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