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.