looking guy in a suit and asked if if spoke english. He said, yes, a little, which turned out to be a lie- he spoke very well, which is just as well, because in my stressed-out state i no doubt spoke very fast. I explained i had just been taken off a turkish train and had on idea what was going on, and that my passport was missing. And then the train started to move. He came out into the corridor with me to see what we could do, and we walked to the next carriage, which if said if thought was the turkish train, but it wasn't my carriage! We continued to the next one, and when i opened the door i saw the familiar face of my less-than-helpful turkish conductor, and the also-familiar revolting pattern of the carpet. All that stress had been for nothing, and if i had just ignored everyone and stayed locked in my compartment, then all would have been well! I let out a somewhat primal scream of frustration (i'm not usually a screamer, but this was well warranted) and then pushed past the conductor, explaining 'passport'. In the corridor were the concerned faces of the two people who had started this whole thing. THEY were back in their rooms and apparently unruffled, lucky them. I glared at them and said my passport was missing as i headed to my old room. It was exactly where i thought it might be, thankfully, so i breathed i huge sigh of relief and headed back to collect my bags again and move back to my private sleeper that i had paid for already. With 8 or 10 hours still to go, i'd rather that than a regular compartment! And during the move, just to add one more straw, i noticed the zip on my day pack was broken. But i think i've fixed now, so it's not so serious.
Once reinstalled in my cabin, i demanded hot water for coffee from the conductor, along with my 4 euro change that he owed me, and the paper for my reservation that he was supposed to have given me in the first place. He brought it to me, minus 2 euro, which if explained was for the tea i had accepted last night and the hot water now. 1 euro for a small cup of hot water makes it the most expensive hot water i've ever bought. But i was sick of arguing. So i didn't. And as he gave it to me, if said, vaguley apologetically 'çok crazy', which i agreed with. I thought if meant the mess was very crazy, but now i'm not so sure he wasn't calling me very crazy!
Having drunk my coffee and calmed down somewhat, i headed back to the guy who helped me, to explain that everything was fine and to thank him for his help, and to apologise for screaming. He was very nice about it all.
And now i'm back in my own compartment and can put the bed down and watch things on my laptop (i have my laptop back! Hang on, so why am i still writing on my phone? Hmm, odd...), munch on my supplies and recover from the eventful 15minutes in Sofia!
And in a post a la Sean, I do believe Nathaniel was the 3000th visitor to my blog. Unless there's someone else in Melbourne who reads this...
I know I haven't written much lately. My plan was to write things on the 25 hour train journey I just did, but I ended up rescuing a damsel in distress instead, and protecting her (and myself) from being molested by every passing man in uniform (conductors, ticket inspectors, police...). I've never been so harassed while hitchhiking! And I don't believe I've ever had to yell 'fuck off' and physically push some idiot away before. And yet I did it twice in one train trip.
But, never fear, I have Yet Another 25 hour train journey to start tonight (it is supposed to be 22, but 3 or 4 hours of lateness seems to be normal), so, as I plan to lock my door and keep it that way, I'll have plenty of time for catch-up posts.
I've made it as far as Belgrade, and only one day late after being somewhat easily convinced to stay in Zagreb another day. I decided I had the time, as I don't need more than one night in Istanbul, and as I'm catching the train to and from Istanbul, I will actually have 36 hours there. Which is enough.
So I got to Belgrade at about 8 this evening, and was dropped at my host's door, which was nice, and am leaving tomorrow morning on an 8am train. Which means I had better go to bed and get some sleep so it's not too painful getting up for it. At least I'll have heaps of time to sleep on the train!
Another successful day of hitching. That is, apart from the 2 hours standing in the rain to start, and then the 40min walk through a wet (but thankfully mowed) field and the being wet and cold for the rest of the day...
We started early, on the RER to bussy-saint-georges by 8, and at the freeway onramp by 9ish. But then, despite waving signs (east, nancy, germany, next petrol station and even the istanbul one, which got reactions, but no results) we were still there at 11. So we walked beside the freeway the 3km or so to the gas station.
And then got a 300km ride within 5mins.
We were only at the next gas station about 15mins too, before getting a ride with a couple of somewhat lost french-albanian musicians going to a gig in dusseldorf or somewhere. They entertained up with their recordings, and what seemed to be a bollywood compilation while we guided them as to which turns to take. The freeways in germany are so complicated. I'm looking forward to getting back to countries where there is only one highway to choose from...
At the next gas station, solène found a ride in a truck all the way to Nuremburg, which was good, as it was already 4.30, and once it gets dark finding rides becomes harder and more risky, even in gas stations. I. However, didn't want to go to Nuremburg, as my path was further south, so i waved goodbye to solène, turned around to pick up my bag, walked towards the truck end of the station (having asked everyone at the car end) and noticed a nice convertible with an A on the number plate, which,for some reason i thought meant austria. Undaunted by the prospect of austrian german, i waved my sign at the woman in the car, and was greeted by a long thoughtful look. I looked back in my best totally-harmless-good-company-and-very-hopeful look, and when she opened the door, still looking thoughtful, i said something about speaking not much but enough german, and being good company. She said in a very firm manner 'that's good because don't speak a word of english ', and agreed to take me. To augsburg. Which is what the A my tired brain had misread meant. So i spent the next 4.5 hours with the luxury of a woman driver (always a level less stressful, somehow) who spoke slowly and clearly enough for of to understand most of the time and was very polite about my complete lack of german grammar, in a very comfortable peugeot 206cc. It was great! And i was the first hitchhiker she had ever taken, and said at the end that i wouldn't be the last. So yay! Another hitchhiker friendly driver created! She even wished she didn't have to work monday, so that she could come with me to istanbul. In her car. That would have been nice!
Another major bonus was that she let me use her phone to arrange a meeting time with my host in Augsburg, and, being a local, knew the place immediately. And then drove me right there, via a quick tour of the sights of augsburg.
So now i'm looking forward to some serious sleep before getting up early tomorrow to hitch the 600km to Zagreb. Or maybe i.ll look at the bus and train times, but i think another day of hitching will be more fun.
I know where I'm going to sleep every night for the next 10 days, with the except of the two saturday nights.
Tonight (now) Sean's in Paris.
Friday - a couchsurfing friend in Augsburg (who I've already met before!)
Saturday - Hopefully Zagreb somewhere.
Sunday - Definitely Zagreb, and I know where.
Monday - Belgrade - another CSer I've met before.
Tuesday - on a train
Wednesday - Roger's in Istanbul.
Thursday - most likely Roger's again (Yes! TWO nightsin the SAME PLACE!)
Friday - Back on that train.
Saturday - Belgrade OR, if I'm lucky, my *own* apartment in Sarajevo.
Sunday - Definitely Sarajevo.
How bizarre is that!
Cross the entire continent of Europe overland in 5 days.
I could make it 4, but I have allowed a day in the middle for reasons of Sanity.
What's happened is:
The school I have just agreed to work for in Sarajevo wants me to start 10 days earlier than originally advertised. I negotiated it back to the 15th of November, instead of the 5th, and yet they still kept going on about the 5th. So I've agreed to get there by the 10th as a compromise.
Getting to Sarajevo by the 5th wouldn't be a problem, except... I left a bunch of stuff in Istanbul when I left there in August, figuring I would be back there a month or so later. And now for some bizarre reason I'm in Paris. And planning to work in Sarajevo. Sometimes my life seems a little crazy, even to me.
So. Here's the current plan.
Friday (the day after tomorrow) hitchhike with Solene from Paris to Nuremburg. It's a long way, but we went even further in a day two weeks ago, so it should be fine. I've lined up a couch for the night there.
Saturday - Solene continues towards Prague on her own, I catch a train to Sagreb, arriving at about 8pm.
Sunday: this is the 'sanity day' I've factored in. If I want, I could continue, but I think I will appreciate the rest day.
Monday - train/bus/hitch (still working that out) to Belgrade. Stay that night there.
Tuesday Morning, take the direct train to Istanbul (a mere 23 hours or so). I'd have a sleeper, so it would probably be quite restful.
Wednesday morning - Arrive Istanbul. Collect Stuff.
I could leave on the same train straight back again that evening, to arrive in Belgrade on Thursday evening, stay the night and get to Sarajevo Friday evening, but there doesn't seem a lot of point in arriving in Sarajevo on Friday evening, so I think I could stay one night in Istanbul and then head back to Sarajevo. Probably via the train back to belgrade or Nis and then a bus, which is infinitely faster than a train. Trains are just a whole lot more comfortable when you have to spend a night on them and are willing to spend the money on a sleeper.
I am not sure what most of this will cost, of course, as it is hard to get that sort of information for the Balkans. I would like to hitch when possible, but doing the overnight trains does save time. Of course, given the average speed of the trains, hitching is actually slightly faster during the day, I believe!
So I've just spent 4 hours solid on all the different options and websites and distances and train times and trying to find prices and ARGH. My brain hurts.
Meanwhile. It's freezing in Paris today.
You know I have unlimited internet when I post things like this. Or possibly it's being at Sean's place in Paris and the combination of unlimited internet *and* being directed to many amusing links without having to go to the toruble of finding them myself. So. I bring you:
1. An amusing comic that describes my life when I have internet access at home. When I have a home. And when I have a laptop. Although these days I can do this on my telephone, of course.
2. And then this:
I'm sitting here in an actual chateau surrounded by an actual moat. Complete with ducks.
Leaving Toulouse wasn't easy - we spent an hour and a half at the entrance to the freeway waving our thumbs and signs for the freeway towards Bordeaux. We had two signs, because the fist place we tried to stand for a while was in front of a block of flats, and I waved my thumb while Solene sat down to create a 'Bordeaux' sign, and a guy on the third floor must have seen from his balcony, because he came out with a sign he had printed on his computer especially for us. Nice, hey! He also suggested we move further up the road to the traffic light where there was traffic from multiple directions, but it still wasn't a great spot, and it was hard for people to stop.
But eventually someone did, and we convinced him to take both of us (he thought I was on my own, as Solene was accross the road aiming her sign at other traffic) and thus managed to get as far as the toll booths of Montauban, where we were miraculously not told to leave (I'm fairly positive it was a no-pedestrian zone) and managed to get a ride within about 15 minutes. And it was a brilliant ride with a lovely couple with a big car with plenty of space who were going 300km in the right direction. Very lucky. And we had lunch together and everything. At 4pm, they dropped us at a slightly deserted gas station where I accidentally woke up some people sleeping in their car in front of the entrance by getting my recorder out and playing a gig. We didn't ask them if they were going our way after that. We also tried for a ride on a motorbike with the most sophisticated sidecar I have ever seen (think of something like a convertible Smart car on an even smaller scale attached to the side of the bike, which was also enormous). Unfortunately, there was already two people, so the only remaining seat was on the back of the bike, and wouldn't quite fit both of us and our luggage...
Anyway, a nice truckdriver agreed to take us an hour or so up the road to the toll booths at Niort, where we approached a car that was about to leave from the little parking lot there to head onto the motorway, and it turned out they were heading to the nearest little village to the little village we were heading for. and they were Czech, and Solene speaks Czech. So, despite already being three in the car, they took us the whole rest of the way - right to the door of Solene's cousin's Chateau.
So yes, I'm staying in part of a Chateau. It's not wuite as grand as it sounds, but it's pretty cool none the less. The three houses that have been created from what remained of the old buildings (it was mostly destroyed in the revolution, apparently, and most of what is now here was built afterwards) are surrounded by a moat with ducks all a dabbling in it. And this house is all lovely modern rooms, until you open a random door, and there's the old granary, with a peaked roof, no ceiling, and stone castle walls. Oh, and there's a winepress in the garage. Built in. It's the take-you-shoes-off-before-you-get-in style.
And this afternoon, after my phonecall with Sarajevo (about which more later, probably), we went to another, more impressive chateau nearby, (you can look at the pictures and decide which is which) and wandered about the grounds, which was all very pleasant, though a little damp, as it rained all morning. But pleasant in a moist, green sort of way.
And tomorrow, the plan is to set off earlyish and get to Paris earlyish. I'll be staying with Sean for a week or so. Or at least until the weekend. I might need to start heading for Sarajevo after that.
So sometime earlyish tomorrow morning, Solene (my current hitchhiking partner) will leave Toulouse to travel 559km (that's 5 hours and 1 minute, thankyou google maps) to a place called L'Herbergement. There we plan to stay two nights before heading the 400ish km to Paris on Wendesday.
In other news...
I had an email from the school in Sarajevo today. They want to know if I can be there at the beginning of November. And they'd like to interview me.
It would be very, very good for my career to have this job. But it would mean full time work for at least 6 months. Scary idea that.
Disclaimer: i don't guarantee that i will actually do any of these things. I also can't promise i won't do all of them.
1. Live in sarajevo- if iH give of a job as dos there, the contract is 6 months, and starts on my birthday...
2. Work in Kyrgyzstan- i applied to a school there asking if they'd give me a 3 month contract.
3. Buy a motorbike- i just had a ride from one end of vienna to the other on the back of a bike. And it was fun. And made me think i should buy one. It would be easier than hitching in some ways. Harder in others. Feels like less responsibility and investment than a campervan, though, which is one of the other ideas always in the back of my mind.
4. Travel from Montonegro to Malta
5. Use Sean as a base in Paris to go to Belgium, amsterdam, bits of france i've never been to.
6. Join the couchsurfer group that plans to hitch from Biarritz to Italy or so in costume in early December.
7. Travel overland from europe to Singapore.
8. Return to Montreal.*
*I miss montreal. I do. But as the weeks since i left turn into months and months, and my life of travel and 'where can i go next' continues- goes back to normal, one might say - i find the memory of the stability, acceptance and 'at-home-ness' is, not exactly fading, but perhaps becoming less important, as i remember what life was like before i had that. This isn't to say i will stop doing the visa application. Just that i accept that it is going to take time, and that it might be a while before i get back. If they let of back at all. But that's ok. I'll find places to live and things to do in the meantime. Not sure where or what, but something will present itself, i'm sure!
2300km in 4 days.
Ridiculous really, isn't it?
So i left Zagreb somewhat reluctantly, as i had a brilliant week there. I was volunteering for the queer festival, which was mostly a film festival, with a few performances. I had the easiest job ever: i just took peoples tickets for the films, then want in and watched the films myself. For free. And the performances. It was great! And i met so many wonderful people and went to some very entertaining parties, and generally had a lot of fun. I definitely plan to go back and visit Zagreb sometime soonish!
However. I left. Late. But i made it to Vienna that night anyway, stayed with a wonderful couchsurfer called Lonny, who fed me well and then drove me all the way across Vienna on the back of his motorbike to the spot recommended by hitchwiki. I waved goodbye, got out my sign, and a car stopped. Instantly. It was a good spot.
I arrived in the suburbs of prague at 5.30, managed to meet Solène by 8.30 and put my stuff at her friend's place where we were staying and then she took me out to see a squat that was having a party for the Freedom not Fear march (which i had missed, as i was still in transit). We didn't stay long, but it's nice to know Prague has some interesting things happening these days.
The next morning we were up horribly early and at the gas station we needed by 9ish and riding with a turkish truck driver 10minutes later. He was very surprised when i greeted him and asked him where he was going in Turkish! I found it a little harder after that, as my turkish is a little more buried under german and random slav than it was a month ago! The day went pretty smoothly after that, too - 850km in 12hours is really not bad. It was the first time i had hitched in germany or france, (apart from a few rides on small roads a few years ago when i accidentally ended up in france instead of spain), and it's a somewhat different experience. For a start, once you're on the freeways, there's no standing on the side of the road. It's all gas station to gas station, with the occasional toll booth for variety. You need a good map with the stations marked. And there are so many highways that you often have choice, which is annoying. In the balkans, most of the time, there was only one road, so the choice was easy. One advantage of the gas station method, though, is that you can choose who you ask, and you often get people who wouldn't stop, and you can avoid anyone that you don't want. You can also talk to them and work out exactly where they're going and if they are the sort of person you want to ride with. And, of course, convince them that you are the sort of person they want to give a ride to!
In this regard, Solène and i were good travel partners for a Czech-Germany-france trip. We would look at the number plates, and if they were Czech, it was Solène's job, germans were for me, and french we could both ask, of course. And then the language also determined which of us sat in the front seat. It worked well!
We spent Sunday night at Solène's aunt's place in Besancon - even arriving in time for dinner- and were dropped back at the toll gates the next morning. The second day went about as quickly, but felt more annoying, as we had several stops when we waited an hour or so. Not bad, but we had got used to excellent luck, i guess. Still, we made the 800ish kilometres to Toulouse in 14 hours, and were dropped off just in time to get the last metro into the centre.
Yesterday i did practically nothing, having something of a recovery day, and then in the evening we went with some of solène's friends to a screening of the 1926 silent film of Faust, in the basilica of St-Sernin, with a live performance of the soundtrack on the rather impressive organ there. So the plan is to be here a week or so, hopefully catch up with people i know, hang out with Solène and friends, who are all trying to help of retrain my accent so that's it's less canadian, and then i'll head for Paris. And I haven't planned past then yet!
Made it to prague without any problems, though getting into the centre and managing to contact Solene was fun, and took 3 hours, thanks mainly to the extraordinary unhelpfulness of every Czech person i asked.
So here i am, with one night in prague before heading to france tomorrow. We have 850km to go in a day, which means an early start. And then almost the same distance the day after all the way to Toulouse.
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