Time flies by!
And so do the cars when you stand at a shitty hitchhiking spot.
That was the case when I tried to get out of Oberhausen again last Saturday after 3 lovely days with my dear Josie and her amazing circle of friends. Oberhausen doesn't have a ring-shaped main road going around the city but only one entrance to the highway, with almost no opportunities to stop safely. At first, I was standing on a road leading to the main road, but half of the cars wasn't even going on the highway, so after 30 minutes I decided to walk further.
Stopping there, just before the highway-entrance to the right, was even more dangerous, but it was the only possiblity. So, I positioned myself directly in front of the entrance with a sign saying "==>", and waited. Smiiiiile!
There also was a traffic light that turned red from time to time, so I asked the people in the cars to pull down their windows, and if they did, where they were going. A lot of people, though, looked at me as if I was ompletely nuts. Especially old people shook their heads at me and then continued looking straight, ignoring my nicely smiling face. But, of course, if people do that, I'm not mad at them, or better don't allow me to be mad - because if I was, my mood would get bad, and that's the last thing I want.
After around 30 minutes, Dennis stopped for me. He was going back to Dortmund and had been to Oberhausen because he commented Wrestling fights in his freetime and there had been some event in the city. I had asked him to drop me at a parking lot, so that I could continue onto the A43, which then would lead onto the A1, but when we arrived there, I immediately saw that almost no car would stop there.
So Dennis dropped me somewhere in the outskirts of Dortmund from where I thought it would be very easy to access the A1.
I wasn't sure about the best position because I again was standing directly in front of the highway-entrance, but also in the middle of a big crossroad. Cars from all directions were entering the highway, the most coming from a bigger road - but the didn't have any possibility to stop safely and would have had to stand on the road to talk to the drivers. The smaller roads were safer but of course not so frequently used.
Still I decided for on of the smaller roads in the end and tried to talk to the cars that had to stop because of the traffic light. Again I met a lot of unfriendly people and also realized, that most of the friendly people were driving to the center of Dortmund instead of continuing on the A1.
After 45 minutes I aready was quite hopeless and couldn't force myself to a smile all the time anymore. But finally, Julian showed mercy. He was coming from his job in IT security in Dortmund and was going home to Unna now, which was located at the A1.
There he dropped me off close to the IKEA because it was the only safe spot to stop and from where I walked some 10 minutes back to the highway-entrance. Of course, there once again was no stopping-opportunity, not too many cars were coming from the IKEA-direction, and even though I found the first sign of other hitchhikers before me, I decided to walk a little bit further towards Unna.
Most impractically, the loads of cars coming from Unna had tot turn left in order to enter the highway, and there was no space for me to stand there and talk to the waiting drivers. So I continued walking until I came across a bus stop. That one could have been a nice spot but wasn't, because a lot of cars were already using the left lane because they wanted to turn left later.
After 45 minutes of waiting, in which only one car stopped but was going to leave the A1 after 5 minutes, I again walked further towards Unna and stopped at a crossroad. There I waited for another 30 minutes without any car stopping. Really frustrated by now, I finally entered the main road of Unna, hoping to get really all the cars possibly going my direction, but suddenly almost no stupid car came out of this abandoned city anymore.
It was already 6 when I walked back again and sat down in the Burger King by the road and ate a burger. I wrote my host in Bremen that this day was really tough and that I hoped to make it before nightfall. I was almost desperate, because it was not only almost impossible to find a lifter, but because I also still was about 2 hours away from Bremen.
But nevermind, life goes on, at some point I have to find someone - that's what I aways tell myself.
And I even got a free coke at Burger King!
I tried it again at the bus stop, smiling smiling smiling and already thinking about where I could set my tent without anyone bothering me. By the time I had spent 2 hours in godforsaken Unna, the longest waiting time ever.
After another column of cars had passed by, I decided to try it again at the dangerous crossroad, because there no one could lie to me and tell me they wouldn't enter the highway. So I walked back in said direction, holding up my "Bremen"-sign for potentially passing cars half-heartedly.
And a car stopped. Aaaaaah <3
My dear Ayas was inside and on his way to Lübeck which is even further on the A1, so he could take me with him the whole way. He was a Kurd from the North of Irak and had escaped from there with his family in the early 90s during the war, at first to Iran, then to Russia, and finally to Northern Germany. My first fauxpas was to as him if he spoke Turkish, because I thought he was from Turkey, but he forgave me and then I learned alot about the Kurdish people and their history and traditions, and the two hours to Bremen passed by in no time.
Without question he drove me into the city and directly in front of the doorbell of my hosts house. Thank you Ayas <3
The day ended with a very nice dinner at my host Sine's boyfriend Fabian and his flatmates' place and I was really happy to have finally arrived at my destination and to be in such a nice company. I got along with Sine so well and we kept exchanging travel experiences and other stuff all night long.
And so do the cars when you stand at a shitty hitchhiking spot.
That was the case when I tried to get out of Oberhausen again last Saturday after 3 lovely days with my dear Josie and her amazing circle of friends. Oberhausen doesn't have a ring-shaped main road going around the city but only one entrance to the highway, with almost no opportunities to stop safely. At first, I was standing on a road leading to the main road, but half of the cars wasn't even going on the highway, so after 30 minutes I decided to walk further.
Stopping there, just before the highway-entrance to the right, was even more dangerous, but it was the only possiblity. So, I positioned myself directly in front of the entrance with a sign saying "==>", and waited. Smiiiiile!
There also was a traffic light that turned red from time to time, so I asked the people in the cars to pull down their windows, and if they did, where they were going. A lot of people, though, looked at me as if I was ompletely nuts. Especially old people shook their heads at me and then continued looking straight, ignoring my nicely smiling face. But, of course, if people do that, I'm not mad at them, or better don't allow me to be mad - because if I was, my mood would get bad, and that's the last thing I want.
After around 30 minutes, Dennis stopped for me. He was going back to Dortmund and had been to Oberhausen because he commented Wrestling fights in his freetime and there had been some event in the city. I had asked him to drop me at a parking lot, so that I could continue onto the A43, which then would lead onto the A1, but when we arrived there, I immediately saw that almost no car would stop there.
So Dennis dropped me somewhere in the outskirts of Dortmund from where I thought it would be very easy to access the A1.
I wasn't sure about the best position because I again was standing directly in front of the highway-entrance, but also in the middle of a big crossroad. Cars from all directions were entering the highway, the most coming from a bigger road - but the didn't have any possibility to stop safely and would have had to stand on the road to talk to the drivers. The smaller roads were safer but of course not so frequently used.
Still I decided for on of the smaller roads in the end and tried to talk to the cars that had to stop because of the traffic light. Again I met a lot of unfriendly people and also realized, that most of the friendly people were driving to the center of Dortmund instead of continuing on the A1.
After 45 minutes I aready was quite hopeless and couldn't force myself to a smile all the time anymore. But finally, Julian showed mercy. He was coming from his job in IT security in Dortmund and was going home to Unna now, which was located at the A1.
There he dropped me off close to the IKEA because it was the only safe spot to stop and from where I walked some 10 minutes back to the highway-entrance. Of course, there once again was no stopping-opportunity, not too many cars were coming from the IKEA-direction, and even though I found the first sign of other hitchhikers before me, I decided to walk a little bit further towards Unna.
Most impractically, the loads of cars coming from Unna had tot turn left in order to enter the highway, and there was no space for me to stand there and talk to the waiting drivers. So I continued walking until I came across a bus stop. That one could have been a nice spot but wasn't, because a lot of cars were already using the left lane because they wanted to turn left later.
After 45 minutes of waiting, in which only one car stopped but was going to leave the A1 after 5 minutes, I again walked further towards Unna and stopped at a crossroad. There I waited for another 30 minutes without any car stopping. Really frustrated by now, I finally entered the main road of Unna, hoping to get really all the cars possibly going my direction, but suddenly almost no stupid car came out of this abandoned city anymore.
It was already 6 when I walked back again and sat down in the Burger King by the road and ate a burger. I wrote my host in Bremen that this day was really tough and that I hoped to make it before nightfall. I was almost desperate, because it was not only almost impossible to find a lifter, but because I also still was about 2 hours away from Bremen.
But nevermind, life goes on, at some point I have to find someone - that's what I aways tell myself.
And I even got a free coke at Burger King!
I tried it again at the bus stop, smiling smiling smiling and already thinking about where I could set my tent without anyone bothering me. By the time I had spent 2 hours in godforsaken Unna, the longest waiting time ever.
After another column of cars had passed by, I decided to try it again at the dangerous crossroad, because there no one could lie to me and tell me they wouldn't enter the highway. So I walked back in said direction, holding up my "Bremen"-sign for potentially passing cars half-heartedly.
And a car stopped. Aaaaaah <3
My dear Ayas was inside and on his way to Lübeck which is even further on the A1, so he could take me with him the whole way. He was a Kurd from the North of Irak and had escaped from there with his family in the early 90s during the war, at first to Iran, then to Russia, and finally to Northern Germany. My first fauxpas was to as him if he spoke Turkish, because I thought he was from Turkey, but he forgave me and then I learned alot about the Kurdish people and their history and traditions, and the two hours to Bremen passed by in no time.
Without question he drove me into the city and directly in front of the doorbell of my hosts house. Thank you Ayas <3
The day ended with a very nice dinner at my host Sine's boyfriend Fabian and his flatmates' place and I was really happy to have finally arrived at my destination and to be in such a nice company. I got along with Sine so well and we kept exchanging travel experiences and other stuff all night long.
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