After our on-arrival training we stayed in touch with most of the as we realized that they are cool people, just like we are.
Even when we were there, I told a couple of the volunteers that I would visit them just that next week. And as I am a man of my word, I told my flatmates that I was going, and just as that, Emre and Theodora decided to also tag along.
At first I was kind of skeptic about the three of us hitchhiking, as, three people can be a difficult combo.
The initial plan was to visit our friends from Bistrița, meet them in Sibiu (because it's a famous town, and also a midpoint between Craiova and Bistrița), but then Theodora thought how much of a brilliant plan it would be to also go to Oradea and visit another volunteer. Tough luck, for three days, doing such a journey with three people, it's a bit of a gamble. But, I love challenges.
Finally, Friday came, and after work, we took our bus number nine, got to the airport, and started hitchhiking towards Găneasa. We waited a bit, because the road was under construction and it was difficult for cars to stop, but in about ten minutes, a middle aged Romanian in rustic Dacia model stopped and picked us up.
This guy was wacky, had Manele music playing at full volume, singing loud and talking to us in Romanian, even though he clearly understood that we're foreigners and we barely get what he is saying, he just kept going on and on. Then, little before the spot where he was supposed to drop us off, he stopped for some gas, and when he needed to pay, he asked us, to pay for his gas, of course, we said no, he got kinda pissed off, but payed for the gas and started driving again. Then when we finally reached the village where we wanted to get off we got out of the car, said "Thank you, and bye!" politely and started to walk, but he got out of the car too and asked us for money, yet again. An argument followed, he was angry and kept asking us for money, but I just stood still, and replied that we wont pay, because, first, it is illegal, and second because we don't have cash, even if we did we wouldn't pay, he was gonna do the ride with or without us. When he saw that there was no hope of him making a profit, he just turned back, got into his car, and drove off.
Back on the road, we were hoping to get a ride to Râmnicu Vâlcea, as we thought that we wouldn't have a big chance of going directly to Sibiu. After five minutes, and a couple of cars, we split into to teams to raise our chances, Theo and Emre, and me alone, and it worked like a charm, not more than a minute, a car stops, and also picks me up. To top it off, the guys in the car were super nice, and were going to a very famous festival in Cluj, The Untold, meaning they could take us directly to Sibiu. They didn't speak much English, so they just put loud music on, and we enjoyed the ride through a canyon in the Carpathians.
When we reached Sibiu, the guys left us in the center, and we had no problems finding our friends, we had some drinks, looked around town, there was an Oktoberfest rip-off festival going on, so it was cramped with Germans. After having a quick look we head out of town to find a nice meadow to camp out. On the way out of the town, in the suburbs we met a blind person with his dog and two women, they were really impressed with the fact that we were camping out, so they showed us to a very nice place. There, we set up camp, grabbed a quick bite, and went off to sleep. The night went with no intrusions, except for this random drunk villager that was crossing the field to get to his home and just freaked out when he saw us, but then relaxed when he understood the situation.
The next day, we had to walk a lot, to cross Sibiu and get to a hitchhiking spot suitable for hitching out to Bistrița. It was a difficult walk because it was in the middle of the day and it was unbearably hot, but finally we managed to get to a nice gas station on the exit of town. We rested, a lot, at the gas station, and waited for the temperature outside to go a bit down. Then, as we were five people now, we split into a group of two (me and Theo), and three (Emre, Camille, and Maria), we let the bigger team go first, and after they got picked up, me and Theo started to wave that thumb. One really nice convertible stopped, but as he was going in the wrong direction we couldn't go with it... sad. Although, after that, a nice car stopped with an Italian guy inside, and he said he'd take us to Cluj, but during the ride, he got that we are going to Bistrița, so he could take us all the way to Dej, as he lived there. He was a really cool person, showed us some sights, got us coffee, and took us all the way to the exit of his town. Then we had no problem getting a ride to Bistrița, a lady returning from the festival in Cluj gave us a ride, and took us exactly to our friends place. There we waited sometime for the others to arrive, as they weren't as lucky as us, but finally they got there, we shared our stories, they were cool on both ends, we had an amazing dinner, and head off to bed.
Last stop, Oradea, only 300km, but I didn't feel really optimistic, maybe because of the weather. That changed though, as when we were getting out of Bistrița, while on the boulevard I started holding up my Cluj sign, and a guy that was going to the airport picked us up. He left us at a gas station before Cluj, we had coffee, and continued.
This spot sucked, everyone was going inside the city, so they wouldn't pick us up, a car stopped, we had a miscommunication problem so the guy drove off, kinda fell out with Theo because of that problem, so we just split up again, and the same thing happened, Theo and Emre got picked up, and the same guy picked me up too. This man was nice, gave us a small tour of Cluj, showed us the festival grounds, and then took us to the exit. As the majority of the cars were almost full, we did the split, and this time, got picked up by different cars. The guy that picked me up had a lot of stories to tell, I didn't even notice the time passing, but finally, he dropped me off in Oradea, in front of my friend's building, and surprisingly, this was at the same time that Theo and Emre arrived.
We all got to Liam's apartment, had a meal because we were famished, and then went out with hopes of swimming in this legendary river, which was actually a total turn down, the "river" was barely 30cm deep, and full of shit (literally), but it was a nice walk anyways.
Last day, biggest challenge, getting from Oradea to Craiova, that's a huge distance. But unbothered by this, we took a little tour of Oradea in the tram (to be honest, we missed our stop so we just waited for the tram to circle back). We got to the exit, the gloomy weather made us moody, we waited, no luck. We split up again, and a car stopped, I ran over to the car, and explained to the driver that we are heading out towards Timișoara or Arad, the guy told us that he is only going 30km away, but we hopped on anyways, better then nothing eh?
This dude was amazing, the only Romanian driver with a BMW that actually respected speed limits and the laws of traffic. When he stopped, he offered us coffee, and we said that we don't carry cash, but he insisted that we have some coffee, and bought us water and snacks as well, and then he started telling us something, due to our lingual limitations, I called my organizer, and gave him the phone, they talked, then I took the phone, and my organizer says: This guy is really nice, he said he'd take you to Arad, and there fina a bus for you to go to Craiova and pay for it.
Woah, okay, big unexpected blow for us, but we accepted his generous offer, and got back in the car. When we reached Arad, the man searched online for means of getting to Craiova, but clearly found nothing, because he smiled, looked at us, and said: Nothing, I take you to Timișoara .
Woop woop, on the road again, got to Timișoara, circled around the city, searching for a bus station, but even though they had three of them, none had buses to Craiova, the man was very disappointed, not us though, we just got an amazing tour of Timișoara.
Finally, he took us on the exit of Timișoara dropped us off at an amazing spot, said goodbye to us, and shoved a hundred lei in my hand, saying: For the rest of your trip.
I never expected this to happen to us, not after one month of Romania, I had so many terrible experiences and thoughts, and than this. Faith in humanity restored.
Story continues, at the exit, got picked up straight away, the guy didn't speak much English, but after some talking we got that he is going all the way to Drobeta, which worked perfectly for us. We didn't really talk to him that much, but the ride was amazing the sights were to die for, amazing houses, landscapes, the Danube, the Iron Gate, Serbia on the other side, all too beautiful.
We finally got to Drobeta and had only like 150km left, and it was getting dark. We positioned ourselves enthusiastically and a van stopped straight away, Emre and Theo were picked up, and I waited a bit more until a car with a family picked me up and drove me to Filiași.
At Filiași, it was already dark, and I started feeling anxious, as I had already hitchhiked at night in Romania, and it wasn't all that good, but just as I was getting near to the end of the town, I see the van that picked Theo and Emre up, and even though there was no seat, we squeezed in, and I was saved from potential crappy situations.
Manele in the beginning, manele in the end, the circle was completed, we got to Craiova, still not believing our luck. 1200km, not that much really, but for a group of three, it was a hell of a trip. Totes would do again yo.
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| Trip plans |
At first I was kind of skeptic about the three of us hitchhiking, as, three people can be a difficult combo.
The initial plan was to visit our friends from Bistrița, meet them in Sibiu (because it's a famous town, and also a midpoint between Craiova and Bistrița), but then Theodora thought how much of a brilliant plan it would be to also go to Oradea and visit another volunteer. Tough luck, for three days, doing such a journey with three people, it's a bit of a gamble. But, I love challenges.
Finally, Friday came, and after work, we took our bus number nine, got to the airport, and started hitchhiking towards Găneasa. We waited a bit, because the road was under construction and it was difficult for cars to stop, but in about ten minutes, a middle aged Romanian in rustic Dacia model stopped and picked us up.
This guy was wacky, had Manele music playing at full volume, singing loud and talking to us in Romanian, even though he clearly understood that we're foreigners and we barely get what he is saying, he just kept going on and on. Then, little before the spot where he was supposed to drop us off, he stopped for some gas, and when he needed to pay, he asked us, to pay for his gas, of course, we said no, he got kinda pissed off, but payed for the gas and started driving again. Then when we finally reached the village where we wanted to get off we got out of the car, said "Thank you, and bye!" politely and started to walk, but he got out of the car too and asked us for money, yet again. An argument followed, he was angry and kept asking us for money, but I just stood still, and replied that we wont pay, because, first, it is illegal, and second because we don't have cash, even if we did we wouldn't pay, he was gonna do the ride with or without us. When he saw that there was no hope of him making a profit, he just turned back, got into his car, and drove off.
Back on the road, we were hoping to get a ride to Râmnicu Vâlcea, as we thought that we wouldn't have a big chance of going directly to Sibiu. After five minutes, and a couple of cars, we split into to teams to raise our chances, Theo and Emre, and me alone, and it worked like a charm, not more than a minute, a car stops, and also picks me up. To top it off, the guys in the car were super nice, and were going to a very famous festival in Cluj, The Untold, meaning they could take us directly to Sibiu. They didn't speak much English, so they just put loud music on, and we enjoyed the ride through a canyon in the Carpathians.
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| Theodora (left), Camille (middle), and Maria (right) in the center of Sibiu. |
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| The cool gas station, had a really nice closed terrace, where we found refuge and rest for a while after those heatstrokes |
Last stop, Oradea, only 300km, but I didn't feel really optimistic, maybe because of the weather. That changed though, as when we were getting out of Bistrița, while on the boulevard I started holding up my Cluj sign, and a guy that was going to the airport picked us up. He left us at a gas station before Cluj, we had coffee, and continued.
This spot sucked, everyone was going inside the city, so they wouldn't pick us up, a car stopped, we had a miscommunication problem so the guy drove off, kinda fell out with Theo because of that problem, so we just split up again, and the same thing happened, Theo and Emre got picked up, and the same guy picked me up too. This man was nice, gave us a small tour of Cluj, showed us the festival grounds, and then took us to the exit. As the majority of the cars were almost full, we did the split, and this time, got picked up by different cars. The guy that picked me up had a lot of stories to tell, I didn't even notice the time passing, but finally, he dropped me off in Oradea, in front of my friend's building, and surprisingly, this was at the same time that Theo and Emre arrived.
We all got to Liam's apartment, had a meal because we were famished, and then went out with hopes of swimming in this legendary river, which was actually a total turn down, the "river" was barely 30cm deep, and full of shit (literally), but it was a nice walk anyways.
 |
| Liam, in the shitty waters of the Crișul Repede river |
Last day, biggest challenge, getting from Oradea to Craiova, that's a huge distance. But unbothered by this, we took a little tour of Oradea in the tram (to be honest, we missed our stop so we just waited for the tram to circle back). We got to the exit, the gloomy weather made us moody, we waited, no luck. We split up again, and a car stopped, I ran over to the car, and explained to the driver that we are heading out towards Timișoara or Arad, the guy told us that he is only going 30km away, but we hopped on anyways, better then nothing eh?
This dude was amazing, the only Romanian driver with a BMW that actually respected speed limits and the laws of traffic. When he stopped, he offered us coffee, and we said that we don't carry cash, but he insisted that we have some coffee, and bought us water and snacks as well, and then he started telling us something, due to our lingual limitations, I called my organizer, and gave him the phone, they talked, then I took the phone, and my organizer says: This guy is really nice, he said he'd take you to Arad, and there fina a bus for you to go to Craiova and pay for it.
Woah, okay, big unexpected blow for us, but we accepted his generous offer, and got back in the car. When we reached Arad, the man searched online for means of getting to Craiova, but clearly found nothing, because he smiled, looked at us, and said: Nothing, I take you to Timișoara .
Woop woop, on the road again, got to Timișoara, circled around the city, searching for a bus station, but even though they had three of them, none had buses to Craiova, the man was very disappointed, not us though, we just got an amazing tour of Timișoara.
Finally, he took us on the exit of Timișoara dropped us off at an amazing spot, said goodbye to us, and shoved a hundred lei in my hand, saying: For the rest of your trip.
I never expected this to happen to us, not after one month of Romania, I had so many terrible experiences and thoughts, and than this. Faith in humanity restored.
Story continues, at the exit, got picked up straight away, the guy didn't speak much English, but after some talking we got that he is going all the way to Drobeta, which worked perfectly for us. We didn't really talk to him that much, but the ride was amazing the sights were to die for, amazing houses, landscapes, the Danube, the Iron Gate, Serbia on the other side, all too beautiful.
We finally got to Drobeta and had only like 150km left, and it was getting dark. We positioned ourselves enthusiastically and a van stopped straight away, Emre and Theo were picked up, and I waited a bit more until a car with a family picked me up and drove me to Filiași.
At Filiași, it was already dark, and I started feeling anxious, as I had already hitchhiked at night in Romania, and it wasn't all that good, but just as I was getting near to the end of the town, I see the van that picked Theo and Emre up, and even though there was no seat, we squeezed in, and I was saved from potential crappy situations.
Manele in the beginning, manele in the end, the circle was completed, we got to Craiova, still not believing our luck. 1200km, not that much really, but for a group of three, it was a hell of a trip. Totes would do again yo.
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| Rule #26 of Hitchhiking: Always carry a potato |
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