Hitch hike stage 2

After the ease with which I had departed Karlsruhe, it was in high spirits that I set off from Frankfurt. I had enjoyed a leisurely breakfast followed by a spot of relaxing chatter with my hosts before embarking at around 2 that afternoon. Little did I realise that Frankfurt just wasn't nearly so cool as Karlsruhe...

Ok, so one minute was my record from the previous day. Now to beat it! My phone had just flicked over to 2:04pm when I reached my starting destination at a nearby bus stop (located via google maps) and as I placed my bag down next to me and unlatched my sign, I prepared for another quick exit. Now let's see what happens...

1^st hour: The day began well. Waves, toots and smiles galore.

2^nd Hour: By now the bus drivers, who follow a continuous route through the city and so are passing me each half hour, have begun to laugh along with me at my humourless fate.

3^rd HOur: The local police force, whose building I am standing next too, have also now begun to support my efforts each time they pass on their rounds. But my biggest support of the day was definitely the locals who had begun to approach me. Questioning where I was headed and why I was not taking a train they mostly wished me luck. A few tried to flag down cars for me and there was also one local pedestrian user who questioned me for 15 minutes straight about why birds could fly but he could not?

4^th HOUr: I am now told that there is no city Bonn in Germany and that I must mean Bornheim and that as such I am heading in the wrong direction. Huh? Scared for a few moments, I hit up a few locals and am soon assured the old capital of Germany is still located somewhere up this road of mine. More people are approcahing with wishes of luck and my bag is beginning to overflow with the stuff! I have also kept up moral with constant snacking on dried peanuts, sultanas, bread rolls and a green green pear. The iPod also came into play when moral began to ebb...

5^th HOUR: Music is my spinach. From a lifeless and somewhat prostrate (though still shivering) figure hunched over in the gutter, clutching at a wrinkled sheet flapping lazily in the breeze, I have been transformed into SMILE-O-MAN! Dooon dooon dooon! With laughs beginning to flow again, the drivers began to get back into it as well. They wave (I am not the queen), and shrug (Yes, I too do not understand why it is that your empty king size car with only you at the wheel and a number plate telling me you are from Bonn cannot fit me in either), toot (I am not supporting anything and so by tooting, neither are you) and smile (unless you are an extremely hot girl smiling is not really helping me reach my destination any faster), yell things out the window (contrary to popular belief, it is actually kind of hard to hear what you yell out as you whizz past me at over 100km/hr and if what I think I heard - you telling me to jump -was correct, I think I'll take the next offer but thanks all the same) and some just simply ignore me (Now as a hitch hiker, let me let you in on a few of our secrets. Firstly, yes, we know you know we know you know we are there. Secondly, no, ignoring us does not make us go away. What it does do however is tell us that you will not be getting any presents from Santa this year. And lastly, as you pass by without stopping, know that your plate number is being recorded so that we can make fake reports to the police about it and have your selfish arse arrested for dangerous driving (o:

6^th HOUR!: WTF?!??! 6 hours! Six hours! S.I.X. hours! Ess, eye, ex friggin hours! One quarter of a day! The time it took for an entire war to begin and finish back in 1823. Newton discovered gravity, Einstein discovered relativity and Rutherford split the atom in less time than it has taken me to get picked up! Shame on you Frankfurt. Shame!

7^th HOUR!!: WTF?!??! 7 hors! Seven hours! S.E.V.E.N hours! Ess, ee, hahah, nah. I got picked up after maybe 6 hours 20 minutes or so. I didn't even notice the car pull over. I was cold, saddened by the lack of niceness shown by the people of Frankfurt and did I mention cold? The driver had to actually yell out to get my attention but when they did... wow! Hug and smiles and laughter and party poppers going off all over the place! Some locals even cheered me off and I like to think the bus drivers and cops were given an extra smile for the day when they found me gone when they passed by on their next circuit.

Great finish too. Lovely lady and her brother who explained the sights of the countryside as we passed and invited me out to tour Bonn with the next day if I liked. For the last 6 hours I had kept telling myself that all I needed was one nice person. Just one. And in a way the 6 hrs was good for me as I will now never give up. Good things come to those who wait and wait I can. If I have learnt anything through travel, it has been patience. This and that you get a reeeeally sore arm after 6 hours of holding up a sign...

Berserk in the Antarctic

Another great stay with some more great couch surfing hosts. Diana and Daniel even gave me my own room! We passed the time eating pizza and talking and I must say that the highlight of the night for me was watching a movie called 'Berserk in the Antarctic'. Changed my life. Perhaps? Yet to be seen. But here is what it was...

One guy's dream and the usual story. His dream met with mocking looks of disdain. Surrounded by a society full of strangers and friends telling him his idea was foolish, he found himself faced with people telling him to get back in touch with reality. Calling his dream impossible. Telling him his idea was crazy.

Crazy? His reply to them was that working 9-5 each day and merely dreaming “crazy” things was crazy. To follow a dream was not crazy. To follow a dream is to live. So he followed his dream. He went berserk in the Antarctic...

Story: Walking beach side he found himself faced with the wreck of a sailboat. It allowed him to dream. Awakened in him a long held desire. Gave him new focus. Then and there he decided that he would sail. It was cold in Norway and so he would sail somewhere warm. Chase the warmth. Chase his dream. And so he began to restore the boat and learn to sail. Teaching himself as he went. And then he set off for South America. And as the title tells, then on to the Antarctic.

He had a dream. He didn't let anyone tell him otherwise. He wanted it, he chased it, he did it.

We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz.

I didn't want to leave. The scowling gray sky dominated the horizon and really, it didn't feel a day to be doing anything. It was one of those days. A day where you switch on the telly, switch off your brain, sink back into the couch and slowly enter a form of mild vegetativeness. It was just one of those days. The type which helps keep Oprah Winfrey on the air, the dishes piling up in the sink and your once pristine lawn converting back into jungle. One of those days.

And being one of those days, my 9am start was just a never in the running. Instead, I was mildly surprised to find myself setting off at what I consider a quite respectable 1pm. A twenty minute street side walk brought me to the Frankfurt au Main autobahn off ramp and I soon found myself located on a grassy verge with my handy new sign ready for trialling. Sheet out and thumb up for an instant as a small truck crawled into view and then my head was back in my bag searching for my cell phone so I could time how long I waited for. Now where had I put it...?

TOOOOT! Grinning face pressed up against the glass pane window indicated I was in luck! My trusty signs first 20 seconds had gone well. Simply put, I am irresistible, haah. The driver was returning from Karlsruhe where he worked as an events organiser. On learning I was a kiwi, his face lit up as the stories of his times in New Zealand unfolded and I soon learned I was on track for a lift the whole way with this guy. AND he came with free coffee and chocolate! He has also offered his house as a place to stay when I visit northern Germany. Cool.

He dropped me at the train station from where I could catch a lift to the house I was surfing at and yeah, that easy. Hitching in Germany? No sweat!

Alex's flat

Now in karlsruhe. great night couch suring at Alex's flat. Sat around, planning to go out, drank a few beers and never went anywhere. perfect way to recover from work.

Now we just finished breaky and will head off to the autobahn in 2o mins and i will start my hitch to Holland. today i aim to reach Frankfurt.

And i have made a sign to hitch with by writing it on an old pillow case. waaaay better than cardboard. u can wrap it up and put it in your pocket or bag, you can write heaps of names on it (I'll add a pic to explain) and it can be re-used etc etc. I reckon it's an awesome idea. need to get others in on it... (o:

I catch a train in 2 hrs to Karlsruhe. There I will couch surf for one night before departing early next morning for Frankfurt mein; hitch hiking. There I stay another night couch surfing and then I will hitch up to Holland to meet Jo at a friends house; Sjoerds. He's the Dutch guy we travelled with for a bit back in our first month in Thailand. And he might even have a motorbike...

From a few nights ago...

We went out lat night in Landau. I have drunk all of three alcoholic beverages in the last month and a half and so we were to play it careful. Two of those drinks were banana beers too. Quite nice. Had them the other night when Steffen took us out for dinner. Rump steak. Cooked to perfection. Mmmmmmm. It was at The Green. He always goes there as the waitresses are worth the trip alone! B-U-T-Full!

Anyway, so we bought 6 beers each. 0.5ml bottles, 3L all up and they cost us all of $3 NZ. And if you return the bottles you get money back! Crazy.

Drinking started during work. A few sneaky's as I painted. Steffen kept asking why I was laughing but what could I say? Then another one in the bath (great!) and then another 3 drinking with Jo and two of the girls from the flat below us.

Then we hit town. First a bar to grab a snakebite for the girls to try and then on to a club. We went to The Lemon (the old Green) and wow! Do u have to be hot to serve drinks is this place too? Cool.

But they didn't serve SB's and so we had a lollie water the girls got us and then a beer of some sorts. I asked the waitress to surprise me (in German) and so I'm not sure of the type.

We then headed off to an Irish bar, still searching for the ellusive SB. First bar was closed, or not serving and so we headed off again to another one. But only Jo and I as the girls reckoned the bar would be closed. So off we walked, found the bar, were told we wouldn't be served and then next moment, just after I has suggested we head off, we found two drinks sitting in front of us.

Snakebites? Maybe, but they were pretty terrible. and the guy actually asked for a big tip for serving us so late! not sure if Jo did or not, it was his round. we ended up sitting there chatting till 3am and then when we stopped at one stage to look around we realised we were the only two still there and the bar staff told us they closed at 2am so if we had finished our drinks...

So yesterday should have been my last day working here in Landau. but I got lazy, finished early, and am in no rush now the finish is in sight anyway seeing as I am still floating as to where to go next and so i will finish instead today. just have to insulate some pipes. then I plan to head to Karlsruhe for a day or two and then hitch north to meet Jo somewhere. I had thought travelling together was over but perhaps not. maybe i was too rash. plus i seem to have ditched the car trip idea. kind of. it goes through countries which would no doubt be fun but why? what do i want to achieve? instead i will focus on surf and sail. but first to finish iup here. oh a what a joyous accasion it shall be!

oh and we might climb for a few weeks here again beginning of May with Steffen. then after that I will surf and Jo will climb some more...

imagine if you awoke tomorrow to find yourself in a straight jacket. returned to 'sanity'...

All by myself...

They were dark times indeed. My faithful travel companion had once more left me; this time in a strange new land where the sun never rises and the people all speak in a foreign tongue that leaves much to the imagination.

I had been abandoned (joking Jo) in a house where the last owner had passed away in mysterious cicumstances (she died. you don't think death is mysetrious?!). Weird noises from the celler echo ominously throughout the house each night as I lie curled upon a mattress on the floor; crucifix at the ready as a weak form of protection (found it here with the old grannies stuff). A soul still present? (More probably sounds from the water pipes I still haven't got around to insulating).

I work alone (everyone else was smart enough to move on already), in my rags (borrowed Steffen's clothes to save my own) for long hours each day (I'm still managing a healthy 10 or so each day). Slaving away with no finish in sight (actually, it looks like I'll be done in 3 days!) and no one to confide in. Save that is for a crazy, pale faced boy, who is as much fun to talk to as a packet of soggy potato chips, a hippy girl who but momentarily joins us here on earth for brief instances of environmentally enlightening epiphanies and a ponsy petty prat of a girl who has yet to move in as the floor wasn't clean enough (seriously!).

The boss gone, I find myself talking to myself a lot. Not crazy talk, actually quite revealing, but i think a sign of loneliness and a sign of a time to move on. I have also taken to binge eating. I usually eat a lot but now I positively gorge myself! I am going through a kilo of muesli every 2 days, an 800g tin of meal for every lunch with rice or pasta added and the usual assortment of fruit, bread and so on in between.

But the money is good and though I question almost daily why I am letting life passs me by right now, i remind myself that soon it will end and then i can travel once more. To surf, to sail and to live!

All roads lead to Rome

My blog has really taken a turn for the worst since I arrived in Europe it seems. To myself at least. I am just using up breathes but achieving little. Except of course the money earning portion which was well worth it. But now I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do...

Should I join the 6 month road trip around Europe on offer?
Should I go travel with this CS girl in Bulgaria?
Should I join a road trip to Turkey with a friend from CS?
Should I go back to Laos, work in a bar and enjoy the relaxing lifestyle that is Vang Viang?
Should I move on to Sth America and head into the world of adventure once more?
Should I visit, as i wanted, Poland, Ireland, Scotland and Spain?
Should I go to TT on the Isle of Mann and see Pierre again?
Should I head back to India and travel down and back into SE Asia?

Where is life taking me? In two weeks it will be somewhere in any case...

Anger

To be on a constant high like the Dalai Lama, a high often sought using elicit drugs by those seeking to join him, is maybe the best way to live. To be always happy.

But to be angry can be fun too. Being pissed off for no reason other than being pissed off. Feeling the anger surge through your body. You can feel the power it brings. It burns through you like molten lava. A shot of raw spirit right to the soul. The sheer power of it. Impressive.

But it burns others, not just yourself I guess. Like happiness, the feeling is spread to those who see it.

Oh, and the Kowhai tree. It means 'yellow tree' yeah? Wow, that's an original name for a tree...