Belgrade on hitch

Pam pa ram, recently we've began exploring Romania through hitch-hiking. It's a great way to practice romanian, to meet people we otherwise probably wouldn't get into much contact with, and of course to go to places relatively fast and cheap.


And hitch-hiking in Romania is really not hard - one often sees people of all ages on the roadside trying to catch a ride. It depends on how much you are ready to be dependant on a coincidence – maybe wait a while on the roadside, get a bit bored or tired, but that's why it's nice to have somebody with you. And a coincidence is who you are going to meet on the way - a jazz lover coming from a festival, a chair designer from Satu Mare, a forest manager, a silent couple...








Our last driver Alexandru who took as right to our street in Cluj


For us it's also an amazing feeling to discover that after two months here in Romania it is possible to understand and maintain a conversation with somebody – in romanian! Even if we understand each other like cat understands dog (one of our driver's expressions)...... In our first longer conversation in Romanian with a driver we even discussed politics! got manele lyric translations! as well as drank coffee and saw some nice family pictures :)


Last weekend we had our first longer distance trip - we went to Belgrade, Serbia and hitch was our main means of transport. We split in pairs and stayed overnight in Arad with our volunteer-friends. And - wait for it – a film about our trip is very much in progress! :) There are a lot of nice shots and moments to remember.


Like on Friday when we got out and said goodbye to the nice driver Marius who took us from Cluj to Oradea, it was sunset and dark clouds coming, a rainbow and heavy rain and lightening in a minute, sky getting darker and darker. A bit too much for me, is sfarsitul lumii coming?


But after a while a very nice couple invited us to have a ride with them until a town some 30km away. Matei had big moustache and Gizele was dressed in colourful skirt and scarf on her hair. At some point she turned to us and said – you know? we are gypsies! It was not a long ride, but turned out to be a very memorable one.


We met some nice people on the way, with different stories, cars and destinations. And sometimes you don't even need to talk much. Though maybe sometimes it is good to state that nu avem bani to pay for the ride :)


Also the border guards on the entrance of Serbia were very kind and nice. The romanian one adviced us not to buy serbian cigarettes – they might be cheaper, but ones in romania are way better - and reminded the amount of spirit allowed to be taken back in the country. Serbian one gave us a stamp and said he's sure we'll have a nice time. And it was true!








A serbian restaurant in Belgrade, yeahhh - us with our couch-surfing host Milan in the middle


Looking forward to more trips like this one, even if snow and cold makes it a bit harder to hitch hike ( it's the first snow day in Cluj:)


PS: OUR NEWEST GAME TO PLAY IF YOU'RE WAITING FOR A CAR AND BORED:


1) Imagine a number! The other person asks questions answered with yes or no and must guess!


2) Imagine something you see! The other person asks questions answered with yes or no and must guess!


3) Imagine anything! The other person asks questions answered with yes or no and must guess!


Does not that sound like fun? :)