I envy you

said Luca, the Italian driver who picked us up at the gas station in La Spezia.
"I´m not going to Genova but I can take you out of this place closer to your destination"

YES PLEASE! We had been stuck for an hour.

It´s been 73 days since I´ve been away from home. I left on 29th April on a one way ticket to Istanbul.
The idea was to hitchhike with a buddy for some weeks, especially in the Balkans. That all change however and I´m currently on the third phase of my trip. It feels I´ve only just begun and quite honestly I don´t feel like going back yet but it seems that people may have got tired of seeing my constant travel feeds. :D


Luca:How long are you travelling for?
Marta: 7 weeks! We are hitchhiking from Poland to Portugal
Luca: Wow, that´s very nice. I ENVY YOU. We only have 3 weeks for vacation in a year.

Envy is an ugly thing. As my mother says "turn poison into medicine". Don´t envy but be inspired instead.
I have envied but it does nothing for me but being inspired has led me to places I never imagined I could go to.

Here´s a breakdown of my trip so far
First leg : Hitchhiking with Anne Laure,my French buddy

Greece: toughest country to hitchhike

               Istanbul > Thessaloniki > Bitola > Ohrid
               Bitola > Prizren > Peja > Bucharest

We parted ways after three weeks , and suddenly I had to go alone. It was daunting and I felt pretty clueless about how to move forward. However chatting with my penpal led to a wonderful opportunity and that´s where the second leg started. After getting my new tooth in Macedonia. I travelled briefly on my own to Kosovo before meeting my penpal in Brasov.

Second leg :  Bitola > Kosovo > Romania (by bus)
                    Bucharest > Brasov > Sighisoara (by train)
                    Brasov > Budapest > Prague > Dresden > Bratislava (by car)

While I was pleasantly stuck in Macedonia, I also found a new hitchhiking buddy to travel with immediately after the roadtrip with my penpal.

Third leg : Hitchhiking with Marta from Poland

in Krakow

               Krakow > Vienna > Milan > Cinque Terre > Barcelona

I met so many wonderful new friends and the best part was being able to meet my penpals and postcard friends in Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Poland.

Romanian and Slovak penpals in Bratislava

With an angel from Macedonia

 Time however is finally catching up on me and I have less than 40 days left on my Schengen visa.