waiting is hard.
especially when it is because other people are not ready. i am learning about the differences between travelling alone and travelling with a group.
if i were going on this bike trip alone, i would be on a bicycle by now. but my friends aren´t ready. but, if i were going alone, i wouldn´t be in vienna, probably, and i probably wouldn´t have a free bike i could borrow, and i probably wouldn´t have really amazing people letting me stay in their really amazing apartments and showing me around the city, taking me to beautiful parks, crazy concerts, botanical gardens and restaurants with all-you-can-eat yummy food for cheap.
so i guess the waiting could be worse.
but all this waiting just makes me wonder if we´re actually going.
travelling with a group is just a little more complicated. timing is more important. deciding where to go is harder...getting organized takes more organization.
but hopefully by the end of the week, we´ll be on our way, and i´ll see how nice it is to travel with other people.
oh yeah, i almost forgot...waiting while hitchhiking is way harder than this. okay i can stop whining now. i´m having a great time here.

ICH LIEBE FRÜHLING!!
i think that means I LOVE SPRING!! in german
at least i hope it does because i love spring!
and rivers, like the Danube
and ducks, like the mallard ducks floating/swimming in the Danube
and flowers and trees
and riding my bike through all of these things
and lying in the grass in the park

it makes me so happy, the springtime. does anyone know if there is a magical land where it is always spring? because i would like to go there.

and,
our bike trip, which was supposed to begin today, is a teeny bit delayed until thursday. but we´re going! but now we are only 3, not 4. and i don´t think we will go to italy, or at least i won´t.... because i am becoming more and more ready to go back to the states. so maybe we will do a short 3 weeks or one month bike tour through eastern europe...hungary...czech republic...slovenia...
...i´m not sure...
...check back in a week or so for the latest change of plans....

i write to you now from vienna, austria. yes. i made it. safely. and quickly. even though it felt like forever. 8 days. how many rides? oh, i think it was 16. how many beds? 2. 2 nights out of 7, people offered us their house. how many countries? 5. spain. france. switzerland. germany. austria. how many times did i feel like i was going crazy, wondering why didn´t we just take a bus? about 53. but mostly i knew that we were doing a revolutionary thing. good. i was reminded of this when people would tell us that they used to hitchhike when they were young. so we weren´t crazy. but that they almost never see anyone doing it anymore. we were meeting some really wonderful people. how many people asked us what we thought of george bush? at least half. how many times did the police come and tell us we had to move to a different place? 4 or 5. how many ticks did i find on me after sleeping in the woods one night? 3 itty bitty ones. how many other hitchhikers did we meet? one guy with his guitar and his dog. and 2 girls who were on their way to a building job. it is an old german tradition that people who have just spent 3 years in a building apprenticeship spend 3 years and one day travelling around, spending no money, not allowed to go within a 50 km radius of their home, working at different places, wearing these traditional black and white uniforms, and letting other people help them. we met both the guy with his dog and the 2 girls at the last gas station. once, in spain, we also saw 3 punk kids with a dog, playing music by the side of the highway, with their dog. people gave us so much: coffee, bread, smiles, honks, rides of course, beds, meals, luck, water, a little money even, advice, and most importantly the knowledge that at least there are still some people in the world who have not subscribed to the idea that governments and media try to sell to people everywhere that you should be afraid of people you don´t know, especially people who are "different".
It is so interesting to watch how people react to seeing 2 people standing with their thumbs out. Some people are happy(staring and smiling as they drive by), some are pitying(frowning and shaking their heads), some disapproving (shaking their fingers at us), some outraged (staring, shaking their heads, their fingers, frowning, scowling, and speeding away), and some just downright confused (staring with their eyes glazed over and mouths hanging open). Many people stopped, but were going the wrong direction. Some of the friendliest people were the truck drivers. We got no rides from them, but only because they were going to the wrong place for us, or because they can´t take 2 people.
After this experience, i think i will never hitchhike such a long distance again. Maybe somewhere close, or one city to the next, but no more. It takes a lot of energy. Some people think we are just trying to get something for free. Some people work hard for their money which pays for their transportation. We spent hours standing in the sun, asking people if they can take us, bypassing the money, just working directly for the transportation. But when one day, i have a car or something, which will be run on biodiesel, i will always pick up a hitchhiker, and if i can, even go out of my way to take them to a good place.
I heard that there is a new movie coming out about a hitchhiker who kills people. Great.

I am so happy to be in Vienna now. i just wish i knew a little more German than how to count to 10 and beir ist gut. Sigh, Soffi, Axel, and i should be leaving in a week or so on our bicycle trip through italy. it´s really going to happen! and then maybe i will head home?? i can never be sure.

hola,
hopefully this is the last time i will be saying that, because we are on our way to austria now. sigh and i are in barcelona(unfortunately), but we´re taking the train outside the city, and if we are lucky, we could be in france by the night. it´s only been one day since we started our journey, but already there are plenty of crazy stories to tell, which i promise to tell soon, but now we are in a hurry. but just wanted to check in(mom), say that i´m safe, and actually slept in one of the most comfortable beds i´ve slept in since i got to spain last night. people are really cool around here.
hasta luego

just a short one today, just so certain people(mom) know i´m safe and alive and not drowned in the ocean or kidnapped by gypsies(whom, by the way, i have yet to encounter, let alone be worried about, which is what people are telling me all the time "watch out for those gypsies") or fallen off of a cliff or joined some punk beach cult that makes me swim in the ocean naked everyday, make bread for the beach folk, and live in a valley with fresh running water, the bluest water i´ve seen since belize and a half fallen down castle. but i did get a little wet because my "vacation" got rained on a little bit. and just so you know this tarp and rope thing works just as well as any tent. even though i wish i still had my tent, which got ripped apart at burning man.
i´m on my way to valencia tonight, on the bus, to meet my friend who´s supposed to go to vienna with me. but i haven´t heard from him yet. so maybe i´m going to spend the weekend in valencia. if he decides not to come, i´m not sure i´m still going to vienna. maybe to another wwoof farm in spain. or something else. still living day by day.
so....we´ll see what happens...

back into the unknown. my last days in spain. i feel at home here. but today i go where i don´t know anyone. but it´s okay because i have coffee and a bottle of rum. oh and chocolate. like when little kids take their blanky and teddy bear to school with them, they are safe and confident. so i bring rum and chocolate. unfortunately these things don´t last forever, but i think i´m old enough now to make it on my own.
the beach of san pedro, in cabo de gata, is supposed to be beautiful. and i´m going there for a week. kind of like a vacation. i won´t be working for anyone for a little while now. i am free. are you free? i may be travelling alone. but i never feel alone. i meet such wonderful people here, and keep in contact with family and friends back home.
i have some cuts on my hand to remind me of my good friend funky, the cat. and dog hairs on my coat from djembe. i hope the garden i´ve been spending my days in remains beautiful and that some of the seeds i planted will grow. i hope i can one day create a place as beautiful as the valle de sensaciones. did i ever tell you the website? www.sensaciones.de
and yesterday, a rainy day after the party, we watched the movie, loose change. hopefully you all have seen it.
i´m on my way to the beach now. hasta luego