Together

It was cold and windy. It rained a lot. We did not know where we were going to sleep the next night and we could only afford sleeping in a tent. However, we were together and that made it an unforgettable trip.

We were supposed to spend 12 days hitch-hiking around Norway, the country which I miss almost as much as Iceland. The only plan was to start in Oslo, go immediately to Trondheim and then choose our way back to Sandefjord, from where Wizz Air flies to Poland. We packed one big backpack with as much food as possible – in order to do so, we obviously had to sacrifice our desire of being fashionable hitchers. One tent, two sleeping bags, a map and  positive thinking – that was all we needed to begin with. There were moments of doubt, but the people we met deserve our eternal gratitude. Let me tell you about them…

I could hardly believe that we met someone who did not know what a gas station was and who travelled without a personal interpreter. Needless to say, we used our hands a lot and made a hundred funny faces before being safely left on a highway junction. I still wonder how on Earth we were able to understand that this kind couple came from Thailand.

On the same day: the evening approaching, our morale lowering (300km to go), waiting in a small town of Ringebu. I think we even checked if there was any bus to the North, but all were already gone that day. A small, red Ford stops. Guess where the driver is going to? Nordkapp! The driver decided to take a few days off from his work in Switzerland and go the furthest North he could. A wonderful weekend trip, isn’t it? His tiny car had already served as a bedroom and a dining room and he was kind enough to make it a guest room as well! Besides, he was going straight to Trondheim and he stopped from time to time to view the breathtaking Norwegian landscapes. Honestly, I do not know if I would go for such a trip, mainly because of loneliness. In the times when hitch-hikers are a rare phenomenon, going over 7000km all alone prevents you from sharing it, which I think is the essential part of traveling. Dear shoot-me-but-I-forgot-the-name, we hope that you got to your destination safe and sound!

Then the rain came and made it hard to get out of Trondheim. A Hungarian woman eventually helped us: she saw us when she was going to work and we must have been standing there for a long time, because she took us to her car on her way back. Then a road that we intended to take turned out to be closed and we ended up in Kristiansund (not to be confused with Kristiansand), given a lift by one of the most interesting and nice drivers on our trip, whom we nicknamed Jarek. He was going there with his cute little daughter who was lovely shy in our presence. He was a good example of my stereotypic Norwegian: serious yet smiling, distanced yet trustworthy, not talkative yet telling the most interesting stories, very kind and generous. He would have given us a key to his hut in the mountains if he only had taken it. I honestly do not know why we did not ask for his telephone number.

We had a strange luck to get rides one way up. From one of the most beautiful places (see below) I have ever hitch-hiked a couple took us to the top of the Trollstigen. I must admit I was a bit afraid of driving on this crazy road just with a highway-appropriate speed, but this guy apparently did it every day. I think they were supposed to do some weather measurements and go back. After a few hours of standing there (~700m above sea level), we finally got a lift. I do not have any strong recollections of the driver apart from that he was working on a building site on the top. We were heading to Geiranger and went on a ferry with him, where we asked people directly if they could take us. We ended up in a caravan owned by an older German couple whom we met a few times during next few days (and were given a lift two times). They took us to a picturesque site where a glacier had its end (or beginning?), they stopped to take pictures and let us contemplate the nature. We sat on chairs by a table at the back of their car! It was in a way like a coach trip but much, much better and interesting!

Another one way up ride was more crazy: there were some mud avalanches in the mountains and they closed a road that we wanted to take so we had to drive 100-200km more that day. After being given a lift by a lovely Dutch-Kiwi (what a shame that I do not remember her name…was it Mirna?), we had to stand in a heavy rain on desolated crossroads. An elder man stopped but did not speak English at all – I tried hard to pronounce “Geilo” properly and his enthusiastic nodding seemed to be a positive answer. The road was very steep and offered marvellous views over Vassbygdevatnet lake. Imagine our surprise, when the driver “said” he was going fishing now and left us there. We nicknamed him after Quasimodo because he both drove and looked slightly mad. From the place where we stood we could clearly see the road 5-6km before us. As the traffic was extremely low, we cast spells on every car we saw to stop and take us, but it took good hour or two before a young German couple saved us from sleeping on rocks.

What hapenned next had been my most extraordinary hitch-hiking experience. At first, a man gave us a lift in a very comfortable 4×4 car. He was going along our route only for a few kilometers and then was going to turn and go to his hut in the mountains. However, he was keen on talking to us – a perfect hh-driver! He worked on some sort of secret water-based source of energy and was a lobbyist in Norwegian parliament. He wished us good luck and went shopping which took him  around 40min. Then he saw us still standing where he had dropped us off, approached us and said “There is a decent restaurant over there, when you get hungry just go there and eat a warm meal” and gave us money. When I refused to take it, he just said he had plenty of money and that we should not worry about it. That way we ate one of the most delicious meal in our lives (a regional trout), not only because it was well prepared, but also the circumstances made it an unforgettable moment. Then we waited. And waited. In the rain and wind, high on a plateau. After 5 or 6 hours, we gave up and I went to check if there were any trains. There was one going in the opposite direction, but we did not really have any choice. And just 15min before the train a miracle happened: a car stopped for us. The driver’s name was Dan, he was a Canadian who came to a forestry conference in Sweden and decided to see a bit of Scandinavia during his first trip to Europe. He was amazingly nice, fascinated by the landscapes, he genuinely loved and missed his family which was inspiring. He recorded his thoughts on a small digital recorder and made me explain what Scrabble was when he knew it very well! Another road was closed so he made quite a big detour to make sure we had a place to sleep. We fared him well, went to the camping reception and paid for pitching up a tent. After a few minutes, the lady approached us:

- It is quite dark over there, isn’t it?

- It is a bit dark indeed, but we have a torch, don’t worry.

- There’s a free bungalow over there, just go and sleep in it.

- Okay, how much do we have to pay?

- Nothing, it’s empty anyway.

We felt we were rewarded too much for the tough waiting a few hours earlier… We met many more people on our way, all of whom were definitely worth meeting. There was a young German married couple with a baby whom we met almost every day but were unable to travel with as their car was totally packed up! There was also a hunting microbiologist with an extraordinary knowledge about his country, there was another couple who drove us all the way to the airport even though their destination was somewhere else, another elder man who showed us Atlanterhavsveien and a few WWII monuments…

Because of its infrastructure and nature, you might think Norway is not the best place in the world to hitch-hike. If you really think that, better reread this post and book your tickets as soon as possible, because I cannot let you miss such an adventure.