8th of April, 2022.
The workers at the gas station are the ones who find me this lift. I should have come to the car first, without my things, to talk with the guy and then decide if I would take the lift or not.
It is a van and after some minutes driving, he pull over to put my backpack in the back of the van, so it is not in between us. I don’t like that.
A bit further, he pull over in a gas station and tell me that his friend, and not him, is going somewhere further South, near where I am going. So I should just wait here for his friend. As we say in Brazil: “Teu cú!” – and you don’t want to know what that means. I don’t argue with him but I don’t like the way that it sounds, so I just say OK, but as soon as he leaves, I go to the gas station (right now I was in the parking lot) and start to hitchhike again.
The problem is this spot is really shitty to someone trying to go to Turgutlu. And that really pisses me off.
After a long time waiting, I decide to hear some customers and people from the gas station, who say that it is better if I go across the road, towards the other direction. But I don’t have much luck there either. It is only after a long time that a driver from a delivery company offers to help me.
He tells me he is not going South but wants to help in somehow. He offers to buy a bus ticket but I refuse because I know it is quite far so it would cost a lot. So then he offers to buy me a bus ticket only to the next town in the South. That I accept.
He help me to put my backpack in the bus and tell the bus driver about not only where I should get out but ask him to show me directions for hitchhiking in there. How sweet!
The bus makes a few stops and that only prolongs my day even more. At least now I am on the right way.
Well, not quite right. The directions of the driver are a bit confusing so it takes me a while (and a nervous old men who was also hitchhiking in the same spot as I) to get to the right place. Finally!
But it is quite late already and by now I have no hopes of arriving in Turgutlu today.
Two very nice men in a quite old car stop. They are going to Balikesir and offer to take me there. When we get to the town is dark already and they stop by the bus station. They want to buy me a bus ticket but I refuse. So then they suggest I spend the night in the bus station instead of camping somewhere. It is a great idea! The station is open 24 hours. They give me some coins for the toilet (how sweet!) and buy me a sandwich and a souvenir of Balikesir.
After deciding where I put my yoga mattress and sleeping bag for the night, I use the toilet to wash up myself and change my clothes into my pajamas. Laugh. It is not a great night of sleep but at least I am safe and manage to get some rest. Next morning I leave quite early because barely the sun rises, the whole place is already going nuts!