Question: How does one intending to go to Hannover and end up going the complete opposite direction to Heide? Answer: That´s just the way my kind of traveling often (and even preferably) goes.
Thursday afternoon I started out in Hamburg with my hitching sign instructing drivers i wanted to go to Hannover. While the street was busy with lots of cars I wasn´t having much luck. I had been told it was a good spot to get a ride and apparently other hitchers thought so too. There was another guy going a different direction just ahead of me. He had a mohawk and was completely dressed in black. AND he got a ride with just a few minutes waiting by a beautiful Danish blonde in a Mercedes. If this guy can get a ride surely anyone can.
Minutes after he left another guy jumped out of a car with his own sign. He was going a different direction than me (ie. we weren´t competing for rides) so we talked while we waited. His name was Sören and he spoke fantastic english. Anyway, he was heading home to Heide for a wedding. After about 30 minutes with neither of us getting a ride yet he invited me to come along with him if I didn´t have any plans. Plans??? What are those?
Coincidentally the girl that picked us up was the sister of the girl getting married. What a crazy world this is. She didn´t recognize him or anything, just picked us two guys up because she was going the same direction. Very cool.
I ended up eating dinner with his family who were very nice and then going out to a few local pubs with Sören and his friends. There were a great group of guys and for some reason didn´t let me pay for anything. I had to pratically beg to pay for breakfast on the way home.
Oh, I´m still not used to the sun coming up so early. AND the bars don´t really close until everyone is gone. We were out at one place and I didn´t think it was that late until I looked out the window and saw what I thought couldn´t have been (but decidedly was) daylight. 4am sunshine is a weird thing to get used to.
The next day we went out to the beach at Büsum which was awesome. I love the feel and smell of the sea air. Not long later he had to run off to the wedding and I was dropped off at the local Heide hostel. The place was completely deserted. The doors were open but even though I walked all over the place I couldn´t find a soul. The place reminded me of the hotel in The Shining so I got the hell out of there.
While I had Sören´s phone number to call in case the place didn´t work out I decided to just head back to Hamburg. It was only 100 kms away and I found a ride easily enough from a cool female doctor heading home from the beach. Luckily Jan (a very cool guy I stayed with a week or so in Hamburg) let me crash on his couch again.
When I got back to Hamburg Jan wasn´t there. Instead Lady from Chili was in his place. She was another GlobalFreeloader who was staying in his room. With a mix of her bits of english and my "un poquito espanol" knowledge we ended up having fun conversations and a good night out on the town.
Sometimes the fun never seems to stop out here, especially when things don´t go anywhere near as planned and you don´t end up in Hannover.
Posted May 22, 2004 10:56 AM @ (GMT - 6)
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grrrrrr. I want to travel. it sounds like you are having an amazing time. i have to escape denton!!!!