Monday, May 23, 2011

Hitchhiking Amsterdam to Berlin




Telling people all week that we were going to try hitchhike to Berlin, we got mixed responses. Some people said we would have no problem, others thought we were crazy. We had heard from a few germans that is is quite common in their country, so we thought that maybe once we made it to the border it would get easier. We left Amsterdam around 1 in the arvo on monday, and went to a designated hitching point a short tram ride away. We found our first lift within 15 minutes, and were taken an hour towards the border, but also past the exit that we were supposed to have taken. We ended up needing to hitchhike to the next town which was a long way away to make it back onto the right highway. We made it that night to a small city called Groningen at the top of the netherlands right near the border. We got there late, and after trying to hitchhike in the dark for a while, we realised we needed a place to stay.

Not wanting to take the easy road out, we looked for a place that we could have shelter from the rain that was coming, and somewhere we might be able to actually get some. We found some uninstalled drainpipes that would keep us cosy, and managed to "sleep" for a few hours until sunrise, when we got up and started hitching again.

In the next day we made it from Groningen to Berlin by around 9 that night, we were overjoyed with the result, covering over 700ks in a bit over a day. Driving from Hamburg to Berlin was the best ride we had, as it was the first chance we had to see the AUTOBAHN. Our drive was averaging about 180ks the whole way, and also managed to clock up to 220 at one stage, just a normals day driving for him, but me and will were excited

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