Where the hell is Patrick Seabird? London!

Getting out, out into the world. Leaving the usual world behind and finding new spaces. That's the goal of every traveller. In my case it was a bit different. I wasn't feeling to well lately at home. I had a lot to do for university, was pretty stressed and wasn't happy.

But I had always been trying to convert my negative energy into something positive. To use the destructive element for something constructive. So sometimes you just have to follow a dream, even when the time doesn't seem to be right. But when is the right time? It is never. In other words: It is now!
It was the same when I went down the danube some years ago. The perfect time just didn't seem to come. So we just went out and did what we wanted to do.

This time, the goal was to go from Vienna, Austria to London, UK, only by hitchhiking. Just hold up your thumb and wait for a car to stop.

I never expected it being so easy.
Before the trip I found the Hitchhiker's guide to hitchhiking. Every information here seemed to be useful.
I only wore bright clothing, tried to look in the driver's eyes and tried to look friendly.
I was waiting for about 10 minutes at the boarder of Vienna, when a woman picked me up. From there I had the following stops: Sankt Pölten, Linz, Passau, Regensburg, Würzburg, Frankfurt am Main (where I slept the first time). The next day I was really tired. I had bad luck because someone dropped me off at the wrong highway. In this part of Germany, there are like a hundred highways going into a thousand directions. So I managed this day to go to Cologne. Tired of hitchhiking I used Couchsurfing to stay for one night in Cologne.
The next day I was refreshed and it was really easy. I immediately found a driver who took me from Cologne directly to London. Amazing.
Hitchhiking
Hitchhiking somehow reminded me of doing business. As in business, location is everything. When you are in the center of London, having a store there is great. A lot of people pass by and can see your products. Also doing hitchhiking, you have to find the right place, where not too many cars go and you don't have to wait too long.
You have to watch out, that competition is not too high. Once I was standing at a place, where others tried to hitchhike. My chances of getting a ride were diminished. Doing business, you also have to find a good niche, where there is less competition. You have to be specialised.
And it reminded me much of my time working in a bookstore. Approaching different people and starting to talk with them, with the aim to sell them something. In the store you are selling goods, hitchhiking you are selling yourself somehow. You have to be friendly, otherwise you won't reach what you want. Of course there are a hundred differences, but the feeling was somehow similar.

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Also interesting: Where the hell is Patrick Seabird? Budapest!

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