Hitchhiking solo from Germany to Denmark

Making the decision to hitchhike

After Wacken Festival in Germany (near Itzehoe) I needed to get back home to Copenhagen and for various reasons I decided to hitchhike – approximately 450km’s.

The first part of the trip was easy as I was at the festival with a friend and he took me as far as Schleswig (100km’s). This also gave me a welcomed chance for a decent meal and a shower. Between the time it took to pack the camp, drive to Schleswig and get ready to continue my journey it was already 5pm.

Originally the plan was to sleep at my friends’ place and leave early next day to have a full array of daylight. However, from a mix of wanting to push my limits to wanting to get home earlier, I left the same day.

hitchhike
The familiar “thumbs up” signaling a desire to hitchhike

Step by step progress of the day

17:00 – I was dropped off at the highway on-ramp towards Denmark. After about 10 minutes I got picked up by some guys who could take me to Flensbourg – 30km’s north. It wasn’t a long ride but I reasoned that it would take me closer to the border and at the same time provide a roof over my head as it started raining and I had no shelter at my current position. Looking back, it wasn’t a good call as they took me all the way to the center of Flensbourg – about 15minutes from the highway.

18:00 – I asked an old couple to take me back out the highway and they did. Unfortunately, it was at an on-ramp coming from a cars-only road. This meant that there was no place for me to stand and even the on-ramp didn’t have much place to stop. I’m also fairly confident it was illegal.

19:00 – After a demoralizing hour a car stopped – a local car going back to Flensbourg. He said that I probably wasn’t standing in a very good position (to which I agreed) and suggested he take me to the nearest McDonalds: “many Danes park there, maybe you can get a ride towards Denmark from there?”

As it was once again raining and I had realised that I had forgotten my rain jacket at my friend’s house, I agreed. This meant that after a couple of hours I was only about 30km’s closer and I was stranded in an inconvenient place with little traffic away from the highway. Fortunately (!), he made me a very generous offer of coming back for me one hour later and if I were still around he would take me to the nearest rest stop on the Danish side of the border to help me on my way.

20:20 – No one was able to take me – they were either locals or vacationing families with full cars. Naturally, I was at a low point as this wasn’t exactly what I had hoped for. However, my friend from before, Michael, heroically returned to save the day for me.

20:50 – He dropped me off at not the first, not the second but the third rest stop in Denmark for the sole reason that the first two were too small with not enough traffic. If you look at the map at the top of this post, you’ll see it’s quite a way up into Denmark. This guy was a true hero.

20:51 – Approximately one minute later I got another ride from a Polish guy going north towards Aalborg. Although not the right direction I figured he could take me another 50km. In retrospect, this was a mistake.

21:30 – As we were nearing the place where the highways split (he needed to go north, I wanted to go east) he had to drop me off. Unfortunately, there was only a small rest stop before the intersection. This meant that although I was closer to home, I was now in a position with much less traffic.

21:35 – I got a ride from a German couple and their baby. They also needed to go north but they could see from their GPS that there was actually a gas station closer to the intersection before the highways split and there I would be able to get more rides, so I accepted. Again, looking back this was also a bad call and although it was closer and a gas station, it was a gas station a little bit away from the highway with very little highway traffic.

21:45 – It was getting dark and cold and traffic was dying. I tried different things, I walked to the highway onramp, I asked everyone at the gas station and I even got a ride to a nearby truck terminal to ask if anyone was going my way by any chance. They weren’t – they were all going south although, for the record, as much of a longshot as I thought it would be, I could have probably have gotten a ride if I was going that direction.

23:15 – I had been standing at the on ramp for about an hour and a few cars had stopped but they were going very short distances as well as the wrong way – so no luck. About to give up, I checked the train schedules which were horrible for getting home. My last resort was to go back to the gas station and ask if I could sleep in the back room somewhere until the next morning and then try again.

23:25 – I was back at the gas station and was approached by a guy with whom I had a conversation roughly like this:

Him: “are you a hitchhiker?”
Me: “yes…”
Him: “are you going to Copenhagen?”
Me: “uuhm, yes…”
Him: “Congratulations, you’ll get home tonight.”

*high five*

As it turns out, it was a car filled with hitchhikers coming directly from a festival in Amsterdam for street performers, entertainers, jugglers etc. as well as their tools of the trade. I managed to squeeze in and off we went.

If you ever needed proof for the existence of Karma – this would be it. Right there in my hour of need, these friends magically appeared. They were only there because they had to drop off a friend off at this very spot.

02:15 – Following a pleasant and very interesting talk in the car I arrived at my front door safe and sound.

Conclusion

After a very long day, following a long festival, I made it home. At times, this trip was rough but I made it in the end and the good times massively outweighed the bad times. Update: one week later I hitchhiked from Copenhagen to North Jutland in about 8 hours – much faster. Especially considering that 1hour 30 was from the ferry ride across and another 1hour 30 was waiting for the ferry at the terminal.

Also, looking back, a very important lesson here is that getting closer to your goal is not an advantage if it takes you away from traffic. I should not have taken that ride from Schleswig to Flensbourg city center and I should not have taken either of those rides that took me first from the main gas station to the smaller rest stop and then again to the small gas station away from the highway. I got picked up by a Polish guy going north after just 1 minute and if I had just been patient and waited for that one car that went all the way to Copenhagen or at least Odense (a long stretch towards the right direction), I’m sure it would have gone a lot smoother.

hitchhike open road
The open road. Stick your thumb out and enjoy some of that rural bliss

Costa Rica – The land of pure living

Welcome to Costa Rica

Soon after you enter Costa Rica you will see and experience the unofficial law of the land, “Pura Vida”.

Pura Vida means pure living and it oozes through everything in life.

From the capital of San Jose to the surf city of Tamarindo you will see Pura Vida imprinted on almost every imaginable thing. It is used for expressing anything good. In everyday speech it means excellent or great or whatever similar expression you prefer.

Describing an atmosphere or painting a picture using only words can be quite challenging. The feeling you get from walking down an unfamiliar street, different from everything you know, or the sensation you get from overcoming an obstacle, be that climbing a mountain or taking your first successful turn on a snowboard, is hard to describe and can only be successfully relayed if the recipient has had similar experiences. Regardless of this, I’ll still try.

Drugs

The most obvious result of the Pura Vida mentality is the abundant amount of drugs. Within hours of arriving to Costa Rica the distinct smell of weed hit our noses (me, my brother, niece and nephew), the first day, a guy clearly drugged up on heroin, started talking to us (very friendly) and within 24 hours we were offered free cocaine by a staff member at the hotel we were staying at. Getting drugs in this country is not a problem.

Pura Vida – take it easy and relax

Another very pleasant aspect is the way everyone talks to you. People walking the street greeting you with “”Ey mon, welcome to Tamarindo – come by tonight – its reggae night at the mermaid”, leaves you with a feeling that somehow, every night is reggae night at the mermaid. You can easily talk to someone if you want to, there’s always someone on the streets and you won’t be left alone for long.

A good example is when we were taking some surf lessons. When learning something new it can be quite hard to remember the instructions you were told and the result is you get angry or confused and forget all of them altogether. My brother experienced this and the result was that the instructor just told him to “relax man – pura vida. You’re confused, amigo. Just take it easy and be patient, you’ll learn my friend, don’t worry.”

How to relax the Costa Rican way

In many western countries, the way you really relax is at your home, either with some good friends, your family or alone. Preferably with some good wine, a blanket, some Netflix or a movie. It obviously varies from person to person but generally speaking, relaxing doesn’t involve physical activity or talking to people you don’t know. Talking to strangers requires preparation and a mind set for socializing.

In Costa Rica relaxing means hanging around your favourite spot talking to everyone who passes by.

You’ve got the surfer who spends his whole life at the beach doing nothing but surfing at day and partying at night. The way he survives financially is by teaching other people how to surf and as such he is set for life. Maybe when he is older he opens a surf shop and hires younger surfers as teacher. Surfing is his life and he enjoys every day of it. No need for excessive materialism.

On the other end you’ve got the street vendor. He spends most of his days on a street corner talking to people while selling his goods. He is not like a cashier in a western supermarket who does his or her job at $8 an hour and just wants to be done with it, so the actual part of life enjoyed by the cashier can begin in the evenings and weekends. No, this guy likes what he is doing and when he feels like he’s sold enough for the day he goes home and probably enjoys some divinely tasty food made from fresh vegetables. Naturally, it’s homemade.

Poverty

Costa Rica is a poor country and it sets its limits. You can’t get an expensive car and you can’t travel to the other side of the world on a trip like the one we’re on now. Many things that we westerners consider necessities are not available to the average Costa Rican and for that reason alone many people wouldn’t want this life.

On the other hand, though, from my limited experience, they don’t need it. The focus of Costa Ricans lies on something completely different. The things that make them happy is much more basic. Good food on the table, a family that loves you and a roof over your head is a good start – combine that with some good waves or similar and you’ve got what you need.

Denmark, where I’m from, often prides itself on being the happiest country in the world – and on many lists, we are. But Costa Rica also scores high and even ranks #1 on this link for example. The one that ranks Denmark #1 is the world happiness report and in my personal opinion it is the more thorough list.

Nature

Nature alone Costa Rica worth a visit. Without trying to sound too much like a Wikipedia page, I’ll list a few of the things that make this country remarkable.

Although a small country, it contains more than 5% of the worlds biodiversity and 25% of the country is protected as national parks and similar protected areas. It has volcanoes, rain forests, beaches, mountains, rivers and everything in between making it a haven for adventurers and nature lovers alike. Alligators, pumas, sharks, sloths and nose bears can be found here along with a myriad of bird species. The 10.000 colones note even has a sloth on it!

In conclusion. I’m sure you’ll like it!

The Future of Sihanoukville, Cambodia and the Surrounding Areas

  1. Applying for a Myanmar (Burma) visa in Bangkok
  2. One night in Bangkok
  3. Visiting Rural Thailand – enjoy the silence
  4. Sleeping in a monastery on a mountain top in Hpa-An, Myanmar
  5. Overview of tourist hotspots in Myanmar (Burma)
  6. Naypyitaw – The official capital of Myanmar
  7. Being sick on the road
  8. The End of an Era – I’ve Sold My Motorbike and Left Vietnam
  9. Cambodia – First Impressions
  10. Koh Ta Kiev – Where the boat leaves from
  11. The Future of Sihanoukville, Cambodia and the Surrounding Areas
  12. What Were We Thinking (and other ramblings)

Joe raised his glass and shouted “To another season!!” and emptied it. Joe is the owner of Seagarden at Otres Beach near Sihanoukville, Cambodia and today is his birthday.

For the last year or so, Otres Beach has been under the threat of being completely removed. Currently 50-something laid back chilled beach establishments fills up the space – most of them run by expat westerners that found their happiness here. The staff is a mix of locals and westerners – the guests are all foreigners. This is a place where the beer is ice-cold, the weather is hot and the weed is cheap. Showing up here for a day or two but then staying for a month or more is a recurring story.

The problem is that technical ownership of the land is somewhat chaotic to say the least and I personally have only scratched the surface about who owns what and wants who to do what.

The short story is that the entire area is threatened by Chinese investors looking to build luxury casino hotels in the area. Based on the large number of empty or abandoned casinos all around Cambodia it doesn’t seem to be a very successful plan but nonetheless many casinos are in the making.

On Koh Ta Kiev (an island off the coast of Sihanoukville and Otres beach) I asked around what the deal was with that and got various vague answers. From what I could gather, half the island is owned by Chinese and half owned by the French. The various accommodations out there are just built with a somewhat bribe-induced dubious permission which is why they never know when it’s revoked and the whole area is cleared. Furthermore, there is a large amount of free-roaming cows just grazing at will. These are apparently owned by the military and have been shifted around from island to island over the years – “sometimes the government comes over and moves some of the cows to another island – we don’t know why”. Lastly, some local fishers put some shacks on the island into an area called “the fishing village”.

To sum up: there are a lot of different forces operation out here and to me, the foreign tourist, it’s all very hairy.

Last year, the Chinese came and cleared a huge path straight through the jungle to make way for a road but then, just as quickly as they arrived, they left again. The theory is that the Cambodian government is putting pressure on the Chinese to develop these areas and apparently some sort of timeline required that there would be a road by the end of 2015 or whatever. To comply with this requirement, they just cleared some random jungle and left again. The French side remains untouched as the Cambodian government apparently are more lenient with them.

In conclusion: I don’t think anyone really knows what’s going to happen even just within the next year.

I really would love to know more about all this and not just here but also at other locations in Cambodia. Are the Chinese building Casinos against their will because of some strange arrangements with the Cambodian government? How long will we be able to drink pina coladas at these remote islands? Please comment if you know anything.