Mad day!
I left very early and the hitching went well, the roads were terrible and there wasn't a great deal of traffic, so I really do believe that woman when she said there was no point hitchiking at night. I got a car from Vama to Campulung and then from Campulung to Iacobeni, from there an old guy took me into Vatru Dornei... all these places are wonderful little towns and villages in the Romanian mountains, the air is clean and the rivers flow. Unfortunately, so do the roads.. they've all been washed away during the winter and they're working hard to repair them this summer.
Somehow from Vatru Dornei, I managed to stop a car that went all the way to Dej.. it's quite a long way and takes forever considering the roads but it's a nice journey and I would have enjoyed it a little more had I not been in a rush and had no money. The hitch from Dej to Baia Mare was easy and so was the ride to the Halmeu turn off. I went for a piss, turned around and stopped a car before I had time to fully close my zip, that's how fast it is in Romania - never longer than about 5-10 minutes.
(Apparently 2 girls struggle to hitchike together and 2 guys too.. but singles or couples, you'll be fine)
A lift up the Ukraine border at Halmeu, where I was shitting myself because I know it's basically impossible to enter without any money. I clear the Romanian border, then get to the Ukraine border..
Ukrainian guards: How much money do you have?
Dan: Enough
UA Guards: How much?
Dan: 50 euros
UA Guards: Let's see it
Dan: Erm well it's on my bank card - I point..
UA Guards: That's a telephone card
Dan: Oh sorry, my bank card must be at home..
So the result is that they wanted to send me back to Romania with a no entry stamp in my passport, I explained to them that I would not be allowed back into Romania when I tell them why I was thrown out of Ukraine. They know that's also the case and one sympathetic guy brought me aside, he explains that according to the rules.. I should fuck off.. but they will give me a Transit stamp which allows me to travel 17km in Ukraine to the Hungarian border by Vilok. Where they will ask me no questions and I will be back in the EU.
It's not the best thing because I wanted to hitch to Uzghorod but it's pretty good of them to help me out like that. Not many cars in that part of Ukraine but I managed to hitch a religious guy in a Lada who trapped my hair in his sun roof accidentally... bloody hurt that.
After a while, I arrive at the Hungary border..go through without any problems but I have no idea where the fuck I am and I don't possess any maps because the way I was going, is the route I knew.. well I just approached some people and asked which way is it to Miskolc, they pointed in one direction but said it was about 200km. My hungarian hitching was going bloody well, cars stopped quite quickly and the roads there are superb.
By 10pm, I arrive in Tokaj.. which looks to me to be a very fun town. I then found out, that there having a huge hard rock/metal festival there with lots of good hungarian bands and Motorhead. I asked someone for directions to Miskolc and they're like no, no stay here, we drink beer. So I drank some beer with them and after some time the guy told me he lived right next to the Slovakian border, he's going there by train and then would take me to the Polish border by bike for a little adventure.
They went off to the Motorhead concert, I went and talked to some more people..students from Miskolc who for some reason thought that I owned a motorbike and when my first new friends came back, the guy had met some girl... it was clear he wasn't going to the border in any time soon. Well I went off for a swim down by the river and then had a few more beers with him. The town was seriously insane, full of lots of good people though.. around 9.00 am without sleep, I decide to hitch to Poland because the guy seems to have fallen in love!
I get a lift after seconds from this Hell's Angel guy who is going in the wrong direction, well so was I to be fair. He's a 200kg tatooed animal driving a BMW at about 200km/hr with a group of about 40 bikes circling us going RAAAH AAAAAAH UUUUUUH. He'd also split his pants, wasn't sure if he was aware about that, his CD player certainly had capabilities to play music very loud.
He dropped me just outside Miskolc and I got another car, a slightly more peaceful fella to about 13km from the border. I walked to the border, feeling pretty knackered. Absolutely no traffic there, just rich Poles coming back from holidays with about 8 children in the car. Bloody catholicism, it should be banned.
Somehow from Vatru Dornei, I managed to stop a car that went all the way to Dej.. it's quite a long way and takes forever considering the roads but it's a nice journey and I would have enjoyed it a little more had I not been in a rush and had no money. The hitch from Dej to Baia Mare was easy and so was the ride to the Halmeu turn off. I went for a piss, turned around and stopped a car before I had time to fully close my zip, that's how fast it is in Romania - never longer than about 5-10 minutes.
(Apparently 2 girls struggle to hitchike together and 2 guys too.. but singles or couples, you'll be fine)
A lift up the Ukraine border at Halmeu, where I was shitting myself because I know it's basically impossible to enter without any money. I clear the Romanian border, then get to the Ukraine border..
Ukrainian guards: How much money do you have?
Dan: Enough
UA Guards: How much?
Dan: 50 euros
UA Guards: Let's see it
Dan: Erm well it's on my bank card - I point..
UA Guards: That's a telephone card
Dan: Oh sorry, my bank card must be at home..
So the result is that they wanted to send me back to Romania with a no entry stamp in my passport, I explained to them that I would not be allowed back into Romania when I tell them why I was thrown out of Ukraine. They know that's also the case and one sympathetic guy brought me aside, he explains that according to the rules.. I should fuck off.. but they will give me a Transit stamp which allows me to travel 17km in Ukraine to the Hungarian border by Vilok. Where they will ask me no questions and I will be back in the EU.
It's not the best thing because I wanted to hitch to Uzghorod but it's pretty good of them to help me out like that. Not many cars in that part of Ukraine but I managed to hitch a religious guy in a Lada who trapped my hair in his sun roof accidentally... bloody hurt that.
After a while, I arrive at the Hungary border..go through without any problems but I have no idea where the fuck I am and I don't possess any maps because the way I was going, is the route I knew.. well I just approached some people and asked which way is it to Miskolc, they pointed in one direction but said it was about 200km. My hungarian hitching was going bloody well, cars stopped quite quickly and the roads there are superb.
By 10pm, I arrive in Tokaj.. which looks to me to be a very fun town. I then found out, that there having a huge hard rock/metal festival there with lots of good hungarian bands and Motorhead. I asked someone for directions to Miskolc and they're like no, no stay here, we drink beer. So I drank some beer with them and after some time the guy told me he lived right next to the Slovakian border, he's going there by train and then would take me to the Polish border by bike for a little adventure.
They went off to the Motorhead concert, I went and talked to some more people..students from Miskolc who for some reason thought that I owned a motorbike and when my first new friends came back, the guy had met some girl... it was clear he wasn't going to the border in any time soon. Well I went off for a swim down by the river and then had a few more beers with him. The town was seriously insane, full of lots of good people though.. around 9.00 am without sleep, I decide to hitch to Poland because the guy seems to have fallen in love!
I get a lift after seconds from this Hell's Angel guy who is going in the wrong direction, well so was I to be fair. He's a 200kg tatooed animal driving a BMW at about 200km/hr with a group of about 40 bikes circling us going RAAAH AAAAAAH UUUUUUH. He'd also split his pants, wasn't sure if he was aware about that, his CD player certainly had capabilities to play music very loud.
He dropped me just outside Miskolc and I got another car, a slightly more peaceful fella to about 13km from the border. I walked to the border, feeling pretty knackered. Absolutely no traffic there, just rich Poles coming back from holidays with about 8 children in the car. Bloody catholicism, it should be banned.
posted by dangaroo at 5:13 AM
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