New Year's Eve at 70°N

I wonder if you have ever been told to not jump into strangers' cars or follow them into forests, in the middle of nowhere. That's something my parents told me, so now I speak from a stranger's point of view in this story. Some of my newly made friends surely haven't heard this advice. It takes guts to jump in, especially if you are asked by a random guy on some Facebook site. At this point in time the random guy, after all planning and arranging, did end up spending his New Year's Eve in the promise land of cold and dark winters and reindeers.  This adventurous story takes place in beautiful Kilpisjärvi, Finland, far up North in the Polar Circle. In company with three other guys; a Finnish, a Californian and a German; and one girl from France. We became friends instantly and travelled hours and hours in a fully packed car to experience New Year's Eve in an abandoned hut in the middle of the wilderness, in the Arctic tundra.


Polar night, The sun won't rise. It's the moon that's shining!

 

New Year's Eve in cold, dark Lapland of Finland? Why not!

 

It could be said that the main trigger to plan such a trip was the fact that all my friends, with whom I'm used to spend New Year's Eve in the past, were working during the turn of the year. The poor snow situation in Southern Finland didn't sound very appealing neither. I had been imagining winter hiking and camping as a fairly exciting and adventurous thing to do, so I thought I would give it a try and gather some adventure-minded people together. I started with the Californian. It was pretty easy to get him involved since he's always excited and "down" for new experiences. Although Justin is a really nice fellow the journey needed more participants in order to being a success. I started with Facebook... some interested friends but all were busy on New Year's Eve. Where could I find travel-minded and motivated people that are able to deal with the Nordic conditions and be at least tolerable... or preferably super awesome to hang out with. I got really nice comments for my first post on hitch hiking Facebook group so I thought that some of these nice adventure seekers would be interested in joining the crew. Soon after sending an open invitation I got messages from a French lady named Sarah and a German Niklas. A week later my old fishing friend Tuukka heard about the great Lapland adventure plan and asked to join. I was happy to have another person with hiking experience in our crew.
Testing out the carrying devices.

Until the point in time when all five of us met at Parkano train station close to my home town, the planning was focused on researching possible places to stay, needed gear, skyping with the crew, arranging schedules, and so on.  Our local ski slope Jämi lent us snow shoes to make our small budget expedition a reality. I built four sleds so that we could drag our gear when trudging through the deep snow.







14 hour night car ride to north 29.12.-14

 

Our journey started when Tuukka got off work and made his way to my hometown. We loaded the car and agreed that we had everything needed for the trip, although both of us had a feeling in our butts that something was missing. Great thanks for Tuukka for attending since without him I wouldn't have felt confident in taking people I barely know and Justin from the sunny land of California to do a multi-day winter hike in Lapland.
Next we went to pick up the rest of the crew from Parkano train station. The tension that had built on my mind when arranging and planning the whole thing finally dropped off when I get to meet the rest of the crew and realized how amazing our new friends/hiking crew was. We started the engine and headed North.

Crazy people, every single one of them!


Failed hiking 30.12.-14

 

The car ride through night was quite heavy but we made it to Kilpisjärvi around 9 am. I had been checking the webcams of the Kilpisjärvi area when planning the hike. Although the sun didn't rise at all, it seemed through checking the webcams that light would appear around 9 am and disappear after 3 pm. When we arrived though, it was way darker than I would have imagined. Cloudy sky and snowfall decreased the visibility. There was no trail or snowmobile track what so ever and I sensed a feeling that it could be too hard for our unexperienced group. We waited a while in the car, but eventually decided to give it a try. After few minutes our sleds were packed and ready to go. The snow was quite hard to hike in and every now and then we stumbled into rocky areas. The one who went first had to drag his sled uphill on the soft yet deep snow, making a path for others. Our progress was slow in the dark, mountainous landscape full of short birch trees, but a bottle of liquid warmth cheered us up. After 4 hours of hiking through the dark, daytime started to turn into a truly dark night. We tried to look for a mountain tip that would work as a landmark and give a direction for our compasses in case we would end up hiking in pitch black. We went on for a while but couldn't find the crucial landmark before it got dark. The group started to fall apart and exhaustion was clearly taking its place. We stopped briefly in order to check the possible route. When looking to our hikers exhausted faces, and the fact that we had barely made one third of the total distance and had no clear direction in the darkness we decided to turn back. It was a bitter decision but the right one when thinking about the conditions. All in all I felt proud of the whole group and that we had made it so far.


New Year's Eve, The cabin 31.12.-14

 

It was another day and our will to spend New Year's Eve in the wilderness hadn't decreased one bit. The crew had got their rest. The hitch hikers both were going off days without real sleep so it was welcomed to sleep in actual beds after hard days of traveling. It was time for another try. This time we chose the destination according to the snow conditions and what we had learnt from the day before. We got a late start, but now we had the moon lighting our way. Due to the better quality of the snow, progress was much faster than the day before and soon we made it up to the tree-line (the vertical height were trees stop to grow). Hiking was incredible in the dark landscape on top of the mountains, around us only snow, stars, the moon and light wind. Such a stunning view. In front of us just plain untouched snow and behind a path of snow shoes and sleds, winter hiking at its best! 


Group photo on the way! (Northern lights glowing in the horizon.)
First northern lights of our expedition.

After few hours of walking we felt relieved when finally found the cabin. No electricity, no commodities, no nothing. But that is how we liked it. I laid my backpack on the floor and went to get some wood to start the fire stove in the corner. Settled around the table for a rest, smile appeared to our faces when we finally get the cabin heated up and our clothes to dry. It would have been tempting to take a nap after another tiresome hiking day, but the new year was coming! Party on!

Far away from civilization a party was about to get started.
Midnight run in the snow. Welcome 2015.
Late night hours in the cabin.

The year changed and our partying gave way for conventional cabin life. The days consisted mostly of keeping up the fire, chopping wood, ice-fishing, preparing the arctic charr we caught, reading books, sledding etc. Every now and then someone went to get more water from the lake. Easy livin'!

There's the cabin! Some northern lights and the halo of the moon too.
Californian on ice.
Trying our best to feed the crew.
Arctic char. Small, but after catching and smoking several we got a nice meal.
Dinner time!

After some days of cabin life it was time to hike back to the car. We woke up early in the morning, ate the last food we had left, packed the sleds, and once again we were ready to move on. The snow had gotten even more hard during our stay, which made hiking really pleasant. We conquered the mountain top fast and continued through the white scenery, reaching the car before midday.
Another long drive back south soon followed. Listening to Spanish flamenco music in the car coupled with spiritual Saame radio gave some cheerful contrast while driving the snowy roads. Super happy that the trip we had planned eventually turned out well, although at first it seemed like hiking longer distances in soft snow wouldn't work. At some moments of despair I felt like the idea of New Year's Eve in wilderness wouldn't work, but the common good spirit and motivation of the crew made each day more fun and enjoyable. I was lucky to have you all there. Hope to see you again soon! Thank you.

Richard




This is how you can spend 30 days hitch hiking all over the Europe.

Hey you!
Map. Click to enlarge!
This is a story of how one Finnish guy travelled alone to Europe, hitch hiking from Poland to Spain. It's much about hitch hiking as a way to travel but also an insight into my own experience, fears and moments of joy and happiness. I hope it has some use for you wether you are about to do a similar trip or just curious for photos. All words and photos are product of my own experience. I welcome and tolerate all comments and advices but unauthorized copycats will be send as prisoners to you-go-alone North-Siberian photography camp.

Some basic info about the trip that may interest:     
Time: 6.9. - 1.10.2014 (26 days)
Accomodation: 0 €
Travel costs: 140 €
Food: Tried to keep it cheap and healthy.
Kilometers travelled: 6500 km
of which hitch hiked: 2700 km

That's the guy. If you see him standing on the side of some road with his thumb up, please pick him up, thank you.
 Why? How I started?

In late August I checked my calendar and it seemed that I wouldn't have a lot of work, studies or other ready made plans for September. Last year when hitching to Lapland for fishing I already got some taste of hitch hiking lifestyle and since then I been fascinated when reading and listening fellow travellers and friends' experiences on hitch hiking. They were the ones who made me interested and inspired.

From the very beginning it was hard to understand how on earth they manage to travel all the different countries with such low budget and how they plan their trips in the first place? Safety? Language barriers? Loneliness? Another dozen of questions rose to my mind when I thought about worst case scenarios.

When looking towards the empty September I took some time just to play with the idea of hitch hiking. I imagined a possbile road from Helsinki to Barcelona and drew it on Google Maps. I had some old friends that I knew would be living by this blue line. I contacted them just to try out how would it be if I'd pass by in September. I was surprised by their hospitality and that cheered me up for further planning. Soon I posted the travel map to Facebook with some confident words. Actually, at this point I hadn't booked any flights nor wasn't my intention to do this travel too strong either. I continued to do some research on hitch hiking. Soon after posting the map photo to FB, I also got more invites from friends living in Europe.

It was just a week before the start of the trip when I bought the flight ticket to Gdansk, Poland. I guess this was the point I really made the decision to go. Just to say I still wasn't really sure about how the things would work out - but I got motivation. I just thought myself: "I'll go first to Gdansk and let's see what happens then."

Travel-minded

That previous thought was the first of its kind for this trip.. a kind of a travel thought. I try to explain it because I think it is really essential for understanding the mindset for hitch hiking: When you normally travel to a new place, you may not know much things, maybe just how to fulfill the basic needs. Eating, sleeping etc. I think they call it "living in the moment" or something when you go to a new place and you have your whole concentration in the present moment because everything you see is new and you don't know what kind of things you can do there or what's this or hey let's go there! Now, when hitch hiking you know even less, or possibly - nothing. That tend to disturb me from time to time but after all it was also the thing that gave me a that great "living in the moment" experience. Yes you can make plans to certain point when hitch hiking but there will come a point when you just have to let it go, accept the uncertainty and believe it will work out. I had to remind myself of this quite many times when on the road. It seems that it also played the key role in making "the last decision of taking action" the hardest part of the whole trip.

Btw. I never thought about writing anything, maybe just posting the best photos to some site, but I felt like some text would make it easier in order to get a good grip of the photos.
_________________________________________________________________________________



Let's get started!
Day 1, Finland: All gear packed, the task of the first travel day was to hitch hike from Helsinki to Turku, from where I would have my flight to Gdansk. I stood about 40 minutes at a entrance point in Ruoholahti, Helsinki before an oldish, gray haired guy going to his summer cottage, picked me up. He told me that back in the days when he was young he always wanted to do hitch hiking but he never ended up throwing up the thumb. It was quite a pity to hear, because I already enjoyed it a lot.

After an hour of driving he left me to a gasoline station, half way to Turku. I thanked for the ride and told him that I would definitely join him if he some day chose to do some hitching! He smiled shortly and drove away.


Next, I started to ask a ride from the drivers I saw at the station and got one pretty quickly. It was a Finnish couple returning from their vacation in Spain. They drove me to a place few kilometers away from the airport. As I walked to the airport, sun was setting and I felt quite happy that the first hitch hiking phase went that well.

After some time walking I reached the airport
of Turku. It was actually smaller than I thought and there was zero people. I had planned my eating in a way that I could buy food when arriving to the airport, but there was nothing. I just wandered around the place for some time and sat to eat nuts and a banana I had in my backbag. It was already late and dark so I tried to find some place to sleep. I didn't find anything propriate so I went hungry outside, to the nearby forest and pitched my tent.





Somehow I found it hard sleep in the bushes and soon came back inside. There I met an Austrian girl who had been travelling and cycling in Lapland and a Polish guy who had been on a week long trip in Turku and Helsinki. It was getting really late but since the flight would leave early in the morning we really didn't know wether we should sleep or just keep up the good conversation.

Eventually we decided to have some rest before the flight. I went to search for a place to sleep.



Day 2, Finland, Poland: After a quite hard night of sleeping in various places, from airport benches to nearby forest I found myself sitting inside the departure terminal to Gdansk, waiting for a plane to be loaded. Feeling tired, but in few minutes a well deserved rest in a not so comfortable airplane seat.
 
That wasn't exactly the case because the flight had delayed. The beutiful morning fog prevented the plane from landing and we had to wait additional three hours at the airport. No worries, I have time to enjoy my time.

I finally arrived to Gdansk. First time in Polishlandia! Right away to the nearest restaurant to beat my overgrown hunger. At the same time I said goodbye to this great Polish guy named Pawel.

The food was a relief. Never have Subway breads tasted so good!
Travel Protip: Too much time without eating and a sleepless night. Not a good combination.

Due to the flight delay I missed my ride to South, Katowice, the one I had arranged before departure to Polonia. Without wasting time I started to search for alternatives.
After few hours, exhausted, walking through buss and train stations and searching for a working wifi connection, I became too tired to continue. I desperately started to search for a couch in Gdansk. After sending a couple of last minute couch requests. I remembered my Polish friend from few years back telling me that his brother would be in Gdansk. After an hour of intensive internet café time , I was on a way to meet this Polish brother boy.


We met somewhere in the center of Gdansk and went for few beers to the old town. The part of the city, with all the night lights, full moon in the sky and people all around (on Sunday!)... and the fact that I would have an indoor place to sleep, made traveller happy.

Polish unconditional hospitality, cheap prices, beautiful old town and oh so beautiful Polish girls. That's what Gdansk is all about!










Yes, you see it right. Every drink from the list 1 €.
My friends brother, Błażej obviously knew the city like his back pockets. There were some really fascinating bars in Gdansk.

After the exhausting day of going around the center with the heavy load of mine and trying to figure out how the hell I could get to Katowice, I could finally relax and breath a bit because of this amazing Polish guy.

I wasn't even properly hitch hiking yet and I already felt how the hammer of unexpected circumstances broke my "travel plan".



 A beautiful Polish girl in deep thoughts, sitting outside the restaurant. I didn't hesitate to take a photo.












 Day 3, Poland: Another day, another try. Time to head to Katowice. Nine hours of sitting in a Polski buss. Big bag of nuts, wifi and a bottle of water are keys for this survival test. 15 euros for the ticket - I regard that as a fair price!

20 minute stop somewhere in Poland.
The 9-hour sightseeing ride through Poland was over and I was in Katowice. A bit shorther tour would have propaply made it. My Polish friends came to pick me up from the busstop. They took the hungry traveller to a well known vegetarian restaurant with some of the most delicious dishes and coloured artsy walls. As a normal ritual of getting to know a new city we went to continue our conversations to their favorite bar terace. After a short talk about the history of the city and life in Poland it was a bed time for the tired traveller.
Zloty Osiol restaurant in Katowice. Happy to share the evening with these amazing girls!
Day 4, Poland: First day started in Katowice.

A rather strange breakfast mix was made when I accidently bought kefir(piimä) instead of yougurt and mixed it with müsli and fruits. Well, let's say it could have been worse. But let me go for the main story:

Girls went to work so I had good time to go around the city taking photos of interesting people. (read: homeless people and old Polish men working) I had many interesting talks with the people I filmed. Especially a body language conversation with a Polish Greenpeace worker who spoke no English gave us both a good laugh. 

A 'welcome' sign in Finnish was hanged by the city people. They have surely been expecting some Finnish boy to arrive! It may be just my own thought, but very often I felt that there's something special in the generosity of Polish people. - like yesterday, when I asked a Polish man, whether he would know where I could buy a tram ticket. He just silently took a patch of tickets out of his pocket and gave one for me while smiling. It's easy to like this place.

While photographing all the things my eyes regarded interesting, I stumbled upon a sweet Polish girl Nika, who was spending her first day in Katowice. This open minded graphic desing student gave me her photo and a drawing she had made. We went around the city and ended up sitting on terrace drawing a common picture on her sketch book turn by turn. Result was a craze of creatures, product of one 'n anothers imagination.

 Katowice photostream:


Katowice.
These Polish fellows saw my cam and demanded for a photo. I made them happy by giving a bar of chocolate.
The graffiti capital of Poland.
It looked like Katowice was growing fast. Eerybody was busy building or repairing something.
Working hard or hardly working?
Meow!
Young love in Katowice.
This is Nika.
Later in the evening we went to see an old part of the city and to taste some Polish delicacies which were - not so suprisingly - damn good.
Here we go! Let's check what it's all about.

Here's Martyna and Edyta, my dear hostesses. They were excited to see the old town because they had never been there before.

The city is rough and gentle.
The usual - boys chasing girls.
This dog was really excited to see us. Too bad he couldn't climb down to play. He turned a bit sad when we left.
We were waiting to take buss back to the center when an artsy spider appeared!
On my last day in Katowice Martyna took me to a lake and a huge skatepark. As you may see, she likes to be photographed. a wonderful girl.
Day 7 ,Poland, Czech Republic, Austria: Time well spent in Katowice. It was time to start the real adventure of hitch hiking! I went out early in the morning, took a buss to the nearest highway entrance from where I should hitch hike south towards Czech republic. After reading some hitch hiking stories from Poland I was convinced that I would get a ride from that place in few minutes. 

Reality hit hard when after two hours I found myself still standing there, smiling to the constant flow of cars. I felt upset and desperate. It started to look like this hitch hiking journey that I had planned for a long time wasn't anything I had imagined.. Just writing a city name on a cardboard and to get a nice ride, how silly and stupid idea, why the hell they would take a total stranger into their car? As I started walking back to the city center (while hating Polish drivers) I stopped and thought, if I quit now there's no returning to this hitch hiking culture. It would be just another interrail trip through Europe.

So I thought I would go for it once more.

I saw a garbage colection point next to a worn out building. I went digging for a cardboard. Including some cardboard boxes I found a nice old leather wallet. This time I signed the cardboard piece with the name of the city right next to Katowice (Gliwice).
I went back to the road, lifted up the sign and did my "pick me up" -fake smile for the first car that was already approaching. Expecting the car to pass by, my fake smile fastly turned into a real smile of joy when I realised that the girl driving this car was about to stop the car to pick me up!

This talkative and easygoing university girl offered me a ride, and left me on a highway next to Gliwice. I picked my backbag and sticked out the cardboard I had made earlier. Third car, this time a family of Italians picked me up. It started to look like things were about to turn better. They were returning from a vacation and on a way to Venice! For a second I thought whether I should go with this nice family all the way to Venice, but I decided to hold my plan of visiting Zlín in Czech republic. Only after few minutes of thumb time, a car tuning orientated Czech guy offered me a ride to Zlín from the highway where the Italians left me. .

I got to Zlin nicely at 2pm. Before leaving Finland I had promised a guy who has a sport store in Zlin that I would come all the way from Finland to pick up one of the inflatable kayaks he was selling there. He was really surprised to see me. Thanks again Miroslav for the nice additional six kilos to my back!
The guy was thrilled that I really came to pick up the kayak!
Protip of the day: Look at the road map and think about where people might drive. Don't just assume that they are on a long Eurotrip to the place you want to go.

Edytas kitten would have liked to travel too!
Although I would have had a couch in Zlín, I continued my hitch hiking towards Graz, Austria where I would spend the weekend.

A van driving young Czech guy picked me up close to Zlín (thumb time <10 min). He took me all the way to Brno, back to the highway which I have been following earlier the same day and dropped me at a place where I hitch hiked another car going to Wien airport. I jumped off in a small village before Wien and tried another hitch hike to Graz.


While waiting for some openminded driver to pick me up I had a conversation with a local guy that came by. There was quite a lot of people on the streets and I could here some band playing a bit further. I was told that there was an annual wine festival going in the town.

After a while talking we agreed that it was too late to get a ride. Wine and music sounded a better combination afterall. So on went - to have a drink with his friends.

I gave them a buch of my animal print stickers I had made. It is always nice to give somekind of memory of yourself while travelling. These folks were hyped! They wanted me to sign the stickers too!
Such a beautiful place, an Austrian village of about 400 people, surrounded by grape fields and valleys. After some cups of grape based goods we left the brewery and headed  our own ways. I went to one of the close by grape fields and pitched my tent next to the trees.

It was quite beautiful place although all the muddy rain water collected down the field to the point where my tent was.
Day 8, Austria: After a not so well slept night at the grape field I wanted to continue my hitch hiking to Graz. It had been raining the whole night so the ground was all muddy and soft. I managed get all my stuff back into the bagback. The outer tent and some clothes had got pretty wet. I encouraged myself with the idea of a couchsurfing place in Graz where I could dry my stuff.
Driving with the Romanian brothers.

I walked to the mainroad that went pass the town and got a ride from an Austrian couple who were driving to home to Wien after buying cheap cigarettes from Czech republic. They took me all the way past the huge city so that I would be able to get an easier ride to south. They had a quite unordinary music taste for such an old age.. Psychedelic jazz n' hip hop.

After a petrol station breakfast I got a ride from an old catlover guy. Unlike Polish drivers, Austrian people seemed to have a fairly good level in English. The kitty guy dropped me close to Graz from where Romanian brothers took me to the city.


In Graz I went straight to my couchsurfing hosts place. This commun of very devoted christians took me under their care. Their life was a rather interesting thing to observe. It somehow took me back to the times when I was fifteen and was about to go to this confirmation camp thing. I wonder what was the snitch of lifes order that made them follow that path - and me to discard it. Well, that made no difference to the fact that these were apparently good people.

Day 9, Austria: I ended up staying only one full day in Graz but that was well chosen because it was the day for the citys traditional cultural festival. Lederhosen and long socks, women with their traditional robes, smiths, carpenters, wine, food, music, dancing and so on.

Graz photostream:

A whole huge crowd of Austrians.


An old woman making wool yarn. Never seen how they do this. Now I know.


That's one of the most badass dance styles I've seen. Stomping the ground, circling, jumping and shouting spontaneously.
I wonder if you can still play that thing, boy?
Let's sing: http://www.golyr.de/traditional/songtext-bozner-bergsteigermarsch-645663.html

My hostess, Gigi and her boyfriend showed me all kinds of interesting things at the festival and took me around the city.

Later we went back to my hosts place to have another "bread moment" as I called the small shared luches and dinners they had. In the evening I walked to the top of the hill in the center to take photos of the nocturnal city. It was dark but still warm and the city was continuing the feast.

That's Graz!
In the search of cool places.
Young love in Graz too.

Me and my great hosts. Too bad we couldn't get a photo with the whole group.



First time in Austria and I have to say I really liked it. It was also very much as I thought (mainly because of the festival), lederhosen, the traditional costumes etc. mountains,  and good availability of locally produced goods - not to forget the beautiful small villages and their people.


Day 10, Austria, Italy:
Leaving Graz wasn't as easy as I had thought. This I mean by fysically. I wanted to make my way to the highway early in the morning so I could make it to Venice nicely before the day turns to night.

The buss connection that my dear hosts had planned had changed and ended up somewhere far from the highway, to a place where no one seemed to speak English.
I asked way from one Austrian man but his style of shouting with a big loud voice, eyes wide open and hands swinging to random directions only made me amused. Finally he also exploded to a great man-like laughter when I showed him an Italian flag I had painted and venice sign made out of cardboard.

I got a message from my hosts, with a new plan of how to get to the highway. So I left the guy with his friend who had come to share the joy of helping in this unheard manner.

The way to the highway which originally should have taken only 40 minutes had turned into three hours when, after walking through numerous of tunnels and urban areas I made my way to the highway connection point.

When hitch hiking from Graz I did the common mistake and tried to catch a too big fish - to get one ride all the way to Venice. I stood with my sign in hope that some gold-heart Italian would pick me up. Even the Italian flag I painted with crayons didn't seem to impress enough.

Well, without results, after an hour I walked to a close by gasoline station to get something to eat. I asked them a new cardboard and wrote the name of the city that would be on my way next. I walked back to the point and got a ride after 15 minutes of thumb time from two Austrian guys. These travel-minded lads were coming from a helicopter pilot school. They gave me some tips on hitch hiking to Venice.

They dropped me to a highway connection point in Klagenfurt from where I got ride to Villach, place with some of the most amazing landscapes I've seen, a window for German and Austrian people to Italy.
The act of hitch hiking.
I walked around the quite empty highway station in Villach, asking people whether they were going to Italy. Some of them weren't although they clearly were on the side of the motorway where you cannot go any other place than Italy!

I would have prefered them just saying: "We don't want to take strangers to our car." That I would have perfectly understood, I wouldn't rise against, it's your car and meeting a stranger scares many people, some people are even too scared to admit they'r scared and rather lie than show their scare.

Finally, I got a ride from an Estonian couple from Pärnu. First they just automatically said no no no when I asked a ride in English. When noticing they were Estonian I started to talk in Finnish and after changing few words the viru couple thought that maybe this neighbour travel boy could be taken to Italy.

There wasn't too much traffic and I feared a bit that the place could have been a trap but actually the Estonian ride turned out to be a diamond because they were also going to Padova, a city next to Venice, the exact same place where I would stay the next days.


Speeding through the higways with this Estonian couple, while a Finnish car driving ahead of us, gave me some distant feelings of home! It was a long ride with the Estonians. After three to four hours of constant driving we were finally in Padova.

Buongiorno Italy!

Meeting my friend Yuri and straight to get a grip of the local dining culture.

A polaroid photo, that Yuris friend took of us.
Day 11, Italy:  First day at my friends house in this little village called Grisignano di Zocco.
First time during the trip, a real sunny day! Morning in this village started with a vespa ride tour. I listened amazed how my friend, a history enthousiast told all kinds of stories and details about Italian political history. I wish I could have contributed with similar knowledge of Finnish system. Later in the evening we went to the city center of Padova to meet his student friends.

I surely got my timing right because the Italians living in the village were also having a late summer festival week. Of course we toke a part.


Good morning people!
Hanging out with Notturni siblings at the Grisignanos late summer festival.
 Day 12, Italy: The second day we went to Orto Botanico di Padova, world oldest botanical garden. Flipped by all the weird and beautiful plants there exist!

Tomorrow morning, to the city on water! to Venice!

I'm super grateful for Yuri, her sister and mother for having me in their house. Thank you for all the authentic Italian vibes and great hospitality!

Some photos from another Vespa tour.

Vespa riding Italian style.
This picture smells like warm summer evening in Italian countryside.


After all the cities and highways the village was the place to be.


Cavallo.
Party on folks!

Day 13, Italy: I arrived to Venice, Italy.
First impression: beautiful city full of gummy head yankees and asian people.
Protip italiano: I would recommend visiting Venice on 19th century or going back to smaller villages for an authentic experience.

There you have it. I refuse taking more photos of the building. You can search them in Google.
My Finnish friend Jenni hosted me in Venice, that magnificent city of canals.
Alta Acqua Libreria - an old book shop. Any book you desire, I bet they have it, in some pile...
My hostess, smily Jenni is doing her exchange studies in Venice. As a kind girl she took me all around Venice - to Erasmus parties, street cafés, Italian dinner and to a sunday brunch. Pizza, icecream and wine tasting - check!
Protip italiano 2: if you want to enjoy the beautiful buildings, silence of the empty streets and aren't afraid of rats, I recommend Venice by night. Prepare to walk a lot.

On my last day in Venice me and Jenni went to have a breakfast with her friends. This cat was hanging in their backyard.


























Day 15, Italy: It was time to leave Venice and head back to Padova where I planned to stay one night more before leaving to Toulouse. My Italian friend Federico had arranged me a place at his friends house.

So I took a train to to Padova. After picking my seat in the train the conductor came to me and asked for a ticket to be checked. Of course I had a ticket, if you travel in an Italian train with decent prices (unlike in Finland), I suggest to have one. Despite me having the ticket the conductor didn't seem happy. He said I should had put it to a some machine to get it stamped before using. I said that no one had adviced me to do that when buying the billete. He asked me to pay 30 euros extra, but after convincing him multiple times that I have no money left (for him) he said I could stamp the piece of paper at the next stop. Yay!

Me, Ilaria and Federico
This conductor fellow was pretty nice, a lot of people here seem to hate their jobs. I guess they are just dissapointed because of the long work days, a shitty salary and the corrupted Italian system. Italy wake up, stop crying and do something!

In Padova I was welcomed by a group of four girls, one guy, a dog and a cat. This lovely gang gave me one of their rooms to sleep in.

It was Saturday so they wanted to introduce me to the local night life scene. I was taken to a club where epileptic lights were served in addition to drum n' bass music. After an hour of trance dance my energy levels had gone too low and soon after we went back to casa.






Day 16, Italy: I have to admit I been feeling a bit exhausted during the past days. It must be because of the quite heavy inflatable kayak I bought. (Or just too much partying and late night hours) I had prepared my backbag in a way that it would fit and not weight too much, but in reality, if you add 7 kilograms to a 15 kilogram backbag, what do you get? Sweat, pain and a frickin' heavy load to carry. Tested and proved.

Because of the lack of power I counted the days left and it seemed like another 1100 km hitch hiking could take too much nerves and time to be accomplished. Also the road to west with all the big cities and connections seemed too complicated.

I searched some flights and found a quite easy and cheap one that could take me from Venice to Toulouse on 23rd 14.30. That way I would have two more days to spend in the sweet city of Padova and didn't have to worry about the feeling of insecurity that started to creep on me when thinking about the hitch hike that would start next morning.

In order to feel a bit more secure about the rest of the trip I bought the flight - now I had two whole days more to spend in Padova.

Right after buying the flight I felt a bit sad because the pre-planned hitch hiking route which I really enjoyed travelling, with all the adventure and rollercoaster of emotions it brings, would stay undone.
I comforted myself thinking that I wouldn't have enough time to visit my sister without the taking the flight.

Today I went around Padova by foot. Neighbour kids threw me some pomegranates. When reaching the city I was surprised by a traditional street festival and a huge crowd of people. I had nice time talking with a group of artists who had arranged an art exposition in the city center. Later in the evening local band played funky jazz music in the main square and a huge lightshow took place on the opposite wall. Watching the work of art projected on the ancient old wall of Piazza del Signori in company with the lead singer of the local band, staying two days more in Padova didn't seem that bad idea after all.

Now, I serve you a photostream of Padova:
I went outside quite early in the morning. Neighbours cat was still sleeping on the warm asphalt.
Well hello there!
Streets of Padova.
A bit more cats because they were all around.
There something to think about for you.
Those are very man-like vehicles.
 Oh how I wish it would be summer.


Day 17, Italy, France: Good morning! One day left before my flight to Toulouse. Oh wait, a message from AirFrance: "Your flight from Venice to Toulouse has been cancelled." Damn. Yes.. there was some kind of strike at AirFrance.

Despite hearing this unexpected piece of news I didn't feel worried. Actually I couldn't mind the less. Just as an instinct I started to pack my bagback for the road. I was ready to go in 30 minutes. I checked some last minute hitchike advices from hitchwiki and started walking to the highway station from where I could possibly get a ride to west. Unfortunately, I had not much time to say goodbye to my dear hosts. (So if you girls are read this: again, the biggest thanks for having me there!) The flight cancellation really gave an obligated rush of will and motivation to continue hitch hiking. Now my mind was set as if taking my own track of hitch hiking would be the only method to do this journey. The few bagback free days also helped my muscles to recover from the stress and to gain the full energy. I felt like a young boy again.

20 minute walk, 10 min in a buss and 20 min walk and I reached the highway station. I didn't hesitate but started to ask the truck drivers whether they would be going to west. Polish, Austrian, Romanian or Italian - I used my language skills accordingly. None of the trucks wasn't leaving soon or to a right direction. Soon after I manage to find an Italian couple who would take me to Genova. They were both working with handicapped people and had quite a passion and knowledge on Italian olive and wine industry. I listened concentrated. Now when thinking, it was a really good ride since I got past the big cities and the hardest highway connections.

I was left to a highwaystation before Genova. I went around the station for an hour almost, but finally found another Italian couple who were coming from the same little village next to Padova that I visited last week. Because of the spanish register plate I first talked them in spanish but it turned out that they were driving this spanish camper van to the their friends place in Spain.

After wondering for a while how this Finnish boy had ended up to this highway station they welcomed me to their van. They served me self-made grape cake, tea and appricot juice. These were apparently very good people. After few hours of driving we had a common dinner. As a dessert I offered them chocolate biscuits that I had bought from the gasoline station before jumping in the van.
Having a dinner with the Italians.
When we get to France they wanted to drive the small road instead of the highways which in France are really expensive: 2,5 euros/ 10 kilometers. It was already dark and I already felt like closing my eyes and leaning against the huge pillow they gave me, but I couldn't help looking out the window every now and then to see the shimmering lights of the small French villages built next to the seashore.

The day soon turned to night, so they said that we could drive as long as we feel tired and then stop at some place to sleep. At midnight we stopped close to Cannes, France and they made me a sleeping place to the front part of the car. I felt really lucky to get to know them. Though many years older than me I felt very like-minded with them.

Day 18, France:  6.00, Woke up in the middle of French country side, prepared the van, had morning coffee and continued travelling. Morning sunrise, eating a croissant, driving through the small French country side roads and villages... horses, wine farms, small rivers, aqueducts (these huge old things made for water transport) one word: Formidable!
Sometimes you can find really interesting things,
 all it takes is to go a bit off road.

 I definitely like this Italian couple and France, but there's just one thing: If we drive 60 km/h and stop every hour for a half an hour coffee pause I won't get to Toulouse today.





They also wanted to visit some old church in Aix-en Provence and asked whether I would join them. I kindly rejected their offer and said that I would like to get early to Toulouse. They wanted to drive me to a highway entrance point from where it would be easier for me to continue.

I said goodbye to this wonderful Italian couple who had treated me as if I was their own son. I hope to meet these people somewhere in the future.

Right after jumping off the van I went to a truck driver who was fixing his cargo next to the entrance point: "Est-ce que vous allez vers Toulouse?" From what he said then I understood that he was going to Nimes and I could hop in. Nice! First truck hitch hike! Trés bien! I also get to refresh my French skills with this trucker.

He dropped me to close to Nimes from where a half Italian half French family picked me up and drove to Montpellier. Then I wrote a hitching sign with Toulouse on it and a Colombian guy picked me up. A really nice and relaxed fellow. He was going home, close to Toulouse. We talked quite a lot about snow sports since he was also into snowboarding. I said that I could possibly step by his work place the next spring- a skiresort in Pyrenees. We swapped our contact information and he dropped me at the outskirts of Toulouse from where I took a train to the center.
We(Me and the Colombian) stopped to see that old castle in the background. I got excited and thought about flying there.


Oh boy how good it felt to see my sister! Now, it's Toulouse until Saturday! I actually arrived at the exact same time that I would have by taking the plane.

The one and only, my magnificent big sister.
Happy that there was the strike, happy that I did go by hitching, happy that it went well - actually better and faster than I would have expected. It turned out again that there's a big bunch of good people driving around this multicoloured ball.

Day 19 & 20, France:
I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my sister since I wouldn't see her for some time after leaving. That meant going to all the Erasmus student meetings and parties too. I won't go too much in detail here.

Day 21, France: My sister went to university so I thought it would be good time to do a small kayaking adventure. I packed my kayak, took a metro outside the city center and found my way to the Garonne river that flows down, through the city of Toulouse.

I inflated the kayak and started to paddle down the river. Fun, fun, fun! A lot of people jogging with their dogs and spending their day next to the river bank. I just sat down, let it float and enjoyed the sunny weather.
After few hours I arrived to the city area. Paddling in the center wasn't that easy since there was a lot places where I had to carry the boat.
It was time to get on water and try out the kayak that I've been so eagerly carrying.
Kayaking down Garonne river.
I didn't come down that drop, If you'r wondering...
After the hard day of paddling - a well deserved rest.

Some photos that I took one evening in Toulouse:

Somehow this photo makes me want to sit outside on a summer day, grab a cold beer and watch a sunset.
My sisters right hand.
And the girl herself.
La Garonne

Run Louis, run!
It was my second time in France, so I kind of knew what to expect. The fact that we were both tourists in the city made the days feel more like being on a normal vacation. Anyhow, I enjoyed every single second of it.

Merci Toulouse, merci la France,

Day 22, France; Spain:
Last day of hitch hiking. I woke up quite early in the morning and toke a metro towards a highway entrance point to Barcelona. While making my way through the bushes and highway connections I saw two guys hitch hiking. I went to talk to them. They were on their way to Montpellier, the place from where I came to Toulouse. It seemed that they weren't as excited as I, when seeing other hitch hikers so I continued walking.

Easy ride!
When I finally got to the entrance point I saw the other guy standing there with his thumb up. I tried to shout and ask how did he get there before me? But at the same time a car stopped and he went to talk to them. I went to search my place but soon I heard the guy shouting; "Hey Finnish boy! There's a ride for you to Spain!" A French couple driving to Figueras picked me up. Thanks for the guy for doing the hitching work for me! Merci! Thumb time zero.

I put my backbag in the trunck and just when we were about to leave I saw the French guy sticking his head out of a window of one car driving by and shouting: "Bon voyage!"

Looks like we both got lucky.

The French couple drove me all the way to Figueras, Spain. For a short moment I thought about staying on the French side and hitch hiking straight to Barcelona from there but after all I decided to go all the way to Figueras, the home town of Salvador Dali.

Francais people dropped me to a highway entrance point. I had drawn a sign for Barcelona already and so I went straight to hitching. It was quite hot out there. Feeling the sweat drawning down my back I smiled for the people coming to the entrance the cardboard held up high. Many people weren't apparently going to Barcelona.

After half an hour a highway entrance worker came by and told me to stop hitch hiking on the highway. "Esta prohibido!" He told me I could hitch hike on the regional road but not here. Now I know why so many people were swinging me their finger while trying to catch a ride. Sorry!

I went to the regional road which goes to Girona and Barcelona and started again. It was almost 40 minutes of standing under the burning sunlight before an older woman offered me a 20 km ride towards Girona. Well, after driving for 5 minutes she turned to a smaller road and I realised she wasn't really going to a right place so I asked to stop and jumped off. I went back to the regional road and after 30 minutes of thumb time a columbian couple came by. They said that they could take me to Girona. I jumped in, and on we went. This was definitely the most formula-minded driver I've met during my trip. I mean, he went really fast. Well, since I'm writing here you know that everything went fine but I was getting worried at times.

High five Jim!
After the latin road race these Colombianos dropped me to a roundabout in Girona where drivers turn to a highway entrance area. There I saw Jim, a French guy hitch hiking to Toulouse. He had been in Barcelona for some days and now returning home. A really nice and humble fellow.
Hitch hiking to Barcelona, a roundabout is usually a good place to get a ride
We talked for a while and gave tips for one and another. There was a lot of cars going by but none of them showed interest to neither one of us. While waiting I drew a hitch hiking sign that said "SMILE!". I thought that this last hitch hike should be done with something more than a convenient sign. So every time when people showed their sad face to my Barcelona sign I lifted up the cardboard of smile. I got many funny reactions!

After standing 40 minutes next to Jim close the roindabout I decided to try to hitch hike next to the highway entrance where people significantly slow down. Although another 40 minutes passed, I forced myself to stand there, smiling to the never ending stream of cars. After another 40 minutes I was still there, waiting for someone to give me 120 km ride to Barcelona. Jim was also still standing there, bit further away. It would be the last hitch ride of the trip so I gave my best effort. Maybe the next one or next? That one maybe? No..

After the whole long wait a catalan woman finally stopped and picked me up. It turned out that she owns a company that makes nets for marine biologists. Out of all the hounreds of cars that had passed me it was quite a coincidence that it was a person from the same field of interest who picked me up finally. It was great fun to talk with her about marine ecology and catalonian politics as it's always quite a hot topic here.

When approaching Barelona, the city of molt bé or what ever name you want to give to this fine piece of architecture and relaxed lifestyle, I had bunch good of vibes rushing in: excitement, joy, feeling of home, relief, old good memories and so on. It's been two years since I've been here! Of couse it's still the same city as before but to experience it the same way than before... It couldn't be done without my dear friends and their presence like back in 2012(used to study there).
Tinc hambre.

Enough with golden memories. Right after the sweet catalonian lady dropped me close to the center I went to have a super lunch in one of my favorite restaurants in Bcn. Food equals life.










Barcelona time meant also a time to meet friends. I spent the first night at my Finnish friends hostel room. I had arranged my arrive to Bcn in a way that I could take them around the city and show places. Although the catalan weather god had created a lot of dark clouds and rain to spice up the weather forecast of this usually extremely sunny city, we managed to experience the essential Bcn underground places and avoid the worst tourist traps. Molt bé fellas!
Trying my best to keep these guys out of trouble!
Day 23: The next days I'll be staying with Ainara, a sweet bask girl who's interested in waves and surfing big time! She's also a pretty creative chica and likes to skate. We skated on the house floor when it rained and went outside when it dried.

A wild hat swap selfie with Ainara!
Learning to ride waves at Barceloneta beach, A big wave gave me a nice dash of speed and a wide smile.
On my last day in Barcelona, the Finnish boy crew went to the Barceloneta beach. I packed my kayak with me so I could try it out on the breaking waves. When we arrived the waves were quite enormous and I couldn't take the inflated boat to water without getting all my clothes wet. The waves kept splashing to the shore so I thought about starting from another place. I finally get on water but I couldn't reach too many waves before the sea calmed and wall of dark clouds reached the shore. There was a lot of surfers in the water too. Somehow the dirty water and the dead rats floating on the surface didn't inspire me to dive in.

Day 26, Spain, Finland:
 It was time to end this trip and fly back to Finland. Leaving such a great city as Barcelona is never easy. Adios amigos!

Time to wrap up my track. What did I learn and what do I know now?
The whole trip gave me more abilities to look at things in a very new perspective. It's like, if I managed to do all that by myself, succeeding to arrive to Barcelona in time, getting through also the hard hitching days and so on. What couldn't I do? What would be the next big thing? Is there something I wouldn't try just because I'm in the fear of failure or having some other irrational fear?

The hardest part was really the decision to go. When I finally got out there it was just about day by day living, because when hitch hiking you don't have any other choice. You either worry about the coming days, mind overwhelmed by the feeling of insecurity or try to enjoy the time you spend on road. After seeing and doing this hitching thing that was bugging my head for a long time I'm now more convinced to search for new challenges. I still catch myself unconsciously searching for excessive feeling of security, but I hope that I'd had learnt something to apply in future events. It is rewarding to see that things work out if you believe they do and have courage and motivation to try. I hope there's now at least few inspired people eager to go see their comfort zone limit and take a hop on the other side, that would give me a great pleasure.

All the best,

Riku

Life well spent, not by searching the comfortness or by taking the easiest way out - but jumping into the stream of unknow adventure.