Eu sei que vocês preferem vídeos curtos, mas hoje eu queria mostrar um pouco como é quando estou dentro do carro com uma pessoa desconhecida que acabou de me dar uma carona. :)
Neste vídeo, eu ia rumo ao norte da Dinamarca, e um cantor dinamarquês chamado Sonny Møller me deu carona. Ele havia acabado de chegar de uma viagem pras Filipinas. Ele me levou pelas estradas do interior, da cidade de Sæby até meu destino daquele dia, uma cidadezinha chamada Elling.
I know you prefer short videos, but today I wanted to show a bit how it is when I'm inside of the car with an unknown person who has just picked me up. :)
On this video (starting in Portuguese but soon I switch to English), I was on my way to the north part of Denmark and I was picked up by Sonny Møller, a Danish singer who was just arrived from the Philippines. He drove me through the country all the way from Sæby to Elling.
I saw Easter holidays approaching and realised that I haven't made any plans. Then I started thinking of what I could do, until I come up with the desire of visiting Skagen, the northern part of Denmark. Afterwards I decided that I wanted to take the ferry between Aarhus and Jutland too. I soon posted this two ideas on the internet, saying also that I felt like I should explore the countryside by hitchhiking. Some unknown people then invited me to stay at their places.
On Saturday morning I was leaving Odense towards South, to Svendborg. After 5 minutes waiting I was picked up all the way to my destination. On Monday I wanted to go to Kolding, and I was told that the fastest way would be by going back to Odense and then taking the road E20 to Kolding. But I thought - I have a lot of time, the it shouldn't matter what route would be faster! I then got some tips from Jonas (one of the people who invited me over but I've never met before) and decided to hitchhike through the South part of the island of Fyn. Jonas told me that there was a ferry to Jutland (!) departing from somewhere near the city called Faaborg. Cool, another ferry!
Jonas gave me a ride to the exit of Svendborg, a spot he said that is good for hitchhiking. The weather was changing from light rain to sunny suddenly. When I arrived at the place from where the ferry departure, the ferry was already about to leave! I started asking the last few cars in the queue, if somebody could give me a ride, but I only got "no". The bouncer after watching that scene (and knowing that the next ferry would departure in 2 hours, plus it was raining, cold and very windy), he came to me and said "Hey, you're boarding now. You're my friend". That was how I got a ride with a ferry for the first time in my whole hitchhiking life :) And yes, I got so emotional that I almost cried thinking on how all that has just suddenly happened :)
On the ferry from the island of Fyn to the island of Als, which is connected to Jutland by a bridge.
You can watch a short video I made on the ferry by clicking here (this will open a new window so that you can keep reading afterwards :P).
Inside of the ferry I decided to make my first sign of the day, and I wrote "Kolding" on it. I could talk to drivers inside of the ferry to see if someone could give me a ride, but I was a bit shy thinking that I could be bothering them - specially because I've already asked to a few of them on the queue to the ferry. But luckily I noticed a driver looking at the sign and looking at me like as he wanted to say something. I came to him, and he offered to drive me to Sønderborg. Sure! I jumped in, and until the end of the ride he had already given me his phone number and said "If you get stuck in here and you need a place to stay, just call me" - for the durty minds: he has a girlfriend and I even understood that they live together. He was so nice that I asked to take a picture with him :)
I got to Kolding and stayed there for two nights. From Kolding I wanted to go to Esbjerg, from where I'd go north by hitchhiking through the country roads. But unfortunetelly I didn't find options of where to stay over there, so I just decided to postpone the hitchhiking in west Jutland for the summer time (when it'll also be a nice time for enjoying the beaches!).
Actually, I thought that during this time of the year it would be already a bit warm. But no. Trust me, in my second day in Kolding I woke up and the city was covered in snow. Although all the cold white was gone in the next day, when I decided to head to Aalborg. I only stayed overnight in the city, hosted by a brazilian girl who I hosted through CouchSurfing at my place in Odense last years.
To get out of Aalborg, I was stupid enough to mistake the spot where I should be hitchhiking, and therefore I spent around 1:30h hitchhiking to the wrong direction in a crossing. After I realised that, I just crossed the street and not so long later someone was picking me up. I arrived to Elling that day. Elling is a small town near Frederikshavn, almost in Skagen. There, I came to stay with a lady that I found on CouchSurfing. She wouldn't be home until the next day, so her house mate opened the door and welcomed me preparing some "smørrebrød" (the Danish open sandwiches). A big detail is that he couldn't speak English, so for the first time during this almost 2 years that I live in Denmark, I found myself in a situation where speaking Danish was my only option. Nice! I could (or I had to) put in practice all the Danish I've learned so far ;)
In the next day, my offical host (the lady from CouchSurfing) would arrive only in the afternoon, so I decided to go to Skagen, to visit Drenen. Drenen is the northern tip of the country, one of my "missions" for this trip. And what a nice area with beautiful nature!
Drenen, the northern part of Denmark where the west and east sea meet.
I've spent a few hours there. On the way back, I was picked up by 3 young Danes who decided to cross Jutland from north to south (to Flensburg) just to have some fun around during these holidays. They had a trailler attached to the car and were sleeping in it during the nights. So cool!! :)
In the next day, I left Elling and arrived in Aarhus with only two rides (the first one drove me to Frederikshavn, the second one all the way to Aarhus). In the evening I went to a bar with a group of young Danes that I've never met before. And, we were there celebrating the birthday of one of them. LOL!
Later on, it was already Sunday, time to put a check mark in the last item on my list of "missions" (things that I wanted to do during this holidays): take the ferry to Zealand! Well, besides me, there were lots of other hitchhikers at the harbor asking for a lift too. I saw them all be picked up quickly, and I was picked up in less than 10 minutes too. Then I boarded the ferry, but this time thanks to a driver. Fun also anyways =)
When we hit Zealand, the driver told me he was going to Copenhagen and that I could come all the way to there with him if I wanted to. I wasn't sure about what I wanted to do that day, so I did consider maybe heading to the capital with him, as the next day was still holiday. I tried to call some friends and see if there was something cool going on that would worth it to go there, but in the end I chose to get off in Holbæk, and hitchhike from there through the country roads (I love the country roads!) going back to Odense. 2 rides from there and I was getting stuck in Slagelse, because the driver dropped me off at the city exit with almost no traffic of cars - specially on an Easter sunday.
Over 1 hour walking across Slagelse I finally arrived at a good spot for hitchhiking, and the first car passing by already dropped off. A couple going to Aarhus! They should drop me off at the entrance of Odense, but ended up driving me all the way to the city center, two blocks alway from my place. Just for kindness. :)
Home, sweet home!
9 days have gone and I'm back home, but now with a few more stories to tell and knowing a few more people and cities over the country =) If you got a free week coming up, hitchhiking around Denmark is something you should definitely try!
---
In the video below, if you notice when the smiling face stops for a little while during the route, that means each place where I've been hitchhiking during the trip. :-)
And here a static map detailing a bit more where I've taken ferries and stuff.
Some of the places where I have been/hitchhiked you see on this map.
[2016 april 12] UPDATING
I've just uploaded a video compilation of this whole trip. Check out the play list with part 1/2 and part 2/2.
