Mitfahr to England, South West, ferry to France, hitch hike to Le Gurp, seaside hangingmats sunshine, vandrive to Bielefeld, days in the countryside, train to Berlin, whirlwind of essays, parties, people…Mitfahr to Switzerland, up in the mountains festival musicality, gummiboot down the river, trains and cars, Basel, more rivers, swimming, art galleries and epic dinners, Roller to Neuchatel, kayaking, sailing, and back on that freezing motorbike to Basel before Mitfahr to berlin and finally coach booked and printed for Wednesday home to Exeter.
It's been a good summer, and a lot of time spent on the road, so here are a few thoughts on how to travel in central Europe.
[literally translating as with-travel-opportunities, or as English would say, car share.]
The germans have it sorted. The night before I was due to leave, I could organise a lift back to Basingstoke, for €50 ferry inc. It isn't as cheap as hitchhiking, but there's no hanging around in the rain or being left on the motorway and risk of weirdoes is practically zero. You meet a lot of interesting people, and it's much comfier than a bus. It's definitely easier to organise with German language, but I can imagine it could be done with English. I look forward to the day when car sharing becomes as commonplace in England as it is in Germany.
This mainly offers car sharing, but also train ticket sharing and cheap bus tickets.
[train travel]
Normally expensive. However, there are deals available on suchandsuch, and look out for the schoeneswochenende, a ticket you can by at the weekend that up to four people can travel with. These are also great tickets to make available on Mitfahrgelegenheit.
Cheap in advance, long haul, but once more security of knowing when you'll leave and arrive.
Definitely the cheapest way and very effective as long as you give it a wide time margin, have lots of energy, and polish up on your language skills. In france you will be expected to speak french - I encountered no Deutsch oder English. Have a back up plan in case it goes wrong. Take a map. Take a hat for those sunny days. Don't, ever, get out on a motorway - always ask to be dropped off at a service station (tankstelle) or maybe a Hauptbahnhof but you want to avoid going into cities until you reach your destination.
Follow the link above for a very thorough source on hitchhiking. Germany and France are full of hitchers, it's a really useful way of getting about and also a viable option as a single woman, as long as you keep your head on your shoulders.
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