Amsterdam was not so much my thing, but I blame it on my lack of adaptability. I guess when in Amsterdam, you just have to sit in one of the thousands of Coffeeshops and try every single variety of weed and hash it has to offer. I didn't do that, and also didn't want to spend a shit load of money on some one-hour boat-ride or an average museum, so I spent my hours walking and walking and walking once again.
It's definately a nice city where I have to go again - but with some friends and with an even more opened mind ;D
Anyway, the hitchhiking.
The distance I wanted to cover this day - from Amsterdam to world-known metropolis Oberhausen, where my good friend who I met in Nepal, Josie, lives - was not too big, but the way should still be somewhat onerous.
View Larger Map
I had chosen a, in my opinion, nice spot on a streat leading onto the ring around Amsterdam, which then would lead onto the highway A1. Still I stood there for half an hour, soaked in sweat just like that, and no one stopped. Pah! But in the end I was picked up by Mark in his super posh Saab carbiolet, and I guess this car was worth the wait, haha :D
He had been hitchhiking in his youth as well and was really excited to meet someone like me. Originally I wanted him to drop me off at the next gas station, but our conversation was so nice and I trusted his former hitchhiking-experience, so that he dropped me off at a roadhouse close to Hilversum.
Indeed a lot of cars entered this roadhouse - but almost none left again, and even less stopped for me.
One was only going to Hilversum, and the second one turned out to become my first bad hitchhiking experience:
Smiling as everyone, the guy told me he would continue driving on the A1 and that he could take me with him. Then he asked if I wanted to "make the ride worthwhile". Completely shocked but still smiling I said No, unless he could appreciate a nice conversation while driving. Obviously, that was not what he meant, so I said I would wait for someone else.
In the end he assumed that I would probably get these questions a lot during hitchhiking. But most happily I was able to tell him that he was the first idiot that came up with something like that.
Alrighty then, I decided that this was the sign for me to walk away from the street and to the restaurant, and speak directly to the people entering their cars. And behold, after two rejections, Martin offered to give me a lift to the next gas station. Thanks for saving me from this abandoned place :D
At said gas station called Baarn, I wanted to look for people going onto the A30, which the would end up in the A12, which would bring me directly to the Ruhr District. Again I just walked up to people fuelling up and asked them where they were going. Most of them, of course, where continuing on the A1.
So did Jarno, Thomas and Stefan, who catched my attention as soon as they left their car, wearing the Dutch Army uniforms. They were going to Deventer, which was behind Apeldoorn, but offered to drop me off at a gas station closer to the A30. But, as many of you might now, I'm a bit special when it comes to men in uniforms.. so I stayed with them a little longer than necessary :D In a funny mix of German and English they told me they were or were becoming combat nurses and all had been in Afghanistan with German soldiers already. In the end, they dropped me off at a gas station just before Apeldoorn and the A50, which also ended up in the A12.
At this gas station called Lucasgat, I made a short break and ate a cookie while looking for potential lifters. But, within a minute, a nice businessman approached me and asked if I was a Hitchhiker. Indeed I was, and Jan-Hermann, who spoke fluent German because he had worked in Dresden for 6 years, was even going on the A12, yay!
He dropped me off at a gas station just before the German border, where I saw a few German license numbers again for the first time since I had left Germany. The first guy I asked, Jörn from Duisburg, told me that his boss had banned him from taking hitchhikers, but he made an exception for me ;)
He dropped me at the gas station in Hünxe (yes, that's the name), from where I had to look for someone going directly to Oberhausen city. A lot of people were going to Essen or Duisburg, but finally I found a girl who told me she would go to the shopping mall called "CentrO" in Oberhausen. When I asked her if she could give me a lift, she was absolutely and asked: "Are you kidding?"
But I wasn't, haha, and so I hopped in. She was already late so she could only drop me at the CentrO, which is about 3 km away from the actual center. I could've taken a bus of course, but decided to walk. It probably took me one hour and I was again soaked in sweat in the end, because it was like 45°C, but in the end I arrived at the central station and was welcomed by my beloved Josie <3
She's currently doing an internship for an artist's group called "das wettbüro", which organizes live bets every day for two weeks and also bets against the citizens of Oberhausen that go for a longer period of time. For example, someone bet that the artists wouldn't be able to organize an open-air cinema on the parkdeck of a big store until today - which will actually take place at 10pm today.
They live bet for yesterday was to gather at least 20 Oberhauseners to stand on the central station square for minimum 5 minutes in solidarity with the protests in Turkey. In the end there were 35 people standing in total.
Apart from this really cool artist community, the central station was dominated by a drunk mob shouting at each other, which inspired me to this picture:
Peace out, bitches!
It's definately a nice city where I have to go again - but with some friends and with an even more opened mind ;D
 |
| fu! |
Anyway, the hitchhiking.
The distance I wanted to cover this day - from Amsterdam to world-known metropolis Oberhausen, where my good friend who I met in Nepal, Josie, lives - was not too big, but the way should still be somewhat onerous.
View Larger Map
I had chosen a, in my opinion, nice spot on a streat leading onto the ring around Amsterdam, which then would lead onto the highway A1. Still I stood there for half an hour, soaked in sweat just like that, and no one stopped. Pah! But in the end I was picked up by Mark in his super posh Saab carbiolet, and I guess this car was worth the wait, haha :D
He had been hitchhiking in his youth as well and was really excited to meet someone like me. Originally I wanted him to drop me off at the next gas station, but our conversation was so nice and I trusted his former hitchhiking-experience, so that he dropped me off at a roadhouse close to Hilversum.
Indeed a lot of cars entered this roadhouse - but almost none left again, and even less stopped for me.
One was only going to Hilversum, and the second one turned out to become my first bad hitchhiking experience:
Smiling as everyone, the guy told me he would continue driving on the A1 and that he could take me with him. Then he asked if I wanted to "make the ride worthwhile". Completely shocked but still smiling I said No, unless he could appreciate a nice conversation while driving. Obviously, that was not what he meant, so I said I would wait for someone else.
In the end he assumed that I would probably get these questions a lot during hitchhiking. But most happily I was able to tell him that he was the first idiot that came up with something like that.
Alrighty then, I decided that this was the sign for me to walk away from the street and to the restaurant, and speak directly to the people entering their cars. And behold, after two rejections, Martin offered to give me a lift to the next gas station. Thanks for saving me from this abandoned place :D
At said gas station called Baarn, I wanted to look for people going onto the A30, which the would end up in the A12, which would bring me directly to the Ruhr District. Again I just walked up to people fuelling up and asked them where they were going. Most of them, of course, where continuing on the A1.
So did Jarno, Thomas and Stefan, who catched my attention as soon as they left their car, wearing the Dutch Army uniforms. They were going to Deventer, which was behind Apeldoorn, but offered to drop me off at a gas station closer to the A30. But, as many of you might now, I'm a bit special when it comes to men in uniforms.. so I stayed with them a little longer than necessary :D In a funny mix of German and English they told me they were or were becoming combat nurses and all had been in Afghanistan with German soldiers already. In the end, they dropped me off at a gas station just before Apeldoorn and the A50, which also ended up in the A12.
 |
| oh yeah :D |
At this gas station called Lucasgat, I made a short break and ate a cookie while looking for potential lifters. But, within a minute, a nice businessman approached me and asked if I was a Hitchhiker. Indeed I was, and Jan-Hermann, who spoke fluent German because he had worked in Dresden for 6 years, was even going on the A12, yay!
He dropped me off at a gas station just before the German border, where I saw a few German license numbers again for the first time since I had left Germany. The first guy I asked, Jörn from Duisburg, told me that his boss had banned him from taking hitchhikers, but he made an exception for me ;)
He dropped me at the gas station in Hünxe (yes, that's the name), from where I had to look for someone going directly to Oberhausen city. A lot of people were going to Essen or Duisburg, but finally I found a girl who told me she would go to the shopping mall called "CentrO" in Oberhausen. When I asked her if she could give me a lift, she was absolutely and asked: "Are you kidding?"
But I wasn't, haha, and so I hopped in. She was already late so she could only drop me at the CentrO, which is about 3 km away from the actual center. I could've taken a bus of course, but decided to walk. It probably took me one hour and I was again soaked in sweat in the end, because it was like 45°C, but in the end I arrived at the central station and was welcomed by my beloved Josie <3
 |
| it was so hot, I mean, SO hot |
They live bet for yesterday was to gather at least 20 Oberhauseners to stand on the central station square for minimum 5 minutes in solidarity with the protests in Turkey. In the end there were 35 people standing in total.
Apart from this really cool artist community, the central station was dominated by a drunk mob shouting at each other, which inspired me to this picture:
Peace out, bitches!
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