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

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

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