Stats

Hitchhiked distance: 4555 kilometer

Number of lifts: 57

Average waiting time: 11 minutes 56 seconds

Waiting time total: 11 hours 20 minutes

You can download the log here. But be careful, it contains as well a short stage to Bishkek, that I did.

My Route

I hitchhiked from the chinese border to Amlata and did a little trip do Kirgistan, before coming back to Almata and going the long way towards Aktau at the Caspian Sea. Check out the route here.

People

It is a bit difficult to describe the typical Kazakhztan. The country is a cultural melting pot. The native Kasach person has blond hair and blue eyes, as I was told. And some day Dschinghis-Khan came along and made everyone become Asian. Or somehow like that it happened. If you walk through Almata it is impossible to see, if that person ahead of you is Kazakh, Chinese, German, Russian, or even a Turk. People look so different. I loved that.

People in Kazakhztan are kinda chummy and warm. Not as rough as the Russians. Kazakh‘s are like the Colombians of the UDSSR. Many of them speak some German, even if it is just a few words. And every second person is driving an (old) German car. You will get invitations for drinking fairly easy and people seem honestly interested in you.

What I recognized as well is, that you can have a quiet and relaxed time in Kazakhztan. Because everyone is looking so different, nobody seems to be alien and you can assimilate yourself pretty good. Very pleasent.

One thing I should mention and which regards mostly the woman who are going to hitchhike through Kazakhztan. Kazakhan men are very macho.like and I heard an above average number of stories about tried rape and sexual harrasment from my female hitchhiking friends. I can not really evaluate this, because I am a man and I was not molested by myself. And I don‘t want to put all Kazachans in one pot or create unneccessary fear. But Kazachztan follows some kind of reputation in this regard and I want you to be aware of that. It does not mean you will be in any kind of trouble or in the need to go nuts, if you visit Kazachztan. There are lots of wonderful people to meet. I just want you to take care of yourself guys.

Roads

The roads. Thats a very special topic in post sovjet countries. First I should say, that you will find big and well maintained roads between the major cities and moving around here should be not a problem at all. But i wouldn‘t say that about every region in Kazakhztan.

When I came from the chinese border to Almata I already crossed one of those wrecked roads, which can be a bit tough to deal with sometimes. But what I encountered in the center of the country was even for me a new level of apocalypse. Allthough I hitchhiked on the worst roads of our planet before. I mean, streets are there to make movement easier and open up new territories. In Kazakhztan they more seem to be an additional obstacle with a special feature which is: They are make your life a living hell and you might be faster walking or taking the dirt-road which wriggles aside the main road. Something I only discovered in post sovjet countries, btw.

I had a very interesting hitchhiking tour from Qyandiyaghasch to Makat. Three cars in eight hours and directly through the Kazakhan Steppe. People prefer to do a 1000 km detour instead of going this 400 km long stretch. For a reason, how I had to find out. This road is probably the worst I ever encountered in my hitchhiking life. But beautiful! Worth it! In its very special way.

Besides be aware of the fact, that Kazakhztan is mostly Steppe, just little mountans but mostly wide wastelands. Until the horizon. A little bit like Argentina but with less people. I really liked blasting through this. Because hitchhiking was super easy.

Tactics

Right in the beginning I gotta break a lance for Kazakhztan. I had so much fun there while hitchhiking. Fuck yeah. People just know whats going on. Basically every car is a taxi here, which is a bit problematic for your movement. But if you are clear from the beginning and tell them right away, that you won‘t pay/have no money, then most of the time they gonna take you anyway. But a clear communication is very important and so to know some basics in Russian. Also mention, that you do Autostop and most people will get what you do. It is definitely a different story than in Japan where everyone thinks you are absolutely lost and need help. In Kazakhztan you will get more of this „Ah another hitchhiker!“-feeling.

Another point I really enjoyed: You can hitchhike basically everywhere along the road. Sometimes you need to walk a bit to find a better spot, but positioning is straight forward and uncomplicated. You will also find good onramps at the bigger junctions and roundabouts in the cities. I would not recommend to position yourself at bus-stops, because people will think you wait for the bus. Also because the locals are hitchhiking here and they usually pay. Don‘t get into that sharktank.

Thir point about Kazakhztan is night-hitchhiking, which works fantastically. There is no difference between day and night-time. Cars stop equally fast. Very comfortable. But I guess my hitchhiking suit and the reflectors did a good amount of work here.

Kazakhztan is a super easy and straight forward hitchhiking country. Just use the bypass roads, when going through bigger cities. They are existing almost every time and you don‘t want to end up inside the cities. Because there is Moloch time.

Impressions

Specifics

I told already that Kazakhztan is pretty flat but at the border with Kirgistan you will find some nice mountains and in Almata you have a nice view on them. Almata is a beautiful city anyway, if you like grey Sovjet prefab estates, which I do very much. But mostly because of the people. I thought the Kazachan people are really friendly and nice and I definitely gonna head back one day and visit some friends there.

Culinarily I could connect very well to Kazakhztan as well. Beside the good old Plow (rice dish) and the omnipresent Samsa (filled pasties) we also made a very delicious summer soup with potatoes, chives, eggs, some kind of yoghurt drink and sparkling water. Sounds strange but tastes terrific. Also you got some Kwas, which is some kind of a light beer, made of fermented bred and the good old Kumis (rotten horse milk). Not made for everyone but people in this region seem do like a sour taste.

If you head towards Kazakhztan you will either cross Russia or through Central Asia. In the latter case it could get a little complicated, because getting visas in countries like Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan can be quite a hustle. I by myself took the cargo boat through the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan. Was a funny tour that I can only recommend. If you need more infos about this passage you should check in with Caravanistan.com, which is btw. by far the best ressource for informations, if you wanna travel Central Asia.

Der Beitrag Hitchhiking in… (20) Kazakhztan erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

Unfortunately the gates have been closed and I had to wait in front of the border. A huge crowd, around 70-80 people were gathered already. Suddenly this very big human appeared beside me. Type Persian Wrestler. Bold and of Bear-like statur. Compulsory dislocated joints and half-torn ears appeared in my mind. One of those people, that cause with their appeareance, that you listen. And you gonna try to show unquestioning understanding for everything, what this person has to say. Even if you don‘t understand a word of it.

My „leave-me-alone-with-your-stupid-parcel“ attitude changed. I would do my best to give a favour to the local folks. I couldn‘t wait to take this, whatever it was, across the border, if that would also make this person dissapear without harming me. I even would have taken the damn thing without any money.

They gave me my parcel and my new friend sqeezed me into the crowd. People realised that I was into the smuggling business now and they startet to yell and jeer as if a popstar would have arrived. Hello there. I was a bit more in front in the crowd and the gates opened to start the madness. Young men climbed over the rails and jumped into the crowd as if they would stage dive a RATM concert. Only to make a few spots within the queue. Pogo riot at the border to Iran.

Of course I did not participate in that and lined up, civilized, duteously and German-like, after climbing the first rail, to leave at least some kids and old ones behind me. And so I had to wait there. With this suspicious parcel. Btw. what was this parcel? Heroin? Weapons? I was responsible for it now and had to transport it safely into Iran. The whole situation was a bit ominous. But everyone had such a parcel in his/her hands. So it seemed okay for me. And they explained me, that I was carrying sandales.

Beside us was the womans queue on the bright side of life. The bright, blazing, hot sunshine side. One woman became unconcious during the wait. I shared my water with her, because I was the only one, who had water. Of course I would have shared my water as well, if I would not have been the only one. The border control definitely took its time. At some point we approached the first building, I was identified as foreigner, waved through the rest of the crowd and examined by the friendly border police. Leaving Azerbaijan. No problem. Then I was about to enter the Iranian side with my suspicious parcel.

First I caused amusement and shaking-heads at the Iranian border police. A little like: „Oh, now they even made this stupid tourist to carry one of those parcels to the other side.“ I just kept on smiling, naivly and dumb how I always deal with authorities and got with the „not-my-fault-isn‘t-it?“-shrug to the other side. I made it into Iran. Then the business part started, which I could not have cared less about.

I had some companion, who also had a parcel and wanted to care about my reward. I mean, I would have thrown that stupid thing into the trash or leave it in the x-ray. But he insisted to help me getting my much deserved money. My negotiating skills were taken out by missing business sense and survival instinct. But people are honest and especially the Persians are business people to the core. I got my money. Around one Dollar. And after all this incarnate mass murder has shaken my hand before, which meant the contract was achieved. And the Iranians, I would learn that soon, are world-class in shaking hands.

Der Beitrag Smuggling parcels into Iran erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

I was born in the Lithuanian countryside, but moved to the city when I was very young. My father was a farmer and my mother a proud Zucchini motherplant with lots of children. I left my family, when I was six weeks old, to become part of a Tortilla party. Getting sliced into some delicious stuffing and feed some humans. But things went different. I made friends. Human friends. And they were going to do some strange thing called „hitchhiking“. I was invited.

My mother was really upset in the beginning. Why can‘t you do normal things like all Zucchinis do? She wanted me, to become a meal. A Moussaka, Zucchini Bread, joint venturing with some pasta or getting thrown on a barbecue, like my more „cool“ brothers. Just social pressure. We started to have a fight. Who are you, to tell me what to do? You never got out of your garden. There is more in the world than the carrot bed and the apple tree beside you. And even those stupid herbs suck!

Of course the herbs don‘t suck, I had a beautiful childhood with them and I really love how they grow and smell. But I was so upset. All those expectations what you should become. Just because you were born as a Zucchini. Lucky me, I made new friends. They were so different that my life seemed to cleave. And it did. I left my home. Today I understand, that I just wanted to explore.

We went to the countryside. There was some good air, Sauna, a lake to swim and some more crazy hitchhikers. But again I was not eaten. For days I was lying between rotten tomatoes and moldy rutabagas. I realized, I don‘t want to end like this. End like an outcome of this capitalistic overproduction. Too much food that just got thrown away and not eaten. I mean, it is okay if food is not eaten. But then it should receive another sense for their existence. Shouldn‘t it? But what could that be for me?

I was thinking about this question. What can I be? If not a Zucchini in a meal? It stroked me. There was no answer. Fuck. My life. So poor. And then I might rott away aswell. It make me become really depressed. My rotten tomato friends tried to cheer me up and grew some beautiful mildew on their heads. But it did not help. For days I could only stare and felt so numb. Dead end? Eventually, the answer came just like that. My friends took over the decision, without knowing about my doubts. They probably did the best thing that ever happened to me. „Zucchi, we hitchhike to Oslo and you will be part of it. Come on!“ I was so surprised. I could not talk or express myself in this moment. Because I am a Zucchini and Zucchinis have no way to express themselves, nor can not talk to humans. But I was happy and excited about hitchhiking to Oslo.

When I called my motherplant, she was raging. But this time she was also worried. She knew I made it to the Lithuanian countryside and that my life was already going nuts. „Around the baltic sea? How can that work? Nobody will stop for you guys.“, she said. „It is such a long way. And you are a Zucchini, how should you be able to hitchhike?“ Last point was a legit argument. But you know, I always believe in life. I always believe I can make a difference. And the truth was: Once my new friends picked me up, I wasn‘t a normal Zucchini anymore. I was Zucchi now.

My friends. They were awesome. They made me an arm and put a thumb on it. It looked quite shitty, but it is hard to hitchhike without a proper thumb. Also they glue this sticker in my face. Seemed to be about some hitchhiking club and was supposed to help me finding rides. Now I was looking a bit more like a human. Because humans stop for humans and not for Zucchini they said. Of course, it was just a bad try to fake my appeareance. I was still looking like a Zucchini. Kind of. But now everything was prepared, for the very first Solo Zucchini Hitchhiking Expedition.

Hitchhiking is so much fun. I don‘t get why so many humans are not doing it. It is a very liberating lifestyle. We are road punks, just taking the next random ride. Bumming around, as if the whole world our living room. In fact it is. The world is ours! And yours! Because ownership is theft.

How is hitchhiking as a Zucchini? Usually we hitchhiked during the day. Waiting at onramps, along the road, gas stations and sometimes even parking lots of supermarkets. I could not talk to the people, so my human friends took care about this. But most of the time we just stick our thumb out and wait that one of the passing cars will stop. Thats why the Russians call it autostop. Easy as that. It is the philosophy of hitchhiking.

In the evening we rest at random places. Where our car drops us. We put up a tent, make some dinner and go to sleep. Sometimes we don‘t set a tent. Just because we are lazy bones and like to sleep under the clear sky. Sleeping everywhere outside is an important skill if you hitchhike. I mean, you can just live on the road. In the morning you make coffee, pack your backpack and walk 50m and move on. No cities, hotels, eating in expensive fast food shit restaurants. Just enjoying the show on the road.

Sometimes we didn’t sleep during the night, because we were hitchhiking all the time. But thats no problem.,The next day we just find a good place to crash and have a nap. Once we arrived in Tallinn at the harbor to catch a ferry. There where still some ours left. Time to set a hitchhiker-camp in the waiting area and make yourself another home. Home is where your Zucchini heart is. And my home was always with my hitchhiking friends.

Other times we hitchhike with weird people. Many are fucking cool. They do this random act of kindness. I am very grateful that they share a little bit of their time with us, while moving in the same direction. I never had any bad experience on this trip. Some want to know if it is dangerous to hitchhke. Dangerous? Well, those dumb fucks who carried me were the most dangerous. Hard to rely on human carefulness. In the beginning I got dropped several times. In the mud, on stones, on the street or, if I was lucky, into the grass. Scars all over my Zucchini body. I started to like them while our trip was progressing. They make me look more dangerous. And I understood that humans think, this is cool.

Once we got picked up by this family in a camper. seven people already in there and this stupid looking guy called Walter. He was dutch and had a great sense for humor. While hitchhiking you meet a lot of different fellows. Zucchinis from the city. Zuchinis from different countries. Zucchinis that are made for Feta-Cheese Salad, Barbecue, reproduction, Zucchinis that just exist to look good or Zucchinis that are on the good old Musakka career. The classical Zucchini life path, lots of work, no pleassure, just to end up eaten as everyone else. But I don‘t judge it. Because I feel a certain love for everything during hitchhiking. Everyone can make life how he or she wants. In the end I appreciate, that they picked us up. Hitchhiking is a good lesson for becoming grateful.

Once I met this girl. She looked so different with her darker skin. Back home people often don‘t like Zucchinis like this. Maybe they are scared. Maybe they don‘t know what else to feel towards them. Because indeed it is kind of strange in the first moment, when you see another Zucchini that looks not like you. Hellya! I even heard there are Zucchinis that are yellow! Can‘t believe it!

Anyway. I think inside we are all made from the same flesh. More or less. And this girl had just a wonderful charactini. She was driving around with her human step-mother since a couple of days. Her name was Zuzu. She was so sophisticated, seen all Sweden already. I felt in love with her. She adored my scars and I had to look at her beautiful stub all the time. This perfect cut, probably made with a proper knife by a skilled gardener. We talked without a break during the 15 minutes, while I was with her in the car. She was definitely the Zucchini of my dreams. The one and only. There is no Zucchini like her outside. I am so sure about this.

But I couldn‘t stay with her. Those dumb humans just took me with them, when they left the car. I was screaming, swearing, tried to hit one of them in the nuts with my fake hitchhiking thumb. But I know I had to leave. And it was my choice. I was a wandini now. A nomadic Zucchini. I had to leave my emotional boundaries. There was no room for it in this kind of life.

Finally we arrived at this strange hitchhiker meeting in Norway. What an awesome gathering. Hitchhikers from all over Europa, ah bullshit, from all over the world have been there. It was more a family thing, less than 100 people, but everyone was unique and awesome. I loved to be there. Met a lot of other vegetables there. Some of them with a really sad life story. Thrown carelessly into the dumpster, because they are not looking as nice as their friends. Because they look different and seem not worth to get a spot in the spotlights of human admiration. The world is so cruel.

How can people do something like this? There is a nice and friendly melon, she has some dents okay. It might even look a bit shitty, but she was the best stand up comedian in the whole gathering. All those fruits and vegetables have wonderful charactinis. Still. And it breaks their heart to be rejected from the normal food circle. Those hitchhikers….they rescued them. Gave them a new home, new purpose of existence and ate them like….holy shit. It was such a feast. Those savage humans. Some reminded me of the pigs I knew from my country-side home. Just stuffing all day long food into them. I loved it! They are true heroes!

I was not eaten again. Maybe it is my destiny to stay in this world and get old. I tried to lvfe as a forest Zucchini. But that sucked. There are no toilets in the forest, I never got used to that. No place for a comfortable shittini So I had to get back on the road. I am planning to visit Lofotes next, because I heard it is the most beautiful place in Europe. I think, if you once fall in love with hitchhiking, you can‘t stop. You shouldn‘t stop. Just stay on the road. This is were we belong. Hitchhiking will always be a part of my Zucchini life. Because I am Zucchi, the Hitchhiking Zucchini.

Zucchi died in the age of 3,5 months by a moldy tumor that appeared in one of the cracks from her early lifetime dropping. This squashy spot got stucked on a branch while Zucchi climbed a mountain. He passed away in the forest, between a bunch of mushrooms and forget-me-not-flowers. What nobody knew. Zucchi contained seeds from the short encounter with Zuzu. He was pregnant! A new, wild motherplant would grow out of those seeds and remain on the place where Zucchi stucked. She is known to produce very adventurous and colourful Zucchinis.

Der Beitrag Zucchi – Memories of a Hitchhiking Zucchini erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

I was sitting in canteen of our container ship, crossing from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan and I started with my dinner. Both of my French travel companions haven‘t been there yet. Besides us and the crew, there was a bunch of truckers on the boat. Mostly Georgians. The table beside me was fully occupied. A 1,5l bottle of good homemade Vodka saw the light of the day. Condensation at the bottle wall proofed a good cooling. Glasses were served. The icecold homemade gushed into the same. And it would not be typical Georgian if I wouldn‘t have come into the focus of their caring hospitality, while I was sitting alone at the neighbor table.

The head of the household approaches me with a bright smile. Equipped and prepared for all eventualities he brought an empty glas with him. If I want some Vodka, he asked and showed me the bottle like a Sommelière. No thanks, I am not drinking alcohol. His bright smile did not change at all. It seemed not to be an answer that had an right of existence in his reality. He didn‘t even take the effort to deal with it but just kept on standing there. Vodka? With a mix of courtesy and intercultural sense of responsibility I eventually agreed and received a double respectively triple in my tea glass.

I have many friends that went to Georgia and they all have only good things to say. The hospitality is widely known but more than that the Georgians have the reputation of constantly welcoming foreigners for drinking. Especially during Dinner there is a lot of toasting. There are a lot of countries you say this about, but the Georgians seem to be world-class boozers. The trucker on the neighbor table told later, that he distilled 230L Vodka and made 340L of wine this year. Not possible to drink all of that alone.

Out of politeness I emptied my glass. I am used to start with the disgusting things I don‘t want during eating and then move forward to the delicious stuff. Big mistake in this case. The empty glass has not escaped the attention of my new Georgian friends. Immeditaley he reappeared with the bottle at my table. I told him again, that I don‘t want any more Vodka. But trying to persuade a Georgian with a bottle of Vodka is like throwing nougat rings into a black-hole. Resistance. Next mistake. Of course, this is not acceptable. Cognitive dissonances were smiled away. As my resistance finally broke my glas got filled up to the edge irrespective of my protest.

Soon my French mates arrived. Of course they also got into the benefit of Vodka and chill homemade white wine. The wine was actually pretty good and much easier to get down than the other stuff. The booze-up was established. I hate hard liquor, but of course I could not waste this present. It is not polite and I didn‘t wanted to offend anyone. You need intercultural tact when traveling.

I really like that. And I really would love to visit Georgia for longer. But since I don‘t drink anymore I hesitate, because I will never have the „real Georgian experience“ which is probably only possible with drinking Vodka. And my personal dream, to get wasted in a Siberian forest hut and start a bare-knuckle boxfight with a drunk Russian, is not coming any closer by that. I just thought these are valuable experiences one should have made in life.

But I had to find out for me once again this evening, why I really dislike small portions of alcohol. And why I don‘t want to drink anymore. If you drink your brain gets a good load of Serotonin and this is actually pretty damn nice in the beginning, because you start feeling very relaxed and happy. I realized after the first glas already, that my mood is becoming really good. I was not drunk, but just on the ball.

I observed that very alert. What is this shit doing with me. The beginning felt great. Nothing against that. We went on deck and watched the sunset and a latent desire of drinking another small beer showed up. Only a small one. I know that feeling very well. The small beer leads to another big one and the evening starts rolling till the beer is empty or all people have left (only the case if there are no Scotish or Irish people around while traveling). That happened quite often to me on my trip, while I was still drinking. Melancholic and beautiful sunrises alone in unknown countries, while I was desperately looking for some more alcohol on the table.

And then those moments on deck, when you just started getting tipsy and you try to convince yourself that a little alcohol is not too bad for you. My observation was not finished tho. At some point I went sleeping and my euphoric mood has passed away already. I had a terribly restless night. The next morning I felt bizarre melancholic.

It might seem exaggerated but even after 1-2 beers I recognize, that I feel shitty the following day. Not as vital and awake like on a normal day. It changes my body, not only during the night I drink, but also the next day. And of course, there is a difference in „not-feeling-100%-well“ and waking up, half-dead on the sofa of an unknown apartment, questioning your basic physical functions. For me the hang-over starts, when I know the next day is influenced in any way by the alcohol. Worth it? Not really.

My dear Alcohol, it was very nice with you, but our relationship is ruined. It is not the same anymore between us. Maybe I am getting old. My life-time became to precious for hang-overs, just for this nice euphoric feeling the night before. So I decided to only drink out of intercultural duteousness and to be a good guest.

Der Beitrag Georgian Hospitality – Why I stop drinking erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

The little girl was 3 years old and sleepy all the time. The road turned into a bunch of potholes. Constantly curving around the worst of them, left, ride, left, got shaken in the car, not driving faster than 20km/h. And the little girl was sleeping. Really amazing how kids are able to sleep in every condition. And she wasn’t sleeping anywhere but in my arms. That was my job as responsible co-driver. Keeping the child safe. New experience for me. But I really liked it.

After this ride we arrived in a small village. It was already 03:00 in the night and a car full of drunk-as-fuck Kazakh boys gave me a ride to the end of the town. And there I positioned myself. To wait. Long waiting. All fucking night long. Dawn already started. After two hours the first car came, stopped and took me into the next village. 15km. There I watched the sunrise. The road was so empty. One of my driver told me something about bad road and problem the night before. Now I started to understand. Still 250 km to go from here. Shouldn’t be so difficult. The day before I did around 2100 km in 31 hours. One of my best runs ever. But I knew that this was over now. Entering difficult technical roads.

The road was still empty. Empty roads are kind of magical for me. A certain beauty filled the moment. The sun was rising. Slowly the village woke up. Cocks where welcoming the day accompanied from the sound of animal bells. The farmers drove their sheeps and cow herds towards the fields. Suddenly an old Russian truck appeared out of the nowhere and passed me slowly. Not my direction. I wasn’t in the mood for any kind of communication and ignored the vehicle. It drove 20m and then stopped. Nothing happened for 5 minutes. Then the motor started again. Reverse gear, going the other direction and then passing me again. Full stop. The doors opened and two boys are getting out of the truck. They were three, but the third was sleeping.

They smelled really badly of alcohol and drove with a deflated jumping castle on their roof through one of the worst roads, that I passed in my life. It was also the only traffic I saw this morning. Kind of ironic. We started to talk and I got invited for vodka and slaughtering a sheep in the next village. The three boys seemed to be the Kazakh version of American surfer boys, but drunk instead of stoned. At least they cheered up my lonesome morning.

After hours finally a car came into my direction and passed by. Why? Why does the only car that comes passes by? It was like a kick in the nuts for me. I started walking. After another hour of walk I just lay down on the street to sleep a little. Nothing was going on anyway. Still no traffic. There were exactly two cars in the last seven hours. And one passed by. Still couldn’t believe it. I was in the steppe, without shadow, without water resting on the ground. Beside me was a depot for construction materials and I saw some people being there before. What goes in should come out at some point, or not? I think it was pure hitchhiking instinct driving me in this situation. Of course I lay down behind the exit road of the depot, to not miss any outcoming traffic. Nothing passed by, but suddenly I heard a truck rolling. I jumped up immediately and run up the hill to have a better overview. There was a goddamn truck coming out of the depot, going into my direction. It was not using my road, but a bypass on the other side of the hill. Shiiiiiit. I grabbed my backpack and run as fast as possible to get that ride. I mustn’t miss that. I reached the street where it would come out, but unfortunately the truck was full with three people already. But still they picked me up. 30Km into my direction. Better than nothing.

My journey continued at a very lonesome junction. Around me were cows and horses doing their day, eating a lot of stuff and running around without and guidance. And the street…well. Cancer. Pure beton cancer. If this really exist, then I was directly in the general assembly of tumor diseases. The road was so bad, that people rather used a self made dirt track beside the main road, than going through this torture track. This is something unique I only experience in the former Soviet Union countries, that roads can be in a condition, that they make your movement more difficult, instead of easier.

Back at the junction. A truck passes by. Already four people in the cockpit. They didn’t stop for me. Second car that passed by today without stopping. But I couldn’t really complain. In generally my hitchhiking was close to perfect in the last 24 hours. Not many cars that I did not flag down. Just the route was a bit more difficult.

After some hours I managed to get out of this shit. Catching some small rides to a village that finally had a normal road connected with the bigger Kazakh highway network. My last ride was a WAZ truck. Russian destroyer. A kind of bus which will probably never break down and you only find them in the former Soviet countries. Typical Russian design, just putting steel together. Last time I was sitting in a car like that was with Ralf in Moldova. The inside is a bit more wide than a German Volkswagen bus. They have a great grip and shoot through the dirt road like a hovercraft over the moon. I really liked it. And while sitting inside, I had to realise to myself: „Stefan, you have to buy this kind of bus!“ I will. Get. That. Bus. Usually I sympathized with an old Mercedes bus which was used by the German police. But honestly, those Russian WAZ are the shit!

With this ride I was back in civilization and found myself on a paved road which was around 900 km in front of my destination. Finally. From here I was able to catch a direct ride to Aktau. It was 19:00 already and I had to take some food before entering my last passage. Food and hitchhiking is not going very well together. Eating is important, because you might lose too much energy if you don’t care about it. But I try to eat as efficiently as possible during my tours. When I have to walk through a town or city and there will be not much hitchhiking, I buy something greasy in the supermarket and eat it on the way. Always the cheap homemade stuff with the most energy. Bananas. Pastries. In Germany it would be some rolls with sausage. A bottle of water with it and juice or coke for the sugar. Optionally some ice-cream. All that I stuff into my body within 2-3 minutes while walking to the other end of the city. Otherwise you just lose too much time. Makes sense to me.

After my second banana a taxi stopped and gave me a ride to the border of the town. It took less than 2 minutes that a truck picked me up, which was on its way to Aktau. Direct ride! As expected. Unfortunately my luck lacked a bit and around 01:00 in the night we stopped, had dinner and the two truckers offered me to sleep in the hotel with them. But I refused. They would sleep for 5 hours and then continue to Aktau. Too much time. I knew I was in a very good position and it would not be worth to take that break now and go to sleep. I wanted to finish that tour. So I took my stuff and started hitchhiking again in the darkness. 20 minutes later I was sitting in a car to Aktau. Night-Hitchhiking in Kazakhstan, cmon! Easy going!

And then something happened, that I did the last time in Canada. In the truck before I took some rest and although I did hardly sleep since three days, I felt really good in that moment. But my driver was really really tired. I offered him, that I could drive a bit. After a short conversation he agreed and so I found myself back behind the wheel. Very good feeling. Unfortunately the road was really bad and difficult to drive on. I had to be constantly alert, to not hit the countless beton bubbles on the road. Sometimes the paved road stopped and you had to drive slalom around the potholes. Anyway in general I like driving by myself more, because I trust myself more than I trust the driver. Especially if they are tired. Close to sunrise we switched again and he was driving the last part during daylight. I arrived in Aktau after 68 hours and 59 minutes. For 3781 km including a border hop and 400 km Anti-Road. Was a good run for this route! And I had a lot of fun in Kazakhstan!

Der Beitrag Three days awake – Hitchhiking through Kazakhstan (2) erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

When I started in Almaty I caught a transporter relatively fast which took me almost 500 km to Tazar. First lift of the first day and a wonderful opening for one of the fastest hitchhiking passages I ever did. Already at the beginning I had a very good feeling about this route and I wouldn’t face disappointment. In Tazar I had to do a little detour off my track, because I needed to enter Kyrgyzstan to renew my Kazakh visa. Border hop. I had only 10 days left and did not know how long it would take me, to get on the mysterious container ship to Azerbaijan. So better to take fresh 15 days visa with me.

It was close to sunset and I was a bit annoyed by doing this detour, which would cost me in total three hours of my precious time. The last 15 km to the border I had a ride with some Muslim, who got me into the car in front of a fish market. It was Ramadan, which means: No food or drinks as long as the sun is up. My driver was about to buy food for dinner at the fish market. It was an extremely hot day and I could hardly imagine how he can stand not to drink all the time. Amazing. But Ramadan also means, that every guest is seen as a gift of god. I knew from Syria and Turkey already, that Muslim people are very hospitable. This time as well. My driver drove me 15 km to the border, although he wasn’t supposed to go there. He seemed so happy to help me and I don’t want to offend anyone. In the end he gave me 5000 Tenghe (around 18$) and said I should buy some food for myself. I really don’t like if people give me money. So I decline usually, but if the drivers insists I will take it. Anyway I think people who give benefit much more from that process than you do as a taker. So taking money is kind of doing a favour to someone else in my eyes.

At the border I only wanted to exit and entrance Kazakhstan as fast as possible. First time in my life that I did a border hop. While leaving Kazakhstan they asked me at the immigration where I want to go? I was honest. Renew my visa. The officer was just shaking her head, whereupon I meant: „Well, maybe not renew my visa but visit Kyrgyzstan?“. Sunshine smile, so that we both could save face. In Kyrgyzstan I had a rigorous check-up. Weapons? Terrorist? All those questions. Or did they just need a reason to watch pictures on my camera for about 15 minutes? The shitting-on-the-street-boy of my China article was indeed a good laugher for everyone.

After entering Kyrgyzstan I walked ones around the building and queued again in direction Kazakhstan. Leaving Kyrgyzstan was without any big problems. Just the immigration officer fucked up the stamp and had to do a second one in my passport. On the Kazakh side I was welcomed by a very friendly and over motivated person. First I thought it would be a hustle to get back into the country but it was not at all like that. When I gave my passport he was so happy to see someone from Germany. He asked me a lot of questions and the border of excitement and obligation once again became indistinct. The whole process took a little bit longer than expected. Behind me gathered already around 15 people. Kind of this situation, when you watch a soccer match with all your friends, have a nice booze, and finally is half time and everyone I looking forward to void their bladders before finding out, that there is only one toilet. Unisex. And you saw this foreigner with the bright yellow suit entering the room and obviously he is taking a huge and long shit there, while everyone else gets more and more impatient. Unseen from the rest, is sitting this immigration officer, totally intrigued, asking thousands of questions and being very happy. I think he also wanted to practice his English. “Very nice to see you! Hope we meet again! Have a nice trip! Enjoy Kazakhstan!”, he wasn’t stopping the farewell. Finally at some point I was out and did a runner before the mob would lynch me.

It was already dark when I got out of this detour. City crossing. Annoying, but I had to do that somehow to get back on the track. Again someone gave me money. Finally bought my first food during that day and took a little break after all day hitchhiking and border trouble. In front of the shop I found a transporter. He had no chance to not take me, as the driver was cleaning the windows when I showed up. He drove 200 km into the night. Next city. On the run. And then my way was free. No border, no detour. I started rolling.

In general hitchhiking in Kazakhstan is very comfortable. You immediately feel that you are in a former Soviet Union country. Hitchhiking is a common thing, everywhere people stand at the side of the road and try to catch a ride. Cars stop super easily and people know the difference between „Avtostop“ and the normal ride sharing, where you give a small amount of money. Of course I am foreigner and it is different for me, but I am very clear to the drivers, that I do not give money for Avtostop, when they stop. Most of the time they wave me in anyway. Hitchhiking in the night is another glorious quality on Kazakhstan. There is basically no difference. Cars stop as fast and reliable as during the day. I experienced that in no other country before and it made Kazakhstan become my favorite country for hitchhiking in the night.

At some point during this night I ended up at a police control, which works very well for catching rides. This should give me an important advantage during that night. At the checkpoint were a lot of trucks waiting, mostly from Kyrgyzstan. Beside that was a bunch of Taxi drivers, ready to bring the truckers to the next hotel, in case they get pulled out of the traffic for longer. Taxi drivers and policemen seemed to know each other well and life in an oddish symbioses of parasite living forms. No need to tell, that I run into a photo session. The selfie culture in Kazakhstan is a bit different from the one in China. In Kazakhstan people push me to take a photo with THEM and not the other way around. Because they think it is important for me to have their face in my photo album. Very funny.

The night went really well and till dawn I did already more than 1000 km. The street started to get more and more empty and I slowly understood, that I am entering the Kazakh steppes. It remembered me of Argentina, with the slight difference that there was really NOTHING in Kazakhstan, whereas in Argentina you could find civilization almost everywhere. However, this morning I was lucky. First car that came stopped and took me 400 km north. Same in my next position. First car stopped. Where they go? „Aktau.“ „Aktau?“ I was totally confused. That was my destination. But it was 2200 km to go. And so I was sitting in my direct ride!

I hitchhiked a lot and experienced enough to know, that you can never be sure, when having those kind of “super rides”. My both drivers had neat skinheads, buffalo humps, sunglasses and did not talk at all but drove with 130 km/h through the countryside. I did not know, if I would really stay in this car. First stop at a gas station. Short conversation, then we had lunch together. The atmosphere was really good, both very friendly and I felt safe with the ride afterwards. Then I felt asleep. We took different route from the one Google maps showed me. It is okay, I thought. Maybe the other road is just shitty. Around 200 km detour. No problem. At 18:00 what I expected became true. They ask me to leave the car. Without any reason. We were somewhere in the middle of the detour road, where I did not wanted to hitchhike through anyway. There was no time to discuss, so I took my bag and observed my drivers taking off in my direction. Usually I would get really angry after situations like that but since I experienced that before and I set my mind for it, it was okay. Restart. Behaving professional and trying to get the next ride ASAP. The near police control forced me once again to take a photo. The policemen was full of cocaine. Jesus! Totally hyperactive and constantly snuffling.

Der Beitrag Three days awake – Hitchhiking through Kazakhstan (1) erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

I arrived in Leipzig. At the same place, where I left Herr Anton 22 months ago. He is not here anymore. But I am here again. And nobody knows, what I did in the past 2 years. I also appear in front of the door, with my long beard, typical skinny figure of a wanderer and a lot of experience with me. I will keep that experience all my life with me, but I can not transfer it to anyone else.

Getting home after such a trip was not how I expected it to be. Home sickness was my accompanying me for a a long time. But in the last two weeks it stepped back a little and wanderlust appeared again, looking melancholic with the certainty that this expedition will be over soon and that the past two years have been a fucking awesome time which I would like to prolong a little. My inner self is pretty busy these days. Therefore, when arriving in Leipzig at the endpoint of my expedition, I had very mixed feelings. Happiness and sadness, amazement and incredulity. And while I was smiling about being back home, once in a while tears were coming to my eyes.

Being on a expedition for 22 months is very exhausting. Especially if you keep on moving all the time. Sometimes I had to think back of my time in China and realize, that it is just 3 months ago. Feels like 3 years. Or when I felt in love in Uruguay 1,5 years ago. Feels like another life to me. You develop a strange sense of time about a trip like this. As if I would have lived many many lives at once and now I am starting a new one.

I crossed 58 countries. In some I stopped and spend a month or more, others I was just observing, while passing through. But even short times are enough to get an impression. Are enough to connect a smell, a landscape, a feeling and real people with the impression I have about this particular place. Experiential knowledge that you can not get from any picture or article. I developed a feeling about how small our planet is, after crossing whole continents overland by hitchhiking. I can estimate distances much better now. And there is a complete cartographic picture of our planets surface in my head now. Deserts, mountains, forests and the oceans. The interplay of landscapes. Choreography of my expedition.

I had the idea to hitchhike around the world. Doing a circumnavigation. Not a normal globetrotter trip, because tourism was just a by-product. The main purpose was to hitchhike around the world. I did not went to China, because I wanted to see China, but because my route was leading through this place. I mean, sure, I lived a month in New York or Hong-Kong, strolled 6 weeks through Japan and visited people I love in different countries. But what for I really shed tears, spilt blood and went through hardships were my long distance hitchhiking trips. My routes. Movement on roads. That was the core of my expedition. And it is important for me, that you understand this.

My expedition covers a total length of 108.895 km. It is more then 2,5 times of the circumference of the earth. I sailed across the Atlantic, got myself a junk bicycle to suffer in the Colombian Cordilleras, I overcame the Darien Gap on a cargo ship, hopped freight in the US, got a ride in a small aircraft, hitchhiked through the „mild“ Alaskan winter at -35°, waited at 50° in the Iranian desert and walked far more than 100 km in between. Those 108.895 km are tied to so much stress and suffering, but also to happiness and ecstasy. My way. My meaning. Hard to put it in words. It is more than a simple number for me. It was my life for the last two years. And this life is over now.

What to say? People asked me, what I have learnt? Not really anything. I could receive some much more important things than knowledge: Experience. No need to learn something you can just live. I could experience how small distances are on our planet and that I can reach almost every place, if I want to. Something which is not open for everyone among us and what I am very thankful for. I could develop serenity, because I know now, that I don’t need much to survive. Even my basic needs (home, food and sleep) I could flog to death and exhaust myself to limits, I never would have expected. In the end I know, that a night without sleep or a day without food is not a big problem to stand. You get used to it. And I could witness that hospitality is a universal quality of our human nature. I really feel like sharing my time and my resources with others. It is not only the taker but also the giver who benefits from that.

There is another aspect of my trip, the search to make a sense in my life. Or say the search for something, however you want to call it. I did not succeed finding this particular thing. This never ending circle of facing a life crisis and trying to find a solution. I start to believe, that it is impossible to find that and in the end not very important anyway. Our existence is totally random. We all try to achieve a certain thing in life. A destination. Maybe there is none. Maybe we should just do what Alan Watts said and not wait for the end of the composition, but dance with the music, as long as it is playing.

My blog will continue, I can assure. I have too much fun with writing to just drop that. Also I have content for about another year, that I would like to tell. Road trip through Kazakhstan will be published soon and I have a fine trilogy about „Traveling and Alcohol“ in the pipeline. I won’t publish every week, because I want to work a bit more on my translations. Writing bilingual takes so much time, which I did not had during my trip and so I was not very satisfied with my recent translations. And if I want to have fun blogging, I need to produce articles which I am satisfied with.

Also I try to sort my 50gb picture stack and start giving lectures about my trip. To share all the crazy stories in real life with you, written down or not. I am really looking forward to this new project. We will start with the first lecture in Leipzig.

All this is accompanied by a fundamental change in my life. My next projects will be executed from a base. With a home. Not as a homeless vagabond, like I did in the past two years. Because this is what I missed the most. To have a home. And when this is set, I will start again playing and dancing through this wonderful life. And if there are new adventures to tell about, I will let you take part in it. Because sharing is caring.

With this in mind,

Warm Roads

Afterword
To my countless friends and stranger who shared their home with me. To my 1156 drivers. To all the people who did something good to me, be that a melon, description, smile or hug. To all my friends who lent during dark times a listening ear to me. To all the people who send me this lovely messages and followed my stories. To my family.

Thank you, you are awesome!

Hitchhiking family!

Post Script
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost

Der Beitrag Hitchhiking around the world erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

Stats

Hitchhiked distance: 11010 kilometer

Number of lifts: 129

Average waiting time: 40 minutes 20 seconds

Waiting time total: 69 hours 55 minutes

Log is available here.

My Route

I entered the United States of America the first time through Texas and stayed some weeks in Austin. From there I was flying with my friend Patrick Falterman to New Mexico. I hitchhiked to Denver and went on by trainhopping to Salt Lake City, California all the way up to Seattle. It was also my first contact with trainhopping at all. What a blast!

Later I hitchhiked up and forth in Washington and Oregon, before I set off through Canada into direction New York. I lived a month in New York and hitchhiked from there 5000 miles to the Northend of Alaska. On my way back I had a small detour through San Francisco before entering Canada again.

People

I can‘t say, even after more than half a year in Northamerica, that I understand the people there. The USA are big and divers. It is hard to make a general assumption about this place. The States can be very different from each other. Coast vs. Inner country, west vs. East, everywhere are people a bit different. But all are Americans and therefore part of this wicked society. I just try to give an impression about that.

In the beginning I have to say, that I had my biggest culture shock in the USA. You would think that the people in the USA would be more similar to us Europeans than f.e. the people in South America. Not at all. At least in my opinion. The USA are the same kind of capitalistic dickheads as we Germans, but in America society is much more brutal and uncertain than in Europe. It starts with the health-care system and goes on with living on debts, short-term paychecks and underpaid jobs (which you need more than one, of course). I mean, our system seems compared to what I encountered in the USA like an ideological, flawless Socialism. And there is an abnormal pressure to perform, that we have not at all on our continent.

Generally it was a bit hard for me to connect with the people in Northamerica further than the normal superficial interaction. Everyone is very friendly and polite for sure. But if it gets a bit more personal you will meet their bounds pretty soon. People are very protective about personal issues. And then this pseudo-friendlieness. In the beginning I really hated it, but you get used to everything. When I went back to Germany, I even missed that people are so superficial friendly with each other. I spend a lot of time in California and I had to learn, that it is not so important what you say, but more, how you say it. Germany, compared to that, is a very direct society. A friend just told me: „You can‘t hide in Germany.“ And this is, after months within this superficial but nice world, a bit annoying as well sometimes.

On big topic in the USA is fear. Fear something could happen. Fear to get killed by a hitchhiker. Fear of terrorism. Fear to become sick. Fear of life. The USA are in my opinion much more neurotic and paranoid than the rest of the world. People like it to be stable. Everything should stay how it is. Brazil was similar neurotic in my eyes and I think it has to do with the strong influence of religion within the society.

Especially when hitchhiking you will encounter this fear very directly, when you try ask for rides at a gas station. This is not very appreciated. If you approach people, they will have a very negative attitude towards you. They look strange, want to be left alone and see you as scum. It feels like running the gauntlet sometimes. And I never experienced that in another country. Canada for example is the very opposite of this. People approach you at the gas station, ask what you are doing there and start a conversation with you.

To understand hitchhiking in the USA you have to consider another part. In the USA are living a lot of people in the streets and there are many who have serious mental health issues and would be in the need for help. But there is no health system, that would take care about them and therefore the people are left by themselves. And for everyone who has no car, due to the lack of public transportation, the only way to move around is by hitchhiking.

You gotta understand the general difference in traveling culture between the USA and Europe. Here you move around with your hippie and student friends, people think you are cool and hitchhiking has quite a good reputation among people. On the American streets (while hitchhiking as well as while traveling), there is a wild mix of hobos, homeless, hippies, students, drug addicts, people who are on the run, people who are distressed and people who just don‘t want to be part of this society anymore and live as an outlaw. The characters you meet are much more radical, extreme and annoying than in most other parts of the world. For the good as well as for the bad. It is different to hitchhike the USA than to hitchhike in Europe. But I found it super exciting to move around in the USA and meet people there. I met some really great characters there that opened up my world a lot. Thanks for that!

But what really sucks is the outcome of this mixture towards hitchhiking. As a hitchhiker people in the USA will treat you like a drug addict criminal. That is the mean difference to Europe, because here you are (like in most countries in the world) the cool kid and free spirit, because you hitchhike. In the USA you are the scum because you hitchhike. And I will never get used to that. It is one of the biggest disadvantages about this country. Hitchhiking is not fun at all with this.

In addition to that there is a statistical reason. It takes a while till people stop for you. I had more than 40 minutes average waiting time in the USA and this is only be topped by Colombia as the worst country for hitchhiking. For the 130 rides I had, this is a very bad average waiting time. There is not much left of the Hippiedream about hitchhiking through the USA. Reality is made by hard numbers and woebegone waiting times, with people that hate you, because you hitchhike.

In the end something positive. People in the USA are very helpful. Not to give you a ride, but in general. And this has to do with the many homeless people around. Constantly they throw food and drinks at you. Even money. People in the US see it as their responsibility to help others. It is part of the cultural peculiarity.

In the USA people like to help, donate, give away food. They see it as an inadvertent intervention if the state would do so. It is a typical Republican agenda to keep the state as small as possible and out of as many part of your daily life as possible. In Europe it is the opposite. When the state is fostering volunteering, some people might say this is shit, because the state just uses the free workforce to not fulfill his own responsibilities. There are two very contrary positions about the role of the state towards the society. And those influence the people a lot. Good for you guys being in the USA because you might get food and drinks for free. But it won‘t bring you any rides. Anyway, take the presents, For the people there it is important to help others and you make them happy if you let them help you.

Roads

The American Highway Network is the most beautiful collective of roads in the world for me. And that, for sure, is a big plus about hitchhiking in the USA. Even if it helps just a little. When I first time came to Texas I just thought: „Fuck yeah, this is exactly as beautiful and perfect how I expected this roads to be!“. There are those sweet shootings from the post war period, pale pictures from the 50‘s, time of the oil boom, beginning of a new era and the time were most of this magnificent infrastructure was build. Long, straight interstates, flower-shaped interchanges, few cars in the road and somehow I have the Hoover-Dam as well as Kennedy in my head, when i think about this. Don‘t know why. But with this pictures I entered the USA. And the roads have been exactly how I expected them to be. Not the rest tho.

My excitement might also be supported by the fact, that the american Interstates are bigger, wider and longer than most of the other roads in the world that I was hitchhiking on so far. The continent has a lot of space and you will feel that very quickly, when moving around in the USA. Everything is bigger, Roads, Cars and Egos. I think it is the perfect country to do a road-trip, if you want to drive by your own. Afterwards I went to Japan, which is kind of the counterpart to this society. There is not much space, everything is small, detailed and tight. Japanese cars felt like toy cars to me, when I arrived there from the USA. Sometimes I even had to laugh, when someone came across me in the street with his dwarf-mobile.

What I missed while hitchhiking thought the USA was: Service areas. There are regular gas stations at almost every exit with fast-food restaurants. But no service stations, like we know them from the European highway network. That is a clear disadvantage, when it comes to hitchhiking. There are too much gas stations, so it is hard to find the frequented ones. Sometimes you are lucky, sometimes not. Only north of New York I encountered some really nice rest areas along the toll roads. Between NYC and Montreal. They have been wonderful, but I think it was a specific along the privatized highway there. In general I don‘t think the interstates are that good of an infrastructure for hitchhiking, especially if you go for a long distance hitchhiking trip through the USA.

Beside the Interstates you got Highways which are something like the German Bundesstraße. I can not really recommend the Highways either. Traffic moves too fast and often I had problems with the police. Especially in Idaho they kicked me out of the highway regularly and I had to switch to gas stations or slip roads. If you go cross country in the north I would always prefer to take the route through Canada.

Cities in the USA are also a bit special. There are many cars around. Too many. Every person in the USA seems in the need for an own car. They even introduced car-sharing lanes, where you are only allowed to drive if you are with two or more people in the car. Up to 500$ you gotta pay, if you use them while being alone. There are many traffic jams. And this is a chance for us hitchhikers. During rush hour it is very easy to catch rides out of the cities. You can catch them directly on the interstates during the stop and go traffic. Or better take the onramp, if the cars stand all the way back into it.

Tactics for hitchhiking in the USA

I hated it to approach people at gas stations in the USA. And many owner also didn‘t allow that you do it. I got kicked out by sheriffs from those places as well as I gave up, because the people where too annoying. I prefer to thumb along the road. But that was not very expedient as well. Biggest problem was, that most people in the USA are not driving very far. The average length of a ride was below average.

F.e. in Canada the average distance was about twice as high as in the USA. Both countries are similar big, so we can compare this very well. I guess the US-people just don‘t like to travel within their country so much. You an definitely find people on the Interstates that are going cross country. But how to catch those rides the best I couldn‘t figure out. If you have an idea, let me know.

Hitchhiking onramps in the USA is a bit laborious. Of curse it differs between the states and it is often the only option anyway. Maybe a sign might be useful, but as you might know, I am never hitchhiking with signs.

One advice I can give here:

You should dress as serious as possible. As I told before, people have a strong association of hitchhikers, people without money, criminals, wicked people, prisoners, scum…etc. Even when I was in my hitchhiking suit people tended to throw money and food at me, because they thought I was homeless. Maybe shaving would have helped. But the stereotype is deep inside their heads.

Also you will get into a lot of police controls and they will be far more relaxed, if they recognize that you are sane. Sometimes they might even give you a ride to get off the highway. I had a lot of rides with the police. As much as in no other country in the world. Always in the prisoner box in the back!

In general I just wanted to point out, that it is worth to look a bit different from the rest of the folks on the road. Even if you stay punk within yourself. When I was hitchhiking through California recently, I had a green military coat and looked a bit aristocratic in it. I had the feeling hitchhiking through the USA worked much better this way.

But anyway. However you look, if you hitchhike through the USA stay sober in any case!

Specifics

Contrary to other claims, Hitchhiking in the USA is not forbidden! Just in some places there are laws against hitchhiking. But the legislation within the states is different and in most of the states yoz are allowed to hitchhike. But even in states where hitchhiking is forbidden, the question is still if the law is enforced or not. Often it is up to th officer that controls you and they, sometimes, don‘t even know about the specific laws about hitchhiking in their state.

In the worst case you will get a fine, but I don‘t know anyone personally who got to get one. But to have it complete: In Utah, Idaho, Nevada, as well as New Jersey and Delaware hitchhiking is officially forbidden. But in Idaho f. e. I had plenty of police controls and never any problems, even rides with the police. A good overview about the states should give this map. Furthermore it might be interesting to have a loser look to the actual laws, Sometimes it is forbidden to solicit rides at the side of the road, but you can go to gas stations and ask there. Hitchhiking can mean many different things. Be creative. Most important is, that you get the next ride.

I mentioned already that everything in the USA is bigger and more snobbish than in other places of the world. One of the peaks of this gigantism you could observe in the North American Caravan Culture. Caravans are in the USA as big as a touring coach in Europe. And because this is not enough, most people also pull their oversized trucks behind themselves. Here this would be a rig with a trailer, there it is just the pensioner going for some holidays. Strange.

There are lots of awesome national parks in the USA which can be visited. Beside the big, famous parks (Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon) I can recommend the Zion National Park. Also you find the famous Redwoods in northern California. Beside Cannabis farmers and Hippies you will find some of the biggest trees in the world out here. A must see if you going to have a trip along the Westcoast.

New York. This city. They say, if you can survive in New York, you can survive at any place in the world. Seems legit. New York is very impressive with all its skyscrapers and glamorous but also shameless expensive. You pay for everything, too much in New York and in the end you have to tip 20% on top of this. But happy us it is also a very good place for dumpster diving. There is my most favorite dumpster in the world: Sushi at the Time Square. Every night fresh and for free. Have a look it is worth it!

And btw. you can fly pretty cheap to the USA. I shouldn‘t promote this here, but it is so damn cheap and I would rather see my crowd take those places than anyone else. With Norwegian airlines you can fly from Oslo to New York from 86€, one way. This is the cheapest connection I know. But even to the Westcoast and starting from Central Europe you should be able to find flights with return for not more than 450€. Bes is to book directly on the Norwegian website. Don‘t order any food, you can bring it with yourself for the flight. Makes it cheaper.

Police controls are often and they might take a while. Especially in the border regions, they always have to check with the state police, as well as with the federals. Don‘t be surprised. If you get into a control (and you will for sure) stay calm and friendly. Always follow the advices of the law enforcers and try to get a ride with the police if it brings you into a better positioning. They call this courtesy rides and they are the way to go while hitchhiking in the USA. And the police always shows up with at least two cars, because every policemen in the USA has to have his own car. Like everyone in the USA in general, I have the feeling.

Impressions

Der Beitrag Hitchhiking in… (19) the USA erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

First ride in the morning from Wuhan

My nightlride to Urumqi. Bread and onions and visiting the mosque in the morning.

He picked me up afterwards

Policemen who thought I am a famous football playerPolicemen who rescued me from the terrible service area near Yinchuan

Policemen who rescued me from the terrible service area near Datong

And he let me stay in his service area overnight

Just a random guy who wanted to take a photo with me

He as well

Friendly truck driver who took me after my Bundesliga night and brought me to this nice trucker breakfast place

Family in Yunnan, one of my first rides in China!

Tibetan trucker

This nice lady brought me some food. Probably lung.

Here I was very tired

My most favourite Tourguides!

First ride off from the service area in Datong

Ride from Harbin. He was on the road all night long and we started the ride with a two hour nap, before we drove off

Nightride Chengde

Pork feet and pork ear right before the chinese wall

Ice and she spoke very good english

With him I go the soy bean cut and probably the most shining smile of Xingjian

And this lovely people gave me a chinese talisman

It is a great gift, that I received so much hospitality and I want to thank all this wonderful people, regardless if they are on those pictures or not. This will stay in my heart and shows once again, how beautiful people in this world are. Just: Thank you!

Der Beitrag My deepest gratitude to chinese people erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

If you go hitchhiking your speed is all about your technique. In day-time the advanced and not-advanced hitchhiker might move with more or less the same speed. But with the right equipment and technique you can also move through the night without any problem. There is less traffic, but therefore the cars will go further. More experienced hitchhikers use the night for their movement as well as the day.

On my „Royal Stage“ from New York to Alaska I achieved a very good time while rushing through Canada. I had one of my best runs going from Thousand Islands border USA/Canada to Otter Falls/Haines Junction in Yukon Territory. I did 6071 km in 107h 8m; Ø56 km/h. I think this is faster than driving by yourself. And since this tour had a acceptable length, I would like to call it my personal best time.

In the Russian hitchhiking school you calculate an average speed of 50km/h during summer-time and 40 km/h during wintertime. This counts for most of the developed countries like Iran, USA, Kanada, Russia, Germany, Argentina, etc. The calculation has to be adapted if you move through mountainous territory with serpentines. In general the road is getting slower the higher it is. In technically more difficult regions your covered distance can drop down to 200-300km per day. I experienced that, when I hitchhiker through the Bolivian high plateaus.

The longer your tour is, the harder it is to keep up the speed. If I would have traveled only 3 km/h less on my Canada crossing, that would have meant in the end 321 km less distance. 3 km/h less sounds not much, but it really makes the difference in the end.

When I started hitchhiking we always calculated with twice of the normal driving time (if you drive by yourself, including rest and sleeping breaks). For beginners this is a good landmark, which is easy to achieve. If you fail this, you do something wrong. But in my covered routes through Asia, as South and North America, you can see, that the Russian calculation is realistic, especially if you move a longer distance.

If you hitchhike alone you will always be slightly faster than going as a couple. With three person your average speed will drop significantly. Border crossings are always different, but you can calculate an average delay of one our, when getting into a new territory. Crossing cities is a big issue and you should calculate around two hours more, than the normal driving time, especially if you need to fight your way through a Moloch like La Paz or Panama City. With or without public transport. Crossing cities is one of the hardest things to do and you can lose much more time here, if you are an unexperienced hitchhiker.

The more experienced the hitchhiker is, the less will be the difference in the movement speed between each other. And this is independent from age or gender. Who argues, that you hitchhike faster with a woman, just because she is a woman, has not enough own experience to convince drivers to stop. And if one of my female hitchhiking comrades is hitchhiking faster than me, then it is about her advanced technique and not about her pussy.

In general I want to show with this article, that hitchhiking is able to be scheduled and your speed is most dependent on your skill. This includes body language, clothing, attitude, gesture, facial expression, how good your communication is and how charming you can make cars to stop. Also your positioning is very important and that you avoid tactical mistakes like, letting the driver decide where to put you or taking rides that won’t bring you any advantage. All that are parameters which affect your speed and they are much more important than pure luck. Who argues that hitchhiking is about luck might not know how to hitchhike properly.

Der Beitrag Personal best – How to calculate your hitchhiking speed erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.