Wednesday, 2nd of September, 2020.
I am standing just at the end of this big mall, not in the motorway but in a quiet big road. Vladmir stops for me and he is going just nearby the border. He is an agronomist, going to check some black pigs in a farm. He is a very easy going man and he explains some Croatian facts for me.
Where Vladmir drops me exactly I do not remember, but it is a place where trucks can park. And since I am very close to the border, I decide to accept a lift in one. The driver does not speak English but is seems a nice person. We get to the border very soon but, since the line for the trucks it is huge, and I know it will take a long time for all of them to be checked, I decide to take my things and walk there.
At the borders, no problem. The police officer actually looks sadly surprise when I tell him I am just crossing the country. “Welcome to Serbia” he says anyway.
It takes a long time for someone stop for me. I know Kosovo it is not asking for PCR tests but I want to get in there today still, just in case.
When Yusuf stops I am surprise with his nice Mercedes and I cannot read him very much. He says to be going to Nis. A Turkish / French guy who cannot speak much of English, we try to have a conversation. He understands me quite well but cannot speak, so he uses his phone sometimes. His car has this nice seat system, which contracts during the curves, making sure you remain safe in your seat. Super cool! Plus, it has a massage system! I think it was the fanciest car I ever been. Apart of the Ferrari, in Rome. But that it is a different type of fancy…
Yusuf will stop in a hotel before Nis to have some hours of sleep / rest and then he will carry on travelling to Turkey at night. He offers me to come with him, so I can also rest a bit, take a shower and spend the night at the hotel once he leaves. I am still not sure if it is a good idea. I had bad experiences like that before. During the curse of our travel, after get to know him a little better, I decide to accept. We stop to have a coffee and a nice Baklava.
Once Yusuf check-in in the hotel, we go to have lunch at the local restaurant. I honestly was expecting more, since the hotel is also a spa, but the food was just some grilled chicken, chicken on sauce, meat kebab, rice and salad. Of course I ate everything without complaining.
Back to the hotel, the room is nice, with access to a huge terrace and view to the swimming pool and river. Plus, there is a tree with the biggest pears I ever saw. But they are as huge as they are hard and sour. Yusuf by some champagne at the reception because he really likes it and he will not find any on hi way to Turkey.
Yusuf take a shower and try to sleep. I also take a shower but after that, start to work in my routes and directions. Later on when he wakes up, we talk a bit more and he tries to give me 60€. I refuse. After a lot of insistence from his part, I accept to take only 20€. Which would save me a lot in the future. We go for a coffee and he gives me this nice snacks he had in his car, like savory biscuits, hazelnuts and chocolates. He admits that I am very different of anyone else he knows. People around him, including himself, worship money. He also says I was more happy with the snacks he gave me than he ex-girlfriend was with diamonds. Yusuf leaves in Paris and when he gives me his contact, he ask me to call him when I am in town. I surely will.
I have a very good night of sleep but wake up early, around 6.30 a.m., to try to go to Nis. If I knew that the spot I picked to hitchhike it was fail, and I would have to go back to the hotel, wait until almost 10 a.m., when the very nice manager Jan, would put me in the hotel car going to Nis with some food, I would have sleep until 9 o’clock.