A good day to hitch a ride｜Alesund, Norway

When luck hits, hitchhiking is a very free thing to do. All you need is to open your heart.

Always remember the best day in your life so far, hitchhiking.

That day, I left from Alesund. It was sold out in the urban area at first, and then it started to hitch a ride as late as 4 pm. Expect to go to Bergen, Norway's second largest city. But the drive was 7 and a half hours and I never thought I'd be there within today.

Not long after I raised my thumb, the first bus driver in my life stopped for me. I successfully escaped from the city, and with the help of a family and a couple one after another, I traveled a total of 50 kilometers.

After getting lucky with three hitchhikers in a row, the rain started to fall and stop. I hid in the bus booth for shelter from the rain, watched a car pass by for two or three minutes, and thought, "This is no fun."

At this moment, a blue truck was passing by, and I braved the rain to stop and watch. So after the bus, the owner of the first truck in my life stopped for me.

I can't help but wonder if my thumb has magic, maybe even stopping a plane?

The kind truck driver took me for an hour and a half, let me take the second ferry, and continued to hop to another island to get a car. I looked at the map and it was only 7 kilometers from the next ferry, but it was still too far to get there by foot.

The time came to 7:30 in the evening, although the sky was still bright, the passing cars were very few. After a short rest, I decided to try to walk the 7km while hailing a car. After walking for half an hour, a little brother who drove by earlier came to take me to complete the remaining 5 kilometers. Really lucky today.

I successfully boarded the ferry and looked at the clouds in the distance in the sky, beams of light pierced through, and I couldn't help but be fascinated.

There are only 7 cars on board, which is pitifully small, but even the 1 in 7 chance was still touched by me. I went 30 kilometers again.

Immediately afterwards, an old man stopped for me. He talked about his daughter, traveled around Asia for nearly half a year, and also went to Thailand, Nepal and other countries. Dad drove me for an hour and drove me to the campsite in the town where he lived, kindly suggested that I stay here tonight and pick up a ride tomorrow.

After getting out of the car, I waved goodbye to my dad. I thought to myself, that's about it for today. I have already taken 7 cars, and I have moved forward a lot more than I thought. It is only about three hours' drive from Bergen, and I should be able to arrive tomorrow smoothly.

I took a look at the campground and felt a bit overly clean and tidy, not suitable for a sloppy traveler like me. I decided to walk outside the city until I could be alone and set up my tent.

But just as I was slowly walking out of the city, a car that was passing by gradually stopped suddenly. Immediately after that, the car backed up with the sound of an engine that is only heard in movies, which not only frightened me, but even frightened the vehicles coming behind.

And when the car reversed aggressively and rolled down the window, the handsome uncle inside asked, "Are you going to Bergen?"

I couldn't believe what my ears heard. Is this a dream?

Without further ado, I jumped into the car.

Tomas is a great man. He told me to take his coffee mug and go to the OK store for free coffee. I just realized that as long as I buy a special coffee mug from the OK store, which costs about NT$1,100, I can enjoy unlimited coffee in OK stores all over Norway within a year. It's an incredible deal. And Tomas is the father of two children, not to mention working in the famous American company Western Union, he is also a super sturdy man who can complete triathlon.

The journey to Bergen was not as smooth as I imagined. On the way, the tunnel that was originally expected to pass through was temporarily closed due to construction, so Tomas decided to detour and cross the bridge from the other side to Bergen.

But Tomas didn't know if he had lost his patience, or if he wanted to go home earlier and drive faster and faster. In Tomas' car, I experienced the highest speed I have ever seen in my life: 172Km.

The road is winding and slender, with all kinds of hairpin bends, and Tomas is constantly accelerating through the corners in the dark night lane where there is still light rain, making me think that I am running in the world of initial D. But because Tomas was driving too vigorously, I was really dizzy and uncomfortable, so I had to ask Tomas to stop a little and let me take a breath outside the car before we continued to set off. It seems that I can't be Fujiwara Takumi's co-pilot.

We listened to very European melody music all the way and continued to run on various detours. Finally, Tomas drove me to the foothills of the Bergen city attractions. I thanked Tomas several times, and he handed him his business card and turned away handsomely.

At half past two in the middle of the night, I started to climb up the mountain. It was a small hill, so I reached the top around three o'clock. I overlooked the city view of Bergen and took pictures of Bergen at the most beautiful moment in my mind.

I ended up lying flat in my tent at about three-thirty midnight.

It's an incredible day to think about. During my two months of hitchhiking in northern Europe, the average time I waited for a hitch was about an hour. But today, I didn't even wait an hour, but I took 8 free rides. The great kindness of people, wrapping me tenderly on this day, let me know that the world has never been as bad as I had imagined it to be. And such a magnificent journey also relies on these people with good intentions, and finally can be successfully completed.

This is a good situation where you can laugh in your dreams, and let yourself, who is already tired, fall asleep in a second.