Hitchhiking trips:

Bad Grönenbach –> Memmingen

Memmingen –> Airport Munich

Munich Airport –> Munich Airport ( Aral petrol station)

Munich Airport ( agip petrol station) –> Hengersberg

Hengersberg rest area –> Passau

Passau –> central Passau

central Passau –> Freyung

Freyung –> Horni Vltavice

Friedrichshafen –> Lindau with a caravan

Lindau –> Memmingen

Memmingen – > Bad Grönenbach

Rest area Vogtland –> Bamberg

Bamberg –> Autohof Werneck

Autohof Werneck –> Riedener Hof West

Riedener Hof West –> Neukirch

Neukirch –> Tettnang

Tettnang –> Fischdorf

The Martin Guy

Slightly racist old school guy from Martin. Was going to Germany to work in construction. We had a fairly interesting conversation about life and my travels. He recently had a brain tumor removed. Last border crossing on my trip.

Half-Szelmencian

Local guy who offered me a ride without me even hitching. Had a fairly thick accent and went out of his way to get me to a good spot. His mother was from my favorite village, ie. Szelmenc.

Slovak Radio!

Nice guy, his car had Slovak radio turned on!!! I really felt that I was home at that moment, even before I crossed border. Used to work in CZ and now lived in Chop with his wife.

Hungarian guy

Nice local Hungarian guy going to the border. Commended me on my pronunciation of "Jo napot kivanok".

Quiet guy going to the perfect location

After a fairly long wait (for Western Ukraine), we managed to hitch a guy going just to the fork we needed, passing a lot of low traffic and confusing places. Didn't talk at all.

Hitching on a bridge

As in all post-Soviet countries, hitching on a bridge (no matter how insignificant) is for some reason considered a terrible crime. This time, some women told us off a couple of time saying no one will pull over. Just as they gave up, someone pulled over :D Took us a good distance along the Ukrainian-Romanian border. Showed us some ridiculously large houses built by… (read on in Trip)

Opting for the marshrutka

As it was getting a bit late (we'd waited more then expected along this route), we decided to call it a day in Tyachiv (one of 4 county towns in this former Czechoslovak province btw) and opted for a marshrutka all the way to Uzhhorod.

Coffee machine repair guy

Buys us coffee and we talk a bit.

Moldovan Officer

Nice lady who took us to the border at a fairly dead road. One of two female drivers on this entire trip.

Marshrutka takes us for free

Guy from Marshrutka yells at us to get in at the border. I explain we’re hitching, but he says no problem :)

Terrible location

Guys in a delivery van who finally picked me up after a pretty the longest wait on this trip. I actually took a marshrutka to a different spot along the way to get to this on. Wait is cumulative for both spots.

Badass Trucker

Really tough trucker who used to be a soldier. Told me many stories, especially about he was a UN peacekeeper on the Israeli-Lebanon border. Drove via fields rather than roads again.

Sales Rep for Coke

Cool guy who worked for CocaCola. We talked a lot about our lives and traveling. He talked especially about how employment in Ukraine was extremely underpaid. Finally a proper shitty Ukrainian road experience, as we drove through the fields rather than on the pavement. Saw a guy destroy a small tree (and his hood) while trying to overtake an old driver.

Cargo shipping agent

Really neat guy from Odessa, who was returning home from some exam in Kherson. There was a lot of people trying to get a poputka (post soviet paid hh), but most took a marshrutka once it turned up. He used a lot of English words, but preferred to talk in Russian. Talked a lot about traveling and his newborn. Bought me coffee at a very futuristic Socar gas station.