I was going to Boredeaux. I left Nantes really late (around noon) as the night before had more festivites than I'd planned for. There was no way I was going to make it today, Bordeaux was a good little bit away and it gets dark around 5 or 6 depending on how overcast it is. I had some applesauce tucked away in my pack for the inevitable night of camping somewhere in the French countryside. But I got to a fantastic spot outside of town and had two people stop in the first 10 minutes though they weren't going the right way. I wasn't too worried about getting out of town after that.
While I was thumbin' it there a guy from Romania comes along also hitching down to Bordeaux and we join teams for a little while. Another car stops for us, but they aren't goin' the right way. The next car is a middle aged woman and her 10 year old son and they happily take us up to the next petrol station. Sometimes in America you'll get rides from people with kids, but not often. But it has happened so much over here it's shocking. But awesome, I think over here hitching is just not as looked down upon.
So we're at the next petrol station for maybe 15 minutes before an older guy and his son give us a ride. They're going to an ultimate frisbee tournament and really just want to practice English. They drop the Romanian guy at a huge petrol station on the way to Bordeaux, but I decide to go on to La Rochelle with them. I always feel better when I'm by the ocean. We have a good ride and they drop me at the public bus stop to get me through town. I get a free tour for a euro and a half vis public bus and then I'm on the other side of town walking towards the highway I need with my thumb out.
I was just holding out my thumb while walking, not really expecting someone to pick me up as I was still in town when a car pulls over anyways. She's a young girl of 26 and headed about 50km up the road. She hardly speaks any English, but we do a really good job of talking regardless. I have to say she had the most gorgeous eyes and it was a good ride ending me up a good bit closer to easy hitching!
I had two choices of roads to go down at this point and kind of alternated between the two. I had 6 people pull over before I took a ride to Saintes. It was crazy, a car every 5 minutes!! The guy who picked me had a cat in his lap and he was on his way to drop it off at a shelter. He was really fun and dropped me where I presumed I would be camping for the night since it was nearly dark. But I wanted to try until the bitter end!
That's how I got a ride from a French fisherman who grows weed and scuba dives in his free time. He spoke less Engliah than anyone by far that day, but through pantomiming we talked for the full hour and half car ride. It was fantastic and he dropped me in the centre of Bordeaux.
And there we have it, no problems whatsoever. The rides were awesome and so much fun. Simple as could be. I love hitching in France :)
Be happy,
Beacon
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