Hitchhiking trips:

Sorta gangster-looking guy in a Mercedes

Tirana — highway

Literally no waiting time

As soon as I arrived at the highway heading to Kosovo, I walked 5 minutes to what looked like a good spot, just ahead of where a few taxis were stopped. A van stopped near the taxis saw me start to hitch and backed up to me — at first I thought it was a taxi trying to pester me, but it turns out it was a freight driver who was offering me a free! Another traveler saw us and… (read on in Trip)

Another waitless ride

We waited for all of 2 minutes outside Kukes before a car came by and offered us a ride to the highway exit outside of Prizren. Turned out the driver had worked somehow trafficking cars in Germany, and he didn't have a work visa, so he had to come back every 90 days. Questionably legal, probably. Anyway, ended up taking us straight into Prizren a short walk away from a hostel.

Cosmetic sales manager with Physics degree

Really nice guy took me to Erseke. Talked a lot about prospects of living in Albania. Turned out he was recently married — both of them worked and make just enough to live on their own and save a bit each month.

When we arrived we countinued the conversation over coffee. For some reason it was very difficult to convince him that I would continue hitchhiking from there,… (read on in Trip)

Elderly French couple

After two hours of waiting while reading and casually eating persimmons, eventually a French couple stopped. They didn't know how far they would be going, but I didn't care. They ended up taking me all the way to Permet. Not super talkative, but once I told them I was a student and we talked for a bit they opened up a bit — probably thought I was more of the vagabond type.

Kalcyre

Took me to Kalcyre

Super hospitable guy takes me to Pogradec

Bought me coffee, took me all the way there even though he was only going partially around the lake.

Enthusiastic elderly couple takes me to Korce

Turned out both of their children live in France working as an Engineer and a Doctor.

Crazy facist Serb buys me awesome meal

Waited in a shitty area of southern Belgrade for about an hour until some guy does a u-turn and stops. He says I'm in a shitty spot (it was the one on hitchwiki — it wasn't great but it wasn't aweful, in my opinion) and he'll take me a few kms up the road to a better spot. I agree. On the way we get to chatting and he offers to buy me lunch at his freind's restaurant…. (read on in Trip)

Rideshare takes me to Cacak

A full car picked me up and stuffed myself in the backseat along side two (rather attractive) Serbian girls, with two guys in the front. Interestingly, nobody in the car seems to be interested in my presence at all and despite people apparently speaking good English, we continue to ride in silence. At the end the passengers all pay the driver. I didn't offer to pay and he… (read on in Trip)

Super chill guy takes me almost directly to Plav!

I took a bus to Krailjevo due to apparent lack of good spots in Cacak. The spot I waited at there was not exactly the best because while there was plenty of space for cars to pull over, it was right in front of a construction supply store, and so several times people pulled over only to pick up stuff from the store and were very confused by my inquiries of where they were… (read on in Trip)

Technically a bus

Walked to the edge of Berane and started hitching out. Something like the 3rd car happened to be a bus to Plav — it was getting to be the end of the day, so I said "what the heck" and hopped in. Some older woman on the bus passed around cookies. Can't complain.

Ride with female Syrian-German medical student

This remains my first and only ride with an attractive female my age. Certainly unexpected! I'm in awe she trusted me, tbh. Mad respect.

She was super nice and we talked the whole time. Great experience.

Dutch couple moving to Prague

Got a ride with a super-nice Dutch couple who were moving to Prague for school. They told me picking up a hitchhiker was on their bucket list. Super glad I got to be a part that :)

Unfortunately there was construction on the highway and it took us 1.5 hrs longer than it should have.

Blue-collar German guy in van

My ride was extremely quiet and didn't really seem to want to talk at all, but nonetheless he dutifully took me from a Raststatte in Chemnitz to one outside Dresden. I believe he was a handyman of some sort.

Fun fact — Jena —> Dresden I outpaced the bus!

Hungarian truck driver without vignettes

This one was a bit of an adventure. First off, this guy had the most meticulously yet shoddily decorated/customized truck cabin I've ever seen. He had copper wire suspended by a number of wood screws fastened directly into the dashboard used to secure a number of Biersteins, figurines, strip-club merchandise, a fan, and various other odds and ends. He also had 3 (3!) separate… (read on in Trip)

Ride to Budapest witha friend of my trustroots host

It just so happened that my trustroots host was driving to Tuzla, Bosnia the day I was leaving, and so he gladly gave me a ride all the way to Budapest.

Ride from rest station to road to Szeged

Asked for a ride to a subway station to get down to the hitching spot myself, but instead a guy gave me a ride there himself. Super nice!

Silet ride to Szeged

Guy with a fridge in the back of his car gave me a ride to Szeged. Not very talkative.

Local father and daughter take me to border

A very nice local guy giving his daughter a ride home from school picked me up just past the extent of the tram system and took me to the border.

What then transpired was my worst hitchhiking experience to date. I wasted hours and hours walking and getting lost getting to the small border crossing and then back to the highway to begin hitching again. Was sure I could get a… (read on in Trip)

From Sofia to France

I told the guy I was going to Serbia. He said he is going to France. I said I'm going to France. What a luck! He was actually moving to Barcelona. We had a really cool trip together. So nice guy. I camped near Torino during a break for the night. We then took small roads in France accross Montgenevre towards Orange. Amazing.

Climber

The guy was AWESOME! He is into climbing and environmental protection. He invited me to come back and visit him.

Fast & Generous

My driver is driving suuuuuper fast. I'm a bit scary. He invites me for lunch and then we visit his couch store. There is a lot of people visiting him for chai, and they are really interested about me. We talk soccer and end up by organizing a soccer game for the evening. So I did, helped my team win, and finally stayed with him and his students roomates.

Stuck in the truck

My truck driver invited me for food, as it is usual in Turkey. Then, he had to unload two times. He told me it was fast. The first time took one hour, so I asked him to let me out before the next one so I can continue. He didn't, and brought me to a super bad spots, so I had to stay with him. It took 2 hours, as some guy was not here with a machine to unload. I found some… (read on in Trip)

Breakfast break

I understood that my driver invited me for breakfast and then continue his trip in my direction. I go with him, but tell him I don't drink hot stuff and I'm not hungry… He makes me taking a juice. We try to communicate with all his friends at the cafe, and one of them is finding my friend's name by calling with his phone :O Then, my driver start to play cards… I pay my juice and I escape.

You Will Drink Chai

Well; this time I couldn't refuse Chai offered by my driver. And the view was fantastic in the cafe we stopped.

Sleeping in the truck

It was a very loooong drive. I went everywhere with the driver, as he was loading, unloading and again. We slept in a farm at the countryside near Afyon.