Europa Roma

Map of our Europa Roma trip Chapter 1

Our trip to Europe started with our hitch hiking trip from Nowra, NSW where I ended my work on Friday noon.  We've been preparing our bags to be as light as possible resulting with 5 set of clothing, mattress, sleeping bag, swag, tarp, pegs, personal hygiene stuff and first aid kit totaling to an amount of 10 kg all together.  Felt very proud considering it's our home now.  That's gotta be the lightest home to live comfortably.  On our way up to Sydney, we had a few interesting rides to Budgong, the next day from Bomaderry to Wollongong, then from Wollongong to Bathurst the day after and as we hit Sydney, we caught trains to Redfern and the next day to Marrickville to spend our last night in Australia.  We had a great trip up as we managed to spend time with families and friends.

From top left to right : Our lightweight home; Farewell morning tea at office; Callala Bay, Jervis Bay NSW; Baldhead, NSW; Redfern, NSW; Farewell drinks at Bank Hotel, Sydney

We planned to go to the airport at 4am for the 9am flight so that we get allocated seats in the emergency exit.  We ended up waking up 2 hours late, panicked and rushed out the door that ended up getting stuck abit as the key to the door was jammed! ARGH! After 5 minutes, we finally managed to get out.  We ran up to grab a cab and immediately got one when we reached the main road.  We ended up getting to the airport on time and got seats in the emergency exit.  Our total of 35 hour flight with Southern China airline was a pleasant experience.  Totally recommended if you're looking for a cheap yet comfortable flight.

We arrived in Amsterdam early in the morning, put our bags in a locker and cruised around the city the whole day.  We felt that spending a day in Amsterdam was enough for us.  In the evening, we caught a train to the outskirts of Amsterdam ending up in Zaandam (north of Amsterdam).  We found a nice area  to camp just outside Region College, which is an area of trees beside the canal where sheeps were on duty to cut down the grass.  The next day we hid our bags amongst the high grass and visited town.  Holland was funny with their must pay toilet policy and diffiiculty to find taps.  The urban design is very orderly also which made the country quite tricky to hitch hike.

From left to right: Amsterdam Canal; Emmanuel in Amsterdam;  One of the old house that's gone wongky due to the sandy soil; Ship that went to Indonesia when the VOC monopolised Indonesian's economy; Zaandam Canal; More Canals; Our home for the weekend in Zaandam; The long line to see the famous Anne Frank's bunker; Colourful Dutch style hotel; Holland with its 2 level bike racks; Our home for the weekend in Zaandam

Our first hitch hike in Europe was from Zaandam to Den Haag aka The Hague.  We had a ride from a Russian Dutch who was driving to Amsterdam but happily drove us to Den Haag.  What a nice dude!  He ended up dropping us off on the beach where we spent almost the whole day before meeting my friend Lili.  We had our first swim in the North Sea.  It felt sooooo good, after not showering for 3 days.  After meeting Lili and Michael, we walked to the national park of Den Haag where we spent the night.  It was a really nice park, with well maintained greeneries and water, again, orderly and neat.

We woke up in the morning amongst trees, close to the canal with beautiful white swans.  After  breakfast, we tried to walk towards the highway to hitch but there were no shoulders and it was impossible to hitch safely.  So we ended up catching the train to Delft and hitched from there.  Our second hitch in Europe was with a very interesting man who is an expert in nano technology.  His name is Carel.  On our way to Rottterdam, he invited us for coffee at his place and met the rest of his family including his teenage son who came out last with cloud of marijuana smoke around him.  Nice! Carel seems like a cool dad.

He then dropped  us off at a petrol station that leads to Belgium.  He used to hitch hike and suggested that petrol stations are the best places to hitch in Holland.  At the petrol station, as we were enjoying our loaf of bread, a Scottish guy named Kevin came over and got us meat, cheese and chocolates because he couldn't stand seeing us eat just a loaf of bread.  What a guy!  Afterwards, we then had a ride from a father and son who dropped us off close to the border of Belgium then continued on hitching a few rides until we were on the border of France.  It was getting dark so we camped in the small village close to the petrol station beside a yard where there were a couple of miniature black sheep.

From left to right : Den Haag beach, Holland; Den Haag fancy hotel in front of the beach; Our home in Den Haag; Delft, Holland with its orderly and neat road; Delft Canal; Our home in the border of Belgium and France; The miniature black sheep beside our camp; The cute trees (reminded me of Hobit land) close to where we camped; Hitchin a ride at the petrol station (border of Belgium and France); The Canadian monument we visited with the Belgiums; Me and the Belgiums on the monument

In the morning we continued on hitching and got a ride with 2 keen historian guys who were visiting memorials in France, so we tagged along to see one in Vimy Ridge which was a Canadian memorial and parted at a small town in Beaumont.  We looked around for shops etc but the town was so small we couldn't find anything.  So we walked towards where the Belgium guys were to get a ride to the next place they were going to visit.  As we walked on the very quiet road, a man stopped for us and was a fluent english speaker.  Francois his name is.  After we got to know eachother, he invited us to stay the night at his house in a small village called Colincamps with his wife and mother in law who were also good english speakers.  We had an amazing time there, he introduced us to the best cheese and the best wine I've ever had in my life which didn't give me any hangover at all.  The wine's were Bordeaux, Burgundy and a couple more that I couldn't remember the names.  As far as I can remember, I was quite drunk that night.  The next day, Francois took us to a couple of memorials, gave us cheese, sausages and wine for a picnic.  He then dropped us off at the main road toward Amiens.  What an amazing guy he is.  It was such a perfect experience for an introduction to France.  Funny we thought, because in Holland and Belgium, we were always warned that it will be impossible to hitch in France and that French people are not very friendly.  After meeting Francois, seems like they were proven wrong immediately.

On our way south, we had a couple of weird identical rides, which were from a couple of guys who were young and crazy.  We rested for the day after such a dramatic experience from wonderful magical morning to crazy rides in the afternoon.  We camped just on the river bank of Abbeville.  So far our main problem for camping in Europe are the stingy nettles and blackberries, although blackberries were edible so they're not too bad.  In the morning we got a ride with Arnould who took us to Mers Le Bains where we ended up staying the whole day and night.  It's one of the most beautiful town I've ever seen.  Extremely beautiful architecture with the style callled 'Belle Epoque', the beach which we swam in was very unique and beautiful as well.  The beach was covered in smooth small stones, had tide that comes up really reallly quick and had amazing cliffs on each side.   We felt like we were in fairytale land.

From top let to right: Sticking thumb out to stop Francois; Albert church in France; Francois's nice garden in the morning; Photo with Francois and wife; British monument; Picnic given by Francois in the field outside Albert; Our home for the night in Abbeville; Hitchin the next morning in Abbeville; Ride to Mers Le Bain with Arnould; Asked Arnould to drop us off when we saw people lining up outside a bakery in Mers le Bain

From top left to right: Row 1 to 4 are pictures of Mers Le Bain, beautiful town and we watched the sunset as we had dinner (baguette, sausage and camembert); The rocky smooth stoned beach; Lying on the rocky beach which felt like having a massage; Our home for the night with a beautiful view; City light view from our camp

The next morning, after enjoying croissants that melted in our mouth and a fresh from the oven baguette, we continued on hitching while walking up the hill over to the main road and got a few rides until we reached Caen.  Caen has one of the biggest castle in Europe and amazing cathedrals that survived the D-day.

We camped just beside the castle that night and got up early in the morning when I started to feel drops of rain on my face.  It turns out it was a bit of a false alarm but it was good to get up anyway.  We spent the whole day in Caens admiring the buildings and how fashionable people are, even the homeless people are stylish there.  Can't wait to see what Paris is like.

The night after leaving centre of Caen, we camped close to the highway so that we can hitch easily in the morning.  We had a couple of nice rides with a few ladies until Villedieu les Poeles.  From there we hitched on the highway and had a police car stopping and asked us not to hitch on the highway, but they also gave us a ride to our destination which was awesome!

From left to right : Pictures 1 to 3 are photos of the beautiful Cathedral; Picture of wedding ceremonies where wedding convoys go around town and make loud noises; Picture of castle; View of castle at night from our camp; Emmanuel with the cops who gave us a ride to Le Mont St Michel

We got to Le Mont in around after lunch.  It is a really beautiful castle in an island that has medieval style houses within it.  On the top of the castle is a church.  It's a pretty cool place and full of tourist.  In the afternoon, the tide was rushing in so quickly, you could tell the difference by minutes.  When the sun was almost setting, we went back to the main land and set our camp amongst corn fields close to an animal park called Alligator Bay.  It was such a tiring day and lots of moving the last week.  That night all I could think of was a nice hot shower, warm bed and warm food.  But we really had to restrain ourselves to save money.  So stuck with bread and cheese.  So far, from the way we are living, we've been able to spend not more than 8 Euro each a day.

We decided to go to the quiet west beach area where we could rest for a few days before heading to Paris, so we started to hitch the next morning just outside of town towards St Malo.  A local man who actually lives in Le Mont St Michel picked us up and as we were telling him we wanted to go to St Malo to have a swim because we hadn't showered for a week, he invited us to have a shower at his place and that we could come with him in the afternoon as he was heading to his other house in St Malo then.  How perfect!

We were astonished as the car went into Le Mont, because vehicles weren't allowed to go in there accept buses and local cars.  We felt like VIPs when we were in one of the medieval style house while watching tourists walking around the castle.  Not just a nice warm shower, he also made us delicious salad, roasted pork and potatoes for lunch.  It was heaven.  After lunch, we drove to St Malo where he showed us around and helped us look for a campsite but no luck because the town was too crowded.

We asked if he could take us outside of St Malo where we could find a more quiet place to camp a couple of days and instead he offered us to stay at one of his place on the river bank outside of St Malo in a town called St Antoine.  I was so speechless when he took us to this '5 star accommodation' right in front of the river that had a million dollar view and fruits growing in the garden, showed us the house, gave us the keys to the house, said we could stay for the week and left us alone.  I couldn't believe it, what I dreamt and fantasized about the night before all came true the next day just because we met Pierre on the right time in the right place.  This is the magic of hitch hiking and why we love it so much.

From top left to right : First 2 rows are pictures of Le Mont St Michel; Me infront of Le Mont; Photo of  St Malo where Pierre took us for a tour around town; Photo of us with Pierre; Photo of Pierre's place in Le Mont; Inside Pierre's place in Le Mont; View from inside Pierre's house in Le Mont; The house Pierre let us stay in for a couple of days in St Antoine at the river bank near St Malo; Our home for a couple of days in St Antoine; The view from the 5 star accommodation we were given by Pierre