I had a great but very busy last few weeks in Europe.
I hitchhiked and couchsurfed through (some of) Austria and Switzerland. Couchsurfed mostly with people I already knew who I met through couchsurfing in WA. And hitchhiked for the first time, which was very exciting.
I researched and got tips from Hitchwiki, which definitely helped me be prepared. As well as tips for girls hitching alone (also here), it also has maps and information about where the best spots are to get a lift. My first lift was from a young couple, the second from a young female student. Those two rides got me from Innsbruck nearly all the way to Bregenz. Then after I had spent a few days with Babs and her friends in and around the Bodensee (Lake Constance), I took a bus to the border, walked across the Rhine and through the border post (they did want to see my passport!) and got my third lift from two truck drivers, who took me all the way to the centre of Zurich, where I surfed with Nina. I never felt unsafe, and if I’d had any doubts about the person offering the lift, I would have declined.
In Zurich I did a bit of sightseeing, and drove into the mountains for a day with Nina.
Then I took the train (hitchhiking fail for various reasons) to Basel, where I found a last minute couch, just across the border in Germany, but really it was a suburb of (Swiss) Basel. Within a few hundred metres was also the border with France. And Basel’s airport is also Mulhouse’s airport, which is in France. It’s the only bi-national airport in the world.
Bit of sightseeing in Basel, and a couchsurfing meetup, and I flew back to The Netherlands.
I was ‘home’ for a day and then took a 3 hour train ride to Maastricht in the south where I met up with a friend and we took the bus to Belgium, for the music festival Pukkelpop.
Was there from Wednesday evening to Sunday morning. Good music, good weather, good people, good times. Not much sleep and no shower ;) Highlights for me were listening to Henry Rollins and dancing and singing to Gogol Bordello, but there were many great acts, and lots of fun with new friends.
Unfortunately there were also two deaths at Pukkelpop, the singer of a band committed suicide, and a crew member and father of another band had a heart attack at age 60.
All the Austria/Switzerland/Germany photos here and Pukkelpop here.
