Hitchhiking

So, to bootstrap some conversation, here's another post. What kind of things have you experiences while hitchhiking? Some might have seen more than me, some might have seen less than me, but it would be interesting to know what were your most interesting hitchhiking rides and experiences!

Some things that have happened to me...

Well, I did hitchhike from Finland to China, and then went 70 % by hitchhiking and 30 % by bus and train onwards from China to India. Living in a tent, cooking my food on the fire every morning and evening. I'll need to do something like that again in some 15-ish years or so.

During that trip I got three times a ride from long distance buses in public traffic. All other passengers were paying, but I was simply taken aboard for free. Except, one of the times was apparently a communication mishap, as the driver would have wanted money from me when I was alighting the bus. But, I had shown my thumb and he absolutely must have known there what it means. I told them that, wished them wide roads and went my way.

Then, I've had two rides in old Soviet bukhanka-style ambulances (or, well, shvidka dopomoha, but ambulance is the best translation for it) They are such weird things! Kind of ambulances, but more like a transport for a doctor to get to the patients' homes that can double as an ambulance in a pinch. The equipment was one suitcase of some medical stuff, and a kind of a bed that was about 120 cm long and maybe 40 cm wide. Otherwise it was just empty.

In Kazakhstan policemen kept blowing their whistles, telling me to come to them. They asked about who I am and what I'm doing, and after hearing that I'm a Finn on the way to China by hitchhiking, they just wanted to take selfies. Later I've learned that they actually had apparently been planning to invent a pretext for asking for bribes, but changed their minds when they heard about my trip.

Then, also in Kazakhstan, I had managed to pitch my tent into an area with a military exercise while waiting for my Chinese visa to be ready. The first four days were okay, but on the last day, the fifth, the excercise began. They arrived by a helicopter to check what the hell I'm doing there. After learning about my travel, they just took some selfies with me. I hitchhiked away from the area on a Chinese-built military truck. I figure they thought first that either I'm a part of the excercise and must be taken seriously, or I am a foreign spy and must be taken seriously. Anyway, now I know how it sounds like when the safety is removed from two assault rifles around the same time. Dum di dum :)

In Spain I've hitchhike across a farmer's field on the stairs/ladder on the side of a tractor.

In Georgia, I got a ride from a tiny tiny trash truck. It had the mechanism for lifting the dumpsters, just like the ones we used to love when we were kids, but it was maybe one third of the size. Such a cute thing!

And then I've managed to ask for rides in surprising places. Got a ride for a guest of mine by asking a random truck at a parking area a bit outside the center of the city. They told they were about to leave at 6:30 in the morning, so we arranged for my guest to get back to that place by that time. And they indeed got the ride for the first 100 km! As it typically takes me in the ballpark of four hours to leave Helsinki, I'd say that was a very very useful ride!

And some other cases where I've been told by the driver that they're having a pause and have managed to agree to go pitch my tent somewhere and come back in the morning at an agreed time. I've gotten a few rides of over 1000 km that way.

Once I got a ride from a van that had an express delivery to Scotland. Something that couldn't be transported by plane and had to be a the destination basically "by yesterday, if possible". The driver picked me up at the harbour exit in the centre of Tallinn and brought me to the German border. We had our first pause in Poland, just after the border for about 40 minutes. And somewhere around Poznań, another 40-minute pause. Those were used sleeping. Otherwise it was just drive-drive-drive. They would have been happy to bring me all the way to Scotland, had I had a need for it. But, somewhere near Przystanek Woodstock was all I needed :)

Some weird cargoes in trucks: One was coming empty from Varkaus, after having brought mixed waste from Helsinki. The landfill in Varkaus has so much cheaper rates than the one in Helsinki that the 320 km drive per direction consuming the salary of a driver for the whole day "makes sense" economically.

And then I got a ride on a truck somewhat south of Kuopio. It was filled by cheese en route to Canada. I wonder, do they not have cows in Canada? Finland doesn't really produce such special cheeses that it would make real sense bringing them halfway around the planet. Of course, good for Finland's economy, but... wut? The way I got that ride was also interesting:

• "Hey! You live in <name of district where I worked in Helsinki, right?"
• Yes? Why?
• I'm trying to hitchhike to Helsinki. Are you maybe going home and could take me with you?
• Well, why not? Hop on in! On the way, on a longer stretch of straight road, the driver then just abruptly stood up on his seat and started rummaging through a shelf above the windshield. I asked what they are looking for.
• The coffee machine. I want to make some coffee. You want some as well?
• What if we do this so that, since I'm around and can help you, I'll just do the coffee making?
• Okay. So, the coffee machine is in the far left of the shelf. It's a small one. Take it and plug it to that socket.
• Now, take the filters They are in the very right end of the shelf. Good. Next, take the coffee. It's around the middle of the shelf. Measure four measures of coffee. Then, there's water in (I've forgotten where). Add that to the coffee maker.
• (5 minutes later:)
• So, now open the passenger side door. On the second step, there is a litre of milk. Give me that.

So, I open the door, lean a bit outside the truck, pick the milk and give it to the driver. I didn't ask, but I'm still wondering... Was he actually planning to go and open the passenger side door while the truck was running at 80 km/h?! Does he do that often? Wut-wut-wut?

There might be more, but these are what come to my mind right now.

Ah, of course there have been a ton of conversations where I've learned about a million different professions. Some things I liked were the beekeeper who spend a few hours telling me about bees and beekeeping. I'm quite happy to know all that. It's fascinating information! And then, there have been a few guys whose job is to escort oversize trucks. There's also so much more to that job than one would ever imagine!