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A thief stole our sleep next to Fethiye!

timeless-travelling — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 05:16:00 GMT

(...) We arrived in Fethiye in the evening and were dropped out at the beginning of the town. Brendan wanted to visit some historical holes in the rocks made by humans a long time ago. So after we found those not too interesting holes (sorry Brendan XD) he took a few pictures and we went on to look for a place to sleep. A bit outside the city but still in the harbour there were some broken empty houses so we climbed down to have a closer look. Inside it smelled like shit so we were thinking about building up the tents on a little field next to the houses. We were both very exhausted so we wanted to have a rest there anyway. While we were conversating in front of the house suddenly we noticed that somebody is watching us from the left corner of the broken house. He dissapeared at once and we got up quickly. I was wondering if he knew we had seen him so I went to the right side of the house and waited quietly. Then suddenly the guy came round the corner and as he saw me standing there already he turned around and dissapeared. He probably wanted to have a look on our backpacks which were already lying on the little field right from the house. Well, we didn't feel save there anymore so we packed our stuff and walked along a small path through the field and some trees to get back to the road. Turning around every few metres to see if somebody was following us we finally came to a hill with lot's of bushes and some forrest on it. We went up there for about half an hour and on the top we found a flat space were we could sleep that night. Again we ended up at a perfect place because from this hill you had a beautiful view on the citylights.

I decided to build up my tent because I have to admit that I just sleep better inside the tent but Brendan wanted to sleep outside and didn't build up his one. I went into mine and after about ten minutes I heared Brendan's voice telling me that he had just seen the silhouette of a really big dog or maybe even a wolf. I told him that I don't think that there are any wolves around and when he asked me if he can turn on the flashlight I agreed. Well, whatever he saw it disappeared and as we both didn't care a lot about it anymore we just went to sleep.(...)

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Awesome 20-hour island trip!

timeless-travelling — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 05:13:00 GMT

(...)It was already getting dark and after we passed Memet's house who is a Gypsi living in a container on the beach we made our way into the interior of the island. While we were walking up the road a car was coming from behind and with the help of our thumbs we stopped it.^^
The guy in the car drove us up the track and was wondering were we gonna stay so we told him that we will camp somewhere. At a little crossing he asked us if we want to go down the dirt road with him or go up that hill. As we didn't want to walk a lot untill we could go swimming the next morning we decided to turn to the left and left the car. He told us that we will come to another crossing and when we turn to the left there will be a cave after a few hundred metres. It started to drizzle and when we arrived at the crossing we gave up our plan to sleep close to the water and walked to the cave. On the way we saw a strange place beside the road...it was like a self made town out of wood and rubbish. We slowly walked up there and had a look but it was completly empty. Anyway this place was a little uncanny so we decided to look for that canny cave XD....
Maybe ten minutes later we arrived at a huge cave arch and with the last sunrays of the day we built up our bivouacs. With a flash light we went out of the cave and climbed on some rocks where we had an awesome view on Marmaris by night. After drinking a bottle of wine and philosophizing about society and stuff for several hours we went back to the cave. Very tired but with a new number one of cool places where I've slept, the sound of dropping water made me fall asleep soon....
The next morning we packed our stuff and hid the backpacks somewhere in the forrest beside the cave. Brendan read on a sign that that cave is the highest point on the island so for breakfast we wanted to get to the top. The view was perfect again and on the way back we saw some tortoises and big spiders crawling around the forrest. The following 40 minutes we were walking along the small dirt road into the direction of the coast. On the way there was a car driving into the same direction. They wanted to explore the island just like we and they gave us a ride untill the road was getting too bad for the car. We went on walking and they turned back and after a while I found a part in the forrest which was not too steep to go down to the sea. It was a long and difficult way anyway and I can't count how many times I nearly fell down but in the end I always catched myself and we came out of the forrest on a small hidden beach which people normally only reach by boat. This time we were very lucky because there was a small boat achoring just in front of the beach so Brendan went into the water to ask the guy on it if he can give us a ride back to Marmaris. (...)

homeless in lisbon!

timeless-travelling — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 05:07:00 GMT

(...)I was stucked in Lisbon for two days because my host didn't send me his address...and acutally I don't know if he's still alive because to now he wasn't online for two weeks or something. Anyway, I arrived in Lisbon and the first thing I had to do was finding a place to enter the internet. Soon I found a big store with several shops, restaurants and in one of the shops you can just enter and use the mac books for free^^ So full of hope I entered www.couchsurfing.org ...to see that I have no message. I didn't contact anybody else which surely was a mistake so now I had to find a couch last minute. Finding a couch last minute is not so easy especially not when there are holidays in a bigger city. I sent lot's of request and also some open requests (message every couchsurfer can read in one city) to nearby citys.
Then I started sightseeing a bit...the bad thing was that I had to walk around with my backpack all day because in the hotels of Lisbon they don't do you the favour to keep your backpack for a few hours....you need to be a guest blabla.
In the evening I came back to the apple store to have a look if I got an answer. Unfortunatly only a few declines - so no couch for today. What should I do? Sleeping outside in a big city is not really safe and I don't want to pay for a hostel.
In big citys for me there are two opportunities: You enter a hotel pretend to be a guest, go to the last floor and sleep there or you drive to the end of the metro line which goes out of the city and look for a place to camp. This time I decided to camp so I got into the metro and about 40 minutes later I got out and beside the exit of the metro there was a field with high grass and some bushes. Perfect place to camp^^ ....and I was lucky it was not raining so much that night.
The next day I went to the apple shop again and saw that I still had no message xD ....a few we are full messages but for now no couch. The rest of the day was exactly like the day before so in the evening I went to my camping site again. The night was not exactly like the one before because it was heavily raining and once I woke up and had to hold the tent poles because it was also very windy. After 10 minutes the weather quiet down again and I could fall asleep soon.
As my tent is not that waterproofed my stuff was wet the next morning. Fortunatly it was pretty sunny so it all dried fastly.^^
I went to the store again and finally I was lucky !!! A brasilian girl invited me to a nearby city called Cascais! :) (...)
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How a blind guy showed me the way and made me go by bus for free!

timeless-travelling — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 05:04:00 GMT

An exhausting night and a long way behind I walked through the city of Rijeka and tried to find an Internet cafe to see if there are any news from my host. I found one after a while and also got a message on couchsurfing.
It was from my host Vedran and he told me that he's going to be back home from work at about five o'clock in the afternoon.
As I was kind of tired because I've only slept for about an hour the night before and the couchsurfers place was located south from Rijeka, I decided to take a bus. (If you are wondering why it matters that it was south of Rijeka read about the hitch-hiking from Antalya back to my hometown challenge .)

Fastly I found out which one goes to Kraljevica and asked my way through the city to the bus station.
When I arrived I saw a middle-aged women standing there together with a guy who was obviously blind. She was a very talk-active person and when she saw me she asked where I was going to and where I was coming from. I told her that this is a longer story but gave her a short summary of the last six month anyway.
The blind guy couldn't speak English but he noticed that we were having a nice conversation and said something in Croatian. The woman translated that he was offering me to enter the bus together with him- like this nobody would ask me to pay for it.
I said that it sounds like a great plan but told them that I'm wondering what the bus driver will say if he leaves the bus before. The blind guy said that he actually wanted to leave the bus one stop earlier and said that I'm right. He made one call and at the same time the women added that he's going to get out at my stop.
So while entering the bus Domme the blind guy hold my shoulder with one hand and pretended that I was leading him. I unnecessarily helped him to sit down and took the seat next to him. The driver didn't really look like he was buying it but anyway I could enter without a problem.
On the way we couldn't really talk but fortunately I already learned "Thank you" in Croatian.... in fact I appreciated more for the amazing gesture and for the story I will have to tell than for the 30 Kuna I spared.
Well, the story isn't over yet so while we were driving along the small coast road I didn't really know where we are and when exactly we are going to arrive in Kraljevica.
I was thinking about what to do... I couldn't ask the bus driver because he was already suspicious and I should better not talk to him. I also couldn't communicate with Domme and was wondering if he would know where to get out.
There were also a few older people sitting around who probably wouldn't speak English but just while I was still not sure what to do the blind guy suddenly got up and shouted "Oliver, Oliver! Here! Come! Come!" I jumped up took my backpack and HE led ME out of the bus. A bit gobsmacked I was standing on the road with him and another guy arrived.
He also couldn't speak English but they both wanted to find out where I was going to and how they can help me...and there seemed to be nothing to stop them! I tried to explain that I just have to wait because I was too early, but they didn't understand. I showed the piece of paper with the address and number of my host to the other guy and attempted to make clear that I will stay at "a friends" house. He didn't pay much attention to it and signalized me to follow him into a nearby shop. On the way I tried to find out the exact time and pointed on my arm and said "time?".
Totally perplexed I recognized that he had a special watch and "felt" the time with his finger. He was also blind! I couldn't believe my eyes because he was walking around without a stick, he was acting without any limitations- I mean: He was picking up another blind guy from the bus station!
A bit confused I followed them into the shop and the woman in there forced me to use her mobile phone. Again I tried to explain that I will have to wait for about two hours until my contact will be available but also when somebody entered the shop and translated for them they still wanted me to make that call. Well honestly it made things a lot easier because all I had to do after it was waiting with an ice-cream in my hand until Vedran would come and pick me up...but like this I missed the fun of finding his house on my own! ;-)
Becoming sleepy more and more but also still astonished at what just happened I appreciated to everybody who was helping me out so nicely and finally sat down on a nearby bench.

...As if all of this wouldn't have been enough I suddenly realized that I've been stuck exactly at the same place two years ago when I was hitchhiking from Germany to Croatia and back with a friend of mine....

Later, after I told Vedran about it he said that the guy who picked up Domme was in fact completely blind and that he also didn't realize it during the first few years he was living at this place.

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The hitchhiking from Antalya back to my hometown challenge!

timeless-travelling — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 04:49:00 GMT

I was travelling for nearly six month now and I felt like it's time to get back home for a little while. Also time was running out somewhat because a few month ago my father asked me per e-mail if I want to join him and my little brother for a two weeks vacation in the German alps. I agreed of course it's a beautiful place and I don't want to stay on the road without seeing my family the whole year anyway. So the 22.7.2012 sounded like a good date to give my timeless journey a little break.
The previous four weeks I stayed around Antalya and spent most of my time with a wonderful girl the couchsurfer introduced to me.
While staying longer and longer in Antalya I noticed that the time to get back to Germany until the 22th was suddenly running out.
I at least wanted to have a first impression of the Balkans before, so I set a date till when I will for sure have to leave. I think I broke this date twice but when I finally left I had not more than three weeks and about 4000 kilometer to go.
I made up a route which would lead me through as many Balkan countries as possible and started with a huge step from Antalya to Istanbul. As I didn't travel a lot the month before and as I thought that it would be a great thing to go all the way back to Germany by hitch-hiking I decided to make some kind of challenge.

The basic rules were:

-To get to the next city I'm not allowed to pay for any ticket.

-To escape the main traffic inside the city it was allowed to use public transportation which goes to the end of the city to get started with hitch-hiking to the next place.

-when I already made the kilometers to the north by hitch-hiking it was allowed to use public transportation to get to a city which is located south from where I've been. When I for example used the motorway from Zadar to Rijeka in Croatia it was okay to take the bus from Rijeka to Kraljevica 20 kilometers down the coast road again. (This was actually the only time where this rule was applied and I didn't even pay the bus because of a blind guy showed me the way and made me go by bus for free!)

During the following three weeks there was not a lot of time for relaxing and after four days in Istanbul my way led me through:
Sofia in Bulgaria, to Pirot in Serbia, to Kumanovo and Skopje in Macedonia, followed by Durres in Albania from where I got to Podgorica in Montenegro before I went through a tiny part of Bosnia-Herzegovina to Kraljevica in Croatia.

After having two of the best days of my entire journey I started hitch-hiking to Hinterstein, a tiny village in the German alps on the 22th of July. It was about 700 kilometers to go and after having problems to get started I wasn't sure if I'm going to fulfill my promise and make it the same day.
I was lucky because after some time a woman stopped and drove me the whole way from Rijeka to Salzburg in Austria. I was hoping for such a long ride and guessed that when I make it to Munich till 8:00 p.m. I would have a chance to arrive the same day. I better should because up here the temperatures decreased and I didn't have the equipment for spending a night in the cold anymore. Two Bosnian guys dropped me of close to Munich at 19:56 so I was still in time and now full of hope that I will make it without spending a night at a service station or something compareable comfortable...
It was incredible but the first woman I asked at that gas station was going exactly in my direction and although her car was full packed with stuff she found some space to drive me till a city called Memmingen. Meanwhile it was getting dark and the village I was going to was still not in walking distance at all. But today my streak of luck shouldn't end anymore and although I thought something like "Ok...here it's over for today" when she dropped me of on a nearby entrance back to the motorway I got a ride very fast and got to a better point. Three or four rides later, and I never had to wait for more than 10 minutes, I got out of the last car whose driver drove me a loop way of about 15 kilometer before he dropped me off just in front of the holiday house, where my father and brother were already waiting for me.Yes, down there in Bavaria hitch-hiking works even better than in Turkey.
It was of course great to see someone of my family again and I was looking forward to meet the rest of them.

After this two weeks vacation from all that travelling I packed my stuff and started at the same time as my father and brother to go back to Bergkamen which is located about 650 kilometers from there.

The only difference was that they took a taxi/bus from a booked tour and I was hitchhiking back. My father already offered me some weeks before that I can also go by bus with them but I told him that after making the whole way from Antalya to the south of Germany by hitch-hiking I would feel strange going the last step by bus and cause a higher expense than the the whole way before. So now I had a challenge in the challenge! I wanted to be faster by hitch-hiking than they by bus!! .... it didn't work, however.^^ At the beginning I was clearly leading but getting closer to my home I took some wrong decisions and lost a lot of time.

When I was finally standing just a few meters in front of the place name sign of Bergkamen-Oberaden it was clear that they already arrived. I didn't care about that at all, because it was just one more step to go before I would have made the whole way from Antalya to Bergkamen by hitchhiking.

Before I took this last step I thought back to the day where I left Antalya and made up this challenge. Now there was a way of over 4300 kilometers behind me. I crossed 10 borders, met incredible people and NEVER got into trouble! I can not even count how many times I got invited by strangers who gave me a ride, how many times I've met people for whom it was normal to drive me a loop way. I thought about the road which led me through the seascape of Montenegro, about the coastline of croatia, about the beautiful girls in Serbia and about the generosity and good nature of my hosts.
I realized that all what this challenge included was just a tiny part of my trip. There were only five weeks between the day I left Antalya and the day I arrived back in my hometown.
Altogether I was on the road for seven month... but for this sentimental retrospection as an ending of this report it doesn't really matter. :D The message would stay the same:

Travelling is not dangerous! Travelling is not expensive! Travelling is incomparable!

If you really have the desire to see and to get to know the world you should stop reading somebody's blog, go out there and start to make your own experiences! ;-)

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Photos: Mexico 2013

timeless-travelling — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 05:45:00 GMT

Photos of my travels around southern Mexico