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Hitchhiking is interesting travel story from the country Lithuania. I hope you will enjoy to read this story !!!
Adventure, Challenge, Fun
Why do I hitchhike? Because it is adventure, challenge and fun. Tourists are people who don't like it to improvise and who don't remember where they have been and whom they met, travelers are improvisers who don't know where they are going to and whom they will meet. I prefer to be a traveler, and my perfect way to travel is by hitchhiking in connection with couchsurfing. It is the best way to meet interesting people, to be confronted with different cultures, views and opinions. My only plan for a trip is to have no plan. Expect the unexpected!
First Hitchhiking Experiences
In January 1972, I was 17 years old, a friend invited me on my first hitchhiking trip. Of course, it all went terribly wrong, and we had to take a train to reach our destination. But it was not the end of my hitchhiking carrier, it was rather the beginning. Only weeks after this first desaster, I became a real hitchhiker, even more, a hitchhiking addict.
Hitchhiking Through Europe
In the late 1970s and in the 1980s I made in average 3000 - 4000 km per year, hitchhiking in Eastern Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the Soviet Union, In the 1990s I hitchhiked in Germany, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Austria, Finland and France. In August 2002 I retired from hitchhiking, my last trip was from the Austrian-Hungarian border to Budapest. During these 30 years I hitchhiked about 60000 km. In April 2009 I hitchhiked about 20 km in Lithuania - the old instincts returned -, and I decided to go on another big trip. I was back on the road again!
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia
In July 2009 I started my trip in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. My first destination was Klaipeda, the third biggest city in Lithuania at the coast of the Baltic Sea. Hitchhiking went well, I made about 300 km with two cars. Because of rain I could not sleep on the beach, so I spent three nights in a hostel where I met some interesting people who told me some things about their travel experiences and who gave me some useful tips. After three nights in Klaipeda I went on to Latvia. I visited Liepaja for some hours, and in the evening I ended up in Grobina, a small town where I met some nice people who hosted me in the Baptist church, and with whom I had some discussions about my ideas. When I started next morning, two young women picked me up and gave me a ride to the Latvian capital Riga. They told me about this couchsurfing project, of which I had never heard before and which became so important for my trip. On the same day I made it with another car to Pärnu, an Estonian resort town, where I spent the night in the open. It was too cold to sleep on the beach, so I was walking around all night, waiting for the morning sun to warm me up. Back on the road again I made it to the Estonian capital Tallinn where I spent the first night for free in a community house. I joined the couchsurfing network, and I made my first attempts to surf couches. I sent some last minute requests to Tallinn and to Finland, but it was rather unsuccessful. The only reply I got was from Hedi, a woman from Tallinn but she already hosted some other couch surfers, so she had no place for me. But we found the time to meet each other for a talk, and so I met my first couchsurfing friend, not so bad. After spending four nights in a hostel in Tallinn, I took a boat to Helsinki. I had only positive hitchhiking experiences in these three countries, short waiting times, and in some cases I made up to 200 km per car.
Finland, Norway
After my arrival in the Finnish capital, I immediately went back on the road to continue with hitchhiking. That day I reached Lahti, no couch was waiting for me there, so I had to spend another night in the open. On the next day I made it to Jyväskylä, no couch available there, but I found an accommodation in a Catholic church. My next destination was Oulu, where I arrived in the evening. No couch, no places in churches, so I decided to go to the police to ask for a free cell in a prison for one night. I think that it was the first time that the policemen got such a request, (perhaps they thought that I am mad) and they told me that it would not be possible to stay in a prison. When I explained them my situation they made a short phone call, and then they told me that they found a solution for my problem. They drove me to a shelter for homeless people where I could stay for the night. Another day, another hitchhiking trip (I met Roman, the Russian cowboy, who picked me up) - and my first couch! What a wonderful experience to live in Taina's house, somewhere in the forest in Lapland, in peace with nature, to meet wonderful people, about 45 km south of the Arctic circle. After four nights in this extraordinary place the hitchhiking show went on, next destination Norway, another couch was waiting for me there, in Karasjok, 250 km south of the North Cape. On the first day I traveled only a short distance to Rovaniemi (the hometown of Father Christmas) where I spent the night on a beach and where I met some young local people, with whom I had some interesting conversations, on the second day everything went wrong with hitchhiking but I survived and a man living in a house near the road offered me accommodation for one night. The next morning Kille the gold digger picked me up, he offered me some wodka, but I refused, and in the evening I finally reached Sammol's couch in Norway after hitchhiking about 300 km with eight cars. I met there some other couch surfers from Germany, Italy and Russia, who surfed the same couch, a good place to exchange ideas and experiences, to make new friends. I wanted to make it to the North Cape, I wanted to stay some more days in the northern part of Norway but no couches were available there, and so I decided to go back to Finland where Ville's couch was waiting for me, in Tornio, next to the Swedish border, where I spent my last three nights in Finland. It took me two days to get there, on the first day I made about 450 km thanks to a late evening ride, the night I spent at a petrol station near Rovaniemi. Tornio is not a very exciting place but it was good enough to relax in the warm summer sunshine. Sometimes hitchhiking in Finland was a little bit difficult, sometimes I had to wait up to four hours, and it seemed to me that hitchhiking is not very common in Finland. I saw only two hitchhiking girls during my trip, and some drivers told me that I was the first hitchhiker they saw in years.
Sweden, Denmark
I soon realized that Sweden is an excellent country for couchsurfing (except Stockholm where I could not find a couch). Eight couches, eight different but positive experiences. The landscape is changing when you move from the North to the South, and so the environment of the couches is changing. I enjoyed the more rural places in the North, but small cities like Falun, Orebro and Linkoping have their advantages as well. The first two nights I spent in Boden, on Tamara's couch, in the house of a Russian immigrant family. After leaving Boden I had the longest ride of my whole trip - about 650 km, more than 700 km in total that day - but not enough to reach my next accommodation near Sundsvall, so I had to spend one night in a train station before reaching Lena's couch next day where I spent two more nights. My next destination was Brattfors, a tiny settlement in the forest near Ockelbo. On my way to this place a Finnish driver picked me up who invited me for lunch. He didn't know anything about couchsurfing but was interested, so I gave him some informations. Ingvar, who hosted me for three nights was a 65-year-old man with a lot of travel experiences, and it was interesting to listen to his stories. It was only a short trip to my next couch in Tierp where Fredrik hosted me for one night in his small house near to the forest. From there I made it to Falun, where I surfed Johan's couch for one night. On my way to Falun one driver who had picked me up, said to me: "I hope you won't kill me!". Another short trip, this time to Garpenberg, a small village near Hedemora where I spent three nights in Bjorn's house, another beautiful place near a lake and my last couch in a natural environment. Next stop Orebro, where I surfed Micke's couch for two nights, from there I went to Linkoping where I had my last couch in Sweden. When I told one driver about my trip he decided to try hitchhiking again. In Linkoping I was hosted by Mona, a young woman from Iran who studied in Sweden. Until now my hitchhiking experiences in Sweden were positive, and then this happened: I had the hope to hitchhike about 400 km from Linkoping to Ystad to get the last ferry to Bornholm island where my next couch was waiting. I had a promising start, more than 100 km in less than two hours, but then I had to wait about five hours for the next car. A lady who had picked me up late in the evening offered me a couch for the case that I didn't get a ride within the next two or three hours, but then a truck driver picked me up and gave me a ride for 270 km. I made 410 km that day but I ended up at a petrol station near Lund where I spent the night in the open in my sleeping bag. Next morning I made 60 km from Lund to Ystad without any problems from where I took a ferry to Denmark. I had a lot of fun and interesting conversations with this lady, the truck driver and some people I met during the night at the petrol station (including 2 policemen) but I arrived 17 hours later on this beautiful Bornholm island with a wonderful couch. Everything went according to "plan", and I spent four nights in this extraordinary place where Freja and her mother hosted me.
Germany, Poland
After taking a ferry from Bornholm to Germany, I made a short hitchhiking trip to my place of birth, a small town in the Northern part of the country, where I met some old friends, and where I stayed in the house of one of my schoolmates for almost a week. It was a good time to relax and to visit some nearby places where I had spent my childhood. Moving on to Poland, my first couchsurfing destination was Kolobrzeg, more than 250 km to hitchhike, and, once again, I did not make it. I still had to go about 60 km when darkness fell. An elderly, German speaking lady stopped, and first she asked me some questions about alcohol, drugs, crime. Then she took me 4 km to her village and offered me food and a place to sleep in her house. Next morning I arrived in Kolobrzeg, where I surfed Maciej's couch, another example that everything went according to "plan". After two nights in this coastal town I moved on to Gdansk, the biggest city I visited during my trip. A woman who had picked me up early in the morning wanted to know more about couchsurfing, no problem to give her some informations. Hosted by Hania, I spent to more nights in Gdansk before I went to Elk for the last two nights in Poland, where I surfed Beata's couch, another positive experience before returning to Vilnius.
Some Final Thoughts
During 63 days of traveling I hitchhiked about 6200 km, using more than 100 cars. It was wonderful to be back on the road again, to meet some extraordinary people, to make a lot of new friends, to learn more about other cultures and, last but not least, to have fun, fun, fun...! After almost 40 years on the road I am more than ever convinced that hitchhiking is the best way to travel, I learned that couchsurfing is one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century so far - I am convinced that I did the right thing, that my trip was a small step in the right direction to do what is necessary - to unite people in their efforts to save our spaceship called planet Earth and to build the Spaceship Peace!
What Comes Next?
A good question! After this trip I am looking for the next adventure, the next challenge. I have some ideas for another hitchhiking trip, to New York through Russia, Alaska and Canada, or through some Balkan countries? Who knows what will happen next year - I am only sure that there will be fun again! Maybe somebody wants to join me? Maybe somebody has other ideas? I hope to hear from you!
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