Day 10 – Don't Let Anyone Take You Out Of The Motorway

Date: 5th of July 2015

Route: Liège – Brussels

Vehicles hitchhiked: 5

There had been a storm during the night, so we hoped that it wouldn't be so hot anymore. We had planned to go to Brussels that day, so the distance was pretty short this time (only around 80 km from Liège); that's why we had decided to wake up later than usual.

We ate oat cakes prepared by Maia, and then went on foot to a place where we had chosen to start hitchhiking that day. It was around 12 p.m. when we finally arrived there. We were standing on a shoulder of a motorway; it turned out to be a poor choice, because people weren't eager to pull over in such a place.

On the way to the motorway

Finally, two men were kind enough to risk a fine and take us from there. The only problem was that we couldn't communicate with them at all, because they didn't speak English, and we didn't understand French or Russian. We tried to explain in German in which area we wanted to leave, but unfortunately it didn't work out very well – we ended up left in Tienen, a small town located a few kilometres from the motorway.

Cars passed next to us only once in a blue moon; here I'm showing my resignation

We wanted to come back to the main road somehow, but cars passed next to us only once in a blue moon. To make matters worse, it started raining. We were hitchhiking in such conditions for almost an hour; then a nice couple felt pity and stopped next to us. We drove only a few kilometres with them, to the next bus stop, but every little bit helps. Then we stopped two amiable guys from Baghdad, who had fled Iraq 9 years before, and had been living in Leuven (where they left us) since then.

Walking along streets in Leuven

In Leuven we walked along streets, trying to stop cars that were passing next to us, and after several minutes we managed to catch a lift. A couple that helped us seemed fascinated with stories about our journey. They left us next to the entry of a motorway towards Brussels. That place was even more dangerous for cars to stop than the previous ones – we were standing on a hard shoulder again, and there was a sharp turn just behind us.

Nevertheless, after a few minutes, a girl in a van pulled over. She didn't have much space in the car, so Maia had to sit among bikes that the girl was transporting (Maia didn’t complain of course – the girl wanted to help us). Unfortunately, we didn't manage to convince her to leave us on the Brussels Ring, because she didn't want to get a fine – so we ended up out of the motorway again...

Yeah! We're out of the motorway again!

Luckily, we found a bus stop nearby, and managed to arrive on time at the Pentahotel Brussels, in which Maia had two nights booked as a participant of the "Vulcanus in Japan" programme meeting. Unfortunately, an appointment with Laurie, my host, had to be delayed one hour. I quickly left my luggage in Maia's room, and took only a sleeping bag, clothes for change and some food with me.

While Maia and I were walking through Brussels to meet with my host, we came across a glass city lift, and went down with it.

In the glass city lift

We also saw people sitting in the middle of a street. They didn’t care about it, but were just talking and eating sandwiches there (well, to tell the truth, it wasn't particularly strange because cars had been banned from the city centre since some time before :-P).

People sitting on a street

Laurie took us for a short walk and showed us the most famous places in the city. Then, we parted in a park next to The Royal Palace – Maia came back to the hotel, and I went by bus with Laurie to her flat, located on the outskirts of Brussels.

Sweet photo next to a fountain

Laurie was a really friendly and interesting person, with a unique and healthy lifestyle. She had been travelling in Australia for 8 months with her friend, and then she had started working on some kind of a social project.

Before I went to bed, I checked my e-mail and read a message from Maia; she wrote that her Spanish roommate had nothing against the idea of my sleeping in their room. It meant that Maia would smuggle me into the hotel for the next night :-)