HITCH HIKING STORIES: FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO WILLITS

“The bus is only at 3pm? No way, I’m not gonna wait, let’s hitch hike!” This kind of idea we have, you think it’s brilliant but then you go back and you go like “Sh*t!! Why this stupid thought ever came across my mind? WHY?” I’m gonna tell you guys all the details.

TIPS TO HITCH HIKE IN MOROCCO

When planning my backpacking trip to Morocco I didn't think about hitch hiking because mass media and society made this stereotype that Morocco is a dangerous country to travel, so imagine get in a car of a stranger...

It's true that transportation is cheap and generally (out of touristic spots) Morocco is a cheap country to travel but if we can save money and travel longer, if we can meet more moroccans and exchange cultures, why not?! 

As soon as we arrived we felt safe. We asked several locals we made friends with and everybody said is safe to hitch hike in Morocco. So, what are we waiting for? Let's do it! By my 5 weeks experience I can tell you is the real adventure, you never know what will happen during and next the ride. Read the tips, if you have any question please ask in the comments so everybody can acess and we can start a discussion. 

TRAVEL COMPANIONS - HITCH HIKING

To be honest I love the art of hitch hiking but when I did alone it was boring like hell. I think it's a moment to share, work for a team... not to mention the motivation you need.

Mostly I hitch hiked with Bruno and he's really a big support in those moments you want to give up or you feel frustrated.

Drivers tend to give more rides to single woman or 2 women or a couple. So hitch hiking with your love makes it easier. I talked with other guys about the subject and I figured out that two guys have a hard time getting a ride, usually they gotta wait longer and be more patient. But don't be upset if you are going hitch hike soon with your fellow, there are exceptions! My friend got a ride with his 2 friends by a woman in Guatemala!!! Three guys and one girl!! I clap my hands for this lady and she won the prize for kindness and fearless :)

EURO TRIP IS OVER... FOR NOW!

I can't believe this is actually our last day in the european continent. Almost 3 months flied away and if I look back I can say I had the time of my life. In this 3 months, 1 month was spent literally on the road with my thumb up, asking for a ride. Sometimes we were lucky enough to wait 10 minutes or we also spent 7 hours in Belgrad waiting for someone who could stop the car. I learned many things along the way, learned about myself and about others. I learned how to be patient and to be positive even many times I was down in the sun at 1pm or standing while it was raining. I meet up many many people from different countries with different ways of thinking, different costumes, different life style. The differences make us learn.

Bruno feeding the reindeer in Slovenia

HITCH HIKING FROM PORTUGAL TO GREECE

So far this was one of my Life important missions and when I look at this map a bunch of memories pop up, all the people we met up in the way, all the frustration moments, the feel of adrenaline kicking in, the CHALLENGE.

As you may know I'm always up for a new challenging, especially challenging myself to the limit and the idea of going to Greece hitch hiking was just perfect for the Summer. But you need to be physically and mentally prepared. We were 4 days straight in the high way, eating bread with tuna, sleeping outside in the gas stations. This are not really good conditions of living you may asking yourself why I do this to myself and I answer: for the experience.

As a matter of fact I will hitch hike this Summer and then I don't know when I will do it again, if I will one day...

BACK ON THE ROAD

I've been silent these days because I was in a truck for 2 days!! Between many stops, It took 2 days from Torres Vedras to Paris by truck :)

First time we got a ride from a truck driver was on March, from Switzerland to Portugal. It was a loooong way but in the end I was very happy that we made it, I was pround of myself. But it wasn't easy. Bruno had the brilliant idea of asking directly portuguese truck drivers who were heading back to Portugal if they could give us a ride.

HITCH HIKING TIPS

I'm not an expert but I will share my small skills on the art of hitch hike. Pretty please: If you got any more tips comment this post, so one day we will have a full list :) 

1) Before leaving do some "homework": ONE: check in google maps your route and write down a list of cities you will pass by, plus how long does it take from one city to the other and how many kilometres. TWO check out the suggestions in HitchWiki;

2) When you are hitch hiking be flexible and ask people (in gas station for eg.) about the list of your route: locals know better then us. (The faster doesn't mean the better);

3) Collect cartoon boxes from supermarkets or any shop and invest in a good quality market, I like either black or red colours, because they are catchy. Make written signs as neat as possible of the place you need to go;

HITCH HIKING STORIES: LAST DAY IN GUATEMALA

After a great time in Semuc Champey (Guatemala) we decided to head to Honduras instead of travelling to North Guatemala and visit Tikal. I know, I know Tikal is a MUST GO in Guatemala but we already been in 4 different Mayan Historic Ruins Parks and going to the North was out of route, so we tought "Spending more Money and time to see ruins again??!!" Let's go to Honduras!!

We only had 10€ and we made this crazy decision of not withdraw more money from the ATM, this means that we had to reach Honduras with 10€ both, we need to eat, we need to get there but how? Survival mode here we go!

HITCH HIKING STORIES - THE LOST BACKPACK

[La Esperanza Camping, Tulum, Mexico]

Me and Bruno were in Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico and damn happy because we were in a dream camping in the caribean sea with beautiful people all around, felt like family <3

Sadly it was time to leave so we decided to sleep on the beach last night. We organized all stuff and hitch hiked to the centre to go groceries shopping for the dinner. We were in heaven, I mean we got a ride from a pick up and we were outside looking at the blue sky, white clouds and the green trees surrounding us. It was those magical minutes I won't forget.

We "woke up" when the driver said that we arrived. So he pulled over, we jumped and said Gracias with an huge smile. It took 2 seconds until I look at Bruno and reconized that something was missing "Bruno where is your backpack???" Bruno looked at me, opened his eyes and started running after the car. Too late. "Crap! We are screwed!"

HITCH HIKING - MY NEWEST ADDICTION

Gosh! If I ever in my life knew that hitch hiking (HH) is so much fun!!!

First time I tried this way of travelling was 2 years ago by accident when I was volunteering in Norway. We had this task: take a paper with a town written and then head to that place and stay overnight with only 10€. First thought was YYEEYYY!! I love challenges. I was so happy that my challenge mate was Ana, a portuguese volunteer and also my roomate, she was adventurous, open minded and spontaneous, "We will survive!" We were lucky enough to get a close town and our sweet driver called her friend so we could sleep over his place! BONUS! 3 days in Norway and we were already sleeping in a real norwegian family house. We chatted a lot, ate great norwegian goodies and slept in a princess bedroom.

Next day was quit fun to know the other volunteers stories, I felt bad for those guys who HH to Oslo (around 400km from where we were) and had to stay in the train station for the night. It was January, we were in Norway, can you imagine the cold??!! brrrr