Young Kurds

These guys came out of nowhere while I was walking on a dirt road onto an on ramp. They seemed confused and so was I, but I gestured towards the highway and said Saveh, where I was headed. They just seemed lost, so they said ok and backed away. So I continued onto the ramp and hitched under the unforgiving sun. Eight minutes later guess what – these guys pull over! It turned… (read on in Trip)

One of the slowest truck rides

Hitched this guy at a peage. Nice trucker, but we weren't able to communicate much due to the language barrier. He drove fairly slow and I understood why once he had to pull over due to steam coming out the engine. We tried to cool down the truck and replace the cooling water but he had to stop a couple more times. Finally, he pulled over next to a repair shop and asked for… (read on in Trip)

Full pickup truck

Hitched these guys after an interesting adventure on the Iran-Iraq border where we somehow stumbled into Iran and got lucky the Iranians didn't see and arrest us. We had a bit of conversation in limited Kurdish/Arabic and were a bit squeezed inside. One of the guys even went to sit in the back, so we could have more space (I really wanted to sit there tho!). To my surprise,… (read on in Trip)

Taxi takes us for free!

After an army guy saw us hitching, he asked us where we were going. Pretty soon a taxi pulled up and the guy told them that were going to Slemani so they stopped for us. I explained we were hitching and not paying, which they didn't like at first, but then said to get in. Nice guys, the driver had a brother in the UK, so we talked a bit in English and broken Arabic. Stopped… (read on in Trip)

Trucker

Nice Kurdish trucker. Stopped almost as soon as we started hitching and was going directly to Halabja. Didn't speak much English. I was also traveling with an English girl I met in Slemani.

Taxi

I was walking out of Zakho, when some resting in a kiosk asked me were I was going. I replied Duhok and understood it was indeed a taxi stand. I explained I had no money, but they gestured to in. I shared the taxi with two soldiers and one older guy, who (it became clear) had paid for my ride.

Friends going way out of their way

I was waiting for some type of shared van or something to come by and drive me out od Duhok (while still inside rhe city). The system seemed very confusing, so I asked some people in a car who just came out of a mosque if it was the right place for a bus to the city's outskirts. They just gestured to get in their car and drove me there :D While going towards the exit, I asked… (read on in Trip)

Police officer

Yazidi police officer who wanted money, but decided to take me anyway. He was very excited about me visiting the yazidi holy place of Lalish. Kept on asking about girls in Slovakia.

Pick up

Nice guy in a pick up truck. Gave me sunflower seeds and ended up hitching a truck for me that took me to Lalish.

Trucker

Short truck ride hitched by my previous driver. Gave me water and we passed a bunch of oil fields with flaming chimneys.

Military hitches a car for me

I was walking through the last checkpoint after the border crossing towards Zakho, when the military manning it gestured for me to approach them. I explained I was going to Zakho, so they flagged some older guy who took me there. He was really nice. Welcome to Kurdistan!

Awesome young students

Three students driving to Hasankeyf to hangout with their friend. Invited me for çay (which is how every ride ends in Kurdistan apparently) and we talked a lot. Once they found out I wanted to sleep in my tent they really bend over backwards to find a safe place and ended up talking to a "picknick area" owner who allowed me to set up tent on his land near the river. As I was… (read on in Trip)

To van or not to van

Very long wait in the nasty sun. SE Turkey was supposed to be great for HH, but so far it seemed average. Not quite sure whether this was an actual commercial minivan. It had a Batman sign, but there were only 4 kids inside (+driver) and they seemed related. The guy was ok with "no money", so I got in. Fed me lots of fruit (Malatya apricots), but didn't talk much. Once we got… (read on in Trip)

Driving school

Three guys who drove me around Elazig. Throughout the ride it became apparent that one of guys was learning how to drive. Short ride.

Strange guy

Very talkative older guy who drove me to a lake. Suggested good places to set up a tent, which I did. Kept acknowledging everything 3 times and never stopped talking.

Swedish Kurd

Really nice guy who spoke very good English as he lives in Sweden and was home for holidays. Worked as a social worker in jail. Short ride.

Village guys

Father and son. Didn't speak much English but gave me water and I was able to talk a little bit about mountain hiking with them in my limited Turkish.

Young guy going to Malatya

Nice young guy who was going precisely where I was heading on a fairly deserted road. While waiting I had a good German conversation with an older guy who sat at a bus stop and who'd lived in Germany. His sons still lived in Germany and his wife had recently passed away. It wasn't really clear what he was doing at the bus stop, as he just sort of hung around and talked to… (read on in Trip)

The English Kurd

After a 1,200km insane ride the previous day, my driver dropped me off at a gas station near Izmit where I got very tradional Turkish Burger King :P (all the Turkish places there seemed a bit fancy). After chilling on wifi for about an hour and staring at some random car on the highway catching on fire, I went back to the scorching heat to continue my journey towards Eastern… (read on in Trip)

Longest and most insane ride, 1200km, tow truck, broken car, no sleep...

Where to begin. Viennese plate and car full of stuff gave away this man's Turkness like nothing else. I asked him if he was headed for Bulgaria and added I was headed for Turkey. His eyes glowed once he heard Turkey and gestured to get in. He was around 60 and from Sakarya near Istanbul and had lived in Austria for nearly 30 years. He was quite a character and had even run for… (read on in Trip)

Bulgarian car hauler

Nice Bulgarian guy who drove a tow truck and was hauling cars from Germany to Bulgaria. Although he had been going to Bulgaria, I chose to get out at the Hungarian border as he was transiting via Romania and I wanted to attempt my dream, ie. Bratislava to Istanbul in 24 hours. We talked about cars and life in Bulgaria. He decided not to emigrate because he wanted to have his… (read on in Trip)

Polish trucker

Polish turned out once again to be an irreplacable language to know when hitching. After walking around this Hungarian gas station under the scorching sun for a while, I went to ask this guy in Polish and he agreed to take me to the border. Hauled medicine from Sweden to Serbia.

The Bratislavian

Walked around the gas station quite a bit and told myself I take any ride either towards Bratislava or further, whichever came first. If I got a ride to Bratislava then I'd stop over at grandmas to say goodbye and sleep at the SK-H border to start hitching at 4am. I wanted to reach Istanbul from Bratislava within 24 hours. After unsuccessfully talking to a Turkish family… (read on in Trip)

Austrian mom

Probably the third Austrian that has ever given me ride, really neat mom with a kid in the back. She used to live in France and Spain, so we had a good conversation about traveling. She got really jealous about my summer plans :D Said she always picks up hitchhikers, despite her husband telling her not to. (#feminism :P) Drove me to fairly desperate spot (I misunderstood which… (read on in Trip)

Czech waitress in Austria

Young Czech girl from Mikulov, who worked in Austria as a waitress. Picked me up from a pretty hopeless on-ramp.

First Lithuanian ever

Lithuanian trucker who I talked to at the border crossing between A and CZ. Spoke some Russian and some English, so we switched between the two. It was the first time I actually interacted with a Lithuanian person, let alone getting a ride. Drove me to Brno.