stories of freedom and infinite possibilities:Hitchhiking I & II
Posted on Jul 16th, 2008
by 
Jes
Jes
I realize now that I did not ever tell the story of my first European hitchhiking experience, so here it is, although keep in mind that the story cannot possibly capture all of the glory that the experience really is.
for about 45 minutes, when i had a split second
inspiration to make another sign, Jess continued
holding the sign that said "Wien" while i went and made
a new sign that said "Gyor", a city exactly halfway
between budapest and vienna. i told her to continue
standing at the exit of the station and decided that i
would take our new sign and go stand near the highway,
you know, just in case. it all happened so fast, but
the next thing i know, a beautiful car pulls right
over to the shoulder, a lovely Hungarian couple who
signal us to get in. It was such a rush, and before we
knew what was happening, we were in the car on our way
to Gyor. I put out my hand from the backseat and say,
hello my name is Jessica. The man reaches back, and
very kindly says, Hello Jessica. My name is Peter.
(please read my blog called "A Beautiful Letter From Charlotte" for the meaning behind this coincidence). The couple are very lovely newlyweds who spent their honeymoon in Bali. Their English was limited, but we had a very pleasant conversation. When we got to Gyor they dropped us off at another Esso station, and we thanked them again and said goodbye. We took a break and had some lunch in the station, then we headed to the station exit, and this time in less than 45 minutes a very well-dressed German-Turkish businessman named Aldin offered us a ride. He spoke some German with me and told us about his family and two kids. We did not have a place to stay yet in Vienna because it was such a last minute decision, but we soon received a call from a man who saw my post that I left in the Vienna-couchsurfing group and offered us his place in the center of the city. We were so blessed because not only did Aldin take us into the city, but he used his GPS system to look up our host`s address and dropped us right off at the front door. Wow.
From Budapest to Vienna:
Jess and I stood in front of the Esso gas station where
our previous couchsurfing host had dropped us off. we stood in the sunfor about 45 minutes, when i had a split second
inspiration to make another sign, Jess continued
holding the sign that said "Wien" while i went and made
a new sign that said "Gyor", a city exactly halfway
between budapest and vienna. i told her to continue
standing at the exit of the station and decided that i
would take our new sign and go stand near the highway,
you know, just in case. it all happened so fast, but
the next thing i know, a beautiful car pulls right
over to the shoulder, a lovely Hungarian couple who
signal us to get in. It was such a rush, and before we
knew what was happening, we were in the car on our way
to Gyor. I put out my hand from the backseat and say,
hello my name is Jessica. The man reaches back, and
very kindly says, Hello Jessica. My name is Peter.
(please read my blog called "A Beautiful Letter From Charlotte" for the meaning behind this coincidence). The couple are very lovely newlyweds who spent their honeymoon in Bali. Their English was limited, but we had a very pleasant conversation. When we got to Gyor they dropped us off at another Esso station, and we thanked them again and said goodbye. We took a break and had some lunch in the station, then we headed to the station exit, and this time in less than 45 minutes a very well-dressed German-Turkish businessman named Aldin offered us a ride. He spoke some German with me and told us about his family and two kids. We did not have a place to stay yet in Vienna because it was such a last minute decision, but we soon received a call from a man who saw my post that I left in the Vienna-couchsurfing group and offered us his place in the center of the city. We were so blessed because not only did Aldin take us into the city, but he used his GPS system to look up our host`s address and dropped us right off at the front door. Wow.
Jess left Vienna to go back to Spain on July 15th. I wanted to continue hitchhiking but did not want to adventure alone, so I posted a message on couchsurfing in a number of different "groups" saying that I was looking for a partner for a random adventure. One day later I received a message from Danielle, an American girl who just moved to Vienna to be an Au Pair. She had just joined couchsurfing and saw my post and wanted to join, so we met for coffee to talk about our adventure, and pretty much instantly fell in love...like we have been best friends forever.
Vienna to Prague:
We decided to get an early start, hoping that if we left by 8 am we might with the best luck make the 4 hour trip before dinner. You just never know how long it will take to get a ride. We made two signs again, one that said Praha, and one that said Brno, another small city between Wien and Prague. We found a good place to try hitching from on a website called hitchwiki (the wikipedia for hitchhiking)...it was a very obscure place to find (under a bridge, over some tracks, etc), but alas some nice construction guys pointed us in the right direction without us even asking. We must have looked lost. We were instantly offered a ride by two truck drivers...but no. They wanted to split us up and we did not like that, besides it is illegal for truckers to take hitchhikers. We stood with our signs for about 45 minutes when another truck driver (this time a small truck hauling a small commercial car) offered us a ride to Brno. The man was Italian and spoke no English, but he was very nice. We were stopped at the border and searched by the Politzei, SO SCARY, but we finally made it to Brno and the man went out of his way to take us to another gas station that was on the direct motorway to Prague. Ok, so here it comes, we were literally there for less than 3 minutes, in fact I was bent over trying to dig something out of my bag when Danielle goes, "Uhhhhhh, Jes... I think I got something." I look up and a man in a really nice Crysler gets out, grabs our bags and we go. He is a Czech guy named Oliver (?), but he said we can call him Lord (inside joke that came up after he made a reference to Shrek and Lord Farquad). He owns his own international consulting business, training business professionals in the art of tapping into the energy of the universe :) :) :) He has a wife and 2 kids, a boy named Michael and his little girl that he only refers to as Princess. The 3 of us were getting along so well, that when he asked what our plans were in Prague and we told him that we had none and no where to stay yet, he offered us his home. So here I am in his BEAUTIFUL home in the hills overlooking the whole city, writing this blog, on such a high from hitching. We made it here by 2:00...how amazing. Right now Oliver is at a meeting with Shell Oil, but then he is coming back to take us out to his favorite bar and restaurant. When I mentioned we needed to stop and exchange our money, he smiled and said not to worry about it. Tomorrow he has a meeting with Coca Cola, but then he is taking us to lunch and showing us the city.
When you feel good, good things come your way
Access: Public
comedy
July 2008 
How fun! I hope you love Prague. Ask Oliver if he needs a state-side employee. ;)