Picture time!

Finally I've decided it was time to create a facebook page so you can all see the pictures I take instead of just reading what I'm doing. The link is www.facebook.com/DrifterInEurope Please like and share the page, it helps me out lots! Short update, promise the next one will be bigger again ;)

Off the road for a little while

Last post I told you I met a girl by the highway who was also hitchhiking. We are now a couple so everything is going pretty awesome! It is currently very cold and it snows so we'll stay inside for a little while. When the weather gets better we will hit the road again, looking for a place to work or something, who knows where we might end up. Short update, but in my opinion it's probably the best update I could post :) Till next time

Well I didn't make it to Italy. I've met another hitchhiker by the highway and we had a nice picknick in the sun and then decided to travel together for a while. She was going to some friends for 2 days, and I could tag along. The family that hosted me is great and they welcomed me with open arms, telling me that I'm always welcome if I'm in the area in the future. The girl I met is awesome and we're probably going to travel together for a while. Next stop is back to Germany, to her place and from there we'll see. The sun is shining again, it's going to be a good day

Austria so far

Well I didn't make it over the Alpes yet... After the last update I got picked up by a guy who lives in Upper Austria in a small town called Senftenbach he invited me to stay at his place, and so I did. He called up some friends and his brothers and threw a little birthday. After a fun night I had a chance to was my clothes and take a shower before he dropped me off on the road again. From there I hitched my way to Linz. In Linz I got picked up by a Romanian guy so I could make it to Vienna. The bad part was that he didn't want to stop. Twice. He kept saying "no we go Budapest." 60km out of the way from Vienna he finally stopped and I had to stand in the rain for an hour before I managed to get a ride to Vienna. In Vienna I booked a bed in a hostel for 10 euros and today I wanted to stay an extra night since I didn't get any couchsurf responses (again), and they raised the price to 25 euros for a bed because of easter. Since that is out of budget I'll try to hitch my way towards Italy. It's gonna be at least 2 days of traveling, but the weather keeps getting worse here and soon it will be freezing again, which means lots of snow in a short time period. That's about it for this update I think. Don't forget I have a paypal donate button!:)

Living the goodlife

Well the free hostel city tour was cancelt for the day so I went into Munich on my own, where I was lucky enough to find another free guided city tour by a guy named Kevin, who immigrated from Texas to Munich. The tour lasted 3 hours and was very informative. He was passionate about all kinds of quirky facts that you normally wouldn't hear from a guide, which made the hours fly by. After the tour I went back to the hostel to have something to eat and change rooms. After that it was time for some more sightseeing. I returned to the hostel at dinnertime and after dinner headed to the bar for the happy hour(s!), which was great fun. Met some people form Korea, New Zealand and Canada. After a night of partying it was time to hit the road again. I walked 2,5 hours towards the east and from there I found a gasstation which was a good place to start hitchhiking from. Atleast I thought so... After 3 hours in the cold I finally found a ride, but 15km out of the city he stopped and said get out now, when I was in the middle of nowhere. I thought my luck has turned for the worst but I must have a guardian angel somewhere because out of nowhere a man stopped, offered to take me to the autobahn and asked if I had a place to stay yet. I replied no and he said well now you do. Apparently he owns a huge office building in the area where I could crash for the night. I had a nice shower, watched some tv and just relaxed after a day in the cold. Then he said that we should go to the supermarket, and he bought me for 2 days worth of food. The next morning he took me to the autobahn and now I'm currently writing this post from a gasstation near Austria. Today I'll probably make it over the Alpes and find some warmer temperatures. That's about it for now since the last update, thanks for reading and soon you'll hear more! (and when I have wifi for a longer period than 1 hour I promise I will make a photo album so you can see what I've seen)

Long distance ride on Sunday

The students dropped me off in Mainz, a city north of Mannheim. I had to stand in the rain/snow for 1,5 hours before I was able to hitch a ride. At the time I was warming my hands on a cup of coffee inside a gasstation and a guy, Tom, saw my backpack and my, by now famous, "away" sign. He asked me if Munich was away enough and I replied with a Hell Yeah. The ride was 436km and the route can be seen here: http://backtrackdtour.com/share/map.html?userId=7441357&trackId=2630568&locale=en_US&units=metric I've been playing around with the bushnell backtrack d-tour GPS and I must say it's an awesome device. Very easy to use and small enough to stuff away in your pocket. After a trip I'll just plug it into the usb port of my laptop and upload the route to google maps from where I can share it to facebook, and hopefully my blog. When I arrived in Munich at 20:30 in the evening my first priority was to find a place to sleep. Luckily for me I found the 'wombat hostel' which is allot cheaper than the hostel in Cologne, and the quality of everything is comparable to most hotels. At first the plan was to hitchhike further south and try to make it into Austria today but it's currently freezing there, which isn't that pleasant while standing next to the highway or having to sleep in a tent. So I booked another night at the hostel and will be exploring Munich today, starting with a free guided 4 hour tour organized by the hostel. This also gives me some time to figure out where to go next.

Saturday turned from good to awesome

Well after my free wifi ran out at the gasstation it was time to try to get my next ride. After I was waiting for 15 minutes a Porsche stopped and a woman came out of her car. She apologized for not being able to take me with her, but then she handed me a 50 euro note to help me on my travels, which was more than welcome! Just as I wanted to take a break a van stopped with 3 students inside of it. They took me 250km south to the city of Mannheim, offered me a place to sleep and invited me to their houseparty that night. I got to take a shower, which was pleasant after hiking through Cologne that morning, and they made sure I had breakfast this morning. From here on I have no clue how I'll be able to get out of town so when and where the next update will be is as much as a guess to me as it is to you

On the road at last!

15-03-2013 After one last night in my local pub with all my friends it was finally time to go. I boarded the train to Utrecht and from there I took the train to Cologne. Right next to me in the train was a mother with twins, two five year old boys. At first I was annoyed by their very active behaviour but after twinty minutes they calmed down and started talking to me. Before departure they went up to their mum and asked if I could be their new dad, which made her face turn bright red. When I arrived in Cologne I was hoping that I would have had a response on couchsurfing, but sadly that wasn’t the case. The only responses I got were people who said they allready had someone staying over for today, so my first mission in Cologne was finding a place to sleep. I went to the Tourist Information across the mainstation and when I asked if they knew of any cheap hostels the girl behind the desk looked worried. Apparently there are some big events in Cologne today that I didn’t know of and the entire city is almost fully booked. Luckily there was a bed left in a hostel just outside the city center called the Black Sheep Hostel. The downside of this is that it set me back 30 euro’s. I got myself a bed in a six person dorm and share the room with some nice people. After I ditched my backpack I went for a walk through the city to see some sights. When I went back to the hostel I checked couchsurfing again and saw there was a meetup on the other side of the city. After 1,5 hours of walking I managed to find the cafe where the couchsurfers of cologne met up. We had a few drinks and talked about random stuff all night and when it was time to go home I got offered a car-ride back to the hostel by a girl who also said that if I wanted to stay another day in Cologne I could sleep on her couch. The next day the weather was looking good so I decided to hitch out of the city. After 2 hours of walking I finally found a place where I could hitch a ride and after 20 minutes I got my first ride ever. I got dropped off around 60km south of Cologne at a gasstation on the longest highway of Germany, the a3, that leads to Munnich. Im currently typing this from the gassstation as they offer 1 hour of free WiFi. I have yet to figure out where I'd go from here...

Only a few days left...

I Keep staring at the train ticket in front of me. A one way ticket to Cologne, Germany. My train leaves at 9:52 and at 13:02 I'm supposed to be in Cologne. I've sent out a couchsurf request so hopefully I'm able to spend the night in the city. I have yet to think of a plan on how I'm getting out of Cologne, let alone a plan on where I will be going next. When the time is there I'll find it out. I got everything I need for my trip and I think I'm prepared enough. Only one way to find out... The next post on this blog will not be written from my bedroom but from the road. See you there!

Got myself a tent

After last weeks bivy disaster I figured it might be better if I get myself a lightweight tent, instead of just sleeping in a bivy. After doing some online research I decided to buy the Gelert Solo, a small 1 person tent that weighs just 1,5kg. It is big enough for me and my backpack so I don't have to worry at night about my bag being outside of my sleeping place. Almost ready to leave now, just a few more preparations and some stuff I have to get. That's about it for today. Until next time, Take care

Nightmare in the dunes

The weather finally agreed with my plans to go camping in the local dunes so yesterday I went for it. I called a friend who was up for some camping and together we got on our bikes. He brought his tent and I brought my bivy. The temperature started to drop quickly so we set up camp. All went well up until this point. When the time came to call it a day and go to sleep I crawled nice and comfy in my sleeping bag and sealed my Sierra Designs Baffin Bivy. I quickly fell asleep but after 45 minutes to an hour I woke up due to breathing difficulties. I left a slight opening in the bivy but there wasn't enough air in the bag for me to breath calmly, which scared the crap out of me. After that I noticed that everything inside my Bivy was damp due to condensation. The bivy should be breathing, but sadly this wasn't the case last night. I crawled out of the bivy and placed my sleeping bag in the tent. Sadly at this point my sleeping bag was also very damp and cold and I couldn't get warm again. I accepted my defeat and we went home again. Apparently you're not supposed to wear lot's of clothing inside a bivy so next time I won't wear as many layers of clothing. It wasn't a pleasant experience but I hope to have learned enough to succeed next time I try sleeping in a bivy. I brought my camera with me, but by the time we found the spot it was already dark so I couldn't take any pictures. Well that's about it for this update, keep an eye out for new updates coming soon!