Day 11

Hello friends!

As a starter, I have a few impressions of Brussels for you:

never seen something so boring

the impressive "Grote Markt"

lovely Arabic neighbourhood

Nepal-Nostalgia, hello!

this was the center of the Turkish area.. well yes :D

some Royal Palace

a huuuuge fleamarket that takes place EVERY DAY

tired but happy

oh yeah

they must've been on the road quite a while

and that's.. the European Parliament

My 5th day of hitchhiking once again showed me that the right choice about your hitchhiking spot is the key to success: As I was living more or less in the center of Brussels, it was easy to find a street, or in Brussel's case a tunnel, leading out of the city. I decided that it was best to position myself quite a distance before said tunnel, so that the drivers wouldn't be inside of the tunnel with their minds already.

After 20 minutes or so, when I already began doubting my decision, a cab driver, who had just dropped off someone, offered to drive me a bit further down the road to a, as he said, better spot. I turned down his offer to have a coffee together and he dropped me off just at the start of the tunnel at the left side of the street. I asked him wether it was the tunnel to the left that lead out of the city, or the street going on on the right side. He told me it was the street, so I stood there and held up my sign.

After 5 minutes it became clear that it was the tunnel that lead out of the city, and after I asked two people passing by, I was sure that the cab driver probably didn't have the best intentions.

I didn't want to walk all the way back, especially because the spot before hadn't been the best one either. The only option I had was to cross the one-way street and hope that someone would stop for me on the left side. So I did that.. and after 2 minutes of waiting a car pulled over.

The elderly man called Bob, a piano tuner who had a daughter in my age, who just went to Hungary for a few months, was going directly to Antwerp and even dropped me right in front of my host's house. Thank you Bob!!

It was raining a little bit and I was really tired, so I spent some time with Monika, my lovely host, talking about her relationship, and going grocery shopping (finally a normal, big supermarket with normal prices again!). She is from Lithuania, has a 6-year old son called Eddie, and also cares for her little 9-year old brother Faustus. They are lovely children and I admire Monika a lot for how she handles her situation.

Later I went to the city center of Antwerp, but as I missed out the opening hours of the tourist office by 5 minutes and as it was very cloudy, I didn't explore Antwerp too much. Still I'm glad that I came, because I wouldn't have met amazing Monika otherwise :)

Right now I'm looking for a good spot to hitchhike to - no, neither Rotterdam nor Den Haag - Leiden!
That was never planned of course, but I got a couchsurfing invite that sounded really interesting, so I'm going for it.

See ya!

Day 8

I'm very sorry for you guys, but there once again not much to tell.
Heading towards Brussels today, I walked for quite a while all through lovely Gent until I reached the highway. I put my backpack on the ground, held up my sign, and waited.

walking, walking, walking.. and smiling!

After 45 seconds a car pulled over. No joke!!! Life is just too easy sometimes xD


So I got a very nice lift from Daniel, who was born in Bulgaria but grew up in Belgium and studied Directing in Brussels. Of course he spoke English, as everyone else here (even older people) and time flew by.

say hello, Daniel!

He dropped me off in the very center of Brussels and I had quite a walk to do until my hosts neighbourhood. Of course I could've taken the Metro easily, but I kind of have the dream that I will manage to cope with the 120 Euros I took with me, without having to withdraw money from the bank. That's ridiculous of course, but still I want to keep my expenses as low as possible, as a challenge for myself so to say.

Anyway, my host Ale picked me up and even though he's very busy with various exams, he gave me some maps and explained everything I have to know to me. I'm sure I'll have a great time - as always! :)

Day 6

Nasser <3

view from the rooftop

exploring the city at 2am

i love flags

way home

a typical Syrian dish made of chickpeas and joghurt - delicious!!!

 After 3 lovely but also absolutely exhausting (you don't want to see the blisters on my feet) days with probably one of the most eccentric and interesting hosts I have met so far, I collected (hopefully) all my things  and found my way through the endless Metro system of Paris to a station called "Porte de la Chapelle". 
 Hitchwiki recommended it as a good spot for hitchhiking to the north, and I'm really happy that I found this site (thanks to Tamir at this point :D), because I got picked up after fives minutes. The driver didn't speak any English, but his co-driver was at least able to communicate a little, so he told me that they would go to Valencienne, which was only 20 minutes from Lille. We didn't have the time to talk more because after 30 seconds, the driver stopped again to pick up to other hitchhikers standing on the sidewalk. It was a really small car and I didn't believe that we'd all fit in, but somehow it worked out xD My two companions were originally from Paris and on their way to a party on the countryside - everyone was going there by autostop, and the first ones to arrive would win a prize. If you ask me, we should organize something like that as well in summer :D

Adele and Maxim

They were dropped off pretty quickly and I tried to make some conversation with my drivers, but my lack of French-knowledge as always made things difficult. The co-driver told me that he lived in a village very close to the Belgian border and that he could take me until there, and even though refusing an offer like that has been a big mistake on my first day, I think this time it was the right decision.

So these two nice guys whose names I most unfortunately never learned dropped me at a gas station on the highway, about 80 km before Lille. It was almost empty and only a few cars entered, so I set myself for a longer stay. But believe it or not.. again, after not more than 5 minutes of waiting, a car coming from the gas station stopped for me - and the driver even spoke English, can you believe that!! I didn't find out his name either, but he had been working in Dubai for 5 years and had also visited Kerala, so we had a lot to talk about and I was very sad that the ride ended so quickly.
He dropped me at another gas station just before Lille and I was confident to get a lift very quickly. This gas station, though, was even more abandoned than the one before, and full of trucks staying there for the weekend - so I walked towards the highway and waved at the cars passing by, hoping for someone nice to pull over just for me.

And believe it or not.. after 10 minutes maximum someone pulled over :D He didn't speak English of course, but I had no hope to wait for someone who did, so I hopped in, and with hands and feet we agreed on him dropping me off  just on the highway to Gent.
It was quite a dangerous spot for cars to stop, which is usually not a good setting for hitchhiking, but - this is no joke - after 5 minutes a car pulled over. The guy inside was very old though, and didn't speak any English either, so I saw my chances very low to actually communicate with him. I decided to wait for another car, which - yes, really - appeared after 5 more minutes of waiting.

Two guys from Algeria were in it and didn't speak English either (of course), but I still went for it, I don't know why. I feel like I already have a very good sense for right and wrong decisions, so that everything somehow works out in the end.
Still I guess I might have put myself in a could-have-become-dangerous situation, because as soon as I was sitting in a car, Réda, the driver, explained to me, that he actually wasn't going to Gent, but driving Jamel, the co-driver, to his home, who would then go to Gent. This was a little bit annoying of course, but as long as I would arrive in Gent, I didn't care if we made some detours. So we drove towards Gent at first, but then took an exit to a city next to Lille and got to an Arabic neighborhood, which I found quite interesting to see of course. I then waited with Réda at his car for Jamel to get his own car, and Réda tried to convince me to stay at his place for the night and have a nice "soiree", but I always nicely refused and told him about my "amigo" in Gent, haha.

He didn't push it and finally Jamel appeared with his car. Things even got weirder though, because he kept driving through small streets for about 10 minutes, now himself trying to convince me to stay for a "soiree", but I just kept repeating my "amigo" in Gent, so he finally gave up.
On our way to Gent he explained to me that normally he was driving there every day for work, but that today it was only for "plaisir", but I'm not sure if I understood it right xD So finally we arrived in Gent and I gave him my number as a thank you, but you know how it is with numbers, haha.

I then got a little lost in the beautiful and magical streets of Gent, until I found the cathedral where I met Joachim, my host in Gent. His amaaaaaaaaaazing flat is only 10 minutes from the center and I already saw so many fabulous buildings on the way home, that I felt very happy about my decision to come here.
After I had stored my stuff, Joachim took me on a small tour through the old town of Gent, while the setting sun was creating the most beautiful colours on the buildings. I also tried Hummbelbier, one of the around 600 beers produced in Belgium - it's supposed to have a taste of honey in it, but I didn't notice anything.. still it was nice :D

My original plan for today was to go to Brugge for half of the day, but Joachims couch was so comfy that I slept until 11. Also my feet hurt so much that I feel like staying at home the whole time, so I probably won't make it to Brugge anymore. But Gent is so beautiful, I think it deserves a whole day to be explored :)

Enjoy your Sunday!