We
did it again. Following the success of our hitchhiking race to Berlin back in
November, eleven students from the physics program at UCPH decided to cut out a
chunk of their summer break to do another race. Some returnees, some hitchhiking
for the very first time. We took a vote and went with Genoa, Italy (something
tempting about the Italian seaside) as our final destination with a pit stop in
Prague, Czech Republic. This time, you could win a variety of prizes like “Most
countries visited”, “Longest distance covered without a ride”, and “Best
picture of a bus” (long story) to name a few but the main prize was still being
the fastest ones to reach Genoa and my partner, Sarah, and I managed to snatch
that one. It took us five days.
Day
1: From Copenhagen, Denmark to Szczecin, Poland
2 rides, 460 km.
Our
first ride drove us all the way to the port in Gedser, the southernmost point
of Denmark. As the German shoreline drew nearer, we had gotten countless noes walking
around with our Berlin sign on the ferry. Finally (and fortunately), two Danes
on a work trip agreed to take us with them to Szczecin in Poland. That city has
inadvertently become another home of mine as this was my third visit in less
than a year. Obviously, it wasn’t our plan to go that way (then again you don’t
really have a plan when you’re hitchhiking) but the unexpected detours often
end up being the best part of any journey. Sarah and I spend our evening feasting
on pierogi (Polish dumplings) and playing around at the local summer carnival.
Day
2: From Szczecin, Poland to Prague, Czech Republic
3 rides, 500 km.
Our
luck continued as only three rides, all couples on summer vacation, took us out
of Poland, through Germany, and into Czech Republic all the way to Prague. In
fact, all of three groups made it to Prague that night. Neither of us expected
hitchhiking to be such an efficient way of travel (we would also learn the complete
opposite not long after). We spent a couple of days with our thumbs down walking
on cobblestones around the capital of old Bohemia, lounging in various beer
gardens, and enjoying each other’s company before unpausing the race.
Day
3: From Prague to somewhere in southwestern Czech Republic
4 rides, 150 km.
I guess our luck had to take a dip. Otherwise, it would have been too easy. The statistics speak for themselves. The highest number of rides covering the shortest distance of any day. As we struggled (and failed) to make it to Austria, we were only met by kindness, cushioning the blow. We got picked up by a couple playing a gig at a music festival who wished they could take us further as they shared their life stories and bought us beer. When the day was coming to a close, we had walked in vain for an hour and a half to a gas station that ended up being on the wrong side of the road. The rain started pouring and we struggled to keep our spirits high when a young couple took pity on us and drove us to the nearest campground.
Now,
this day ended up being one of my favorites. We got to wander around the Czech
countryside, and Sarah and I ended up talking for hours at the campsite restaurant
before crawling into our tent. Type 2 fun is
a staple of any adventure.
Day
4: From southwestern Czech Republic to Ljubljana, Slovenia
3 rides, 500 km.
To
make it to Austria, we ended up hitchhiking backwards for a few minutes to a
larger gas station (that was actually on the right side of the road). Our luck returned
as we got picked up by a Czech family headed for Albania who didn’t speak a
word of English. We used Google Translate to ask them if they could drop us off
in Slovenia and we never really got a yes or a no as they drove across Austria
with Sarah and I constantly worrying we’d be dropped off at the next exit. I
guess their small laughs were a yes.
At
the foot of the Julian Alps in Slovenia, serendipity showed its face. Just as Sarah was
writing ‘Ljubljana’ on a piece of cardboard, a car stopped right next to us, and
a group of hitchhikers got out. I locked eyes with the driver, and he said yes
before I had asked the question. Reaching the capital of Slovenia, Sarah and I
went for another sunset-and-beer combo with the mountains rising up behind the
city.
Day
5: From Ljubljana to Genoa, Italy
3 rides, 650 km.
Our
ride out of Slovenia took us all the way to Venice. Or rather he and I
took us all the way to Venice as he asked me if I wanted to drive the car for a
bit. From there, we almost got a ride straight to Genoa if the guy had
returned like he said he would. A sweet but also slightly drunk man from
Moldova whom we could only communicate with by my scrappy Italian. Maybe it was
a good thing that we ended up catching a different ride with an Italian father
of two returning from a work trip. He dropped us off in Milan where Sarah and I
could almost see Genoa, so we decided to keep going even as daylight
vanished.
Now, it
is technically illegal to hitchhike on the highway in Italy, including at gas
stations, so when six policemen decided to have their evening break at our gas
station on the edge of Milan, we were immobilized for an hour. When they
finally left, the flow of cars was diminishing. The workers at the gas station
cheered for us, gave us coffee, and kept us entertained with conversation as our
hope slowly faded with the setting sun. Just as Sarah and I had decided to go
back into the city and sleep, I asked a final girl walking from her car where
she was going, and she said “Genova”. I don’t know who thanked her more: Sarah and I
or the gas station workers. We reached Genoa just before midnight and had a
celebratory moonlight swim in the Mediterranean Sea.
Though
hitchhiking does involve a good amount of waiting around and just sitting in a
car, it takes a lot of energy. Asking countless strangers for a ride before
someone says yes, having small talk and conversation in multiple languages, the
underlying excitement (but let’s face it, also stress) of not knowing where you’re
going to sleep that night, it was wonderful to reunite with the others for a
few days of pure enjoyment and pleasure. Cooling swims, moonlit walks, pizza,
pasta, tiramisu, gelato, all the Italian culinary classics (or clichés if you
wanna be judgmental), and lots of wine. On our final night all together, we
gave out the various awards and shared our stories, the good, the bad, the crazy,
the tragic but mainly the magic.
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