Hey!
My name is Samson.
I'm 19 years old from Hong Kong.
Last year, I travelled myself for the first time in Europe for 76 days, hoping to experience
European culture at its finest.
In my journey, I met great and awesome people while visiting numerous attractions in 8 countries.
This spring, I was very lucky to be able to spend a semester in Zurich, Switzerland.
I have partied, met even more people, learned parkour for the first time ever, hiked, ate
fondue, the list goes on and on.
I travelled to Iceland, Sweden, Hungary, Ukraine, Austria and France.
As my semester comes to an end, I found myself with very limited travelling budget, and there
was still one country left on my bucket list- Croatia.
So I decided to take on the biggest challenge I have ever taken, the biggest YES I'm going
to say and yet the most difficult journey of my life- Hitchhike my way from Switzerland
to Croatia.
The adventure starts today, I am saying the biggest YES of my life, let's go.
So right now I'm in Lindau, Germany.
I took a bus from Zurich, Switzerland to start my hitchhiking journey.
This will probably be the place I get my first ride.
You're gonna wonder why didn't I start the journey in Switzerland.
Because apparently I read something on the internet saying that Switzerland is a difficult
place to pick up free rides, that's why I'm now in the Lindau, which is the nearest German
town just by the Swiss border.
It's so hot here, it's already that hot in Germany...I couldn't imagine how hot it will
be when I'm in Croatia-IF I can make it.
By the way, I just wrote the sign and now I am going to the nearest gas station next
to the highway, and that would hopefully take me to Munich, or in German, "München".
So just now a guy picked me up and said that the location I was standing at was not good.
He's now out of the car for some reason, my German isn't that good...so he said he's gonna
be back in 10 minutes and bring me perhaps to a better location.
(In my crappy German) Yeah, but this is better...
Yes I met a driver and it officially made me a hitchhiker.
I thought I was going to Munich and it turns out that he would pass through Salzburg as
well, he dropped me off a gas station 10km away from Salzburg city.
Now I'm going to take a bus, the bus station is 15 minutes of walking distance away from
here.
It was amazing like the driver...he hardly speaks English so basically I was using my
crappy German (to talk with him)...you just couldn't imagine how nice people can be.
After taking the bus yesterday, all of my couchsurfing requests had been rejected so
I ended up spending a night in a hotel room.
Today I'm going to spend the first half of the day exploring the city of Salzburg and
spend the second half of it trying to get a ride to Ljubljana, which is the capital
of Slovenia.
So right now I am next to the highway waiting for a car to pick me up to Ljubljana and look
at this, I walked all the way from there to here.
This is where I'm at right now.
And I don't even know if legally I'm allowed to walk on this but I'm gonna keep walking
towards that direction.
So here we are. I'm gonna wait for my ride here.
Fingers crossed.
So you can actually see here I was stopped by a police, you can really see his pistol.
He stopped me on the highway and he checked my belongings and I was freaked out.
He checked my IDs, searched my bags and made sure I was no one dangerous and it was totally
legal to hitchhike on the road as long as I am not walking in the highway.
had to wait for 4 hours in the end to get a ride.
2 cars stopped by but they weren't going to Villach nor to Ljubljana.
So I waited for 4 hours until a very nice guy picked me up and gave me an hour and half
of ride and now I'm in Villach, Austria.
And since yesterday I started hitchhiking quite late at about 3/4 in the afternoon,
and it was until like 7 something until I got my ride.
So I planned to start earlier today, perhaps ideally before the afternoon.
I looked on the internet and they say Villach is not an easy place to get rides so that
kinda justifies why I need to start even earlier.
So now it's like 9:30 or something, I haven't had a very good sleep last night in the hostel
but nevertheless I'm just gonna grab breakfast and start the day strong.
You know when it comes to hitchhiking, the most challenging part is not the journey itself
but the mental challenge.
For every ride you have to have like...I would say more than few hundreds of rejections until
you get a ride.
Of course if you're lucky you can be only waiting for a few minutes, I mean the fear
of rejection is the most challenging part and I really like the saying of it doesn't
matter how many times you got rejected, it's the only one YES that counts.
And basically that's what happened to me yesterday and hundreds and hundreds of cars just drove
by and ignored me.
I waited 4 hours and a police car stopped by and checked my IDs, searched my bags.
But all it took was that one YES, that's all it matters.
I'm here now.
Hopefully a truck or a car is gonna pick me up.
So basically I just got picked up by the police for the second time.
They are quite nice they didn't fine me.
They told me I could have been fined for 500 Euros because at some point I was walking
on the highway and that's kinda dangerous or even illegal i guess.
But they took me to a gas station next to the highway so now I'm just gonna walk up
to people and ask them if they can take me to Ljubljana.
And it was my first attempt to ask a couple...a German couple I believe... would they take
me to Ljubljana and they agreed to take me to somewhere near Ljubljana and drop me on
the highway and...it's amazing!
Greetings everyone!
Welcome to Ljubljana.
Today's my fourth day of my hitchhiking trip and today I could possibly get myself and
get my feet on the land of Croatia.
How amazing is that?
Still cannot believe it has only been 4 days.
I thought it would take much longer than 4 days.
Currently I am walking to a gas station in the outskirts of Ljubljana.
And from there I will try to...you know I don't even bother lifting a sign today, cause
from the previous experiences...for the first 2 days I had been lifting the sign for like...
I don't know...a total of 10 hours?
The possibilities of getting rides by lifting a sign is really low so...but yesterday, yesterday
you know on my first attempt of walking up to drivers and asking them if they could give
me a ride in the petrol station and it was a success.
I guess I'm trying to do the same today.
Alright guys, if you look closely on your left, you will see a small sign over there
saying there's a gas station.
I'm in a golf course right now, I just spoke to the owner of the place and she's amazing.
She let me to walk across the golf course but at my own risk.
So here's the fence and I just jumped over it.
Hey there, how are you?
(Fine) Um...I have a little weird request to ask.
(Yeah?)
Is there any possibilities that you guys would be going to Zagreb or passing through Zagreb?
(No) No?
Alright thanks.
Excuse me, how are you guys doing?
Um...may I ask you guys for a favour?
Okay...never mind...
(Zagreb?)
(Nonono...)
No?
It's okay, have a nice day.
Guys, now I'm in just outside of Zagreb, just walked up to drivers and see if they can drive
me to Zadar.
So far I have asked like 20 or 30 something drivers and either their cars were full or
they were not going to Zadar or they just ignored me and...I don't know.
But I'll keep trying and see what I can do.
But no complains, you know, hitchhiking is totally a spontaneous thing...there is so
many reasons that one will not do it, they are just being nice by letting me to get on
their cars.
Couldn't complain I mean it's totally normal to reject someone.
Yesterday could have been the worst day of my hitchhiking journey.
Rain was pouring starting from the morning and it basically didn't stop until late evening.
To be honest I struggled whether should I continue my journey.
Even the staff in the hostel told me like the weather was awful so the chances of me
getting a ride from Zagreb to Zadar was really low.
Eventually I still decided to go.
I had to take a tram from the city centre to somewhere in Zagreb, where I got on a bus
and the bus took me 2 kilometres away from a gas station.
I was really hesitating, I know the weather was bad and especially when people started
to tell you it's not gonna work, you really stop for a second and ask yourself like if
it's really gonna be possible...but still my mindset was like I'm gonna go to the gas
station, if it works it works, if it doesn't I'll just try another day.
I was lifting my umbrella with one hand, the sign...this sign with the other hand.
I was really thinking I'm gonna spend hours under the rain hoping someone will be kind
enough to give me a ride to Zadar.
And it was only 15 minutes.
It was like the fifth car that was about to drive past me and the car stopped and (the driver)
offered me the ride to Zadar.
And the amazing feeling about this is...even that odds seem to be all against you, the
weather wasn't favourable...the people might be discouraging you...but the important thing
is really to stay true to your heart and just give it a try.
It's really nothing to lose, you just have to take the initiatives and really to prepare
to go against all odds.
And you know it could have been a very bad day I could have been stuck in Zagreb.
I could have been waited under the rain for like a few hours.
15 minutes.
15 minutes and I saved the day because I stayed true to my heart, to the one very goal that
lies inside my heart.
Were you guys also driving in Slovenia?
(Yeah.)
That was a different car?
(Yeah that was a different car.)
It's scary when you are holding on a GoPro and you know the sea may be washing it away.
Hello there.
Welcome to my possibly last ride of this journey, today I'm gonna try hitchhike from Zadar to
Split.
I had a wonderful weekend in Zadar.
Now I'm fully recharged and ready to go.
Now I'm walking to the junction which leads to the motorway.
And from there I will try to get a ride to Split.
I just waited at the spot for like an hour so I'm moving further up.
I'm walking to a gas station nearby and hopefully cars will be going to Split there.
Man, you will not believe this when you see this part of the video.
I have actually waited for like 6 hours.
It's now 7:30pm or even 8pm in the evening.
I started at 1:30pm.
This is actually ridiculous, like 4 cars stopped by...they were really nice but unfortunately
none of them were going to Split.
I don't even know what to do now.
I don't even want to rent another night of the apartment or hostel or something.
I don't wanna walk all the way from the city centre to here again.
With all these heavy bags and I just don't wanna do it.
I have been at the gas station waiting for like 5 hours.
I don't know...I changed spot one time, we talked about it before.
So...I don't know what to do now.
I'm just gonna continue to walk and I believe there is a junction up front where it leads
to the highway...Nevertheless my battery is running low, the worst thing that can happen
is that I just spend a night in the gas station.
I don't even wanna spend money for accommodation tonight.
I'm gonna stay up as late as possible and maybe get one or two hours of sleep.
I'm gonna get up when the sun comes up...not kidding to you...I'm gonna get up at like
4 in the morning and start waiting for the ride.
I don't care but...I just wanna be in Split right now.
(...10 minutes of walking from here) Yeah that's cool.
Alright guys thank you for everything.
I could still be in the gas station if it wasn't you guys.
Thank you very much.
(Enjoy your holiday) Have a nice evening.
See ya!
Thank you guys.
Goodnight!
After 7 hours of waiting, I'm in Splitttttt!
Finally.
It's worth every second of waiting.
No matter how many rejections I have gotten, it only matters that I'm now in Split.
In 7 days, I was able to travel 1052km by only accepting rides offered by strangers,
which took me all the way from Lindau, Germany to Split, Croatia.
This journey is not just about saving money but embracing discomfort while realising the
infinite opportunities that were made possible by overcoming rejections, taking initiatives
and trusting strangers.
It is also an adventure of me opening up my mind and discovering the beauty of mankind.
It completely changed my perspectives on travelling and interacting with people.
I'm Samson.
I'm a 19 year old boy from Hong Kong.
I said YES to the biggest challenge of my life and it took me so far, so far from Switzerland
to Croatia.
What is that YES you gonna say today?
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