nobudgettravel

As I’m writing this, I’m almost home. I’ve been back in my hometown for 2 days now but at my moms house.

Last Friday I knew there was a possibility to get a ride back home from Germany. I was in the rock bar in Günzburg and had to get to a truck stop 15 km away at 6AM to catch that ride.

I met some lovely people at that bar. They were super interested in my trip and ended up helping me.

It was around 1AM, I just knew that I wasn’t going to find a decent sleeping place. So I made up my mind and decided to walk to the truck stop. It was about 3 hours.

I packed all my stuff and got ready to leave. All suited up, I said goodbye and stepped outside.

But once outside, one of the guys I met, stopped me. He just couldn’t let me go for a 3 hour walk in the middle of the night.

We went back inside and they figured something out for me. One of them had a brother that had to go to work at 4AM.

I was able to go home with him and get 2 hours of sleep before his brother dropped me off at the location at 4:15.

There was a gas station with a shop, but it didn’t open for another 45 minutes. But there was someone inside preparing for opening and he brought me a hot cup of coffee.

30 minutes later, he let me in. I was able to get some breakfast and had to wait for another 90 minutes. But at least it was nice and warm inside.

Finally there was salvation. A Dutch bar owner (in the same town I’m from), also works as a stand in truck driver. He picked me up and we had a long ride home.

Now I’m glad I’m back and my body got some well deserved rest. Cause it was not as easy as I thought it was going to be.

A lot of waiting in the cold. A lot of time alone. And not being sure if you’re gonna eat or have a place to sleep.

After all, it was a really nice adventure and with super nice experiences. But is it over? I don’t think so. I travelled around 3000 km so far and I’m planning on much more in the future.

For the coming weeks I can go back to work. And I’ll see when and where I want to go next.

I learned so much so far and I’m not done yet.

9-12-19 13:00

I woke up with a amazing view from a house halfway up a mountain at the edge of Bolzano. And yup, I was completely naked.

I figured it would be super awkward but it was nothing like that. It wasn’t so bad, but I don’t think I was completely comfortable.

So I got out of bed and put on some clothes. After a cup of coffee, my host took me to the highway entrance.

It was only a 20 minute wait this time and I got myself a ride to Innsbruck, Austria. I got dropped off at the last gas station before the city.

There it was a 2 hour wait before a Dutch truck driver decided to get me going again.

He was able to drive for another 4 hours before he had to call it a day. He stopped at a truckstop near Ulm.

I tried hitchhiking out, but it wasn’t really crowded and all trucks that stopped, were staying the night.

So, bag back on my back and back to walking. For almost an hour over a very dark bicycle lane. But I arrived in Günzburg.

It was pretty crowded in the small city center because of a Christmas market. I had a chat with a local guy and he took me to this nice rock bar.

I tried a lot of options to get a host, but no luck with that so far. I’ll keep trying and otherwise make my way back to the highway.

Map update coming soon.

7-12-19 1:20

And the sun kept shining! For pretty much the whole day. Today i decided to go towards lake Garda. After a short train trip, I found myself in Peschiera del Garda.

A ten minute walk later I arrived at this breathtaking scenery. I found a nice bench to have some breakfast.

Then I decided to go on a hike for the next town. 9 km later I arrived at Lazise. I can tell you more about this town tomorrow.

A quick look on Couchsurfing got me in contact with a local bar owner. He told me he could host me, but wasn´t around for another few hours. I waited for him to get back and just enjoyed the sun and view.

When he got back, he sent me his location and we met there. His name is Rik and he owns a nice bar in the city center. Just 150 meters from the lake. As he was preparing his bar for Christmas time, I helped him out with some stuff.

When we were done, we went to another bar to have some beer and snacks. A quick stop at his parents house to feed the dog on the way back and we arrived at his place.

His place is a nice cozy apartment, close to his bar. He lives together with his roommate, Olympia.

After he showed me around his place, I had some dinner and we watched some TV. Now I´m working on my blog and about to take a shower and go to bed. We´ll see what tomorrow brings. This place is really amazing!

3-12-19 21:20

This morning Costanzo took me to Verona. I had some time to check out the arena in the city center. After I did some tourist stuff it started to rain a bit. So I took the bus to a nearby truck paradise.

It was a huge logistics area, Costanzo told me I could probably get a ride there. Unfortunately after again 4 hours of walking around looking for good spots to hitchhike and talking to drivers, I gave up. But still thanks for the tip, Costanzo!

I decided to take the bus back to the center and check Couchsurfing to find a host for the night. Which I did!

Meet Salvatore. This man was so kind to pick me up and bring me back the next morning.

Once at his place, we watched some tv and waiting for his friend, who was also staying the night, arrived. Then we went to bed.

With a alarm set for 7:10 it was gonna be a short night. But luckily the alarm didn’t wake me up. I woke up at 7:00 with a strange feeling in my stomach. So I opened my eyes and realized there was another friend in the house. It was Salvatore’s lovely cat Patrick.

After a cup of Italian espresso, Salvatore had to go to work. He dropped me off and I’m on my way again. Another day of going north. Hopefully it’ll be a bit easier today. At least the sun is shining.

3-12-19 8:40

Yes! I eventually made it to Parma. The driver, who never really introduced himself, I think it was Flavio, dropped me off at Parma Stazione.

There I had a quick walk around to find Giusy and her friends waiting for me in the car.

We drove to Viadana and after dropping her friends off we went home. I said hi to mom and dad and had a quick drink.

She showed me the bathroom and my bed and I got ready to sleep. After a good 9 hours of sleep I got up and took a hot shower.

After we had breakfast, her brother Antonio joined us and decided to visit a nearby town called Sabbioneta.

Sabbioneta (Casalasco-Viadanese: Subiùnèda) is a town and comune in the province of Mantua, Lombardy region, Northern Italy. It is situated about 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of Parma, not far from the northern bank of the Po River. It was inscribed in the World Heritage List in 2008. Source: Wikipedia

After we explored this beautiful old renaissance town, we headed back to have lunch with the family and her boyfriend Costanzo.

After lunch we watched the Formula 1 race together and as it ended we drove to Mantua, a nearby city.

In Manua we visited some old buildings and went inside the church. Also I had the first little bit of rain since I started my trip. On the way back to the car we walked over the local Christmas market.

Back home we had a Pizza and to finish the day I had the best homemade limoncello I ever had.

For tomorrow I’ve got myself a ride to Verona with Costanzo. Let’s hope for a warm and sunny day.

1-12-19 22:10

I woke up at the B&B after a good night of sleep and had some lovely French breakfast and even got to take some extra food for on the go.

I walked back to the gas station that didn’t bring me much in the dark. But now I got lucky after only 15 minutes.

I got picked up by a nice guy named Marco. He’s Italian but lives and works as a car engineer for Renault in Paris. He agreed to take me to Lyon, so I could explore the south of France and possibly Spain.

After getting to know each other a little better, I found out that he was actually visiting his parents back home in Turin. I let him know I didn’t really care to go to Italy and actually liked the idea. So he agreed to take me all the way.

After picking up 2 other people in Chambéry, which is just before the Italian border, we continued the trip to Turin.

We arrived in the center of Turin around 5PM I think. I just walked around for a good hour through the city center. There was a market where I could try some nice local food samples. It wasn’t that much but enough for that moment.

I tried contacting some people on Couchsurfing and got lucky to get a host for the night. He told me he would be home close to midnight and sent me his address.

So I had some time to explore the area and made sure I was 3 km northwards at midnight.

And as agreed my host showed up. His name was Samuel, a young guy from Nigeria who is trying to build himself a future in Italy. Unfortunately, he didn’t have that much success yet.

Nonetheless I had a great stay with him and as soon as I woke up and said goodbye to Samuel, I had the plan to find my way to Parma.

The easiest route to Parma is the E70 highway. But it’s located all the way in the south of Turin. I did some research and found out that it would either be a 3 hour walk or pay €1,90 for a train ticket.

Waking for 3 full hours is just a little too much with the backpack on. So the train it was. When I got out, I had to find my way to a nearby gas station. This was quite a challenge. With soggy fields to cross and then have to find my way around and over some fences. But the beautiful view was so worth it. And I made it unscathed.

Finally there, I went in to the restaurant and asked for some cardboard. They had to ask a costumer to help translate but explained me there was a big container at the back where I could take as much as I wanted.

I crafted myself a new sign for ‘Parma’ and made way for a good spot in the morning sun. So far so good right?

Well, I kept a very positive mindset for the first 2 hours, cause I was simply really enjoying the view and the weather.

After those 2 hours I felt like I had to change my approach and went back to the container to make a new sign. This one saying E70.

About 3 hours in i started to lose hope. I browsed some websites and posted my trip there. Close to an hour later a got a reply from someone willing to help me and bring me to Parma.

He told me to meet in a spot in the center of Turin, so I walked and took the train back there. After a short walk from the train station I arrived at the location.

I got another message that he was going to be 2,5 hours later and also had to pick someone up in Milan before he went to Parma.

Not knowing what else to do, I agreed to this and waited. I also contacted an old friend, close to Parma, I had an exchange program with 12 years ago. I asked her if she knew someone in Parma that would be able to host me and pick me up around 1AM.

She told me she could pick me up and host me! Giusy, you’re the best! You really saved my day.

At this point we’re waiting for the guy we had to pick up and will be off to Parma as soon as he gets here.

Good night!

30-11-19 22:30

I was so tired yesterday. So a bit late, but here’s my story.

After a great stay with Thomas, I was back on the street. Thomas showed me a spot to start my day and gave me some bread. So I went on to the spot he told me about and after 10 minutes I had a ride.

Due to lack of English on the drivers side and lack of French on mine, communication was hard and I ended up even closer to Paris at a train station. Not really what I wanted.

I tried to stay positive and had a 60 minute walk to a gas station close to a big road to the highway.

I made a new sign saying ‘direction Orléans ’ and settled down just before the gas station. Unfortunately I had no luck. 2 long hours of signing at grumpy French people got me down.

I decided to have another walk and try somewhere else. On my way I had to refill my water bottle and got in touch with a helpful guy who was willing to pay me a train ticket for Paris. That way I was able to take the train to the south of Paris.

So I did and found my way to Villabé, close to the highway A6. From there it was a 40 minute walk to the gas station at the highway.

At this point I was very tired and very hungry. Unfortunately the gas station was very quiet. So not much potential for a ride or a meal.

I was starting to feel very emotional about the situation and how it was not working out. So I decided to use some money to get a decent meal and after that a bed in a bed and breakfast down the road.

This day was tough. But I’ll have to stay positive. That’s the only way I’m gonna succeed. Better luck tomorrow.

28-11-19 21:00

For anyone who now assumes I’m laying on a freezing cold bench, somewhere in a scary park. I’m not.

As I was in the pub, I got to know some people. Some gave me a drink and then I met Thomas and his friends.

Thomas was really interested in my story and when I told him I was still looking for a place to stay the night, he offered me to stay at his place.

Some drinks later, we went on a 20 minute walk. Surrounded by the smell of horse shit (welcome to Chantilly) we had some good laughs and finally arrived at his place. Or as his friends call it: Thomashome!

His alarm clock is set for 8:20AM, which is in just over 6 hours. So it’s probably best, I get some sleep now.

No plans yet for tomorrow, except for the fact I want to go on a search for some decent food.

Sweet dreams! Especially to Joost, Thomas and the kind truck driver.