This past weekend we relaxed a bit with a trip to the countryside to visit a friend and his (relatively) recently acquired farm house (plus barn), about an hour outside of Hamburg on the way to Berlin. Since no trains stop there and since we have no car, we traveled by Mitfahrgelegenheit — basically a more organized form of hitchhiking where you (via online bulletin board) search for drivers traveling in your direction and see if you can hitch a ride for a reasonable price. On the way there, five of us (two Germans, one Russian, one Chinese guy, and me) smooshed into a snazzy BMW, and on the way home, we rode with two African guys in a beat up old Ford. I know I wouldn’t ever travel by Mitfahrgelegenheit by myself, but it was certainly an interesting experience! Does any one know if they do this in other countries too?
Anyway, back to the countryside. Good times, not so great weather, but awesome opportunities for some gorgeous photographs. All in all, a successful weekend!
Feel free to check out the entire album over here.
Sure haven’t seen that kind of carsharing in the US! A friend uses mitfahrt.de regularly to snag rides between Berlin and Regensburg for about 25€ one way. Beats trains, planes, and car rentals. I guess she has done it enough that she is fearless, but it weirds me out a bit still. I’d mostly regret having to talk to strangers, I guess, provided the driving skills/style are generally acceptable. I have high standards there though and generally prefer to be the driver.
Yeah, being forced to chat with strangers is not my fave activity, but if it’s a shorter ride like what we did (~1 hour) its okay. I wonder what it would be like for 3-4+ hours though…
I’ve done those before and have mixed feelings. The trip to Berlin (5 hours from Cologne) wasn’t bad but wasn’t good, either. I’d rather pay more for the train so I can at least read. From Cologne to Amsterdam (3 hours) was ridiculous and I should’ve known better … the guys we went with were on a drug run and on the drive back, the driver nearly fell asleep at the wheel. But to get to the countryside, it sounds ideal. By the way, where were you? This looks similar to the landscape around Ratzeburg, a gorgeous area that reminds me of home.
Yeah, I have to agree, I’m rather partial to the train too and will definitely stick to it whenever possible. But, that being said, it was an interesting way to get to an otherwise rather hard to reach place — Groß Pankow in Brandenburg. The area was really lovely and inspired many, many photographs!