Summary of The Trip

WHY MAIA AND I WANTED TO GO ON SUCH A TRIP

At the beginning of this year's summer holidays Maia (my significant other) and I came up with an idea to hitchhike to Croatia through Budapest, and come back from there through Vienna. Our first common hitchhiking trip had taken place in May; we had gone to Czech Republic for 2 days then. We had liked the experience so much that we had planned to go on another longer trip, further from Poland this time.

Our initial plans had to be changed though, since Maia was going to have an important meeting for the participants of the "Vulcanus in Japan" programme in Brussels on the 6th of July. Should be hitchhike to Brussels instead? Why not!

HOW WE CHOSE THE ROUTE

We decided that it was going to be a hitchhiking-couchsurfing trip. On couchsurfing.com you can find people who want to host others in their houses for free. We spent a few days writing messages to people from different cities in Europe, describing what our plans were, and asking them for a couch for us. We left Poland still waiting for some replies.

We wanted to have better chances to arrive at our hosts' houses before dark (or at all), regarding the unpredictability of our "hitchhhiking luck", and to have time to sightsee places where we were supposed to stay; that's why we decided to cover only around 300 km per day.

In the end the route looked more or less like this:

The map of out trip, made by Maia

HOW MUCH MONEY WE SPENT ON THE TRIP

During the whole 18-day trip both of us spent together around 160€; that was around 5€ per day per person, only. Food and tickets for public transport (it would be hard to hitchhike in city centres) were our main expenses. 

The collection of tickets bought on our trip

WHAT IS DESCRIBED ON MY BLOG

While reading about our EUROTRIP you will find out:

• how extremely nice and hospitable people who hosted us were,
• how helpful some of the drivers who gave us a lift were (especially: Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 12, Day 16),
• how lucky we sometimes were − even when we were in a situation that seemed hopeless, everything turned out to be alright in the end (Day 1, Day 3, Day 8, Day 14),
• how we managed to get some things for free (Day 2, Day 8, Day 12),
• how we managed to hitchhike a bus (Day 8),
• what happened to us when we weren't careful enough (Day 10, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14),
• what kind of funny situations we had (Day 5, Day 8, Day 13),
• what kind of equipment we took with us (Day 1, Day 8) and how we managed to get something to eat with,
• in what places and how we were trying to catch a lift,
• how we managed to survive a heatwave that came to Europe at that time.

Day 18 – Zombie Is Back

Date: 13th of July 2015

Route: Nysa – Cracow

Vehicles hitchhiked: 3

We had spent Saturday with Maia's grandparents.

On Sunday morning the grandpa gave us a lift to a slip road leading to a motorway towards Cracow. We were hitchhiking next to a toll booth; we were wondering if anyone would want to take us (for free), despite the fact that they were obliged to pay to drive on the motorway.

One truck driver did. We drove with him to Gliwice, talking with him about differences between people from various European countries, and places worth visiting in Europe.

On the petrol station where we left, it took us around half an hour to find a man who agreed to give us a lift. We drove with him only to the next petrol station; but it didn't matter – at least he was kind enough to help us.

From there we caught a direct lift to Cracow. A woman that took us had been coming back from a spiritual meeting, which was held somewhere abroad. From what she said about it, it seemed to have been an interesting event.

We got out of her car on a bus stop in Cracow, we only needed to walk 3 km from there to get to our house. When we entered it, it was around 2 p.m.

We were tired (Maia joked that I behaved like a zombie) but satisfied that we had managed to have such an adventurous trip.

Day 16 – Welcome Back To Poland!

Date: 11th of July 2015

Route: Berlin – Nysa

Vehicles hitchhiked: 6

Nysa, where Maia’s grandparents live, was our next destination point after Berlin. This time we had to drive more than 400 km – it was the longest distance per day on our trip.

We got up around 7, and ate breakfast on an U-Bahn station, because we didn’t have time to do it before leaving Philipp’s flat. A slip road leading to a motorway towards Cottbus was a place where we wanted to start hitchhiking that day. We hadn’t suspected that it would be such a bad choice – we were standing there for an hour, and only around twenty cars passed next to us. 

We had a lot of free time while waiting for cars to appear on the road

We were starting to think of looking for a better place, but, luckily, a Nysa van pulled over, and the driver offered to give us a lift. We asked him to leave us next to the motorway, before he turned in some other direction. It turned out to be not such a good idea – cars were driving veeeery fast there. After we saw a guy who showed to us a sign which was supposed to mean that we were crazy [if we were standing in such a place], we started looking for some other place to stand.

It wasn’t an easy task. We didn’t want to walk many kilometres, so choosing some other point next to the motorway (a bad idea) or hitchhiking next to an airport were basically the only options that we had. Despite the fact that we had a resolution to never try catching a lift on any airport again (because of our experiences in Frankfurt), we decided to give it a try.

As expected, we spent a very long time on the airport. There wasn’t any good spot where we could hitchhike there. We ended up standing next to traffic lights just before a slip road leading to the motorway, and asking people through the windows if they were going in the direction of Cottbus. We spent certainly more than an hour in that place.

There wasn't any other better place to try catching cars near the airport

Eventually, a friendly guy let us get into his van. He said he lived in a village nearby, but, if we wanted, he could drive us further, because he had time. We asked him to leave us on the nearest parking lot (which wasn’t near, actually), so that we could have a better chance to catch another car.

Fortunately, we didn't have to wait long there; a few minutes after our arrival at the parking lot a van-driver from Miechów (a town in Poland) agreed to help us (so far it had been a “van-day” for us). He told us that he had once taken four hitchhiking girls inside his car, and his wife had been very suspicious when she had heard about it. 

We often tried asking drivers for a lift on petrol stations or parking lots

After we got out of his car, on a petrol station near Cottbus, we asked several drivers for a lift, but none of them agreed; so we moved to try catching a lift near the exit. A few minutes later a Polish truck driver stopped in front of us; he took us to the Germany-Poland border.

While we were driving with him, he asked a few other truckers (using CB-radio) if they could take us to Wrocław. One guy offered his help, but he asked us to wait for him, because he had something to do before departuring. We arranged that we would meet with him an hour later if we didn’t manage to catch any other lift until then.

Several minutes later we managed to stop a car. The driver wasn’t willing to allow us into his car at first, but (from what he told us later) after he looked at me, he realised that there was nothing to be afraid of :-) He was a very amiable Polish man, who worked in Berlin. It turned out that we could go in his car almost directly to Nysa.

After we passed Wrocław, we ended up standing in a very long tailback on the motorway (for about an hour). Lots of people got out of their cars and relaxed, while waiting for vehicles that were in front of them to move forward. Welcome back in Poland!

People relaxing while standing in a tailback

The driver offered to drive out of the motorway, so that we could have it easier to catch a lift to the town centre. It was really kind of him – there was a fee for driving on the motorway, and he had to pay more money because of leaving it, and entering it again.

There were only 30 km to Nysa from the place where we got off. It took us only five minutes to catch the next lift. The driver, after listening to our hitchhiking&couchsurfing stories, eyed us suspiciously, and he probably thought that we were very poor. Or crazy.

We were left on a petrol station in Nysa; Maia's grandpa came by car to get us from there. A smile on his face and the happiness of the grandma only confirmed that it was a good idea to visit them on the way.

Day 15 – Everyday Life In Berlin

Date: 10th of July 2015

Sightseeing: Berlin

Thanks to Philipp’s hospitality we could stay in Berlin one more day. We didn’t want to behave like typical tourists and sightsee the most famous landmarks, such as The Brandenburg Gate, but we chose to walk to a field that used to be an airport, and see some other less crowded places instead.

There are many interesting places in Berlin that are not touristic

While walking around the city, we came across a big Turkish outdoor market. People were selling lots of fruits, vegetables, and other food items there, as well as fabrics, trinkets, and loads of other various colorful things. It was a nice experience to walk there – we could see Berlin (or Kreuzberg) everyday life. If we had walked around the city centre, we would have probably seen only loads of tourists.

We didn’t have any reason to hurry, so we sat in a big park with a rose garden, eating our second breakfast, and looking at people who were relaxing there, for example men who were training their dogs.

Trying to feel the atmosphere of Berlin :-)

Generally speaking, we were just walking around and observing how it is to live in that city. We saw the old airport, a big mosque and other landmarks on the way, but it wasn’t as important for us as trying to feel the atmosphere of Berlin.

On the way back home we encountered a street with around thirty small shops that looked exactly the same. We found out that what was sold in all of them were... license plates (sic!)

Some of the shops selling license plates

As a way to say “Thank you” to Philipp, we prepared delicious fruit smoothies, and cooked lentils with vegetables for dinner for all the three of us.

Philipp was going to work as a DJ in a club that night, and he had to prepare music which he would play on a turntable. Because of that we spent a very nice evening, talking with him and listening to some of entrancing gramophone records that he had in his big collection.

Day 14 – An Unexpected Encounter In A Park

Date: 9th of July 2015

Route: Bremen – Berlin

Vehicles hitchhiked: 5

In the morning we decided to sightsee Bremen, despite the drizzly weather and Maia's complaints that we wouldn’t manage to arrive in Berlin to meet with our host on time. We walked around for an hour only, but we felt the atmosphere of the town at least, and Maia had a funny photo with the statue of Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten.

The Five Bremer Stadtmusikanten

Then we used public transportation in order to get to an express road towards Berlin. We couldn’t stop anyone for about an hour, despite the fact that we were standing in several different places. One guy laughed at us when he saw us walking towards a motorway (German: “Autobahn”), and asked if we wanted to go for a walk there.

While we were coming back from the motorway, along a slip road, we finally managed to stop a car. The woman told us that she was heading towards Hamburg; we had planned to go to Berlin through Hannover and Magdeburg, but since we didn’t have any better options to choose from, we decided to change our plans, and got into her car.

She had hitchhiked to Greece when she had been a teenager, and that's why she understood our situation, and wanted to help us. She left us on a petrol station next to a motorway towards Hamburg.

Asking for a lift there took us quite a long time. We started being worried that we wouldn’t be able to arrive in Berlin before dark. Suddenly we saw a friendly woman waving to us; she invited us to her car, which was a van used to transport horses (though, at that moment there weren't any of them inside).

Do we look like horses? :-)

While we were driving with her, something weird happened – a GPS navigation showed her, out of the blue, to drive out of the motorway. The woman followed the advice, but after she drove a few kilometres, it ordered her to come back. A woman went angry; because of that, while turning back, she crashed a bonnet of her car into a stone bollard. She became so disoriented after what had happened that she drove with us further than we needed... So we had to come back to the motorway leading towards Berlin somehow.

Firstly, we had to run between cars across the motorway, in order to be able to ask for a lift on a parking lot which was on the other side of the road. We stood near its exit for several minutes, and a van stopped next to us then. While we were discussing with the driver where he could possibly leave us, drivers standing behind him were tooting their horns impatiently – we had blocked the whole exit of the lot, accidentally.

Coming back to the motorway leading to Berlin

The driver took us only to the next petrol station; we were next to the motorway towards Berlin again, at least. Unfortunately, we had troubles with catching a lift there (again). Hitchhiking was becoming more and more nettlesome that day...

Finally, a truck stopped in front of us when we were standing with a card next to the exit of the station. The trucker turned out to be a Lithuanian, who had served in the army in Kaliningrad. We had a funny conversation with him in Russian-Polish language mix. Nevertheless, we were tired after the ride, because he was driving pretty slowly (trucks have some speed limits) and, to cap it all, there was a long tailback on the motorway.

It was already quite late, and we still had around 200 km to cover, so we started being a little bit worried. Fortunately, it didn't take us long to find a driver willing to give us a lift; he only asked us to wait for him half an hour, because he wanted to relax a little before continuing to drive. However, another man approached us in the meantime, and offered to take us directly to Berlin. We went with him to his car, and thanked the previous guy for his willingness to help us.

It was an exhausting day, so no wonder that I fell asleep while sitting in the car. Maia was listening to the radio in German, and trying to talk in this language with the driver. I was woken up when we were already in the city.

When we got out of the car, we went by U-Bahn to Kreuzberg, where our host lived. We came to his flat while he was uploading his documentary film about Fukushima and wind energy to a competition website. When we arrived at his door, he greeted us with cheerful “Hello! You've made it!”. Yeah, we did, fortunately!

Philipp was very hospitable, he even gave us keys to his flat so that we could be independent. Moreover, when we remarked that we would spend in Berlin only one day, and that again we wouldn't have time to sightsee the city, he let us stay in his flat one more night.

My silliness: I'm pretending that I am traffic lights

In the evening Maia and I agreed to go for a short walk around Kreuzberg. It was a multicultural district, and lots of crazy and peculiar people lived there. The Berlin Wall was the main destination of this short trip. However, we only saw a piece of wall from the distance in the end, so we didn't even know if it was the one that we had wanted to visit, or not.

While coming back to the flat, we agreed to check out a big park on the way. To our surprise, it was surrounded by dozens of black people. A few of them approached us, and whispered something to Maia; I found out later that they had been trying to sell us drugs. Fortunately, nothing bad happened to us, and we managed to come back home safe and sound.

Day 13 – Like Drowned Rats

Date: 8th of July 2015

Route: Rotterdam – Bremen

Vehicles hitchhiked: 7

After leaving Ela and Marcin's flat, while we were walking to the place where we wanted to hitchhike, we did the shopping, and bought stroopwafels and a very tasty “sliced cheese” from coconut.

It was raining cats and dogs that day, so standing near a road wasn't particularly pleasant; but, on the other hand, it was a new experience for us. We had to put a direction card in a plastic document sleeve so that it wouldn't soak.

Standing in the rain

Unfortunately, we hadn’t learned our lesson, and missed one occasion to be taken. When we finally noticed that someone had stopped behind us, it had been already going away.

After about an hour of waiting in the rain, we caught a lift to Utrecht (we decided to visit this city on the way to Bremen). The driver was very helpful and he suggested that we go and see city canals; we followed his advice and checked out a coffeeshop on the way.

Signs that the Netherlands is a very tolerant country were visible in Utrecht as well :-)

After sightseeing for a while, we tried to get back to a motorway towards Bremen. Maia wanted to go there with a shorter path, but it transpired to be a very bad idea – after walking for some time through high grass, and then through bushes and small trees, we found ourselves surrounded by ditches (full of dirty water) from three sides. Maia wanted to cross through them, and took off her shoes; fortunately, I managed to explain to her that we probably shouldn't be stinky if we wanted to catch a ride… So we came back with the same route.

What we “gained” from her idea was water in our shoes. Moreover, we had to throw out her destroyed hat and two pairs of my soaked socks.

Like drowned rat

We waited until it stopped raining, and then went to stand next to a slip road, where we tried to catch a lift. After several minutes a Dutch marriage allowed us into their car. I am not sure if it was because of the air-conditioning, or because of standing outside in wet clothes for a long time, but I was shivering from cold while sitting in the car.

The couple left us on a petrol station next to a road to Enschede. There, we ate rolls prepared in the morning, and bought cups of hot chocolate to warm ourselves up. Maia came up with an idea to dry her shoes using a hand-dryer in a station toilet.

Drying shoes in a hand-dryer

Two guys whom we asked to take us from the station seemed to like the idea of having hitchhikers in their car a lot. They offered to drive us almost to Enschede, which wasn’t on the way for them. They were quite friendly, but their lifestyle didn't seem to be very healthy – one of them smoked three cigarettes within the 20 minutes during which we were sitting in the car.

There were lots of trucks on a parking lot where they left us, so we thought that we could try hitchhiking in one of them. Unfortunately, none of the foreign truckers was willing to take two passengers. When we talked with Polish ones, the situation was different – the only reason they didn't want to help us was the fact that they were driving in another direction. Luckily, one guy from Chojnice (a town in Poland) was going to Berlin through Osnabrück, and he agreed to give us a lift.

This time Maia and I didn't share a seat – I sat on the front, and Maia sat on a sleeping place behind seats. The driver only asked her to hide somewhere from German Polizei, when we were about to cross the border. I generally liked the ride, and learned a lot about working as a trucker.

The next car that we managed to hitchhike was a Polish car as well. The friendly driver, who had worked and lived in Germany for a couple of years, advised us to visit the Kreuzberg district if we were in Berlin.

We got off his car on a parking lot next to a motorway towards Bremen. We didn't have luck there – none of the drivers that we asked agreed to give us a lift. We tried standing next to the exit of the parking lot, and then near its entry, but unfortunately we didn't manage to stop anyone in neither of those places. Resigned, we started walking back towards the parking lot, in order to ask a new group of people who had come there for help.

Suddenly, we saw a car backing towards us; its driver invited us inside. It turned out that he had used to hitchhike a lot as well when he had been younger. He had often hitchhiked with his girlfriend and a dog. In order to be more successful in catching a lift, he had used to hide in bushes with the dog, while the girl had been standing near roads alone. Whenever someone had stopped to help her, they had suddenly appeared next to her.

We left the car when it stopped on red lights on a crossroad on the outskirts of Bremen. Maia started asking people who stopped behind the driver if they could help us; she managed to persuade a woman, who had also hitchhiked in the past, to give us a lift. She was so kind that she drove us almost directly to our host's flat – we walked for only one minute to get there.

Our host's kitchen - we liked its style

Mascha, our host, was very hospitable. She prepared pasta with sauce for us, and allowed us to use her washing machine to do the laundry. What is more, she was a really interesting person, who had travelled a lot, and had done many impressive things in her life.

We had had enough of rain that day, so we decided not to walk around Bremen in the evening. We stayed in the flat instead, and enjoyed conversations with Mascha and her flatmates – Fabian and Ania.

Day 12 – Don’t Forget To Look Behind You

Date: 7th of July 2015

Route: Brussels – Rotterdam

Vehicles hitchhiked: 3

In the morning I ate breakfast that was stolen for me (by Maia) from the hotel restaurant – a big plate full of delicious fruits and butter croissants. When we were packing, Maia noticed that her favourite water bottle, which she had left on a bedside table, had disappeared – the hotel staff had thrown it out while cleaning the room. In that case we needed to buy another one on the way.

My yummy breakfast

We didn’t have coins to pay for tram tickets, so Maia walked into a nearby shop, and asked to break 50€. However, she was told that breaking money was not possible, and she had to buy at least one item in the shop in order to get coins; so she chose a small bottle of water. It turned out later that a shop assistant made a mistake while giving her a change (the assistant probably remembered subconsciously her request to break money) – banknotes and coins that she was handed added up to exactly 50€ ;-)

We took a few trams, and walked several hundred meters in order to get to a motorway where we wanted to start hitchhiking. Our spot turned out to be quite a dangerous place for the cars to stop. After we saw a few police cars driving next to us, we got a little bit nervous, and agreed to hitchhike somewhere else.

Crushing the Atomium - the only very-touristic photo that I have

Our search for a better place lasted for a long time; we walked around 2 kilometres along the motorway, crossing through high grass and bushes, and passing roadworks. We couldn’t find any reasonable place to stand and stop cars on the way. A spot that we chose in the end wasn’t very good either – it was a motorway shoulder again – but we agreed to try catching a lift there anyway, since cars were driving there more slowly than in the previous place, at least.

After several minutes, one of the drivers who passed next to us showed to me that I should look back... When I followed his advice, I did a double take – there was a car standing behind us, which we hadn't noticed before. The driver was patient enough, fortunately, and he waited for us to get inside the car. Moreover, he was so kind that he drove through the whole Antwerp – although he worked on the other side of the city – in order to make it easier for us to stop a car going to Rotterdam.

It took us only a minute to catch the next lift. When a driver saw us standing next to the motorway, he backed his car several dozens of metres (along the motorway!) in order to take us. He said that the last time when he had seen hitchhikers on that road was 2 years before. He enjoyed listening to our stories a lot, and said that he would tell his children about them.

He left us on a petrol station near Breda. We met a Belgian couple there who let us go to Rotterdam in their car.

Taken while watching boats floating through the Nieuwe Maas River;
the famous Euromast in the background (on the left)

We said goodbyes somewhere in the centre of the city, and then Maia and I started wandering around. We came across a river on the way, sat on its bank, and spent some time watching boats. Then, according to our custom, we went to a park. It was pretty windy (the Netherlands, of course), so after some time of sitting there we started to feel cold, so we huddled inside the sleeping bag. Then we walked to our hosts’ house, sightseeing Rotterdam on the way.

Checking out a park in Rotterdam

A Polish family that hosted us in Rotterdam – Ela, Marcin, and their 2.5-year-old son Jerzy –  was really friendly and hospitable. We talked a lot about our travelling experiences, in the meantime eating dinner that Ela had prepared for us. They told us that they had used to move to a different country every year, and we fancied this idea a lot. Moreover, it turned out that they were planning to visit Japan in September, so they arranged to meet with Maia there.

The Netherlands is a cool country

Our general impression of the Netherlands was positive – it seemed like a very friendly and tolerant country. We noticed that there were thousands of bikes everywhere, and at least three hair salons on each street.

All in all, we regretted a lot that we couldn't stay in this country for a longer time.

Day 11 – A Walk In The Forest

Date: 6th of July 2015

Sightseeing: Brussels

I let myself sleep longer than usual that day. The meeting for the participants of the "Vulcanus in Japan" programme (in which Maia participated) was going to be held until 5 p.m., so I had a lot of time to rest.

Laurie had to prepare for her Dutch lesson, which she was going to have in the afternoon, so I decided to walk alone to a forest which was very close to her flat. I was wandering there for almost two hours, breathing fresh air, and enjoying the nature. I definitely needed some peace and quiet, after listening to sounds of engines near motorways and noisy people in big cities for more than a week.

In the forest I found peace and quiet

On the way back to Laurie's flat I went to a bakery to buy a roll. It turned out that no one spoke English in the shop (just to remind you: I was in Brussels!), so I caused a commotion. Nevertheless, a merchant and I managed to communicate somehow, using hands, a piece of paper and a pen.

After I came back to the flat, Laurie and I went by bus to the city centre. We said goodbyes on a bus stop, and then I started my traipse around Brussels.

A park in the centre of Brussels

I had a lot of time before my meeting with Maia, and didn't have to hurry anywhere, so I was just wandering around and observing people and places. I walked along many streets, rested in a few parks, and checked out buildings of the European Parliament en route. The first two things that you could notice in Brussels were its multiculturalism, and white-red vehicle registration plates ;-)

At 5 p.m. I joined Maia and the other participants of the meeting, while they were coming back to the hotel. Then all of us went to a bar; we were talking about their future travel to Japan there. Some of the guys ordered beers for themselves, but then the owner came (after half an hour or so) and said (out of the blue) that the alcohol was not sold in that place. That was pretty weird...

Participants of the "Vulcanus in Japan" programme

Maia and I came back to the hotel earlier than the rest of the group. As expected, I managed to enter her room unnoticed by the staff.

Not only did I have free accommodation there, but I also ate (for supper) a few rolls that Maia had grabbed for me from the breakfast smörgåsbord. We're sooo bad! ;-)

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 :-)