Starting my hitchhiking adventure

DAY # 3 - part. 2/3


17/08/13

"How many man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience would have achieved success" - Elbert Hubbard.

So me, my backpack and my map started walking till somewhere near the highway. I had no idea how to hitchhike because I have just done it 3 times before in Brazil, but it was quite different. 

I was so unprepared that I didn't even had a bottle of water! I just walked till the highway because I wanted to visit some parts of the city where I was going to live. 

I wrote LYON as it was the biggest city in my way to Geneva.

I was wondering around with my not very big sign and after 20 min a car with 2 women told me that they could drive me to a better spot. Those women were the start of everything and made me believe that I had took the right decision. 

They left me even more near to the highway, but in the wrong direction. So I had to walk for a while to find a good spot. When I finally saw a good one, I stood in a visible area and use the "hitchhiker thumb" as my sign was too small to people get to see it. I waited for around half an hour standing up and no cars were stopping.

I started feeling sad and exhausted. I thought maybe I needed a bigger sign so I looked around and I saw some cardboard on the street and I took it and made a bigger sign.

Lyon... SVP?

I stood there for 1 more hour and when I was almost giving up, a car pulled around! I WAS THE HAPPIEST PERSON ON THE EARTH!

DAY 3

MONEY SPEND: 0 euros

ALCOHOL: 0
PEOPLE I MET: 2

What's hitchhiking?

Hitchhiking, in few words, is to ask strangers for a ride on their vehicules. - As simple as that.

You just have to go near a good spot outside the city and use the "hitchhikers thumb" or a sign with the name of your destination.

Hitchhiker's thumb

And then you would say: What!? Is not that dangerous? Well, in fact walking on the street is dangerous, but not because of that you're going to stay at home forever!

Hitchhiking is amazing, and I'll tell you why:

1. It's free
2. You know very interesting people - and sometimes you still get in touch with them
3. You learn a lot from the people you know and the city you go
4. Sometimes this wonderful people you meet give you  water, juice, food or money - You start believing in humanity again
5. Sometimes, also they host you
6. You see more landscapes than a normal tourist
7. Sometimes you arrive to a city you didn't plan to go, but then you love it
8. You don't need to be "on time" on the road

Then, you'll think:
"Yeah, whatever! But I'm not young anymore".
Well, that doesn't matter! There're 80 years old people doing it! So, what are you wating for?

Also you can ask,
why would this people stop for me?
Well, in my personal experience these are the main phrases people told me:

1. "I can't leave a women by herself on the middle of the road"
2. "This is not a good spot, I'll take you to a better one"
3. "I'm a hitchhiker too"
4. "I used to hitchhike too!"
5. "I always pick up hitchhikers"
6. "You're going to my same destination"
7. "Are you lost?"
8. "Is forbidden to hitchhike here"

Mostly these is what people tell me, but the main reason is thay they want someone to talk with :) So, the people who stops for you are Wonderful! Because it's also a risk for them to stop as same as is a risk for you to get in. So everything is about trusting people and trust in your instincts.

* "Hitchhiking" in other countries:

Argentina: "Hacer dedo"
Brazil: "Ir de carona"
France: "Faire du stop"
Peru: "Tirar dedo"
México: "Pedir ride"

-These are the phrases I know by experience and because I met people from there, I don't copy paste from other websites ;) 

How did I decide to hitchhike?

Day #3 - part. 1/3

"If I could wake up in a different place, at a different time, could I wake up as a different person?" - Chuck Palahniuk.

17/08/13

I think I still was jet-lagged as I couldn't sleep at all. I spend almost all night talking with my friends from Peru on facebook and figuring out where I was going next. Actually I had a sort of a plan for my first 25 days. Obviously it was not a rigid plan, just kind of where I wanted to go.

My very detailed plan.

And in fact, I couldn't do everything because I changed my plans almost everyday! But the firsts days I was following the plan. So I was looking for a cheap way to go to GENEVA and I thought about doing covoiturage again, but this time from the website. So I looked up for some rides and I found a girl who was driving there. Sharing a car from Clermont to Geneva was like 30 euros. So I wrote to her and she accepted! 

My host's couch :)

I talked with my dear brazilian friend, Caio, who lives in Geneva and he accepted to host me for a couple of days. - By the way, I also met him by Couchsurfing, but in Perú.

The next morning I ask Mario - my amazing host- to lend me his card so I could pay because I didn't have one and then I'll give him the money in cash. He was kind enough to accept and he also talk to the girl by the phone - as I didn't had a phone neither - and he settle everything down. I was supposed to meet her near the station at 11am.

Bonjour, Clermont Ferrand!

Mario invited me some breakfast and also agreed that I could leave some of my luggage at his place for 10 days till my roomate could pick it up. And, while we were talking, this girl called him and told him  that she wasn't going to Clermont anymore. I felt so sad, I thought I wasn't going to make it to Geneva that day. Mario gave me back my money and I was thinking another way to go there, maybe another car, but all the cars were full.

There's when I decided it! I was going to Geneva by HITCHHIKING. Actually it was an idea I was thinking about some months ago when I hitchhiked in Brazil for the first time - Just a couple of times, I wasn't an expert on the field. Also because I met a couple of amazing hitchhikers: Ronan (Brazilian guy) and Annika (German girl), both of them I met in Brazil and they introduced me to the wonderful world of hitchhiking. They're my inspiration!

Mario couldn't believe what I was going to do, but he gave me a map of the city and explained to me how to get near the highway. So I grabbed my backpack, said thank you - I couldn't have been more grateful with him -  and good-bye.

DAY 3 part 1
ALCOHOL: 0
MONEY SPEND: 0 euros
PEOPLE I MET: 0

What's covoiturage?

Well, let's start by saying that COVOITURAGE is french for CAR SHARING.

Have you seen the train and bus prices? It's crazy how expensive they can be! But, if you're on a budget and you want to travel low cost, you can always share a ride with someone.

How this works?

Imagine you live in some city in the north of France and you want to get to Paris, for example. You just have to sign on one of these websites and look for someone who has a car and who goes from your city to your final destination.

Then, depending on the company, you have to pay on the site, or when you get to your final destination.

When you have everything settle, you just go to the meeting point and that's it, you're ready!

These are some websites where you can find someone to share a ride with.

BLABLACAR: http://www.blablacar.com

COVOITURAGE (It's from Blablacar, but here you can find more trips around France): http://www.covoiturage.fr/

COVOITURAGE LIBRE: http://www.covoiturage-libre.fr/

CARPOOLING: http://www.carpooling.com/

To sum up, reasons why you should do it:

1. It's usually way more cheaper than trains and buses.

2. Usually is faster than trains and buses because cars uses the highway.

3. You don't get bored as you get to know people and talk while traveling.

4. It's ecological

SO, HAVE YOU DONE IT BEFORE?, IF NOT, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Covoiturage Lyon - Clermont Ferrand

Day #2

"If you talk to man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart." - Nelson Mandela

16/08/13

The day before I went to bed at around midnight and I slept for a couple of hours, then I just couldn't. I don't know if it was the excitement of being in other country so far away from mine or just the jet lag. Anyways, I stayed up till 5am when I heard Pierre getting ready for his job. After half an hour I finally could rest!

I woke up around 10:30am, I was feeling better! Then I had breakfast with Meryem and we watched some tv programmes while we were wating for Pierre to come back and go to Clermont! -If you want to know more about car sharing, click in "covoiturage".

Pierre was from Clermont and Meryem studied there, that's how they met. So that they were going to visit Pierre's family and some friends.

The trip was nice. I took us around 2 hours to arrive to Clermont and they were kind enough to led me at my host's house. I couldn't be more grateful because I had a lot of stuff with me. I payed them what we agreed (10 euros) and I said good-bye.

Lyon - Clermont Ferrand

When I arrived, my host's roomates welcomed me and I waited for my host to arrive. Mario -who also I met by Couchsurfing - was a brazilian guy who moved to France 5 years ago and he loves being here. We spend a nice evening talking -Me not that much because really fast french is just too hard for me - and drinking with his friends.

I wanted to speak some portuguese with Mario because I don't want to forget it, but he insisted that I was in France so I had to speak french. And, yes, he was right, even if I love to speak with my friends in their own language, I was there and I had to practise my french.

DAY 2

MONEY SPEND: 10 euros

ALCOHOL: Some beer
PEOPLE I MET: 6

What's Couchsurfing?

Couchsurfing, my dear friends, is the most amazing thing that could ever happened to me!

<<Couchsurfing is a global community of 6 million people in more than 100,000 cities who share their life, their world, their journey. Couchsurfing connects travelers with a global network of people willing to share in profound and meaningful ways, making travel a truly social experience.>> Couchsurfing.org

So, in my words, is the biggest global network which conects amazing local people, willing to open the door of their houses to a complete stranger and share some days with him/her, and curious traveleres, willing to know more about a city by meeting local people and staying at a complete stranger place. That kind of TRUST from both parts is just amazing! 

Just to be clear, CS is more than just a free place to sleep. Is about making friends for a life time! So, get out of your confort zone and do something! Go around traveling and meet this awesome people who are waiting to meet you! Or if you can't, invite some travelers at your place and you'll see that it would change your life. Furthermore, if you can't host or able to travel, you can always join the CS meetings or invite travelers to hang out with you, they would appreciate it!

* Some important words:

1. Host: Is the awesome local person who will host you.

2. Surfer: Is the awesome traveler who will stay at your place.

3. Couchrequest: The way how you send a request to a local so you can stay at his/her place.

4. CS meetings: There're awesome events in almost every city that you can join and meet travelers and locals.

5. Couch: Is where the traveler is going to sleep. It can be a couch, a bed, the floor, mattress, hammock, whatever you can provide at your place.

6. CS: Short for CouchSurfing (https://www.couchsurfing.org/)
7. References: Is one of the safety features this website provides. You can see about others people experiences with one person and also you can leave a references so people can decide if trust or not trust in that person.

By the way, here is my profile if you want to check it ;) 

https://www.couchsurfing.org/people/grace.echevarria/

First day in Europe!

Day #1

"One of the gladdest moments of human life, methinks, is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of habit, the leaden weight of routine, the cloak of many cares and the slavery of home, man feels once more happy.” – Richard Burton

15/08/13

Just arrived in France – Charles de Gaulle Airport in PARIS!  After a 12 hour flight, I was feeling tired, but super excited about my new life in Europe.

Lima - Paris

I said good-bye to the new friend I met on the plane and I started looking for my luggage and a way to get to the train which was supposed to take me to LYON.

After 2 boring hours in the train, I got to Lyon at the Gare Part Dieu! So, next step? Tried to get some free wi-fi. - By the way, in France "free" is a company and is not actually free.-  And lucky me, there was real free wi-fi at the station.

Paris - Lyon

I sent a message to my hosts and followed their instructions to get to their house. 

1. Take the tram T3 - Which was just outside the station, but I was too stupid to realize that, so it took me a while to get in.

2. Decendre á l'arret "Gare de Villeurbanne" - Villeurbanne is by the way, other city, but is so near to Lyon that if you cross the street you're there.

3. Wait for one of my hosts to pick me up.

While I was waiting for my host with all my big luggage, I realized I didn't pay for the tram, and then I realized I didn't see anyone paying, just one guy. I felt guilty, but then I forgot about it.

Finally I saw Meryem (my super nice host) coming. I met her on COUCHSURFING - You can check my post about it here. - and she and Pierre (her husband) offered me to go to CLERMONT-FERRAND - my final destination-  with them and share car expenses - the name of this in french is "covoiturage"-. I agreed, so they also offered to host me for one night.

Meryem and her lovely cat

Meryem was from Morocco and Pierre was french. They were such a great couple! Also they had a little beautiful cat! - I just love cats!. We shared nice talks and they invited me a  tasty dinner at their house.

Delicious dinner made by Pierre and Meryem

DAY: 1

MONEY SPEND: 0 euros.
ALCOHOL: Some wine
PEOPLE I MET: 3

14 bad things than can happen to you at the airport

1. You arrive really late to the airport. - Never happened to me... I'm almost always on time!

2. The line to do the check in is too damn long - I hate when it happens

3. Your baggage is too heavy. - I just had around 5k more, but it means 200$ more...NO WAY!

4. Your hand-luggage breaks. - It's almost impossible, but that also happened to me

5. Not having a way to know how much your baggage weights now. - I was so desperate until I realize I could weigh it in the bathroom!

6. Awful service at the check-in desk - They're all smiling but inside of them, they hate you!

7. Overprices at the airport shops, but you REALLY need to buy something. - I had to buy another hand-luggage...too damn expensive!

8. Because of the lack of time your last food in your country is some shitty food - Mine was a McChicken menu...

9. Forgot you have to change money. - Which sometimes also means a long line!

10. More lines at the Aduana. - Always!

11. Stupid people who have thousand of things in their pockets at the security line. - I just hate this!

12. Miss your flight - Hopefully that would never happen to me

13. Trying to put your hand-luggage in the cabin luggage place, but someone else who's not sitting there, already put his things there. - I'll find you!! someday...

14. Sleeping while they're serving the food - I still want my ice cream...

So, some of these things ever happened to you? or do you have worse stories to tell about? :)