Hitch hike trip

ABOUT THIS TRAVEL

FRANCE and UK HITCH-HIKING:  13 days, august 2000
 

INTRO

19th August, Jon BonJovi concert at Wembley stadium (London): "I can't miss it, but how can I reach London cheaply? By hitch-hiking and rollerblading!!". I had no clue if it worked and how long it could take, hence I decided to leave 8 days before.

FACTS

11th august, 7.30 a.m.: me and Federica ("a crazy girl") were at a   petrol station on the highway near Milan with our thumbs up! At 8.00 a.m., we got our first lift picked up by a girl heading to Aosta . After 2 days, 8 lifts, having known so many helpful people, we got in Paris! It had been really tough to get out from the city hitch-hiking, it took 6 hours, but we managed (read what happened). The day after we reached London. Since it was five days before the concert and the city was too expensive we decided to go on northward. No way: the day after we got in Edimburg!
MILAN-EDIMBURG 5 DAYS!
We rested there for two days rollerblading throughout the town, then we came back. But getting out from Edimburg hadn't been that easy: we had to hitch-hike on the emergency lane of the highway, and we got a lift before the police came.
On the way back a middle aged man picked us up, he was Ray Stubb (the BBC speaker) who, no way, lent us his flat in London for free!!!!!! Yeah, that was great!!! (read about it)
Finally we saw the JonBonJovi concert in a sold out wembley stadium. It took three unforgettable hours; definitely the greatest concert I've ever seen... JBJ kicked asses!!!!!!!


Thanks everybody who has helped us , we have found so many nice and helpful people through Italy, France and UK.

Alby  

Funny stories

1. A DRIVER OFFERED US HIS HOUSE TO SLEEP, WE GOT IT...

2. A CRAZY DRIVER. BUT WE SURVIVED…

3. GET OUT FROM PARIS  WAS TOUGH, BUT…

 A DRIVER OFFERED US HIS HOUSE TO SLEEP, WE GOT IT...

Heading to London we got a lift in Manchester by a middle-aged man. In the car we started chatting about travelogues of our Milan-Scotland travel and he said to be Ray Stubb, a BBC speaker (never heard about him :-o). He seemed really interested and enthusiastic, and we got friendly in few hours. Then he asked us if we wanted to accept his flat in London to spend the night; I thought I haven’t understood correctly, but we were so tired that we didn’t hesitate to take his proposal. I knew it was a risk, but if you don’t wanna risk in this kind of travels it’s better you stay home.
When we got in London he took us in a cute rented house with the garden, in short a typical English house. The only things  in the house were hundreds of VHS of his speaking at the BBC. He showed us the house and said :“here are the keys, I’ll go sleeping to my girlfriend”. I thought :”what? You’ll leave us the house? !!!” But when I realised the situation he was already left. We spent in his house the nights before the concert, then I vacuum cleaned quickly, left a sing to thank him, locked the door and shot the keys in the mail hole. I’ve never seen him again….THANKS RAY!  

A CRAZY DRIVER. BUT WE SURVIVED…

We were in Albertville hitch-hiking for a lift toward Lion. It wasn’t a good place to get a lift, in fact we were almost at a cross road in the town, but we didn’t find anything better. We were showing our sign indicating “CHAMBERY” from the side walk and the people passing by looked quite oddly. It took almost an hour till a young guy stopped and let us on. Obviously since being French he didn’t speak a word of English, but there were other “details” that didn’t let us to get bored  during the trip even if he shut up. First of all the way of driving: I think he thought to be in a rally and he would have won a prize if had reached Chambery as fast as possible. Not only a matter of high speed, but even crazy overtaking. I was in the backseat and I held every stuff  could be used as handle. In addition he was listening the song “ American Pie” of Madonna; OK, I like it, but it was so loud that the speakers were trembling and the sound twisted and, even worse, he set the repeat, hence,  for more than one hour we listened the same song!!

Somehow we got in Chambery….THANKS GUY!

GET OUT FROM PARIS  WAS TOUGH, BUT…

I was aware that getting out from a big city hitch hiking is tough; in particular to find the right place where ask a lift.
We reached rollerblading the beginning of the highway north of Paris and started to hitch hike, but we were in a inappropriate  place, aside of a curve, where cars were too fast, drivers were paying attention to the road signs and everybody was going in a different direction. It took more than one hour when a girl stopped and quickly, before a coming car could bump her, let us on. I said her we were going northward and she nodded. Then I started chatting without paying attention to the way when, after a while, I realised we were under the tower Eiffel!!!! She thought we were  heading in and not out of Paris. I really freaked out cursing, anyway she was going to do us a favour, thus I didn’t beat her ;-) But I insisted she took us back, and after a while we were in the same shitty place we were 4 hours before without a lift.

 Then we decided to try another place on another high way. It was even worse, and I started getting discouraged, but we found two Swedish guys stranded as us hitch hiking, hence we shared the expense for a cab to the first petrol station (4 km northward); we got there and in ten minutes we had our lift….GREAT!!!

THANKS GUYS

Hitch hike tips

1. FOCUS ON THE PLACE YOU GONNA HITCH HIKE

2. INTRODUCE YOURSELF, AVOID THE THUMB UP

3. DON’T ASK LONG DISTANCE LIFTS

4. SIGN OR NOT SIGN?

5. DON’T SEEM A VAGABOND

6. TRAVELLING WITH A GIRL HELPS

FOCUS ON THE PLACE YOU GONNA HITCH HIKE

The place where you’ll hitch hike turns out to be the most important thing. It’s better to waste more time looking for a good place than to ask   immediately for a lift from a wrong one. The petrol stations of the high ways are definitely the best spot to ask for a lift, while nearby a city is the worst one

INTRODUCE YOURSELF, AVOID THE THUMB UP

-Avoid asking a lift aside the road with your thumb up. To be trusted you should introduce yourself and speak with the people. Hence the best is to ask a lift at a petrol station while drivers are fuelling.

DON’T ASK LONG DISTANCE LIFTS

-Don’t ask long distance liftss. People don’t risk to let on a person who could stink, be boring or annoying. Say you are heading to a place 30-50 km far, after getting acquainted in the car they’ll   take you till their final destination or, even, they’ll divert to help you.

SIGN OR NOT SIGN?

-If you have no choose than lifting your thumb up aside a road, using a sign indicating your destination is not always the best to do. In fact  people who don’t exactly go in your direction won’t stop or if your destination is far nobody would risk to take you for a long trip.

DON’T SEEM A VAGABOND

-Obviously the appearance helps, hence avoid seeming a vagabond having dirty clothes.

TRAVELLING WITH A GIRL HELPS

-The best is to travel with a girl, obviously people rely more girls than boys and a couple has the highest probability to get a lift. For two guys asking for a lift is tougher to get it, but not impossible. Once in France I met two Swedish guys travelling by hitch-hike quite fastly.