Hitchhiking trips:

Hungarian Trucker

Didn't talk much due to the language barrier, took me to gas a station near Tatabanya. Enjoyed some fine Hungarian rock n'roll. Fairly short wait, so a great start to my trip!

Two Hungarians (who didn't know each other)

Asked the guy (driver) while getting gas in broken Hungarian and he replied in fluent English. Was happy to take me to Budapest. There was girl in the car and I'd assumed they were a couple. We talked in German and she worked in Austria as a pathologist. I was quite fascinated by that line of work so we had a really interesting conversation about her job, while the guy said… (read on in Trip)

Racer X, Ukrainian version

Drove fairly fast and furious on a wet road. Not the safest ride. Took us right to the border crossing.

Cool doctor

Really nice guy who saw us at the crossing and pulled over faster than I could extend my thumb. He was a doctor and told us about how no one in Transnistria actually pays taxes. Wanted to immigrate to the US, which I tried to persuade him not to do. Spoke somewhat decent English. Also told us that the local militsya has only recently been hiring women. Drove us exactly to our… (read on in Trip)

Veteran hitchhiker

Really cool guy from Chisinau. Used to hitchhike himself a lot and spent virtually every summer with his wife in Turkey. Had a lot of really cool stories and told us a lot about Moldova. Also took us to a great wine shop and bought us 3 bottles! Drove us through the town to our exact destination. Great guy!

Guy in a Swiss car

Nice Slovak guy in a car with a Swiss license place. We had a really interesting conversation about his life in Switzerland. He was on his way back to Switzerland after dropping off his kids at the grandparents' in Eastern Slovakia. He was actually driving via Martin, but had to visit some friends in Presov, so dropped me off there. Neat guy.

Car delivery guy

Older retired guy, who delivered various cars for a car salon as a side job. Had an interesting conversation about his life – he'd worked most of it at a farm (kolkhoz). Drove me to Levoca.

Strange family

It was a somewhat shady family in a nice new Audi. There was an odd (somewhat gangstery looking) middle aged guy, a guy approximately my age and a little boy. I asked the driver (my age) for a lift expecting a straight "no", but the guy said yes without hesitating. It turned out they were returning back home (Zilina) from Eastern Slovakia, where they'd bought a puppy. Talked a… (read on in Trip)