I admit it, preparing for my first day on the road, alone, hitchhiking, I was shaking all the time and feeling a little sick. But who cares, what's life without a pinch of fear?
On top of this new and unknown situation, my host in Strasbourg sent me a message at 10am that he was feeling sick and couldn't host me anymore - annoying!! I also didn't have anyone else in Strasbourg, so I contacted my host in Nancy, where I hadn't even really planned to go, and asked if he could host me in the evening. Luckily, he answered after a few minutes and said I could sure come over - that's why I love couchsurfing! :)
So I left my friends flat in Stuttgart, planning to head for a street that leads out of the city.. and got lost immediatley, of course - I simply walked into the wrong direction and after one and a half hours I came back to where I had started. But everything was so exciting that I didn't care, you always have to make some mistakes, otherwise life would be boring, right?
I also think that I had to make this detour in order to prepare myself for the journey psychologically. And when I was walking along a street, just realizing that I had been walking in a circle and laughing about it, I came across an alternative looking guy with rastas and everything, and he was having a HUGE smile on his face directed towards me, as if he was saying: "YES! Keep going!!"
So finally I found the road I wanted to go and stood in the rain for about half an hour, until a car stopped. The guy inside looked nice but wasn't going my way, so I had to turn him down.
After another 10 minutes, a second car stopped, with Kaya and his sister inside, who told me they would drive me to a district of Stuttgart that is closer to the Autobahn. They both freaked out about me hitchhiking and told me to be really careful, as though they were my first example of how nice people can be even if you don't know them.
In Stuttgart-Degerloch I waited another half an hour until a big white transporter stopped. As I'm not a big fan of clichés, I didn't care, asked the driver, who was from Portugal, if he was going to go onto the A8, and he said yes, so I hopped in.
It turned out, that Unnu (I think that was his name) only had to go about 5 km to the fair grounds (Messegelände), but was so happy to have some company, that he drove me until a gas station just before Pforzheim!! That was a detour of about 25 km, but he said he had time anyway and his boss was paying for the gas, haha.
So there I was at the gas station before Pforzheim and looked for a lift to Karlruhe or even Pforzheim - and after 45 minutes or something (before everyone was going directly to Karlsruhe or up to Frankfurt) I found an elderly guy filling up his tank, who had a license tag from Offenburg, which was perfectly my direction. He was originally Croatian but was living in Kehl, the last city before Strasbourg, for 40 years now. He came there when he was 19, to find some work as a carpenter with a distant uncle, earn some money and then go back to Croatia, but ended up marrying a collegue and building a house in Kehl. He was a lovely person who spoke German mixed with both Croatian and Swabian accent, and told me a lot about his country - sufficiant to say that I definately have to go to Croatia and see the Plitvice Lakes! :)
He offered to drive me to Kehl, from where you can even walk to Strasbourg, but as I in fact wanted to continue to Nancy, I thought it was smarter to be dropped off at the last gas station before, so I would stay on the Autobahn.
This was the biggest mistake I made that day, which cost me about two and a half hours :D
The station he dropped me off was located on the A5 heading towards Basel - so guess where everyone was going, haha. I spoke to hundreds of people, but not a single person was leaving the Autobahn towards France. A lot of people told me that I should have taken the other way and crossed the border at the height of Karlruhe already, but it was too late for that now, because I couldn't go back.
I found one young truck driver who waved at me with a big smile on his face when he saw my sign, so I approached him and asked wether he was going to Strasbourg. "Tomorrow!", he said and laughed. Haha :D
Finally I found Uwe and his daughter, who just arrived at Frankfurt Airport from the US. They came from Offenburg and Uwe offered to drop me at a big roundabout in Offenburg. That was not an ideal situation, but definately better than spending the night at the gas station or walking to the next village.
Believe it or not, Uwe ended up driving me to Kehl without me even asking for it. "One good deed every day!", he said and wished me good luck. I really teared up when I realized that he made a detour of 30 minutes minimum, even though he had already picked up his daughter in Frankfurt. Amazing!!
Unfortunately I wasn't too lucky in Kehl, as though I was standing at the perfect spot and literally EVERYONE passing by was going to Strasbourg.
Another guy in a white transporter horned at me, but he was creepy and said he had seen me from the other side of the street and Strasbourg was not far, so he could drive me their, so I said I would wait for someone going to Nancy. I guess this was the right decision because the guy kept waiting for me to come with him for at least 30 minutes while I was looking for other cars. All in all I was standing at this spot for one hour and only one other car stopped but was also only going to the center of Strasbourg, so I turned it down.
Luc'
When the creepy guy finally gave up and drove away, I gave up as well and decided to walk to Strasbourg. After 20 Minutes of walking I passed a parking lot, and a neat businessman waved at me and said he was going to the direction of Nancy. As I didn't have a detailed map of France (don't ask me why, the book says "Europe", but France is not included), I had to trust him when he said that there was a gas station before his exit to Sarrebourg.
Jan-Luc was originally from France but was working with Volkswagen for 10 years or so, so he spoke perfect (and I mean perfect) German, even with a Swabian accent, haha. We didn't have too much to talk and even got into a traffic jam, but we listened to a nice radio station and had to go through Strasbourg to enter the highway, so I even got a short glimpse of it, haha.
It turned out that there was no gas station before Jan-Lucs exit, but the highway ends before Sarrbourg, so he dropped me just at the exit, because it was allowed to tramp there. The road was directly heading towards Nancy and nowhere else, so I had some good chances to reach Nancy before nightfall.
For ten minutes, no one took notice of me, and then, a truck driver waved at me and pulled over. The door was so high that I couldn't even talk to the driver and just held my backpack high for him to grab it, hoping that he was going to Nancy.
Now thinking of it, this was not the best decision, because you can expect that a truck is not going to the center of Nancy. But I was so excited about getting a lift in a truck that I went for it, even if 5 more minutes of waiting probably had brought me directly to Nancy in 30 minutes instead of 2 hours, but well... :D
So the truck drivers name was Donato (or "Donnie, as he entered himself into my cellphone), he came from Italy and didn't speak a word of English. So communication wasn't easy and we spoke in a funny mix of German, English, Spanish, Italian, and our hands, but as he was really excited and happy, we laughed a lot. I don't remember from where he had started his ride, but he told me that he was driving up until Amsterdam, loading tiles there or something, and then going all the way back to Italy.
He gave me some chips and I gave him some chocolate, and while we were rolling along the street with 80-feeling-like-50-km/h he ordered me to enjoy the massaging function of the cover placed on the co-drivers seat while we were listening to Napolitan music.
It was a lovely ride even if it took forever and we couldn't talk much, and I'm glad I took it. But then, we missed the last gas station before Nancy, because we were talking and trying to understand each other. That was a big problem, because Donnie had to find a place to stay for the night, and I of course had to change cars before we passed Nancy.
Most luckily, there was another parking lot - but without any normal cars stopping there, because there was no gas station included. Anyway, I said "ciaooo" to Donnie, who insisted on giving me a plush-smurf as a present and sent me a kiss for goodbye, which I happily returned. He also offered to cook me some "italiaaaano" pasta and to let me sleep on the second matress in his truck, which I probably would have accepted if we had been in the middle of nowhere, but as we were only 5 km away from Nancy, I was sure to still have some chances.
After 15 minutes of almost standing on the highway, a French car pulled over. There was a pretty greasy guy in it who didn't speak any English, but I was so glad that someone stopped, that I went for it (as always.. xD). As I didn't speak any French either, we didn't have anything to talk and I could only show him the street where my host was living. Most luckily, the Avenue Foch was one of the main streets of Nancy and the French guy dropped me there.
And I had arrived!!!
My host Ghassan from Lebanon is great of course, although he's a little bit shy. We ate a delicios salad and some toast for dinner, and afterwards he even showed me the city by night. I was dying from tiredness and sore muscles in my back and legs, but couldn't turn the offer of course - and it was definately worth it.
I'm very happy that I came to Nancy and am excited to see the city by daylight today :)
On top of this new and unknown situation, my host in Strasbourg sent me a message at 10am that he was feeling sick and couldn't host me anymore - annoying!! I also didn't have anyone else in Strasbourg, so I contacted my host in Nancy, where I hadn't even really planned to go, and asked if he could host me in the evening. Luckily, he answered after a few minutes and said I could sure come over - that's why I love couchsurfing! :)
So I left my friends flat in Stuttgart, planning to head for a street that leads out of the city.. and got lost immediatley, of course - I simply walked into the wrong direction and after one and a half hours I came back to where I had started. But everything was so exciting that I didn't care, you always have to make some mistakes, otherwise life would be boring, right?
I also think that I had to make this detour in order to prepare myself for the journey psychologically. And when I was walking along a street, just realizing that I had been walking in a circle and laughing about it, I came across an alternative looking guy with rastas and everything, and he was having a HUGE smile on his face directed towards me, as if he was saying: "YES! Keep going!!"
So finally I found the road I wanted to go and stood in the rain for about half an hour, until a car stopped. The guy inside looked nice but wasn't going my way, so I had to turn him down.
After another 10 minutes, a second car stopped, with Kaya and his sister inside, who told me they would drive me to a district of Stuttgart that is closer to the Autobahn. They both freaked out about me hitchhiking and told me to be really careful, as though they were my first example of how nice people can be even if you don't know them.
In Stuttgart-Degerloch I waited another half an hour until a big white transporter stopped. As I'm not a big fan of clichés, I didn't care, asked the driver, who was from Portugal, if he was going to go onto the A8, and he said yes, so I hopped in.
It turned out, that Unnu (I think that was his name) only had to go about 5 km to the fair grounds (Messegelände), but was so happy to have some company, that he drove me until a gas station just before Pforzheim!! That was a detour of about 25 km, but he said he had time anyway and his boss was paying for the gas, haha.
So there I was at the gas station before Pforzheim and looked for a lift to Karlruhe or even Pforzheim - and after 45 minutes or something (before everyone was going directly to Karlsruhe or up to Frankfurt) I found an elderly guy filling up his tank, who had a license tag from Offenburg, which was perfectly my direction. He was originally Croatian but was living in Kehl, the last city before Strasbourg, for 40 years now. He came there when he was 19, to find some work as a carpenter with a distant uncle, earn some money and then go back to Croatia, but ended up marrying a collegue and building a house in Kehl. He was a lovely person who spoke German mixed with both Croatian and Swabian accent, and told me a lot about his country - sufficiant to say that I definately have to go to Croatia and see the Plitvice Lakes! :)
He offered to drive me to Kehl, from where you can even walk to Strasbourg, but as I in fact wanted to continue to Nancy, I thought it was smarter to be dropped off at the last gas station before, so I would stay on the Autobahn.
This was the biggest mistake I made that day, which cost me about two and a half hours :D
The station he dropped me off was located on the A5 heading towards Basel - so guess where everyone was going, haha. I spoke to hundreds of people, but not a single person was leaving the Autobahn towards France. A lot of people told me that I should have taken the other way and crossed the border at the height of Karlruhe already, but it was too late for that now, because I couldn't go back.
I found one young truck driver who waved at me with a big smile on his face when he saw my sign, so I approached him and asked wether he was going to Strasbourg. "Tomorrow!", he said and laughed. Haha :D
Finally I found Uwe and his daughter, who just arrived at Frankfurt Airport from the US. They came from Offenburg and Uwe offered to drop me at a big roundabout in Offenburg. That was not an ideal situation, but definately better than spending the night at the gas station or walking to the next village.
Believe it or not, Uwe ended up driving me to Kehl without me even asking for it. "One good deed every day!", he said and wished me good luck. I really teared up when I realized that he made a detour of 30 minutes minimum, even though he had already picked up his daughter in Frankfurt. Amazing!!
Unfortunately I wasn't too lucky in Kehl, as though I was standing at the perfect spot and literally EVERYONE passing by was going to Strasbourg.
Another guy in a white transporter horned at me, but he was creepy and said he had seen me from the other side of the street and Strasbourg was not far, so he could drive me their, so I said I would wait for someone going to Nancy. I guess this was the right decision because the guy kept waiting for me to come with him for at least 30 minutes while I was looking for other cars. All in all I was standing at this spot for one hour and only one other car stopped but was also only going to the center of Strasbourg, so I turned it down.
Luc'
When the creepy guy finally gave up and drove away, I gave up as well and decided to walk to Strasbourg. After 20 Minutes of walking I passed a parking lot, and a neat businessman waved at me and said he was going to the direction of Nancy. As I didn't have a detailed map of France (don't ask me why, the book says "Europe", but France is not included), I had to trust him when he said that there was a gas station before his exit to Sarrebourg.
Jan-Luc was originally from France but was working with Volkswagen for 10 years or so, so he spoke perfect (and I mean perfect) German, even with a Swabian accent, haha. We didn't have too much to talk and even got into a traffic jam, but we listened to a nice radio station and had to go through Strasbourg to enter the highway, so I even got a short glimpse of it, haha.
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| hop plantations |
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| road charge in France |
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| this bridge was build for animals to cross the highway |
It turned out that there was no gas station before Jan-Lucs exit, but the highway ends before Sarrbourg, so he dropped me just at the exit, because it was allowed to tramp there. The road was directly heading towards Nancy and nowhere else, so I had some good chances to reach Nancy before nightfall.
For ten minutes, no one took notice of me, and then, a truck driver waved at me and pulled over. The door was so high that I couldn't even talk to the driver and just held my backpack high for him to grab it, hoping that he was going to Nancy.
Now thinking of it, this was not the best decision, because you can expect that a truck is not going to the center of Nancy. But I was so excited about getting a lift in a truck that I went for it, even if 5 more minutes of waiting probably had brought me directly to Nancy in 30 minutes instead of 2 hours, but well... :D
So the truck drivers name was Donato (or "Donnie, as he entered himself into my cellphone), he came from Italy and didn't speak a word of English. So communication wasn't easy and we spoke in a funny mix of German, English, Spanish, Italian, and our hands, but as he was really excited and happy, we laughed a lot. I don't remember from where he had started his ride, but he told me that he was driving up until Amsterdam, loading tiles there or something, and then going all the way back to Italy.
He gave me some chips and I gave him some chocolate, and while we were rolling along the street with 80-feeling-like-50-km/h he ordered me to enjoy the massaging function of the cover placed on the co-drivers seat while we were listening to Napolitan music.
It was a lovely ride even if it took forever and we couldn't talk much, and I'm glad I took it. But then, we missed the last gas station before Nancy, because we were talking and trying to understand each other. That was a big problem, because Donnie had to find a place to stay for the night, and I of course had to change cars before we passed Nancy.
Most luckily, there was another parking lot - but without any normal cars stopping there, because there was no gas station included. Anyway, I said "ciaooo" to Donnie, who insisted on giving me a plush-smurf as a present and sent me a kiss for goodbye, which I happily returned. He also offered to cook me some "italiaaaano" pasta and to let me sleep on the second matress in his truck, which I probably would have accepted if we had been in the middle of nowhere, but as we were only 5 km away from Nancy, I was sure to still have some chances.
After 15 minutes of almost standing on the highway, a French car pulled over. There was a pretty greasy guy in it who didn't speak any English, but I was so glad that someone stopped, that I went for it (as always.. xD). As I didn't speak any French either, we didn't have anything to talk and I could only show him the street where my host was living. Most luckily, the Avenue Foch was one of the main streets of Nancy and the French guy dropped me there.
And I had arrived!!!
My host Ghassan from Lebanon is great of course, although he's a little bit shy. We ate a delicios salad and some toast for dinner, and afterwards he even showed me the city by night. I was dying from tiredness and sore muscles in my back and legs, but couldn't turn the offer of course - and it was definately worth it.
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| Place Stanislas |
I'm very happy that I came to Nancy and am excited to see the city by daylight today :)
Ahhh so proud of you! Happy to see you back on your way,just having some great andventures :) Tell me when you are going to be back home, I am here (yes, here, so close to your hometown!) waiting for you :P
ReplyDeleteEva xxx