It was my first summer in Georgia, in the company of new friends on the coast of the Black Sea, when the evening fiery red sun slowly went down from the depths of the sea. Not far from our company, I noticed a young man sitting alone. He was relaxed, enjoyed the sea view. I was surprised that the young man was just sitting for almost an hour without talking to anyone, listening to music or writing to someone on the phone. Only the sea, the sunset and he, along with his thoughts.
The young men was thin, however his muscles were visible. Next to him only large sports backpack lay on the stones. There was not a towel or a blanket, he was sitting on bare stones. I also noticed his tan that ended up on the sleeves. Among my friends, we call it as a “country tan” when you sunbath not at the resort, but working in the garden. However, he did not look as a farmer.
I got my courage up, and sat next to this guy and our conversation started. This young man called Nika, studies in Germany master program and came back to visit relatives in his native Georgia for one month. Nika made a hitch-hike trip from Germany to Georgia in 30 days. “I do miss this incredible feeling when you achieve your goal. Every day I set a goal and go to it; go ahead and break through,” said Nika with the shining eyes. That month of his life deeply rooted in his memories. Bright colors of danger and own success forced his heart to beat faster and to feel himself alive.
In his pocket there was only 25 euro, he did not take any credit cards to drive himself into the frames. “I always thought about the fact that few hundred years ago, people moved around the world without much money. So why in the 21 century, when people came up with so much for their comfort, I could not do the same?” said Nika when I was still surprised by his radical journey.
Preparations.
The idea of a hitchhiking trip appeared in his head long before the trip. His friends inspired him to travel around Europe on bicycles without money and food. However, closer to the beginning of the trip, friends they refused to travel for some reason. Nevertheless, this idea already warmed a bright flame in Nika’s heart. Thinking that with a bicycle it would be very hard for him to cope with the trip alone, Nika decided to hitch-hike.
He started his preparations one month before leaving his city, Oldenburg, which is located in the state of Lower Saxony, North Germany. Young man watched different videos on YouTube, concerning his future trip. “How to hitchhike?”, “How to survive without money?”, “What you can eat during the hitchhiking?’ these were the most popular queries in his search engine. Nika thoroughly studied even the smallest details that could be useful in traveling. For example, a solar-powered phone is one of his interesting and useful finds.
“I wanted to test myself, to find out my possibilities and to overcome my fears”, said Nika during our long conversation. At that time I thought how is it strange to see that man could be afraid of such a simple things. An adult educated young man was still afraid to be among strangers without any support, food and money. Later, he confessed to me in all his fears during the traveling.
Germany and Food.
“My main fear was hunger. I was afraid to stay without food” said Nika very openly. That is why before sleeping the young man needed to know that he had some food. It’s unknown how long it would take for you to find some food, so it is better to have it with you all the time.
However, Germany is the best place in Europe to find free food. There are different ways to get it without money in this country. For example, on the whole territory of Germany there is a program – Food Shearing, according to which the participants arrive at the certain time at certain shops and get completely free food. In order to become a participant of the program it is necessary to register on the site and comply with all the conditions of this program, for instance, the participant cannot claim to get more food than he got.
Another place where it is possible to eat for free in Germany is restaurants or supermarkets. “Before the traveling, I did a little charity work with my friend from the university. We took food from supermarkets with the expiration date which is coming to the end, and we gave it to the needy” explained Nika. The same thing in restaurants: you can find an overdue food from restaurants’ chefs.
Also, Germany has a selective system of waste disposal. According to this system, every household in general has four bins: black, green, blue and yellow. Green bin is for organic waste, where people put mostly fruits and vegetables. As Nika said sometimes it is easy to see even untouched food near this green bins. However, at the beginning it was difficult for Nika to overcome his restraints and generally accepted norms, and to eat food from bins.
Poland and entertainment.
Entertainment in Warsaw, Poland are divided into two types. The first one starts in the morning till 9 pm. This time is for visiting museums, historical places, walking around the city etc. The second type starts at 9 pm, when a lot of bars and nightclubs are opened.
In Warsaw Nika for a few days stayed at his old friend’s home. The young Polish woman was pleased to show her native city to Nika during his stay. At the evening Nika with her friends went to the bar. “Poles are the most drinking people I know. Even a big Russian man can hardly drink as much as a little Polish woman, an average of 2 liters of vodka,” said Nika. In the bar, young people drank a lot, everyone drank unusual vodka on herbs with juice but without eating anything. “Despite the fact that I did not get through the average rate of alcohol among the Poles, I was very drunk and could not stay longer in the bar and take a walk in the fresh air,” confessed Nika. Returning after a while to his friends, Nika was very surprised to see their condition. The girls had fun, flirting with tourists from Africa. As Nika also said, in Poland there is such a concept “to be like a drunk Pole,” which means that someone is very drunk, talking nonsense and doing crazy things. Boys in Poland also did not lag behind. That evening they were so drunk and noise, starting debauching that they drew the attention of the police and at the end two guys got a fine.
Ukraine and people.
During the journey, Nika easily got acquainted with different people, gaining immense experience and enjoyment from the usual conversation with a stranger.
“In Ukraine people do not look at money as well as the rest of Europe. They could give money to others even when they do not have enough for themselves,” said Nika when we talked about Ukraine. Also, he mentioned about an unusual hospitality of Ukrainian people.
At the first day in Lviv, Nika have found via the website Couchsurfing, a young couple, who offered accommodation. They not only gave him a roof over his head but also bought him dinner, took care of him, arranged a tour around the city and showed him one local restaurant. During the dinner, young people talked a lot “I had a feeling that I had known them for 20 years. They became so close to me,” said Nika.
The next day Nika had to move to another person who also offer his flat. From the beginning Nika was thinking to move away from this person because he was so unpleasant to Nika. However, the he made a mistake. The man did his best to help his guest: he took Nika with him for a whole day, showing his life from the inside. One close friend of this strange man surprised Nika. ‘Disabled? No, I cannot and I do not want to call him like that. He was one of the happiest people I’ve ever seen,” said Nika about the man who was completely paralyzed except for one hand and head. Despite this conditions, this man had a job, processing photos in the Photoshop, but the most important thing that he had is his wife and close friends. “These people helped him in everything: to drive his stroller, to help to take a shower, to eat. And they did all this things with love and great pleasure. I was amazed and impressed,” said Nika in hearty.
Moldova and drivers.
“At the very beginning of the journey I had the fear of raising my hand to stop the car,” confessed Nika. The feeling that you are asking for help from strangers is weird: I do not why, we are already accustomed to pay for everything, and forget about gratuitous help. The traveler waited 4 hours for the first car to stop, may be the place or the timing were wrong, however after that the cars stopped much easily.
Nika grew up in an intelligent family and received a diverse education. His father, physicist, instilled to young Nika a love for technical sciences and his mother and grandmother taught the art, including playing the piano. Nika was very inquisitive since childhood. In the family, they often had conversations on different topics – starting from laws of physics and finishing in literature and cinematography.
During the trip, it was curious for Nika to know and to talk with different people. He willingly started the conversation without paying attention to the status of a person.
One driver from Moldova politely offered to drive him to the nearest town. However, this young business guy immediately warned Nika that he would give him a ride, but they would not talk. At his work he had to communicate a lot and he was tired of talking. But, Nika was interested to know this man, about his life, work and hobbies. After a while, the travelers started talking and they discussed even personal topics.
“People are afraid of strangers, however a road brings people together,” said Nika musingly.
An amazing mystery of travels – we do not notice how it is easy to open up about our lives to a stranger whom you think will never see again.
Romania and money.
Nika decided to turn down money during the trip, but for the extreme case he took 140 euros, in case of health problems. For example, if he could not get medical help on insurance in some countries. From video lessons on hitchhiking guide Nika had found that it’s better to divide a large amount of money into small pieces and hide in different places – pockets of a jacket, trousers, a backpack or even socks. In this case, if you lose or someone steals your money, some cash will remain.
“As soon as I got to Romania, I had to make a transfer, my driver was heading in the other direction,” said the young men. Romania welcomed Nika with the “open arms”. On the highway one decently dressed man, looked like tourist with a huge amount of money in the small bag at the waist went up to Nika. In “broken English” he asked Nika to exchange cash for the local currency. After receiving a refusal, the stranger did not intend to leave, asking to show money from different countries. Nika was a little surprised that this man wanted so much to see the Georgian lari and the euro. “The money at that time lost all meaning for me. Giving up money, I forgot their price,” explained Nika. That is why in a few minutes of conversation Nick has noticed that his money is already in the hands of a stranger. However, getting use to always be on the alert during the trip, Nika noticed the trick and returned his money.
Nika talked about this story with a smile. He immediately returned his money back and laughed with all his heart at the resourcefulness of the deceiver and his absentmindedness.
Bulgaria and lodging for the night.
Nika’s parents found out from the third parties that his son getting home by hitchhiking. He talked to the parents from time to time, texting in the Skype, without saying where he was not to frighten them even more. Nevertheless he promised them to come exactly in a month, August 20th. During the trip, Nika was in a hurry to fulfill his promise that is why he tried to stay in each country as little as it possible.
Couchsurfing is a social networking service which works in many countries. This service is very convenient for tourists who want to save money on a night’s lodging in the foreign country. According to this site, people spread their application about a lodging in a certain city and then choose the most preferable offer. This free logging assumes that the hosts could also expect to spend night in your country.
Due to the fact that Nika had the Internet only in some cafes, mostly MacDonald’s, he had to plan the night’s lodging in advance. For example, in Ukraine, he agreed with a young couple with child to spend two nights in Bulgaria at their house. “When I was on the doorstep of their house the young people were shocked – I did not look chic after a long journey without amenities, while they were well-endowed,” Nika told about this awkward situation, which made him uncomfortable. To avoid this inconvenience, people just need to look at their future guest in the social networks and see his photos, interests and friends.
Nika stayed with them two nights, less than previously thought. Since he had no money and he did not pay for food at the restaurant, the young people offered to pay for Nika and they also provided food during his stay.
I was very surprised that this young couple with a three-year-old child agreeing on discomfort and invite to their homes strangers. “I think that they are looking for new impressions and new communications. It is always interesting to listen to a foreigner’s traveler and to know something new and unusual,” Nika answered me. The advantages also include – training an international language – English and an opportunity to visit the country of your guest.
Turkey and traveler-pensioner Kuno.
Nika entered Turkey with another hitchhiker from Poland. He could not find in advance the offer of spending the night so the first night Nika spent together with the Pole at some construction. The second night he spent alone in a square gazebo near the mosque. On the last night, on the border with Georgia near the sea, Nika found a cozy place under a tree, hidden from prying eyes. Nika was already falling asleep and suddenly he saw beside him a pretty blonde woman with long hair, by the hand holding a child. Nika was very surprised to see them in such a place. However when he completely woke up from a dream, Nika realized that this is an elderly man with a cart.
Nika described that this 63-year-old man, Kuno, was in a very good physical shape. Kuno is a German retired; in the past he worked as a carpenter and also was a runner. Kuno is not married but he has two grown-up sons. According to Nika, the time for retirement this man decided to fully devote himself and his desires. He is planning to go all over the world on foot, without any transport except boats. “I remember that he told me how much his friends were dissuaded from such a trip. But I’m sure that for him it is the happiest time – traveling to different countries and feeling himself in great shape. It is like a second youth for him,” said Nika about the unusual traveler Kuno.
In the morning Nika said goodbye to the new acquaintances and went to his native city, Tbilisi.
Arrival.
When Nika was in Georgia no one wanted to give him a lift for a long time: the travelers did not stop at all and the taxi drivers asked for money. He walked on foot almost to Batumi and finally one guy stopped already disillusioned tired Nika. It turned out the young man was a taxi driver on vacation and offered to drive Nika to Tbilisi without money.
At ten to 12, on August 20, Nika knocked on the familiar window of his house. He got home exactly one month after the start of his memorable journey. Nika’s mother opened the door and her eyes began to sparkle because of happiness and emotions. When Nika saw the father, his first phrase was: “I said that I would come on August 20 and I came.” Nika was very tired but happy and proud; he kept his promise to the father.
“Few days later the fellow travelers during my trip, Kuno and one Pole guy, stayed at my home, however I was already tired of people and I just wanted spend time with family and close friends,” said Nika honestly.
GIPA Media School 