Casa Robino

Can we change this to 'pick up a hitchhiker today'? Mark, photoshop?

Yesterday was the first day this year that it has been warm enough for me to bare foot again. Spring is here! Summer is on its way and everything is bursting with a new lease of life.

What i have learned in my law degree so far:

-Don't look too shabby and everyone will pick you up. Watch out for cops, know y'er rights. Last rites..ho! Avoid the midwest if you can and middle east coast as there's a bunch of huge cities making it difficult to traverse. Don't worry about finding places to sleep, you'll get offered places almost all the time, just take a poncha, no stove. Food is everywhere. Everything you need will come to you. Even in the midwest (which is quite a hell hole, swallows you whole but is a fantastic experience nonetheless to get to know everything you want to avoid).

Last year we were with just over a hundred. The year before with even more, but the destination was easier and we had done more promotion. This year should become a blast. But where do we want to meet and why? After Paris and Odesa where is next?

What are our main aims with yet the third European Hitchhiking Gathering? Do we want to get hundreds of people on the road or do we want to go to a place where there are already many hitchhikers? We want center of Europe, South or East?

There’s something I noticed about this issue and I’ve been wondering what other people may think about it –

People have many different reasons for hitchhiking. Some of the common reasons or arguments are to reduce waste, to reduce carbon emission, to save either money or resources by using what’s already out there, not by freeloading.

Lots of times when I hitchhiked drivers dropped me off somewhere off their route.
This usually has be the case up to a certain extent; the little they should do is stop for you in a petrol station and not leave you in the middle of the highway.

So, Jeppe brought this up back when we were in Krakow heading towards 7/8/9, and it's come up a number of times since then. I've been looking at the matter constructively, and was wondering what some of the casa folks think...

Do you consider yourself to be freeloading? When you hitch-hike, dumpster dive, squat, etc?

Sure, you're getting something for free, there's no question about that.

And if you've got no money/liquid capital, you've got to live and survive, so living free makes sense...

Viera is looking for a hitching buddy for south east asia in March-May. Anyone wants to join her?

Watch the movie here: http://vimeo.com/7858456

In summer 2009 34 people organized in 14 teams hitchhiked from Kiel [Northern Germany] to Dubrovnik [Southern Croatia]. The 2300km long trip was a 6-stage hitchhike race. Apart from the obvious fun of hitchhiking, it was meant to promote the Hamburg-based drinkwater initiative "Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli" which drills wells in places where clean potable water is not an easily available resource.

Why go all the way east of Amsterdam when you can start hitching much closer to the house? To head to Berlin, you need a hitch on/to the A1, which is on the other side of town. You can take tram 12 and get off at Amstelstation for the 'official' hitchhiking spot, but there are alternatives that are easier/ quicker to reach.