Thought for the day: July 1998

Title

Glenn was born in 1967 to a middle class couple. His father was from Sweden and his mother a mixture of Swedish and English heritage. For some reason, unknown to Glenn, his parents had decided to move across the other side of the planet to a remote couple of islands called New Zealand where he was born and raised. After having spent 28 years there he got the urge to travel. Most of his friends had crossed this bridge earlier in their lives, but this didn’t stop him packing his bags and buying a one-way ticket to London.

That’s where he met Hanka. Hanka, born 1977, was the second child of four. Born in the Czech Republic. She was in England working as an au pair to improve her English. This in itself was something that impressed Glenn no end.

Their getting to know each other was the result of a painful encounter Glenn had with a Frisbee. They were both attending an Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Newport, Wales. They had met earlier in London where Glenn’s team practiced. Hanka having made contact with Glenn’s best friend (who played as well) on the Internet.

They told Glenn that a player had flown after the Frisbee, which was speeding at a fast rate of knots out of bounds, in an attempt to save a wayward pass. As he hadn’t noticed Glenn and Glenn hadn’t any time in which to move out of the way - he had just turned his head in the other direction for a brief moment - they met with an almighty bang. Apparently Glenn had been lying semi-conscious on the ground for a while before passing out completely. Vain attempts by his friends to ask the classic “How many fingers am I holding up?” had lead to the emergency services being called.

Amongst the visitors to his bedside was Hanka. Glenn thought that this was very sweet of her as they hadn’t really spoken much at all since she first joined the team. This was about to change.

After having spent the Saturday night under observation in hospital whilst the others were out partying Glenn returned on Sunday to watch the remainder of the games - from a safe distance. And as Hanka was still very much in the throws of learning English and still found it difficult to understand others and be understood herself she latched onto Glenn. Glenn knew the feeling of being lost linguistically as he had spent frustrating times with his father in Sweden where the relatives spoke mainly Swedish. Even when they spoke English to him no-one seemed to understand his “kiwi” accent so he was no better-off. As a result of this he made a special effort to speak slowly and clearly with Hanka. This was no small feat as he usually spoke in a kind of drawl that even his parents found difficult to understand. Speaking succinctly was a problem for Glenn and it made his jaw ache.

It was karma. Glenn firmly believed that life was made up of “special” events that were unexpected yet would have a significant impact on ones life and for him, this was one of them. They spent the rest of the day asking the “getting to know you” questions and went for peaceful walks around the quiet town during breaks between games.

Over time they got to know each other and became an “item”.

They met in January and, instead of leaving in March, Hanka was persuaded to stay on till June. When June loomed they both wondered how to delay the inevitable seperation. Hanka had the brilliant idea to go on a trip around Europe. Neither of them had seen much of Europe and they desperately wanted to more new countries. Together they had already shared the experience of visiting Wales and Ireland for the first times. Also, Hanka visited Sweden for the first time with Glenn.

And so, it came to be. The tour was tentatively arranged to start late July / early August. In the meantime Hanka would return to her family in Prague and Glenn would visit relatives in Sweden.

On August 3 Glenn arrived in Prague. Due to confused communication he waited for 2 ½ hours before Hanka arrived. It was a bad omen for the trip but not recognised as such at the time.

Glenn was so happy to see Hanka again that he was beside himself with joy. It was all he could do to stop kissing and hugging her on the bus into the city. He had to hold her all the way there. It was hard to believe that they were re-united even though the trip had been planned for some time.

They went to Stadion Strahov, the 200,000 seat arena, that was at the top of a hill west of the Vltava river which runs through Prague. Just next to the stadium were rows and rows of huge 6 storey buildings which in winter housed the local students. During summer they were rented cheaply to tourists.

The accommodation was simple but adequate. Glenn tried to picture what it would be like to spend an academic year in these rooms. Each room had at least two beds. Tables and chairs were located near the windows to study at. There was little room for anything else, however there were little bookcases which could be adapted to accommodate anything from books to clothes to food.

After seeing the sights of Prague for three days, and catching up on what they had been up to in the intervening period, Hanka and Glenn started their journey. The idea was to hitchhike through Europe and sleep “under the stars”. Obviously hitchhiking was a hit-and-miss affair but the proposed route was: Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic.

Glenn wasn’t quite sure what to expect as, unlike Hanka, he had never hitchhiked before. Nor had he slept out at night. As you can imagine he was somewhat nervous and kept asking Hanka questions like: “Where do we sleep?”, “How do we clean ourselves?”, “How easy is it to get a ride?”, “Have you been there before?”. Before they separated in June Hanka was tired of the tirade of questions and answered most with an unresponsive “I don’t know”. This didn’t help allay Glenn’s fears.

Never-the-less they got onto a metro train on 6 August heading north-west and got off at the last stop. Glenn was surprised that there wasn’t a parade and fanfare due to him commencing this epic hitchhiking journey. To him it was probably the most risk he had ever taken in his life and he had expected a bit more recognition from the people of Prague for the risk he was taking.

Once out of the metro station Hanka spotted a policeman and exclaimed “Oh no.”

“What?” asked Glenn. He was concerned that they hadn’t really started an already something had gone wrong.

“There is a policeman over there by the motorway. It’s illegal to try to catch a ride along the motorway.”

“Ah” said a relieved Glenn. In New Zealand the police were a fairly relaxed bunch and, although he had no evidence to suggest so, he thought that the Czech police would be the same - unlike officials in England who pounced upon unsuspecting tourists whenever possible. The English even had a show on TV called “Clampers” which showed the lives of parking wardens and the joys they took in clamping motorists cars. Much to the dismay and frustration of the English populous.

The policeman turned out to be no trouble and as they walked onto the motorway they passed two other groups of hitchhikers. An unwritten hitchhiking law states that when you come along to a stretch of road where there are others trying to get a ride then you must go further down the motorway. This is on the - not always valid - assumption that a motorist will stop for the first person waiting in line. As it happened the second in line were the first to be picked up. The first people to arrive had sought shelter under a bridge and this wasn’t a convenient place for drivers to stop.

Hanka and Glenn waited for 45 minutes before being picked up by a 42 year old Czech citizen who was delivering car tyres in a rickety old van. Although Glenn understood none of the Czech that Hanka and the driver spoke, he surmised from the tone and body language that he was a friendly sort. He also noticed that adults treated youth in the Czech Republic much the same way as Swedes do - as equals. This creates a level of maturity in the younger generations unseen in New Zealand.

He took them to Plzen still in the Czech Replublic. From there Ube Zwick (pronounced Tswick as in Czar) picked them up in his sporty Japanese sedan. A 26 year old who lived in Stuttgart he informed them that “I am called Zwick by my friends. No-one calls me Ube. It’s such a common name that I don’t like it. Ya?”

Zwick thought that all roads were German autobahns and as such should be travelled along at speeds no less than 150kph. Initially this bothered Hanka but she soon became accustomed to it and her confidence in Zwick’s driving grew with each minute they were in the car. Glenn was very impressed with Zwick’s driving. Mainly because he could slow down to 60kph when required to and didn’t zoom up to 150kph straight away. He even went slower when he didn’t need to. This went against the grain for Kiwi (New Zealand) drivers as the first rule in their rode code read something like this:

“Go as fast as you can. If you have to slow down then do so at the last possible moment and then speed up again immediately.”

Since being overseas Glenn has heard many stories of Kiwi drivers that add weight to the above.

After having stopped off at the pre-border shops to speak to his Vietnamese friend and buy some more cigarettes (three people in the car meant three times the customs allowance) they went to the Czech/German border patrol. Glenn had to admit that at first glance the customs man didn’t look like the type to give you an easy time.

Sure enough - a Kiwi, Czech and German travelling in the same car was too good an opportunity to miss. And Zwick, although a naturally effervescent guy, seemed too happy to the customs guy and made him suspicious. We were pulled over and asked to unload everything from the car. This included the mountain bike that Zwick had bought on the black market.

Zwick tried a complete honesty approach and showed the customs guy all the cigarettes they had bought. Not enough. The bags needed inspection.

Low and behold! Another two cartons of cigarettes.

“I had forgotten they were there!” protested Zwick. Glenn believed him. If anyone was going to make such a mistake going through customs then it would be Zwick. He ended up having to pay double the tax on the cigarettes and also some extra for the bike.

As he went off to pay the fine he called behind to Hanka and Glenn, “You can pack the car again.” No problem they thought. But how to get the mountain bike back in the boot? It had come out easily enough and they had seen it packed tidily away in the boot so it must have been possible.

No matter how hard they tried, neither of them could put the bike in. When Zwick came along it only took him one attempt. He must have had lots of practice they thought.

Onward again. They drove towards Stuttgart with club music blaring on the speakers. This was worst for Glenn who was sure he would have post-night-club-deafness for a couple of days. Zwick took them to his house where they dropped off some stuff and had a drink.

“Where are you sleeping tonight?”

“We don’t know. We need to be somewhere away from the main roads where it is safer,” replied Hanka.

“I know what you mean. There is a nice place near here. It is the tallest bridge in Europe I think,” Zwick informed them, “I’ll take you there.”

So off they went again and a short while later they stopped by a river with this tall bridge in sight. Once out of the car they trekked across a muddy paddock and Glenn’s sensitive nose was being offended by the smell that the cows, mooing across the river, had created.

Close to the river they climbed over some rocks to find two couples enjoying the sunshine. One couple were lying on top of each other exploring their nether regions whilst the other were relaxing. The man was dressed in black denims and a leather waistcast. The woman wore a skimpy black bikini and did justice to it. Well Glenn though so anyway.

Zwick chatted away in German to the man asking him about the area and whether they thought it would be a good place to stay. He suggested a place further down the road by a bridge - not the large one but a small bridge for local traffic to cross the river.

Hanka, Glenn and Zwick trekked back to the car and headed in the direction of the other bridge. At this stage Glenn was prepared to take anything going as it had been a long first day on the road. The bridge looked fine as there was a place to shelter underneath it.

“What do you think?” asked Hanka.

Apart from the minor smell of more cows, Glenn was satisfied and too exhausted to say no, “Looks fine.”

“OK”, said Zwick. “I cannot stand up in the morning but will come to meet you at one o’clock”. This was his way of saying he couldn’t get up in the morning. Zwick worked evenings for Mercedes using laser technology. He previously owned a Mercedes convertible but had exchanged it for the Japanese import due to “problems with customs” who thought the nice car meant he must have spent too much on duty-free shopping.

Glenn and Hanka were grateful for his help and pleased to find he would rescue them the next day. Also it would be nice to relax for half a day, although it was a lot of time to kill in an otherwise desolate town.

After saying farewell Zwick for the evening they put their packs under the bridge and went to see if they could find some food in the little village close by. Everything looked closed and it was. The only thing out was the locals. At an average age of 75 they were amused to see two people who obviously didn’t belong. Elderly couples would stop along the opposite footpath and gawk at Glenn and Hanka who decided that being the attraction wasn’t so much fun and returned to the bridge.

Once back in their new home they brought out the bread and cheese for a little snack. This was to form the basis of their diet for the next few days and Glenn didn’t mind one bit.. In Sweden he had snacked largely on Swedish crispbread and cheese so it felt quite normal to him.

So this was their first home thought Glenn. It seemed OK to him. So long as Hanka was there he felt secure.

Following the snack they rolled out their bed rolls and sleeping bags. Glenn got out the disc (Frisbee), which was regularly used as a table, and they played Casino and Stor o Lill Stina - two similar card games. As the sun had gone down a while ago Hanka lit some candles. These were the kind that you often find in churches, left for people to light in remembrance of loved ones. Glenn was very impressed. She is so talented, he thought. Little did he know but she was carrying in her pack some fancy cooking gear that could prepare tasting meals in minutes.

The first nights sleep had gone remarkably well. Glenn had worried that he would have difficulties but in the ensuing days were so full that by the time they got their beds laid out, had eaten dinner and played a few games of cards, they were dead to the world.

That morning was the first time Glenn saw the cooker. To most campers it was your basic steel pot with a handle that boiled water - a common enough site - but to “city boy” Glenn it was a wonderful device that meant they could be self sufficient. Along with the cooker and some candles Hanka had brought along a veritable potpourri of food. There were rice risotto’s, pasta and some soups. All very easy to make and all very tasty.

This morning they had some soup which went down a treat. After relaxing for a while, thinking they had plenty of time on their hands, Zwick appeared.

“Good morning!” he cheerfully said. “How did you sleep?”

“Well thanks”, was the response he got from and astounded Hanka.

“I stand up early this morning!”, he triumphantly said, “I don’t know why but this morning I just feel like standing up early. I think maybe we could go to Tubingen today. It is a nice university town.”

We thought that it was a great idea and quickly packed our things and drove off to Tubingen. After a coke and soaking up the small town ambience it was time to say farewell and move on. Glenn wanted to show his appreciation for all Zwick’s help and thought a mere “Thanks” was not sufficient. Unfortunately it was all he could do. He wondered if Hanka felt the same and then thought that after a while hitchhiking you learnt to take the good with the bad and just be thankful for the lucky breaks. But to Glenn it was his first experience of a really helpful person, who went out of their way to assist, and it impressed him. It restored, no, enhanced his faith in the human race.

Just before they left Tubingen Glenn called to his step-mother Carol to see whether they should go south-west to Switzerland where she resided with his father or north along the original path. Carol said that it was not the right time to head south so they asked Zwick to take them to a place that would be good for heading to the Netherlands. How different the trip might have been....

After waiting a few minutes and discussing if it was a good place to get a ride Hanka spotted an Opel 4 wheel drive turning onto the motorway entrance and jokingly said “What about this car? It looks pretty good don’t you think?”. She stuck out her thumb and they were both pleasantly surprised when the driver pulled over.

“Wkjhfky af jfaiug ffaf?”.

“Koln. Frankfurt” said Hanka.

“Ah so. I go Frankfurt” replied the 60 year old man wearing a loose shirt unbuttoned to show his chest - a common style in this part of Germany.

They threw their things into the back of the 4WD which left them with oodles of space in the air conditioned cab. It was a welcome relief from the desert heat outside. The ride was a fairly silent one as Fritz didn’t have a very large English vocabulary but none the less it was a smooth ride and they were making easy ground.

Hanka and Glenn started to talk about where they might stay for the night. It was important not to go all the way into Frankfurt. They needed a quieter place outside where it would be safe at night. Fritz had turned his ear off to their conversations as it was too difficult for him to follow the Kiwi and Czech accents. So Glenn was surprised when Hanka suggested she ask Fritz for advice on where to stay.

“We wish to find a place to stay tonight. Do you know somewhere safe? We will sleep under the sky” she said pointing upwards.

“Ahhh? Fhkjhg agui gaiuejhvv? Ahh. Camp?”

“No. Under a bridge or something.”

It wasn’t going well as it was clear the Fritz wasn’t sure about what they were after.

“One moment” he said and reached for the mobile sitting in the stand on the dash. Glenn though he was going to ring for advice on a camp site but when he returned the handset he said “You come to my house, ya? You want?”

Glenn and Hanka were taken aback. They hadn’t really said anything to Fritz in the past hour and so didn’t have any way of judging his character. He seemed nice enough but something in the back of their minds made them a bit cautious. Perhaps that was the same as every hitchhiker. After all, there are risks.

After a querying glance at each other, which translated to “What do you think?”, Fritz could tell that they were a bit unsure. He tried to allay their fears by saying “I just speak with my wife. She says it is OK. She is working now but will be home at 7.”

The idea of a wife helped a lot. And Glenn thought that what could a man driving an expensive 4WD Opel possibly want from a couple of poor hitchhikers. Of course, police files have shown that their is no real stereotype, but Glenn felt reassured none-the-less. “Yes please” he said.

And so it was settled. This was by far the longest dialogue they had had with Fritz in the entire journey. It was strange for them travelling the remainder of the trip with someone they knew they would be sleeping with and yet not talking to them.

Further inspection of the house led one to believe that they were either very wealthy or the German people were accustomed to living in luxury. Outside there was a lovely garden with a fountain, which came on automatically at 7 at night, together with lights which emphasised various parts of the garden.

Their were deck chairs and a wooden table under an umbrella which they all sat down to. Fritz offered beverages and explained that he had build the bar himself. Wanting desperately to show some interest and appreciation Glenn went to investigate and it was an impressive bar. All you needed was there. And next to the bar was the games room where there was a large electronic game which Glenn hadn’t seen before but Hanka knew as a dice game. Later on that evening, after dinner, all four played this game until the early hours of the morning.

Sitting around the table outside having drinks was an awkward affair. Due to the language difficulties the conversation was very limited and when there was one it was stunted. Most of the time was spent trying to make ones-self understood.

Luckily it wasn’t too long before Gaby appeared from work. She came in and greeted the new guests amiably. Fritz had earlier explained that Gaby could not be out in the sun for fear of making her heart race. Apparently the sun was not good for her. Gaby busied herself in the kitchen and Fritz started doing some work on the garden. This left Glenn and Hanka to enjoy a warm shower to get rid of the build-up of two days hitchhiking in the baking sun. They were delirious with joy to shed off the grime.

Rejoining Fritz and Gaby they found that the barbecue had been put on and a large assortment of marinated steaks were being prepared together with baked potatoes and sour cream. Dinner converstation was limited, but they discovered that Fritz worked for his own transport company and had retired some time ago. Glenn didn’t comprehend this at first and so when he asked what Fritz did each day Fritz impatiently replied “I don’t need to work.” If Glenn had any doubts about their wealth, they were put to rest the next morning when Gaby took the Mercedes convertible - her car - out of the garage so that Fritz could take out the Mercedes sedan. There was at least on other car that Glenn knew of so that made a minimum of four for two people.

Hanka and Glenn were very appreciative and tried to convey this as much as they could when the said goodbye to Gaby and Fritz. They both shrugged their heads and said “No problem.”

Glenn was thinking to himself: under a bridge the first night; in a palace the next; whatever will be next?

In Mainz there was a lovely red sandstone cathedral built in the 11^th century called Martinsdom. After visiting the cathedral they decided that accommodation was the first priority as it had been a late departure from their new friends house that morning.

Eventually they arrived at the youth hostel and dropped off their packs. Then off to the park close by to play cards and throw the disc. A trend that continued throughout the trip: in Amsterdam and also in Prague they did the same.

When they got to the park however a lot of time was spent discussing the day and the problems with differing opinions on what to do and where to go. They got very involved and frustrated that things weren’t working as they were supposed to. On top of that there was the problem that neither person seemed to understand what the other was wanting to say. After a long talk, with bouts of sulking, they “made up” and kissed and hugged. This was another trend that developed over the course of the journey: stress during the daytime, arguments in the afternoon and making up in the evening. It was like being on an emotional rollercoaster.

The next day they headed for the Koln-Dusseldorf ferry which, they had discovered the day before would take them up the Rhine towards Koln. Fritz had recommended the ferry ride and for this they were grateful as they could easily have missed seeing the Rhine. They managed to buy a couple of cheap student tickets which halved the cost. The ferry was a hop-on-hop-off service which meant that they could stay overnight part way up the river. Their ticket would take them to Koblenz which is half was towards Koln and also the meeting point of the Mosel and the Rhine.

The trip up the Rhine was symbolic for the troubles they were facing on their journey; combinations of good and not so good. The best time Glenn had on the trip was when they stayed on the shores of the Rhine at Bacharach. The worst was the trip up the Rhine due to the constant arguing and bickering.

They played Casino on the deck and occasionally look up to see beautiful old castles intersperced amongst the vineyards. The weather was baking temperature again and both got “hot under the collar”.

There were plenty of sights and sounds around the beach that night. Even though they were protected by a small island in the Rhine there was still a little wash from the constant flow of barges coming and going. The barges were still passing by at 11pm and Glenn guessed they might go on through the night under lights. As well as the barges there was the soothing noise of trains passing by on both sides of the river. Most noisy of all, yet not an annoying noise, were the crickets.

After rising he stripped and had a bath in the Rhine. Discussions he had with a doctor in London, some months after the journey, suggested that this was not such a good idea. But the joy of becoming clean again at the time was well worth it. Hanka was still asleep at the time and this game him a chance to boil some water to make coffee and tea for breakfast.

At 7am the sun was crawling down the hill behind him and he thought it would be only another 5 or so minutes before the warmth and light would engulf him. He stood and watched the hill become lighter and lighter and the sun would highlight the castles on the hill as it crept down.

Hanka awoke and they had a peaceful breakfast before the first ferry came into Bacharach to deposit the new days tourists. On the ferry there were hoards of Japanese which meant that there was no space to find a comfortable seat. Glenn and Hanka managed to squeeze into a little corner near the captains entrance to the bridge. At another stop a group of tourists, this time Dutch, boxed them in. They played cards using the disc as a table and it was not a happy time for either of them. They continued to have heated discussions in the 32 plus degree heat. By the time the Japanese left the ferry, and halved the number of people, it was too late. The damage had been done and Glenn and Hanka found themselves trying to find a quiet place where they could fume in solitude. It was a shame as there was a magnificent beauty to be seen all around them as the castles got bigger and better as they approached Koblenz.

Once off the ferry at Koblenz they took a refresher break and had an ice cream. This lifted their spirits and also gave them some energy for the long walk ahead. They needed to find a good point to recommence hitchhiking. Because it had been such a long break from when they last had to look for a ride Glenn had the funny feeling of starting all over again.

They walked to the bridge which crossed the Mosel to the north. After referring to the tourist map of the Rhine Glenn bought they headed for a road which looked like a good place to grab a ride. It proved to be too much for the both of them and they had a major row about directions. Tempers were beyond frayed in what seemed like furnace temperatures. Sweat was dripping from them and the packs felt like they were filled with rocks. The bags were dumped and they sat down to re-evaluate only to find that they had indeed taken a wrong turn that made the walk a lot longer than necessary.

This was probably the lowest point of the journey for both of them. Glenn wondered why they had tried such a foolish journey. Hanka was wondering why things were not the way they had been when the relationship was full of joy back in London. She could not understand how things could have gone so badly. Glenn on the other hand felt it could be put down to the unfamiliar way of travelling (for him) and the ongoing problems they had with language. In London it had been easier to be patient when either person was having difficulty being understood but in the pressure-cooker heat and with the heavy packs it was not as simple. At this stage Glenn even considered packing it in and returning home. But as he was not one to give up so easily they continued on. Plus there was the important fact that if they returned home then he would not see Hanka again and that weighed heavily in his mind throughout the trip.

They walked for at least an hour and then found a cross roads which looked like one path headed towards the motorway. After 15 minutes of thumbs out and no rides they began to wonder if in fact this was the right place. And there appeared to be more traffic, and hence chance of getting a ride, on the other side.

Glenn went to ask some people who were getting their car fixed for directions or a suggestion as to where to get a ride. When he approached anyone in Germany there was always the worry that they didn’t speak any English so he was relieved to discover that this family spoke English very well.

“Excuse me. Do you know of a good place where we can get a ride? We are trying to get to Koln.”

“Sure. There is a gas station up the road just over there where you can ask people for a ride” said the man.

Glenn had heard of hitchhikers approaching unsuspecting drivers at the petrol station to see if they could get a ride but it wasn’t in his nature to try it. He didn’t feel comfortable asking. And yet, very soon, he was bold enough to try. Nevertheless a petrol station was a good point from which to stick out the thumb and get a ride so he thanked the man and headed back to Hanka.

They then had the difficulty of getting to the gas station. The only way seemed to be walking along the motorway. Neither Glenn nor Hanka were crazy enough nor desperate enough to try that. Hanka thought there might be a side road which led to the station further down the road so she went on a sortie to investigate while Glenn stayed behind to mind the packs. They found this a much simpler way of find their way around without carrying the packs needlessly. Twenty minutes later she returned with good news that there was a small access road.

They headed off to the petrol station and started to thumb for rides. Usually when they placed down their backs they tried to find a shady spot so that they didn’t die of thirst. It seemed that everything was against them today and there was no convenient spot so they stood out in the sun next to the exit from the station. After a few minutes of waiting, low and behold, who should appear but the same family Glenn had asked directions from.

They pulled over and the father said “We can give you a ride 25 kilometres up the road. It’s not much but you might have a better chance of getting a ride from there.”

Their kind offer was taken and the daughter and son had to squeeze in the back seat with Glenn taking the front seat. This made it even more nice of them to have offered the ride. The father, they found out, had lived in Oxford for three years, hence the good English.

After a friendly chat they were dropped off and didn’t have to wait long for an empty utility to pull over. The 28 year old driver had a big friendly look to him and proved to be so. Unfortunately he knew absolutely no English. Even less the Fritz and Gaby so Glenn and Hanka spent a lot of time using hand signals. It stuck Glenn as funny how desperately people want to communicate with one another. Here they were with a German and they were Czech and Kiwi not understanding a word they said to each other and yet they could make simple conversations by waving their arms elaborately around in the air.

He took them all the way to Koln and dropped them off at a camp site where they stayed for the night. They chose a spot in the crowded park only to find that it was meant for caravans only and not for those sleeping “out”. But the owner was kind and let them stay there with the warning “Be careful of cars coming in late at night. They may not see you.” Glenn had visions of the tour ending with them being run over by a weary driver at 3am the next morning.

There was enough time for a swim in the Rhine before they went onto automatic pilot and laid out their gear for the night ahead. As it was a camp site there was also the opportunity to have a shower and clean up which they both made use of. Glenn even had a shave which was such a frequent occurrence of late.

10.

After a breakfast of coffee, tea, bread and cheese they asked the owner of the camp for a good place to get a ride.

“All drivers go to the other side of the bridge and from there you can get a ride onto the autobahn.”

Great they thought. A solid plan to start the day. Glenn was looking forward to starting anew from the horrible day they’d had yesterday.

So off they went and crossed the bridge in the early morning sun which was still well above 20 degrees. Then on the other side they found road works where they were supposed to catch a ride and so they had to walk a long way down the road to avoid the roadworks and also find a place that was big enough for cars to pull over.

After waiting for what seems like an age a driver pulled over and asked them where they were going.

“Holland” came the reply.

“Oh you’ll never get a ride to Holland from here,” he said “this traffic is mainly local traffic.” Glenn and Hanka felt cheated by the camp owner. Surely he should know the local area well enough. “I can take you to a better place.”

They went on another short journey to a major roundabout with traffic lights on each side and were deposited at the gas station. There was plenty of traffic and you could see they autobahn but they were not sure which way it was going and the signs around the roundabout didn’t help much.

They crossed the roundabout to another station that appeared to have the traffic going in the right direction, but the problem was that they were south of Koln and wanted to go north through Koln and onwards to the Netherlands. They were beginning to worry as most drivers will not stop if they are about to reach their destination and so none of the Koln traffic would stop. On top of that most of the traffic heading for the Netherlands would avoid Koln altogether. Glenn was getting a bad feeling about this situation. Hanka didn’t look to pleased either but she always seemed to be confident that it would work out OK. Glenn didn’t know how she did this but envied her the ability to have such faith.

After a little rest in the shade Glenn went off to ask someone for directions and to check the road signs again. A driver had stopped in near the exit for the city and was looking lost. Glenn went over to offer assistance as he knew the feeling. But it was ridiculous to do so as he himself had little idea of where they were.

The handsome looking man in the car stepped out.

“Where are you going?” Glenn asked.

“Holland.”

Glenn couldn’t believe his ears. Of all the places to be this guy was here just when they needed him. Due to his desperation and fears of not getting away from the roundabout Glenn felt obliged to ask “Can you take two people with you?”

Venko, the driver, was taken aback. He hadn’t expected so forward a question. He thought for some time and then said “OK. Who is the other person?” as Venko could not see Hanka from where he had parked.

“My girlfriend from the Czech Republic,” said Glenn. It had become a way of describing themselves in the trip across many countries. It was like every person wore a badge to signify their origins, likes, dislikes, personal traits etc. Instead of saying your name you said where you came from.

Anyhow the answer made Venko more at ease and he said “No problem.” Glenn wasted no time and ran to where he had left Hanka and told her “We have a ride. Quick before he changes his mind.” She leapt to her feet and they both rushed back to the car with the packs in hand.

Venko still looked a little dazed and they later found out that this was because he had been driving from Bulgaria (where he was born) and had only taken short 3-4 hour sleeps at night. He seemed fluent in at least 7 languages and Glenn was impressed. He wondered how someone so young - he guessed Venko was 27 - could have such a working knowledge of language. Venko told them that this was due to having studied a lot and spent much time in working in other countries. It still didn’t compute to Glenn and he thought that either Venko was a lot older than he looked or his grasp of languages wasn’t as good as he had initially thought.

The ride north was a long one. They stopped in Koln to visit the Dom which is the tallest cathedral in Europe. It took 6 centuries to complete and was a monster. Impossible to take a photo of as it was in the middle of the city and you couldn’t step back far enough to get it all in. Nevertheless Venko took a photo of Hanka and Glenn and promised to send it to them. In return they took some video footage of him with his camera.

Getting into Koln and finding a parking space was a problem. Venko drove around for 30 minutes looking for a place which wasn’t residents only or for special card holders. On three occasions they passed car parking buildings and Glenn was beginning to think that Venko had a screw loose. He pointed out three times that there were plenty of buildings to park in and received a non-committal “Yes” from Venko. After driving around for 15 more minutes, passing more car parks, it occurred to Glenn that Venko didn’t know what a car parking was.

In his infinitely subtle way of doing things, Glenn asked “Do you know what a car parking building is?” Blank look from Venko.

“Tell you what. I’ll find us a place to park.”

“OK. I cannot read the parking signs and the road signs at the same time,” was Venko’s response.

Five minutes later they had found a park and went to see the Dom.

The transition from Germany to the Netherlands was a complete non-event. Glenn was expecting some kind of border to pass but instead all there was was a sign along the road that said “Welcome to the Netherlands”.

At a petrol stop they all got out of the car and relaxed in the shade. Glenn was tense as Venko was a bit of a hazard on the roads. Glenn had many experiences of varying driving abilities and Venko, although not going fast, was the worst one he had come across. Venko would sometimes look behind when merging with other traffic and more than once they heard a car horn blaring at them from behind.

So the stop was welcomed. Also, Venko’s car had no air conditioning - something the travellers had almost become accustomed to - and they weren’t going fast enough for the wind to cool them down even with all the windows open.

Venko had driven past the gas station to rest a little and when they were all on the grass he said “I will just go back and get some petrol. You can stay here and rest.” Now whilst it was only 200 metres away both Glenn and Hanka were concerned about being separated from their packs. Rule number one on the roads is never leave your gear.

They were stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. Would they say “We’ll come” and ride with Venko in the ludicrously short 200 metre journey and thereby imply that they did not trust him or should they rely on his being honest.

In the end they trusted him and it was OK. Who knows what might have happened had he driven off with all their gear.

As they were getting further north in Holland they had to start thinking of a place to stay for the night. Regular looks at the Europe road map they had bought showed no convenient places to stop. They spotted a place that looked OK and asked Venko at another stop - they were becoming more frequent as he was clearly exhausted - if it was OK to come off the motorway so they could find a place to stay.

So he pulled off and they looked at a little town but found nowhere safe. It was another one of those moments that Hanka and Glenn had when communication wasn’t working at it’s best. Hanka had ideas of ditching Venko as she knew how stressed Glenn was becoming but she hadn’t told Glenn. As there was no obvious place to stay, which is what Glenn thought they were looking for, they went back onto the motorway. Glenn later discovered his error and was very regretful that she hadn’t told him the plan because it was a good one. She had intended on getting a ride with a local of the area who would know of a good place to sleep.

In the end they kept going and when Venko missed a turn because he was getting tired they had the opportunity to stop. Venko wanted to ask for directions. Hanka and Glenn let him do so even though they knew exactly where they were as this provided a convenient place to get off and thank him for the ride.

At the gas station where they stopped a biker pulled up and Hanka asked him for directions to a place to stay. He was, luckily, one of the first to understand their need to find somewhere safe to sleep and suggested a bridge 5 kilometres away called Terheijden. As there was nothing better to do Hanka and Glenn put their packs on and started off on the long journey.

After about a kilometre they caught a ride with a local who took them to the bridge where they set up camp.

11.

This bridge wasn’t as quiet as the last one. During the early hours of the morning Glenn was woken by a taxi driver driving past them. Why a taxi driver would come to this particular location was beyond him. Luckily it moved on and Glenn was safe to resume his hap-hazard sleep.

Then at 6:30 am a couple of Belgian fishermen came and parked their car right next to where Glenn and Hanka were sleeping! While they took out their gear and eyed the strange couple sleeping under the bridge they were also being eyed by their surprised counterparts. They went down to the shore to fish but were within sight of the travellers. This made Glenn feel uneasy and he got up and made breakfast. Hanka remained in bed a little longer.

Back on the road again they got a ride to Rotterdam with a 50 year old businessman. Two hitchhikers (both of whom he asked to sit in the back seat) was not enough. He picked up a local hitchhiker along the way.

They were dropped off at a major roundabout which was perfectly suited to hitchhikers. So much so that there was a board where ones name could be enscribed for posterity. One particular guy (who they met) had his name up there more than five times.

The next ride took them to Amsterdam. In a brand new 1998 Alfa Romeo V6 2.4 it was a speedy and comfortable trip. He was a young achiever and very friendly.

Once in Amsterdam they headed for the nearest tourist office which involved working out how to pay for the trams. The tourist office was at the Central Station and was overflowing with locals and tourists. This was peak season and the travellers lack of planning showed.

At the tourist office Glenn looked around at the queues and also for a map of the city. Not one for queuing he returned to Hanka to find her being quized by a staff member for a survey. This was a great opportunity to “queue jump” in effect. Glenn asked her about accomodation and she said Amsterdam was all booked out. Glenn had hoped to use the Lets Go guide to find a place.

The woman suggested two youth hostels to call but insisted that Glenn “Be quick.” He disappeared to find where to buy a telephone card and after some searching came back triumpant. Both hostels were fully booked so he returned for more advice. She didn’t have anything further to say so he took his Lets Go guide and headed for the payphone. There he started at the top and worked his way down the list of hostels, campsites and eventually hotels before he found a place to stay. The hotel had only one room left and as Glenn wasn’t in a position to hunt down a good rate he took it. Thinking they would need some time in Amsterdam he booked for two nights.

He was on a high now as this would mean two whole days without the packs on their backs and no worries about where they would sleep for the night. Just time to be together and enjoy the city.

Then disaster struck.

Hanka had decided that things were not going to plan and wanted to end the journey. Glenn was dumb-struck. Just when things were on the up she pulled-the-plug. He couldn’t comprehend her reason for deciding to quit now. Glenn had seem Amsterdam as the opportunity to recharge the batteries and get back to being the couple he knew they could be: a loving, caring couple who could absorb any number of hours in each others company.

Glenn was completely devastated. He could not speak. His mind had gone completely blank. Nothing was working. He wouldn’t have been surprised if his heart stopped beating too.

When he finally got some control he just thought about logistics. It was all he could cope with at the time.

“OK. So we’ll either fly or take the train back to Prague then,” he said.

“We could hitch back to Prague,” Hanka offered.

“No I think it best to just get back there,” said Glenn closing the issue.

Then he fell silent. She fell silent. They both just sat there in the hotel room saying nothing. This continued for an eon until they just decided that there was nothing to say. They lay down to rest, assuming that was possible.

Glenn’s mind went into overdrive. How could she do this? And why now when things were on the up? He simply could not understand. It exhausted him just thinking about it all. He wondered what she was thinking. This was one time when he didn’t feel any concern for how she was taking it. Well not immediately anyway.

After lying down doing nothing but go crazy he felt he must do something as it was becoming hard to cope.

“I’m going off to the internet cafe,” he said. It was a sanctuary and an escape. “Come along if you want.”

He grabbed his things and left Hanka there. He didn’t notice anything on the way to the cafe which was dangerous and there were many hazards on the roads of Amsterdam: cars, bikes, bladers, trams, buses, not to mention the people.

At the cafe he became absorbed in sending emails. It was a relief to have something else on his mind and for a second he forgot about his predicament.

Then Hanka came into the cafe and he had the most profoundly complex combination of emotions. At first he thought “O God”. Then he thought “My sweatheart.” In the same second he wanted both to see her and not see her.

When she sat down next to him he wanted to hold her hand but felt something strange holding him back. This was a most abnormal reaction. He took her hand and noticed a wave of concern leave her.

They talked a little but words were meaningless. They both knew what lay ahead. It was the long awaited - dreaded - farewell.

Over the next two days they recovered a little to enable them to see a couple of attractions but were concious that it was just a gap in between being on holiday and being back in Prague to end it all.

They took the overnight train to Prague and parted ways. Just nine days after they were in Prague full of excitement and anticipation they were back. It seemed all like a dream to Glenn as he reflected on it. Lying there in bed he wondered how he could go on......

Thought for the day

Photos

Tuesday, July 21, 1998

World Update #13

Wednesday, July 1, 1998

A Hitchhikers Story