Hitchhiking back West

No I'm not dead, I know it has been a while since I last updated my blog. Ok so what have I been doing the last 2 weeks.
After I came back from Ukraine I spend about 5 days in Krakow in the appartment of George, a friend who I met 2 weeks earlier in a hostel in Krakow.
So the next day, monday the 7th of August I wondered through the jewish quarter of Krakow which contains allot of synagoges. Went into one (had to wear a jewish little 'hat' if I wanted to enter) saw a photo exposition and a movie about the Warsaw ghetto and the deportation of the jews. At the moment I'm reading a book called 'The Pianist' and it's also about the Warsaw ghetto in WWII, I found it very impresive to see a real movie about it. That night went to a club with George and his girlfriend and a friend of her.
The next day slept allot and went to the cinema 2 movies for about 7 euro (Pirates of the Caribean & The Da Vince Code) It's been awhile the last time when I went to the movies.
Wednesday I said goodbye to George and took the bus to Bratislava at 10:30. Around 19:30 I arrived in the capital of Slowakia a few hours later then expected. I smsed my HC contact and Katti picked me up. She and her boyfriend were planning to visit a movie so I went with them to see a movie called Show Begins (an English musical movie with Will Young?!?)
After the movie we went to their place and I got a nice bed to sleep in. Thursday morning I dropped my bags at Katti's work and I explored the city a bit. In the afternoon picked up my bags again and took the bus to Wien with my last Krones. In Wien got 2 metro's to Bernhard's house (my host for the next 3 days) Bernhard was already hosting 2 Lithuanian girls ''Elena & Ruta''. Bernhard is a cool guy, dokter and former left wing activist. That night we went out with the 4 of us to a small club with rockmusic, had a great time and they even played some Michael Jackson. The next day I spend my day in the park practising POI and playing frisbee with Bernhard on the background there was a huge tower. There are 6 big old towers from WWII in Wien who were made to protect the capital by having big cannons suited on it to shoot airplanes out of the sky. The rest of the day spend watching german Simpsons and playing cards.
Saturday the 12th the girls left early hitchhiking to Zurich. I walked around the Old part of Wien visited the big cathedral and a crappy free museum.
The following day I planned to leave at around 9:00, eventually it was 12:45 when I was standing at a good hitchhike spot. After half an hour I got a hitch from 2 guys who invited me to stay at a lake at a summer house with them and a group friends.
I thought why not and ended up at a beautifull lake with a nice group of people and had a nice BBQ that night.
Haiko the guy who picked me up from Wien brought me to a good hitchhike spot in the direction of Innsbruck. Got picked up by a pilot who had to go to Salzburg and he insisted me that I had to visit Salzburg because it is the nicest city of Austria. So I dumped my stuff in a locker at the trainstation walked around the city and left within an hour. I had to decide or I would go to the girls Elena & Ruta in Zurich or I would go to Stefan in Munchen. Munchen was closer by and because it was already 16 oclock I left to Munchen with a quickride from a happy couple. Stefan is a guy who I met in Laos 2 years ago and travelled with him for about a week.
It was nice to see him again and that night we bought a bottle of Martini and went to a few clubs for free with the connections of Stefan. Went to bed at around 8 in the morning.
Thuesday slept almost the whole day till 16:30, spend the day exchanging music and watching a movie.
The next day I thanked Stefan and his mom for their hospitality and I was standing at the road around 9 in the morning trying to get to Zurich in 1 day. Eventually arrived in Zurich at 8 oclock, long day of hitchhiking 6/7 rides and had to wait about 30-60 minutes between every ride that I got. But eventually had a ride from a Porche and a Ford Mustang. The old guy in the Porsche even wanted to have dinner with me and he gave me his email address. I told him that some friends of me were waiting in Zurich and he dropped me of at a gasstation where I found someone with a Ford mustang who took me to the centre of the city.
I wasn't able to find a host in Zurich so had to stay at an expensive €26,- dormitory room in a hostel, good that they have free breakfest.
Got up early had a big breakfest and took some bread with me for my lunch/dinner. In this period of my trip I was travelling on an extreme low budget 5-10 euro per day, hitchhiking and staying at people's houses and eating bread with chocolateppasta and drinking only water. Only walked an hour and a half through Zurich then I left hitchhiking at 11:00 in the direction of Paris. Hitchhiked first to Basel, then with a few rides to Metz, as it was already 19 oclock and I was standing at a gasstation at the highway I planned to spend here the night. As I was updating my journal and sending an sms message to the girls who were already heading to Paris that I could not make it to Paris in 1 day, when suddenly a guy asked me if I was trying to get to Paris. I said yeah and because he was heading to Paris aswell I had a good ride of about 3,5 hours.
After catching 2 metro's in Paris to the hotel the girls picked out to be the cheapests I arrived at 24:00 o'clock. Good to see some familiar faces again, that night we bought a big bottle of 2 liter wine and had a small party in our hotelroom.
Friday 18th of August we walked all day long through Paris with our bags looking for a Host; rain, extreme tired after 2 hours of sleep and finally when I'm in Paris I still can't see anything because we had no money to stay in another hostel.
Eventually we found a guy called Louis in the suburbs and it took us 3 hours to get to his house.
Saturday I went with Elena to the Louvre, one of my goals this trip to visit this huge museum. Walked around between 11 and 16 o'clock ofcourse couldn't see everything but saw some incredible master pieces. The rest of the day we visited the Notre Dam and the Eifeltower and later that night we went out with some friends of Louis.
I planned to leave Paris on sunday but because we arrived back at 6 in the morning I slept sunday till 15 o'clock and after that Louis showed us Paris a bit; Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge, Arc de Triomph & Champs Elysee.
Elena & Ruta cooked a nice pasta meal with a special cheese sause.
The next day (monday) left Louis' house at 9 in the morning took a train and 2 subways to a good hitchhike spot. I heard that it's always hard to hitchhike out of Paris but seriously I had a ride within a minute after I made a sign I wanted to go in the direction ofLille.
After 2 rides I ended up at a gasstation at Abbeville with a Belgium guy who wanted to hitch south. We asked allot of people but because allot of cars were already full with kids I finally found a belgium couple who wanted to bring till Antwerpen. They had a nice van without any seats in the back, I was sitting on a camping chair and at every sharp turn the van made I was sliding to the other side with my chair.
Arriving in Antwerpen around 20:00 and took the train to Roosendaal the first dutchtrainstation, in the Netherlands I can travel for free during the week with my student card. I wanted to visit a good friend of mine (Dennis) in Leiden in the West of Holland but because there was some trouble with a leaking fuelcar I arrived in Leiden around 1:15 at night after travelling for 16 hours.
Thuesday I spend the day watching some movies at Dennis' place and later on I went to see Sanne a friend of mine who I met and travelled with in Australia. Stayed the night at her place and in the morning I went to see my grandparents and had a great breakfest at their place. I wanted to stay longer in the west of Holland but because my parents planned to leave the next day for a few weeks on vacation I wanted to see them before they left.
I arrived back in Groningen at 16:00 by train. After 55 days of being on the road.
I had an amazing trip, saw incredible things and tasted some of the fine cultures Europe is rich. And ofcourse the people I've met during my journey made my trip wonderfull. It was great to meet my friends which I met in other trips and met again in this trip.
I had no expectations of any city of country and maybe that's good because then you will never be disappointed; right?! I visited my main goals I wanted to see; The Love Parade, Auswitch and the Louvre. And learned allot about the history of Europe.

Well friends and Family this is the last blog message of my Eurotrip, in my next trip I plan to do the same thing with this blogsite.
Where will Joost be going next? "I don't know, just keep in touch and you will find out"

My email and MSN is go_pray@hotmail.com

Thanks for reading and keep on travelling

Greets Joost.

Like a stranger in Kiev

Back in Krakow at the moment after spending a week in Ukraine. Planned to stay there for 3 weeks but finded it pretty hard with the Ukranian/Russian language and the cyrillic alphabet they have and also the lack of tourists/travellers which I thought was a positive thing but if there are hardly any then is pretty hard to communicate. Here is the story of my adventours in Ukraine.
So left around 18:00 o'clock on the saturday the 29th of July by train from Budapest to Kiev. Shared my train cabin with a woman from the ukraine who spoke some english so I could practise my Ukranian with her. In the long ride I met some Swiss guys and a russian guy who told me about the differences with Russia and Ukraine.
The ride took about 25 hours (1 hour time difference) and I arrived at 19:00 the next day. The first moment I stepped of the train I heard marching sounds from the speakers sort of national anthem of Ukraine I think, well to me it sounded pretty russian (well the language is almost similar) I met on the station 2 guys and a girl from the czeck republic who where planning to go to a guy called Alex which they contacted through Hospitality Club. I had also send an email to him and from the Czecks I heard that I probably could stay at his place aswell.
Arrived pretty late at his house because they needed to exchange money first which took some time, had to take 2 subways and a bus to get to his house.
Because in the suburbs of Kiev they don't have streetlights at sometime pretty big potholes in the road and it was raining and dark, it took us quite a while to find his house. (Well the Jacub and Tomas did because they knew a bit of Russain)
Arrived in a small house and were welcomed by Alex's mom. Took a shower and slept on the floor of Alex his room.
The next day we explored the city saw a big Lenin statue visited Independence Square ,where the orange revolution took place, and went to a famous Monastrie with caves where they kept mumified monks to display & to a minitature museum where an artist carved like chessbords on a hair and other incredible things. Had some cheap dinner and drank a few beers in a bar with nice live music. Kiev is a big city it looks pretty western with big shops everywhere, Macdonalds and LCD television sets in the subways but besides the russian letters on the buildings and everybody speaking russian you wouldn't know that you were in a former Sovyet country.
Without the guys from Czeck I would be probably be lost finding Alex's house or ended up staying in a expensive hostel.
Monday morning we said goodbye to Alex and put our bags in the locker room at the station, visited some churches, the Chernobyl Museum and the Freedomstatue of Ukraine. Because of the size of Kiev we travelled by subway all the time and also because it's only 1 Hrivna (6,5 hr in an euro) per ride it was pretty cheap.
At a certain moment when it was really full in the subway someone picked my pocket and stole my wallet, I noticed it only a few seconds later when it was stolen but still I looked for the person who took it but it was already to late and the guy probably left the subway at the next stop. Goddamned, well the good thing is that I had all my valuable stuff like Passport, drivers license and bankcard in my moneybelt and only lost around 6/7 euro in Hrivna and some small memory things I collected during travelling throughout the years. And later on I noticed that also my return ticket back to Budapest was in there, I didn't really plan to go back to Hungary but still I wanted to try to sell it it to other travellers who were heading to Kiev and Budapest. Well shit happens right?
Because the train was already full to Odessa I planned to go to L'viv in the west of Ukraine that same day. Said goodbye to Elishka, Jacub and Tomas thanks for your help with finding my way the first days in Ukraine. The first available train to L'viv left at 4:29 (thats right at night) spended my time on the internet and reading & guarding my bags between the sleepin bums on the benches at the train station of Kiev.
Still had a good night rest in the train and when I arrived in L'viv at around 14:00 o'clock on wednesday, a german guy called Florian was waiting for me at the station. In Kiev I contacted a girl in L'viv who could help me with accommodation and one of her other guests picked me up at the station and showed me around town that day. He left later on to Romania.
My first impression is that L'viv is like the Wild West or should I say Wild East, everybody is driving like grazy and allot of roads are under construction and buildings under restoration. People call it the next Prague but then without the millions of tourists; it's a beautifull city.
I liked it right away.
That day I met Iwanka my hostess for the next 3 days. Iwanka is a very pretty girl, extremly kind and friendly and always willing to help me with finding my way in the city.
Later in the evening we went to Iwanka's aunt's place where her mother and her aunt have a publishing company. Her aunt was hosting 6 other people from Hospitality club and 3 other dutchies from my home town Groningen, small world isn't it?
Had some drinks with the group at her aunts house and later Iwanka's mom brought me and Iwanka back to their house in a small former rally car (the first car in the Ukraine), I forgot the name of the car but soon I will post some pictures of it. It was an amazing experience and her aunt even has a same brand car as her sister.
The next day I walked around town visited one of the old orthodox churches and the viewpoint with the ruines of a castle. I also bought a ticket to Krakow at the busstation with the help of Iwanka because the busstation is about 8 km out of town. I planned to leave Ukraine because of the lack of other travellers and also because of the language difficulty and mostly because my money is running out pretty quick.
Later in the evening played some cards with Iwanka and Viera (another HC guest). Friday I went with Viera to the cemetary of L'viv which is famous for the size of it (400.000 people are burried here) and the beauty of all the overgrown stones.
I bought some nice flowers for Iwanka and her mom for hosting me, and founded out on time that it was an oneven number of flowers (oneven numbers mean badluck and are meant for funerals) so had to take one out.
Iwanka made I delicious meal for me before I left and she even brought me to the station (which is still 45 min by rolleybus or tram)because I didn't know which bus to take. My bus left at 22:00 and I feelled sad to leave Iwanka and L'viv. I want to thank Iwanka and her nice mom and aunt again for everything they did for making my stay in L'viv amazing, and maybe see you in the future in Holland or Ukraine when I have short hair or even dreadlocks ;)
That night had a rough night sleeping on half a chair because a large man was taking the space of his and half my chair.
Arrived at 6 in the morning at George picked me up around 9. (remember George everybody? no? well it's the american guy who I met in Krakow 2 weeks ago) George now has an appartment in Krakow, he works here and is searching for the perfect girl to spent his life with.
It's kinda weird being back in Krakow and I noticed that the weather changed allot, 2 weeks ago it was around 30 degrees and now it is les then 20. Time for wearing shoes again, which I hate when I'm used to sandals.
Yesterday caught some sleep during the day and me and George went out to some clubs. Today got up late and walked around the city.

My plans for the next weeks are, well I bought a ticket to Bratislava (capital of Slowakia) for wednesday and already found some accommodation there through HC. And then going to Austria and or I'm making my way back to Holland quiker then planed because of the money or I'm hitchhiking to Rimini, Italy where I have a friend where I could stay for a few days and chill at the beach.
From now on I'm only gonna try to stay at people's houses through Hospitality Club and hitchhike all the way back starting from Bratislava.

Tomorrow I'm planning to go back to Auswitch and maybe explore the saltmines the next day.

I hope you are all well and enjoying your vacations just like I am.

Greetz Joost.

Heading to the great Unknown, Ukraine here I come

So Thuesday I took the train to Budapest together with the English (John, Mike, Lewis, Hanna and Helen) Jumped on the train of 22:30, I had a seat on the train (because of my budget) the others sleped in beds. Met two mexicans who told me some nice stories about there Hospitality Club experiences and how they really could stay on their budget. Hospitality Club.org is a site where people offer accommodation for travellers, it's a safe way to stay in houses of locals and they can show you around town aswell. It's mostly travellers who offer their house and I'm already a member for alomst a year now.
Had a good night rest because I was able to sleep on multiple chairs. Arrived in Budapest around 9 in the morning, I tried to dodge off all the people who want to sell me a bed in there hostel. Finally found the cheapest hostel in town for around 8 euro's a night. Stayed on the 7th floor of a big hostel in Pest (BudaPest is defided in two parts Buda & Pest), did my laundry and walked around town visiting some sights; Castle Hill, Basilica and Heroes Square. I think I walked more then 20 km that day, arrived back around 19:00. Budapest is a nice but big city not extremly filled with tourists yet but I did see allot of Dutch people, it's actually quite expensive here in the city I expected it to be cheaper here in Hungary.
Listened to some music that night with 2 german skaters in my dorm room.
Next day I met up with the english at the Basilica at 13 oclock, in my way to the big church I bought a Lonely Planet about Ukraine. So now I just have to go, right?
After meeting up with them we walked to one of the thermal baths, Budapest is famous for. Chilled for two hours in the hot open air 37/38° degrees baths, sounds insane huh when it's 30 degrees outside. Went to the sauna and the normal swimming pool.
In my way back to the hostel I passed by the train station, first I checked the internet if there were any people offering accomodation on Hospitality Club in Kiev (the capital of Ukraine). After finding allot of places where I could stay in Kiev I decided to get a trainticket to Kiev for the 29th of July, a 26 hour train ride and this time I have a bed; alright!!
That night climped up to the Citadel (a big hill in the city with a big statue) with the english guys had some cheap supermarket beers and went to a festival close by the city called Pardon. This is sort of the longest summer festival but was really quite small, met some nice hungarian people.
Friday I woke up pretty late and sended a sms to Lewis that it would be better if we met at 15 oclock instead of the planned 14:00. In my way to meet them I bought a Ukrainian phrasebook at the same store I bought the LP, because I notice that the local people really appreciate it when you try to speak in there native language. And in the Ukraine they hardly speak English.
When I was waiting for them at the Basilica on a bench a group of 15 Taiwanese students started talking to me. I thought that they wanted me to take a picture of them but they wanted a picture of me with them on the bench. So after a few pictures from different camera's I asked why they wanted a picture of me. They said "Because you are hansom'', well cool, I thought! Later on went to a Statuepark with statues of Lenin and Stalin, had to take the subway and 2 busses to get there. Wasn't really that big as we expected. Said goodbye to the english (and scotish, sorry Mike) Was cool to travel with you guys, hope you have a save trip and see you in the future in York.
Cooked some corn for dinner and packed my bag.
Today I have spend my time reading and waiting for my train, it departs at 18:20. I'm really looking forward to go to the Ukraine, I heard some amazing stories about it and very few tourists. And really cheap for travelling and food, accomodation is still expensive but if I can stay with people througout Ukraine it will hardly cost me anything. I'm planning to stay for about 3 weeks in Ukraine and then head back home.

So wish me look on my 26 hours train ride and my journey in the former sovyet parts of Europe.

Si-Ah!

Seeing horrible things in Oswiecim

Hello everyone, at the moment I'm in Krakow, Poland. Been here now for 3 days and planning to head to Budapest tonight by nighttrain.
So you all might be wondering what has Joost been doing the last week between Berlin and Krakow. Well....
Monday the 17th after I posted my last blog, I went cycling on Tine's bike through the city. And seriously you need a bike or public transport if you want to see some sites in this massive German city. Visited Checkpoint Charlie, the famous checkpoint between east and west Berlin but there where so many tourists around aswell in the museum about the checkpoint. And went to a photo exposition about WWII and to a museum where they had a exposition about an old ancient city divers found near the coast of Egypt (Zou wat voor jou geweest zijn Dutch).
Next day did the same cycled around Berlin visited the Holocaust monument, the Jewish Museum and another museum about Egyption art. And I saw the location where Hitlers bunker probably would have been located and where the russians burned his body.
Wednesday morning I said goodbye to Tine's roommates and left before 8 by train to a station in the suburbs close to the road that would take me to Dresden/Prague.
Ooh and I really want to thank Tine again for letting me stay in her room. (Thanks Tine)
After waiting for an hour on my hitch spot I decided to look for a better location, walked for an hour then took the train to a better location where I was being picked up within 10 minutes. The guy with a really nice but slow van brought me all the way to the border with the Czeck Republic, and he only needed to go to Dresden so made a detour of about 2 hours and he gave me a free coffee at a Rasthof. I arrived at the border around 14:00 after a 3 hours ride, had to walk another 40 minutes to get to a gasstation where I was looking for people heading to Prague. Allot of people had there cars already pretty packed but eventually around 16 o'clock I found a ride with 4 dutch guys who rented a car and who were driving through europe. Arrived at 18 in the capital, found a hostel walked around the city and the same evening I bought a ticket to get to Krakow for the next day. Why? Well in the few hours I walked through the city I finded it extremly touristic and not allot of travellers and just wanted to leave again.
The next morning got up early walked around the city for a few hours saw the amazing castle and bridge (highlights in the city) but I just didn't like it to be here. I have heard it from allot of travellers that Prague is not worth it to visit, there are somany tourists and maybe because of the heat it just made it unbearable to stay longer in this city. The rest of the day I stayed in the hostel and watched some TV.
Left at 20:00 o'clock to the trainstation to catch my train, because I had sort of an open ticket valid for 2 months?!? and without a seat number or anything I went back to the ticket office and asked about which seat I had. Then the guy said that the train was already booked full, God-f**king-damned, and I especially bought a ticket to leave that night. Well shit happens right? So I made a reservation for the next night and got a trainticket with a seat number. Talked to some young people from Czeck and they said that the hostel on the campus of Prague would be cheaper to stay. So took a bus up the hill close to the stadion, checked in the hostel and bought a nice Pizza and some beers to make me feel better.
Friday had to check out at 10 and spend my day reading, listening to some music and fixing my sandals in the park up on the hill till about 15 o'clock when a big thunder storm was coming closer and closer. Took a bus and subway back to the trainstation where I waited another 4 hours, talked to a couple of american girls and played some chess with them.
Finally it was 21:00 and jumped on the train away from Prague in the direction of Krakow. Bought a nice seat in the train because I wanted to save 10 euro's which you had to pay more when you wanted a bed on the train. Shared the compartment with 4 young 17 year old girls who were drinking allot of booze during the train ride.
Had a nice chat with them the whole ride, slept for not more then an hour. Arrived in Krakow at 6 in the morning, found a nice hostel and slept till about 13:00. Wondered through the city (still touristic but nicer) later on met 2 american dudes (Andrew and George) and went out to check on the night life in Poland.
Bought some famous Polish vodka and nice big beers and visited some cool bars.
Sunday we left with the 3 of us to Oswiecim (Auswitch in Polish), a place which has been on my list for quite some years now. It takes a little bit more then an hour to get there and we took a guide who showed us and 24 others through the museum Auswitch I and Auswitch II Birkenau (the place where all the barracks and gas-chambers were located)
It is really a terrible place and sometimes really hard to imagine what really happened here. After visiting a gas-chamber the last one remaining where the germans first tried the deadly gas Zyklon B on 600 polish prisoners and walking through torture chambers it really touches you. Well it did to me and allot of other travellers who visited the place, who I talked to later on. But there are still allot of tourist who ignore the ''Don't take pictures" signs and take pictures of places where horrible things happened. During our tour Andrew found a bone between the barracks, it looked like a human bone, a part of hip bone or something. Really strange huh?, so later on we wanted to talk to the manager, who wasn't in but a woman who worked there said that it would be highly unlikely it to be a human bone. So we asked her if she could find it out and maybe if it would be a human bone she would take care of it in an appropriate way.
Only stayed for 20 minutes at Birkenau, because we had to catch the last bus back, sad actually because I really wanted to walk around there for a longer time. Birkenau is a huge camp and I mean gigantic, allot of barracks are destroyed during the years or by the germans and there are no more gas chambers or crematoriums left, all blown up by the germans who wanted to destroy the evident. But there are still some barracks left in which you can see how the people who were kept alive, lived but mainly its a place full of ruins.
Got back around 20:00 o'clock by train.
That evening played some cards with a big group of backpackers and I decided to stay another 2 days in Krakow, because of the nice atmosphere in the hostel.
Next day (monday) played some cards started early with drinking with a big group and went out to a nice club. I also decided to go to Budapest, Hungary so bought my nighttrain ticket for the day after (this night today the moment I'm writing this story)
I was still deciding which direction I wanted to travel to because Ukraine really sounds beautifull, I heard some amazing stories about that country. And not allot of tourists at all but because the train to Kiev was already full I decided first to go Budapest and then maybe head to Ukraine or maybe Romania. Its amazing to have no plans and being able to change your route anytime you want.
Today didn't do allot because it's also so extremly hot (in Budapest it will be even hotter!), in my way back in a few weeks I want to visit Auswitch again and stay longer in Birkenau and visit the Salt mines which I heard some good stories about.
So tonight I'm gonna head to Budapest by a 10 hour train ride with a group of nice english travellers.
I hope you all still enjoyed this massive story about my adventures here in the east.

I still love to travel here and experience so many new things, seeing new places and meeting so many interesting people.

Do Widzenia.

Sharing the Love with 1.199.999 other party people.

So already another week has been passed. At the moment I'm in Berlin staying at Tine's place in the heart of beautifull Berlin. Tine is not in, she went to her parents place in the south of Germany to work on her school paper. But she said that I could stay in her room as long as I'm in Berlin; really cool. I didn't expect to be back in Germany within 2 weeks but I had a very special reason; The Love Parade! Only a few days ago i heard that the Love Parade would be back in Berlin at that moment I was in Vilnius, Lithuania so I decided to go and visit Tine and party hard.
On sunday the 9th of July I took a bus with Ian to go to Vilnius, as we arrived at the hostel which Ian booked there were no more beds for me so I stayed the night in a different hostel. Met 3 ozzies and went with them and a canadian girl to a bar to see the Worldcup finale between France and Italy.
Next day I went back to Ian's hostel payed for 2 nights and visited with a group of 5 others the famous Trakai castle just outside Vilnius, a castle surrounded by water. Really nice but everything was restored and looked pretty new. Played some frisbee and visited a torture museum. That night went to the same bar as the day before and had a beer with the group.On thuesday visited some interesting sites in Vilnius with the same guys, (Ian & Ian, Sebastian and Liam) A big church, a castle with an amazing view over the city, the Frank Zappa statue and the KGB museum. Unfortanetly I nticed that they had one of the highest bungee jump sites of Europe in Vilnius from the TV tower, 168 meters, but you could only jump in the weekends. Really shit, well another reason to come back right?
After a few days spending in the baltics and learning things about the history of the soviet era , you really notice that the Russians weren't that nice in the time they 'owned' the surrounding countries. They killed allot of people in the time after WWII.Vilnius is a great city, bigger then the other Baltic capitals, so I decided to stay a few days here.
I noticed that there are allot of really expensive cars in the Baltics; Jaquars, Lexus, BMW's and have to say it again allot of pretty girls, the same as in Sweden.The day after we (me and Ian) bought a ticket for the night bus to Warsaw, Poland. That day visited a smal place just outside the capital called Paneriai.
In the second worldwar the nazis killed 70.000 jews here and burried and burned the bodies in huge massgraves. Very touching and frightning to see what 'people' are capable of doing to each other.
Later that day played some card games and left to the bus at 22:00 o'clock for a 7 hour ride to the capital of Poland.We arrived with an australian girl Trisia around 5 in the morning, went to an hostel checked in and had a free breakfest. Bought a dayticket for the tram for less then a euro and visited a palace, climped a tower and visited a museum about Warsaw (Warsaw was destroyed for 85% in the war) Saw a short movie about the life in Warsaw before and after the war.
Went back to the hostel had some good cheap Kebab and watched the movie 'Being John Malkowich' on the beamer in the hostel.
The following morning said goodbye to Ian and Trisia and left Warsaw at 11:25 by train to Berlin. A few days ago I heard that The Love Parade would be back in Berlin on saturday the 15th. Because I was just sort of in the neighbourhood I left to Berlin to visit Tine, a friend I met in Cambodja.
Tine was already waiting for me at the station at 18:00 o'clock, it was good to see her again. She lives real close to the station and that night we went out to Friedrichshain (a real nice area in the big city of Berlin where allot of bars and clubs are located. Had a beer near the river the Spree at a beachbar next to the Berlin Wall.
The next morning Tine left early to her parents house and she planned to stay there for a week. I could stay in her room and borrow her bike for the time I attended to stay in Berlin.
Around 15:00 o'clock I left by foot to the Love Parade wich was only 15 minutes from the place where Tine lives.
I have never seen so many people in one location before. Dozens of trucks with DJ's on top driving around in the crowd and people dancing around it. Saw DJ Tiesto, ATB and Paul van Dyk and many other heroes of mine. I can deffinetly recommend it to everybody who love House music, and I am thinking about going every year to this amazing event.
Had a great time, met allot of nice people and allot of Dutchies. The dutchies you can easily recognise in the crowd and you just say 'Goed Volk?' and you have another good conversation.
At 23:00 o'clock the Parade stopped and everybody went to the after parties. I called some german guys I met earliers and met up with them hours later (big city and a huge tram system). Went to a club called Cassiopia which had 4 rooms with different kinds of music, got there at 4 and left at 7 o'clock in the morning.
Went home and slept till 17:00 o'clock the next day. Sunday didn't do much and later in the evening went out to have a beer with the room mates of Tine; Anja and Maria and checked the price to get to Prague at the trainstation. 44 Euro for a 5 hour ride, I decided to go and hitchhike to Prague on Wednesday to save some money because I spended around 60 euro at the LoveParade.
Berlin is a really cool city, nice people, allot of things to do and relatively cheap (food and hostel accomodation) for a capital in West Europe. And my german is improving I never thought that I could understand so much and even speak some basic german. People appreciate it if you speak the language in there country, I had the same when I was staying in Poland. I carry a phrasebook of eastern europe so I can look up some words to use.
My plans for the next 2 days is to visit some sites and museums in Berlin by bike, nice and cheap compared to pay 2,10 euro everytime for the subway or train.
Wednesday I'm heading to Chech republic and then Krakow, Poland then probably Budapest and the direction of the Ukraine, maybe even do some charity work for a week or 2 in Romania but have to see about that.

Hope you are all well.

Tschüß.

Speeding to Riga

Stranded in Riga at the moment and posting a small update of the last 2 days and my plans for the next weeks.
Yesterday I met an american guy 'Ian' who was planning to head to Riga (the capital of Latvia) I planned to join him and after a 5 hour ride in a bus with an insane 'fast driving' driver, we arrived there around 18 o'clock. Checked in a hostel with a hostess who only could speak Latvian and still could understand us?!? Accommodation for 8 Lats, around 12 euro.
That evening had a cheap dinner in a restaurant with Ian and later on watch the footbal at 22 o'clock (1 hour time difference here in the east) in a bar where they served warm beer.
This morning walked through the town visited some old sites and bought a small Latvian flag to sew on my backpack.
Today I'm planning to move to Vilnius with Ian and stay there for a few days, because that is suppose to be the nicest city of the baltics.
Maybe you are all wondering why I travel so fast and only stay for a day or 2 in a city, well actually I'm looking for a nice relax town or city with some backpackers where I could stay cheap for maybe a week or 2. And if you visited the highlights in a city like Riga or Tallinn you want to travel further and see other things. Also I skipped Norway and Finland just because of the high prices they have, and I sort of made a new travel route for the future to head up to Norway then to Finland and Russia, all camping for maybe next summer. If people want to join me in that trip, let me know, you can sign up at the bottom of this post.
At the moment I can just make it with 20 euros a day, but I'm looking for something cheaper and hopefully I will find it in Poland or even more south.

My plan for the next days is to head to Poland and then maybe Berlin to visit Tine, a friend I met in Cambodja and Thailand. And then go further south in the direction of the Ukraine and Bulgaria.
I attached one photo of my being in front of the Scientology office in Copenhagen. The connection is really slow here so don't have the time to post more, sorry.

Peace out.

Back to Basics in the East of Europe

Finally I'm in east europe. For the people who don't know where Tallinn is, its the capital of Estonia, located right under Finland.
Today I'm already travelling for a week and I have crossed a huge distance. I posted my last blog on sunday when I was staying in Denmark.
On monday I went went Maris and Helle to a lake close to centre of Kopenhavn. In the afternoon we had a big lunch/dinner in a mediteranian/vegetarian restaurant. All you can eat for around 8 euros, really good actually.
The next morning I left around 9 o'clock, said thanks to Helle for her hospitality/tours through the city/her kindness. (Thanks again Helle for everything, it was great to see you again and let me know when you get to Holland)
My plan was to walk to the bridge to Sweden, that's around 7 km from the city. After half an hour I asked someone the direction, the woman said it would be pretty far to walk to whole way. So I bought a busticket of the last Danish Krones I had. Took the wrong bus (thank you very much danish woman) and ended up somewhere completely in the wrong direction. After an hour walk I arrived at the airport (close to the bridge). After 20 minutes I got a ride across the bridge and I was dropped off close to the city of Malmö in Sweden. Had to walk for another hour with my full 27 kg of bagage on my back. And arrived around 13 o'clock in the centre and sat down in a park.
Did I already tell you about the girls in Sweden. Well what they say is true. (you where right Ramon). Sweden is packed with amazing looking girls, everywhere you look, Goddamned. In Denmark it's the same.
But where was I, o yeah; So I was sitting in a park sending a text message to Johanna (one of the girls I met in New Zealand) because she was also in Malmö and we wanted to meet up.
Suddenly I ended up talking to 2 girls who where sitting next to me. One Danish and one Swedish (thats right nice, good looking girls) We played some frisbee, listed to some music and talked till 17 o'clock. They even bought me good falafel bread-snack-thing, which is sort of famous in Malmö. After the girls left I walked to the trainstation and asked how much the nighttrain was to Stockholm. 544,- Swedish Krone almost 60 euro.
It was already kinda late and if I didn't get a good hitch I certainly had to check in to an 20-30 euro hostel. So I decided to take the 23:00 train to Stockholm. Unfortunatly I didn't meet up with Johanna. After waiting for 5 hours, watching the footbal game (Germany-Italy) on the station and updating my journal I jumped on the train.
The train even had beds and I was sharing a cabin with 5 others, so 6 bunkbeds. I always like to sleep on trains especially when they have beds. After talking to a Swedish couple I fell a sleep and we arrived around 7 the next morning. A swedish girl (called My) I met in Bolivia was staying in Stockholm at her parents place and she smsed me how to get to her place. I took a bus and arrived at her house. Was real nice to see her again. She immediatly gave me a room in the guesthouse with a private shower. (Yeah it was a big house nicely located in a park just 15 minutes outside the centre)
She also gave me a bike which I could use to explore the city. That day I cycled around the beautifull city of Stockholm and visited some free museums. A real nice old city build one many islands. Later that evening we went to visit some friends of My in a suburb where they showed some of their music they made. Actually really good elektro/drum&bass music.
The next day I woke up late had breakfast and cycled to the terminals from where the boat was leaving to Tallinn. Bought a ticket for 595 SK for the ferry of 18:00, 15 hour boat ride to the capital of Estonia. I wanted to leave the expensive Sweden and go and live cheap in the east.
Went back to My's house and watched the rehearsel of the match France-Portugal after the match she brought me with her parents car to the terminal. Said goodbye (thanks again My for your nice house and hospitality and it was real cool to see you again) and checked in to the ferry. Shared the cabin with a russian, a swedish and an american guy.
Real fancy expensive ferry and because the food was to expensive, I had some muesli bars and a can of corn which I had with me.
I arrived around 10 in the morning in Tallinn. When I was walking out of the ferry I asked for a stamp in my passport which they normally wouldn't give. I started talking to an Australian girl and we visited some museums and nice attractions in the beautifull city of Tallinn.
Sorry everybody have to go the russian guy from the hostel is getting on my nerves because I already passed my 2 hours of internet time.

Soon I will post some photo's.

Head aega (Goodbye in Estonian)

Joost.

And why have I never tried to hitchhike before?

Køpenhavn is great, I never expected to be here so quick, within 17 hours! from Groningen. Hitchhiking rulez. I left Groningen around 13 oclock, intensely wanted to leave before 10 in the morning but I still had to pack allot.
After still having an extreme lack of sleep because of all the short nights of the last week. (nights studying before my test on wednesdays and goodbye parties after the tests) After waiting for an hour a woman stopped and pointed out that I was in the complete wrong direction if I was planning to go to Hamburg, so she brought me to another hitchhike spot in Groningen. Around 15 oclock 2 dutch speaking german girls picked me up and they said that they were heading to Meppen. So where the hell is Meppen, I thought, but jumped in and left in the direction of Germany.
Dropped at a parking space and was eventually picked up by a russian guy from Kazackstan (this probably because it was 17 oclock, just when the German football game was on) After a short ride to a Rastäte where allot of trucks were standing I waited for 2 hours till the game would finish and a german girl started talking to me. During the extra time I thought I never would be picked up because if Germany would lose everybody would be so sad that they wouldn't want to pick up a hitchhiker.
Eventually a dutch truck came and the driver noticed that the girl was hitchhiking, after talking to the driver that only I was trying to get to Hamburg he eventually decided to take me with him. My plan was to get to Hamburg to visit Tanja, but because I would arrive after 23 oclock in Hamburg and that the truck was heading to Kopenhavn I decided to ride with 'Sjaak' the dutch driver to the capital of Danmark.
Listening to some interresting stories in the life of a trucker and a few times a rockclassic cd with formula one sounds between the songs, we arrived at the ferry between Germany and Denmark around 1 oclock at night. I didn't have to pay for the ferry ticket which was nice of him and after sleeping for a few hours (still really tired) we arrived in the middle of the centre at 7 oclock. I smsed Helle and she picked me up and brought me to her home. I met Helle in Bolivia and worked with her in the animal refuge for 2 weeks, she told me that I could stay in her house the time that I stayed in Kopenhavn. Really nice to meet her again after a year.
That day we walked through the city and stayed in the park in the afternoon together with Maris a brazilian friend of her which just arrived the day before. Later that night we went out with another danish girl. Experienced the nice but expensive danish night life. 5 to 7 euro's for a beer. The next day we went to Christiania a small 'sort of' town located in the city. Sort of hippy community with a real nice atmosphere and beautifull houses (made by the people who live there themself)
Tomorrow or the day after I'm planning to hitchike to another place in Denmark and visit a friend I met in Australia or I will be going to Sweden and visit some friends I met in New Zealand.
Hitchhiking is really cool, sometimes you wait for a few hours and you think why the hell did I start this nonsens. But eventually you will reach your destination and in the way you meet all kinds of interesting people and it doesn't cost anything.
So I can really recommend it.
Well guys, hope you are not borred yet with my stories, I'm planning to post my next one within a week when I arrive in Stockholm.

Farvel (goodbye in Dansk)

Europe here I come

So in a minute I'm gonna start my journey to Hamburg. Never really hitchhiked before well I only have some hitchhike experience in Australia, from a small town called Nyah to a town called Swan Hill.
Today Germany is playing at 17 o'clock so I really want to be in Hamburg before the match is on, because I think it will be pretty difficult to get a ride during the football match. Tanja a friend of mine from school lives in Hamburg and I could probably crash at her place for the night.
Tomorrow my plan is to head to Copenhagen and visit Helle and Lisa (2 friends I met in Bolivia) where I will stay the weekend.

My bags are packed and I can't wait to leave Holland to see different places and meet different people.

The next 2 months are gonna be the highlight of my year, because I really live to travel.

Everybody have a great summer and I will see some of you soon.

Woohaa....

Welcome Everybody

"Who is this Joost?" and maybe a more important question "Where is he?" Everybody who doesn't know who I am, check my profile. In a short description a 23 year old guy from Groningen, with a huge passion for travelling.
Where is he?; still in Groningen. But.... next friday (30-06-2006) I am planning to travel again. It's almost a year ago when I returned from South America. This time through Europe; hitchhiking baby!! WHooohaaa. Not really an idea where I will end, but it will be an amazing ride.With this blog I want to tell you all about my adventures throughout Europe and the rest of the world, in my future trips.
My budget is low, around a 1000 euro's for 2 months of travelling. If anybody is travelling in the east of europe in july or august let me know, we can meet up.
Next week I will write again, right before I will start hitchhiking from my hometown Groningen, in the north of Holland in the direction of Hamburg and Copenhagen.

It's gonna be a blast.

Gr Joost