Česká Republika - #21HT

Our next mission travel from Germany to Czech Republic. Cesky Krumlov was the destination. We were going to face the next 200km in a group of 3 people, theoretically a hardly challenge. It because the car needed to have at least 3 free seats. Even if the driver wanted stop having 1 or 2 free seats in a group trip it wouldn't possible.

I need to assume that I was really optimistic when I'm hitchhiking in the highway and I tried to share this mood to the girls. Facing our first not successful minutes, I put my speaker and started to play some music and dance close from the highway in Straubing. I didn't want to be down with the negative answer of the drivers. Not just for drivers, but also for the many negative answers that I had in my life, like thousands jobs that I've applied in Europe. I'm still in the feeling that for each punch that I receive in the face, in the moment it hurts, but afterwards it makes me stronger and the next similar punches are not going to hurt that much as the first ones and it's going to make me stronger and I will be able to dodge them and win this fight.

My fight in this day was this one, to arrive safe in our destination. Cris was beginner in hitchhiking trips and she was the first one to be demotivated with negative answers, after few hours we were still waiting for the first ride. Nadine started to feel the same, but she didn't want to show it for not frustrating us. I'm super sensitive about energies and I easily receive the energy from other, positive and negative ones.

In this moment I felt it and I was considering that this would my first fail traveling. In other trips I always had a second plan if the hitchhiking wouldn't work, but in this one we couldn't reach the final destination using public transport and once if it wouldn't work we would needed to go back to Straubing.

We also had booked a studio by Airbnb in Cesky Krumlov, once nobody accepted 3 people in a urgent Couchsurfing request. We would lose the reservation.

Nadine saw that I was losing my motivation and thinking about the possible fail, She changed her mood to incentive me and she asked to put more music and staying stood in the highway with the paper signal. It just changed my mood. I definitely could receive this positive energy and being optimistic again and in this moment I felt like having the obligation to win this fight.

With my speaker playing Brazilian music and started to hold the paper signal, singing, dancing, trying to seduce the drivers with my eyes or doing everything to catch the first ride, someone just stopped to pick us up. I will never know the reason why he stopped, the lucky, my charm, the sad girls in the highway or their charm, my swing or any connection of energy between us. What's really matter is that it worked.

Finally we were leaving from the first point and having the relief to finally start the trip after few hours. In this moment nothing would make us come back. The lesson in this moment for me was that my first work group experience made me feel that we were becoming a team. They needed me as much I needed them and we were becoming complementary. Without them I probably wouldn’t be able leave from Straubing and without me it probably would be the same for them. 

Well this driver that pick us up just spoke German and gladly both girls spoke it, helping the communication to know the best spot to stop to get the next driver.

Honestly I don't really remember how many different drivers we have until arrive to the border of Czech Republic, maybe 3, but the last one was the one that I remember specially. It was starting to get dark and we starting to make a second plan. There was a train leaving from Volary, about 50km from Cesky Krumlov. The last driver that we took from a rest area close from the German Border and just dropped us in Strážný - Czech Republic, place that we took a picture to remember this challenge trip. We finally crossed the border and the next steps seem to be really easy. In 15km we could take the train from Volary and arrive safe in Cesky Krumlov.