hitchhiker´s guide to hitchhiking

this post is not really a guide...not that i would have enough experience to do so.

yesterday, i spent most of the day on the road. walking, riding the car, riding trains, sticking my hand out looking for a ride, smiling at every car, wondering...all on the road. from Amsterdam Centraal, i walked to Amstel Station for more than an hour. here, the place in the picture was the designated place for hitchhikers to catch a ride. Liftsplaat=Lift Place. Good thing there was another guy hitching at that time. He was on his way to Rotterdam and did not take the same car as i did. but he helped me with the confidence of actually continuing to hitchhike.

the first driver who picked me up was this moroccan dude heading to Utrecht, a town south of Holland. he was a cool guy and shared quite inspiring stories especially about his life. i was really thankful and he said he was also once a hitchhiker too. his story is he started school late as he first worked before going to university but one day, a guy he knew from school came in the kebab place he was working at and this guy was a big shot and was earning so much more than him. this made him want to strive more for his family, overcoming obstacles and all the hassles of starting school late, etc. now, he is a succesful engineer. he proudly shared that story and it is quite amazing that he was not sucked in to what his other relatives were into. as he shared, some of them were into the not-so-good businesses around the area.

he dropped me off in some gas station a few exits after the one he should have taken but extended to find me a better place to wait for my next ride.

the next one who picked me up was this lesbian exconvict. this was what she shared to me at least. she´s 26 and part indonesian and she does some braderies all over Holland selling clothes and other stuff. she just happened to mention that she got jailed in Breda, the town i was going to go to catch my next ride from. and when i asked her for what, she just said, `oh nothing, something stupid. i did not do anything, they released me after no one claimed the body of the hitchhiker i killed ´

at least that was what a thriller movie plot would go...she just said it was for some stupid reason and i just did not bother to pry more. anyway, she was on her way to Breda for a date with this new girl after just breaking up with another girl a few days before. she was actually really nice and it was her first time to pick up a hitchhiker too. she offered to drop me off in the train station and said i should just ride the train black but i decided i´d try to hitchhike again. after being dropped off in a gas station plus a few hours of trying and walking towards the highway to Antwerp, i decided to just go to the train station and follow her advice. i took the train with no ticket from Breda to Rosendaal then to Antwerpen Centraal. the first connection, someone actually checked but he got distracted when i started asking what the next station was and probably just assumed i had a ticket. my heart was pounding so fast during that time especially with what i still might have in my blood from the day before in Amsterdam. LUCKY.

more to come for the whole of the trip. now in Antwerpen! in Gert-Jan´s place.

goes and wanders

packing light

i have a draft here for the Sicily trip but im just too lazy to finish it off...and now, i've come to another flight. i fly to Germany tonight to see Miriam, drive to Luxembourg then take a train to Amsterdam on Wednesday. Friday, i go to Belgium yet again. meeting Lotte, Gert-Jan and Katrien!

anyway, i'm packing and somehow, it seems my packing skills have been getting better. for Sicily, i managed to bring a small duffel bag instead of my backpacker bag. this trip, im bringing my north face spire just because i'm flying to a colder place and it's not as full as it was when i traveled before. this is making me uneasy though, thinking im forgetting something!!! but yeah. im sure, ive packed enough. :D

goes and wanders

peanut butter! and my love for supermarkets

i just wanted to post the jar of peanut butter i had to finish by putting it on my half loaf of bread and eating the half of the jar with the spoon because it wasnt allowed on the plane! i was so happy i was bringing it back to italy because i couldnt find any peanut butter anywhere!!! also got some good sweets from the supermarkets of Stockholm. i really do love going to supermarkets! and its a good way to save money, a must do after arriving in another city/country! food is always cheaper and then you find out from the locals you meet along the way where the musts are when it comes to food! carrefour is one of the main chains of supermarkets in europe yet i cant find it in italy! i could spend the whole day there...okay, half a day, the other half i could spend eating what i bought

goes and wanders

Stockholm and Venice Carnivale

i am in pain!!! partly because i am not travelling but mostly because of my battle with the snow when i went snowboarding the other day!my last entry was when i was still at my first host's flat in Stockholm. so, let's catch you up on what happened after that! so, i moved on to Peter, my other host. he was a cool guy, he brought me and this other couchsurfer to the slope in Stockholm!
this fact that i can go snowboarding just a few minutes out of the city made me love Sweden even more!!! i also got the Stockholm card which lets you enter 80+ museums and transpo for free...normally, i wouldnt really avail of such a card but after calculating the costs, it was really worth it...also, i have done the usual walk around the city and getting lost already a day before i got the card so no harm done to my habits!

although i must say that i did feel like a tourist after that first day of having that card because all that was in my head was to see all that i can see with the card and make it pay for itself and this meant that i should follow the usual tourist route...oh well, all for being a cheapo! i think i got what i wanted from the card since i got to more than 10 museums and rode the public transpo as much as i could so as not to lose time walking from one museum to the other.

i dont know how else i can express how much i love sweden! even my friends here in padova keep hearing me proclaim my love for sweden! such a beautiful city and design haven! although, when they say it is expensive even after reading so many articles that its not true, i must say it is still quite expensive comparing all the prices from here to there...but then again, you see in the city itself where the money goes...plus, i met this filipina-swede couple and they confirmed that prices are quite high but then they do get paid high as well...anyway, yeah i think ive established how much i love sweden now...and now please, make me your citizen!!!!!

moving on...

after i arrived, i went to the Venice carnival the next day to take some pictures...went before Stockholm as well to see the opening...it was just surreal to be in Venice during this time. immersed in a crowd of fully dressed people ranging from Venetian style dresses, Victorian dresses, Medieval costumes and to contemporary costumes such as Smurfs, Shrek, Mario Brothers, etc...

as expected, Venice was more crowded than usual. the train was even so packed, the gangways had people standing...and then went again for the closing of the carnival on the 16th! which was my 11th time in Venice...this time clothed in a cape made by me! hehe. got the cloth from Alexander, my first host in Stockholm...no intentional character but Zorro and Harry Potter was interpreted by most people in Venice..when i had the mask on, Zorro, when i had my glasses on, Harry.

and then, just a few days ago, i went snowboarding again...some place near here arranged by the ESN. it was pretty good! i can safely say i have improved a lot! this makes me sad that there is no snow in the Philippines! i had a bad fall though..on the last stretch of the slope when i was heading to our bus, i slammed to the icy part of the route and fell on my chest. couldnt breath for a while but since we were already late for the call time, i had to go and recover fast. couldnt breath for a couple of minutes and no one was there to help me! after though it got better...now, its just really really sore and it hurts to even sneeze.

bahhhhh...cant wait for Sicily this friday!!!! shorts weather please!!!

goes and wanders

Sweden!

i love sweden. everything is so much cooler. all the designs of stuff are so innovative. also, the way people dress are so much hipper and trendier. italy will still be known for its classic style but it just amazes me how here, almost everyone has their own style which i actually did expect from Swedes. the place is also very easy to get around in. right now, everything is snow! and as my host said, if i like it now, what more during summer.

this logo is of the subway here in Stockholm and even the news of the guy who died today when he went down the tracks to get something he dropped is not smearing the image of Sweden. also, its cool how you can really just cheat your way out of the subway here...

goes and wanders

ryanair

i will go and wander tonight

goes and wanders

delayed

it's mainly because of the slow internet here in my residence why i couldn't keep writing and writing...it takes forever to upload pictures, lags most of the time, etc.

past days:
i finished my exams for the first semester a week ago. 3 in total. i got two perfect scores and one passing mark. studying here makes me appreciate the homeworks, long tests and quizzes that are given in Ateneo. one time, big time is the case here. well, to each his own.
and then, decided to spend a night in Milan to avail of the last week of Sales. Slept over at Antonio's with Francesca. Weather in Milan was a bit on and off, snow and sun! but yeah, what i came to do in Milan, i really did. spent quite a lot. as usual, i said no more after that but back here in Padova, still did. quality cheap stuff though. haha. who am i kidding. i will have to stop eating to gain all the money i shopped with! oh yeah, some cultural bits, thats the castle in Milan, one of the few sites to see.

i've started this trip counter on the little post-its on my desktop and here is what's on it as of now...
Countries: 4 ( Italy, Belgium, France, Spain)
Cities: Padova, Venice, Verona, Vicenza, Alta Villa, Modena, Ferrara, Alto Adige, Milan, Rome, Brussels, Lille, Paris, Madrid, Toledo, Segovia

and also an upcoming trip post-it...
Flights to: Stockholm, Sicily, Frankfurt, Brussels
Trains to: Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp

i still havent planned when i will go back to Madrid to get stuff i left behind and Paris, just to see it again in better lighting.

anyway, as for new experiences, the main thing on the top of my list is still learning how to snowboard. so much easier than skiing for me. i think i still have one more trip to the mountains to snowboard! until the summer sun melts all the snow that is.

the weather has been rainy here in italy but it's not too cold anymore. i have been itching to wear shorts already not to mention going commandos. :D hopefully, the sicily trip will give us a good dose of the sun and sea. i also checked the weather for stockholm, and snow snow snow everywhere. shit.

goes and wanders