3mn waiting times in Belgrade and in Nis gas stations. God is good! Will stay there few days before going to Thessaloniki 🇬🇷🇬🇷 take care guys

Average waiting time, 50 mn to go from Zagreb to Slavonski Brod, then around 30-40 minutes to ask people around for a lift to Serbia or Belgrade. Most cars were full so that's why it took so long.

Will stay a day to explore Belgrade then moving to North Macedonia and Greece.

https://www.reddit.com/r/hitchhiking/s/oMFOex6W8h

Literally waited 0 minutes with two lifts

I heard Croatia is a difficult country, I'll see what I do next to go to Greece.

Following this discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/hitchhiking/comments/1ta8jcy/hitchhiking\_in\_italy\_this\_week/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=mweb3x&utm\_name=mweb3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button

https://hitchmap.com/?user=cavalierrustique#filters

I did Milano/Bergamo to Trieste : 370km in one day

I don't want to "ragebait" but it was actually really easy in comparison to what most of the people said ! Honestly everything went so smoothly ! I know a lot of people here had bad experiences in Italy but I want to cheer the Italians because they were actually so cool with me. I had one of my most beautiful hitchhiking day in a country I was really scared to hitchhike. I just hope people can understand it's not impossible and it can actually be fun to hitchhike in Italy.

Few things to consider :

_I speak Italian

_I never used my thumb or the sign on the highway (I always talked to the people)

_I didn't see one single police car in all the stations I went to, and if they were here, what could they do? I'm just standing with a backpack talking to people calmly. They wouldn't even notice me.

_I might look like a traditional european guy with a moustache and a nice hat 🎩 look is important especially here imo

GETTING OUT OF MILANO

I started today from Milano, a friend from this sub suggested to hitchhike from Orio-al-Serio airport near Bergamo. It's 12€ to go there so it might not be interesting for some people (it's literally the price to take a bus to Venezia e.g.) but I wanted to stick to the hitchhiking plan lol. I just used thumb and board VERONA/VENEZIA. It's not on the highway so not illegal.

I was stubborn because I wanted a ride directly to Verona so I can go directly to Venezia after (I was kind of stressed to go on the highway so better to just be there one time) but I have been offered 4 rides to Brescia, the first one after 15mn. So it's not even a matter of speaking Italian or not. People did stop. I struggled more in Romania which was known to be a paradise...

TO VENEZIA AND TRIESTE

There is not much to say : I talked to the people nicely and the people were nice with me. I talked to a lot of people, everyone was cool with me, really. I usually waited around 20-30 minutes. I have stick to the highway all along.

First was an Indian (thumb and board) but all the three people that stopped before for the same destination were Italians.

Second was Italian, looked quite fancy and not the guy who would usually take hitchhikers.

Third was Italian, also a bit fancy but quite normal guy.

Fourth a Slovene guy in a cool vintage van

Fifth a Ukrainian family that dropped me directly in the city center of Trieste despite they were going for Rijeka.

LANGUAGE

My golden phrase was :

Ciao, scusa il disturbo. Per caso saresti andando in direzione di [town]?

Hey, sorry to interrupt you. By any chance are you going to [town]?

And then, I explain quickly my travel project.

IMO it is necessary to learn some Italian if you want to hitchhike in Italy, considering : talking to people = no problems. If you speak to the people in English I think most of Italians just don't want to understand. Italians actually really appreciate when you speak or try to speak their language.

Anyway, I hope this can help some people. Again I don't want to make it sound like it will be always easy, but IMO it's far from the hell people described

From Milano to Venezia https://www.reddit.com/r/hitchhiking/comments/1t6an3v/got\_a\_lift\_from\_lyon\_to\_milano/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=mweb3x&utm\_name=mweb3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button

Wish me luck xD

I am going to stay at the gas stations asking people around, sticking to the highway and hiding my thumb 🥷

I have to be near Thessaloniki the 27th of May.

Hopefully I won't lose too much time, the timeline should be ok

Didn't expect that! I was in a quite empty gas station ⛽ a fellow French truck driver could bring me to Chambéry but he had to fill the truck before. Then his boss called him and sent him to Milano !

I was expecting the route to be really difficult especially at the border with the tunnels but hey, you never know !

Leaving Lyon towards Italy today. I feel it's going to be a nightmare so I can only be surprised lol

Started in Paris.

Got two lifts from Paris to Lyon. I'm going to sleep at a friend's place!