In 2012, I hitchhiked from the Netherlands to South Africa with @NedaBoin and @sierrrd — covering 25,000 kilometers entirely based on the kindness of random strangers. The 155 rides

Our first ride was in a (in the Netherlands well-known) bakfiets. It brought us from the city center (where we said goodbye to our loved ones) to the best hitchhiking spot in town toward Germany.

Ride 1: Vismarkt to Europaweg, Groningen, Netherlands (2.5km)

The first car to stop for our destination “Cape Town (no joke)” cart board sign was this Mercedes. She saw our sign, stopped, and was like, “I can take these three kids“ as she was on her way home to Winschoten.

Ride 2: Groningen to Scheemda, Netherlands (26km)

As summer is ending (we left in September), this couple just came back from spending their days on a boat on the Frisian lakes. They were on their way back home to barbecue with their two adult children.

Ride 3: Scheemda to Bad Nieuweschans, Netherlands/Germany (25km)

The fourth ride we get is by Serwet, a taxi driver (see that blue licence plate!) who is happy to take us as he's anyway driving to Germany.

Ride 4: Bad Nieuweschans to Bremen, Netherlands/Germany (132km)

Coming back from test-driving a motorcycle he didn't want, he was returning home to Hannover with an empty trailer (you can see it in the photo). So why no taking us?

Ride 5: Bremen to Allertal, Germany (83km)

As you can see, many cars on the Germany _Autobahn_ are gorgeous. This guy, working for an international think tank in Berlin, was happy to take us along the way too.

Ride 6: Allertal to Braunschweig, Germany (109km)

German autobahns are famous for having no universal motorway speed limit. Our seventh ride surely made us aware of that and drove us far into our first night of hitchhiking towards Cape Town.

Ride 7: Braunschweig to Homberg, Germany (278km)

But the night is not over yet. These two young guys give us a last big push before we (try to) sleep —for our first night!— next to a McDonalds in southern Germany. (Perhaps some “where did we sleep” photos at the end?)

Ride 8: Homberg to Erlangen West, Germany (271km)

The next morning, after sleeping next to McDonalds, it's hard to get out of a resting area (raststätte) not immediately next to the highway. Fortunately, we got a quick ride to a better spot from this kind guy.

Ride 9: Erlangen West to Erlangen raststätte, Germany (2km)

I surely had heard a lot about the French Foreign Legion.. but had I ever met a soldier? No way. Until we got a 8-hrs (!) ride from Jozef, who had been deployed to Chad, Morocco and Guinea.

Ride 10: Erlangen to Budapest, Germany/Hungary (790km)

(We arrived in Budapest in the night, so we walked to a park and met a cyber-security specialist who, after hearing our travel story, invited us to stay over. That's what we did.. but we slept late and the next day
tarted hitchhiking waaay too late to get out of the city.)

Stuck at a gas station in the outskirts of Budapest, this film director (photo is him next morning) noticed and was like, “you need a place to stay?” So we stayed an extra night in the Hungarian capital.

Ride 11: gas station to a house behind the gas station (0.4km), Hungary

I honestly don't remember exactly what happened, but after being stuck for two days in Budapest, we decided to take a train out of the city. (I promise it'll happen only more twice.)

Ride 12: Budapest to Szeged, Hungary (175km)

It was night when we arrived in Szeged — Szoke and his dad Barnabás make sure we know how to found our way around town.

Ride 13: Szeged, Hungary (~1km)

When you're hitchhiking at night, a lot depends on the trust of the car that's gonna stop for you. This guy, riding around town with his girlfriend, didn't seem to mind and took all three of us to the border.

Ride 14: Szeged to Nagylak, Hungary/Romania (55km)

“You hitchhike for adrenaline, I gamble for adrenaline,“ Tiberi jokes, who takes us on a 14-hr (!) ride from the Hungarian border to southern Romania — buying us coffee and entertaining us all the way.

Ride 15: Nădlac to Buzău, Romania

So, here's the second (out of three) public transport vehicles. It was hard to hitchhike from Buzău into Bucharest. So we took a train. But boarded the wrong train and woke up at the Moldavian border.

Ride 16: Buzău, Romania to Iași and back, Romania (584km — both ways)

Once we're back in Budapest, we continue our journey south. Dan (left), Sonya (middle) and their friend took us along as they were visiting their parents in Giurgiu. They took a detour to drop us off at the border checkpoint.

Ride 17: Bucharest to Giurgiu, Romania (63km)

The bridge crossing the natural border was quite long, so we hitchhiked a ride to the other side. This couple does business in Romania, but lives on the Bulgarian side.

Ride 18: Giurgiu to Ruse, Romania/Bulgaria (14km)

Explaining exactly where you wanna go is, obviously, an issue sometimes. But what else you gonna do than embrace it? We got a ride in the right direction —south— but got stuck in a tiny village in the hills.

Ride 19: Ruse to Vetovo, Bulgaria (8km)

Working as a tractor mechanic, our next driver (left) knew the area. But we didn't exactly know how to explain where we were going in.. and ended up in the next town. Great ride, though. (All rides are great.)

Ride 20: Vetovo to Razgrad, Bulgaria (39km)

As night was falling, we were happy that we got a ride —through bumpy roads— who was more than happy to share the homemade rakija made by his father.

Ride 21: Razgrad to Burgas, Bulgaria (176km)

[Okay, I need to get some sleep but will continue soon. Most is still yet to come: Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa]