Ok, so it's the day that we all live for again - FRIDAY! I am not quite sure what will happen with my weekend - but hopefully it is something exciting.
The weather has been quite nice for the past days... not warm as in "run around in your T-shirt" warm, but warm enough for me to change my coat to my spring coat and not feel cold when sitting outside in a cafe having lunch. There is quite big leaves in the trees already which always makes me dazzled because in Finland when there are leaves in the trees, it means summer will be there in few weeks... I don't really understand the seasons in UK anyway... there is basically only rainy season and nice and sunny season - and these two season can happen in one day.
So today has been my lazy day. I haven't really done anything at work today... well besides some small tasks that has to be done every day to keep the business running. I probably had like 2h lunch break because I wasn't paying attention to the time but no one seems to mind - they are doing the same.
Someone was talking to me about hitchhiking today and it made me think about the occasions when I have hitchhiked in my life...
When I was younger (and I mean like 15) I didn't seem to mind hitchhiking at all. We used to live in the middle of nowhere so if I wanted to get somewhere without asking permission from my parents I would have to hitchhike.
I remember one time me, my mother and my sister we were going to spend a day in the town and we were cycling there (town was about 18 km [just over 10 miles] away from where we lived) and my mother had a flat tyre on her bike... SO, my mother took my bike and she told me to hitchhike... lol, I still find it so funny, but that's how used to hitchhiking I was when I was a kid. Then I got a bit older and didn't hitchike for a while, only when I was hanging out with this one crazy traveller friend of mine I did some more hitchiking. We hitchiked in Finland and also one time we hitched a ride from Lappeenranta, Finland to St. Petersburgh, Russia - it was a fun trip especially because the person who picked us up was russian and didn't speak any english nor finnish and naturally neither of us spoke any russian...
It's a shame that nowadays people are so scared of other people (and for a reason many times as well) that hitchhiking is not so common any more. I remember when I was a kid there were always people somewhere trying to get a ride somewhere and now you can maybe spot one person in the whole summer to be waving a sign next to a road. WE NEED MORE HITCHHIKERS!!! Not only does it save you money but you meet great people while doing it. Many times the person who picks you up is a person who used to live in the age of hitchhiking and they did it themselves when they were young... or sometimes it might be a sleazy but harmless truck driver who really appreciates the company - NEVER have i gotten harrassed while getting a ride from a stranger - of course some kind of caution is in place but I would say that 90% of all the people driving on the roads are normal people just like you and me... When you get a ride - text the license number of the car to a friend and tell them where you were picked up and where you were going, and if they haven't gotten another message back from you in the next 30 mins they will call to find out if everything is ok - or call the police if something is wrong. You can ask for the drivers name, it's not rude ... and as a gesture of good will you can show the driver your ID so they know who you are - common sense is always handy to have - and above all HITCHIKING IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN!!! so smile when you are trying to get a ride and you might get a ride a lot easier (and a sign saying where you are going doesnt hurt either).
I think I haven't done enough hitchhiking lately... maybe this summer i make a little road trip to somewhere in Europe and hitchhike the whole way, stay at local people from couchsurfing (check it out btw!!) and really bring back the budget traveling memories... The fact is... you can travel around the world for free if you have the will to do it - most of us doesnt though - anyone want to join me?
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