8th of August, 2021.
When I am using all my coins to buy a metro ticket, a guy come by my side and ask something in French. I get a bit nervous at the beginning, but then I realize he is asking if I have change for he wants also to buy a ticket but this machines don’t accept notes or don’t give change, something like that. Unfortunately I cannot help him because I only have enough coins to buy my ticket.
There are quite a few guard around at this entrance. I grab the metro (get all the info you need on Hitchwiki) to Gare de Vaise. I walk towards the buses and find out the first bus I can take is around 6 a.m., so I don’t panic, I sit in a bench and wait. It’s almost 2.30 a.m. After a while, a man come out of one office in the middle of the station. He tells me he will close the station and I have to wait outside. I tell him I am waiting for the certain bus and start to prepare myself to leave. But when he comes back, he says that, if I don’t mind, I can stay inside but he will lock the station. I say of course I don’t mind and thank you very much!
I think about taking a nap, and start to arrange The Hulk right beside me in the bench, so I can lean against it. At that moment, the same guy come out of the office again, this time with a coffee for me! What? Yeah. How nice, ahm? Soon after that, another man come to replace him. And he offers me to come inside the office, in a meeting place, where it is warmer than outside. And he also gives me a coffee. I am thrill! He needs to go back to the office and work, but he tells me to stay there until my bus arrives. And I do! Helpers in the night… la ra ri la ra ra ra… ♫♪
I take the bus and arrive at by destination. I haven’t told you yet, but buy this time, I have decided not to go to Chamonix (I know, so sad…) but straight to Colmar. It is kind of stupid when I think about it right now. I could simply have spent few less days in Germany. Well, it’s too late for me now, but not for you! I haven’t been there but I really recommend you to go. It seems like a real nice place to visit. Even Mary Shelley agrees with me.
The gas station is quite busy but for some reason I spend many hours waiting for a lift. I switch places three times: from the end of the station to the middle, and from the middle to the door. Middle time I meet a couple, also hitchhiking, but they are trying to go to Belgium. It is about 10 o’clock and they have just arrived. I tell them I haven’t had much luck but they tell me to have an strategy: they look for Belgium licence plates, and they suggest me to do it too, because Colmar is so near to the border. The reason why I don’t do that is because I think that might be also tourists going where I want to, so they can pick me up. When we are talking about that, and I am still holding my sign to people, a man sees us and it seems interested. It is when we meet Jean-Christian.
Jean-Christian is going with his son an a friend to Brussels, Belgium, where they live. But unfortunately they don’t have enough space to accommodate the three of us. Actually, they don’t have enough space to accommodate my new friends either, because of their backpacks. So after a long talking and translating, we decide that the only possible option is if he takes me. The couple seems truly OK with the decision and actually happy for me. I wish them good luck and follow Jean-Christian and his son to the car. And the car it is full! We arrange The Hulk in the middle seat but there is also a guitar and some stuff so it is quite full too. But at least I am moving! They will drop me in a service station which leads to Colmar. They are very nice people, and we have a nice chat. They are coming back from a one week camping in this community, a experience where nobody was using their phones or wi-fi for the whole time. So they are quite surprised when I tell them I don’t have a phone.