Hi from Germany ...

[Anagor]

Just wanna say hi!
I'm a guy from Germany, not a traveller. Quite the opposite. I never travelled before. When it comes to getting somewhere: in the last two years I went from Cologne to Munich by plane twice. Big adventure. lol. Less than one hour flight and the first one I did was the first time I travelled by plane. So - okay - it was a tiny adventure for me.
Before that I visited Vienna in Austria. School trip. Many years ago. Was nice.
Anyway ...
So why am I here?
By chance. I browsed youtube, stumbled upon some videos about train hopping. Interesting.
Some googling brought me here. I read many threads here. And it is inspiring.
I'm just thinking about my live and what to do about it. I'm depressed sometime cause live isn't how I thought it'll be. Anyway.
Just wanna say your site is inspiring and I spend hours reading here and made me think about what I really want to do ...
Cheers!

 

[Tude]

Welcome aboard! I too happened to stumble on this site and started reading and never left. I'm a long distance bicyclist who needs to wipe the dust off the roadie soon.

 

[Matt Derrick]

Just wanna say hi!
I'm a guy from Germany, not a traveller. Quite the opposite. I never travelled before. When it comes to getting somewhere: in the last two years I went from Cologne to Munich by plane twice. Big adventure. lol. Less than one hour flight and the first one I did was the first time I travelled by plane. So - okay - it was a tiny adventure for me.
Before that I visited Vienna in Austria. School trip. Many years ago. Was nice.
Anyway ...
So why am I here?
By chance. I browsed youtube, stumbled upon some videos about train hopping. Interesting.
Some googling brought me here. I read many threads here. And it is inspiring.
I'm just thinking about my live and what to do about it. I'm depressed sometime cause live isn't how I thought it'll be. Anyway.
Just wanna say your site is inspiring and I spend hours reading here and made me think about what I really want to do ...
Cheers!

Thank you my friend, its great to have you here! I love to see people joining the website from other countries, and I definitely hope to see Germany someday!

If you can, tell your friends about StP, we need to expand into Europe more! ☺

 

[Charlie]

Hello Anagor, welcome to StP. What do you want your life to be like?

 

[Anagor]

Hi!

Welcome aboard! I too happened to stumble on this site and started reading and never left. I'm a long distance bicyclist who needs to wipe the dust off the roadie soon.

Thanks! I bought a bike end of last year cause I'd like to regain my physical fitness. About 10 years without doing sports and smoking more then I should ... you can imagine ...

Thank you my friend, its great to have you here! I love to see people joining the website from other countries, and I definitely hope to see Germany someday!

Thanks. I hope to visit the States someday, I really do. Since my childhood. Wasn't possible yet, no time / no money ... But as said I hope sometimes I'll come by.

If you can, tell your friends about StP, we need to expand into Europe more! ☺

I'll do.

Hello Anagor, welcome to StP. What do you want your life to be like?

Well, less boring, more exciting. Okay that's a kinda generic answer.
Perhaps I should tell the status quo ... My life so far in fast forward: went to school, went to university. Stayed there much longer than it's normal. Not cause I was lazy. I'm very close to my parents and my mom got severely ill. Some emergency surgeries, artificial coma, quite serious. So I helped my parents (especially my dad) for quite some years. Half of my study time I worked as part time freelancer (programming). Left uni without degree, I dont care anymore. Now I work full time for one of my former clients. It's a small company (6 people including me). I don't make much money there but I don't mind. Having a career or making much money isn't important for me. Where I work the directors are my age, we know each other for about ten years and are friends. So far so good ... could be worse ...

But I feel like I never lived the life I'd like to live. Cause of the circumstances. Cause of playing it safe. Always thinking about what could happen. I kinda was raised that way. In the past I always thought ... well I can't do this or that right now ... but maybe next year. I have time ... But you get older and older over the years. (Cpt. Obvious speaking)

Anyway ... what I'm about to do now: regain a bit of physical fitness (biking, hiking) as a first step. Then I plan to do some low budget travelling for a few weeks (by train (conventional, not freight ) or hitchhiking or whatever) ... Perhaps I'll meet interesting people ... Have fun ...

That's what I think about right now every day. Having fun again and experience life ...

Cheers!

 

[Kim Chee]

I fondly remember a trip heading to the Oktoberfest celebration in Munich. My friend and I were heading south on the Autobahn. While attempting to pass a busload of Munich-bound folk, we exchanged waves, greeting each other. Before I knew it, 1/2 liter bottles of bier were being handed down from the bus through the sunroof.

The bier was plenty welcome, but damn how I wish we could have been on that bus instead.

 

[creature]

Anagor, Greetings!!

i met some great german folks this past autum on the coastal trail in california...

beautifull, beautifull people..

ohh, my... how i wish i could speak to them now..

it was a great day & a great evening...

no beir, but a lot of wine.. & food burning on my trailer hitch-haul..

god.. what a great night..

there were 4 of your folks.. 5, if you include the babe, en-route..
all their stuff for their US trip shoved into a ford taurus..
they did it with that undefinable & innate ability of german engineering..
just amazing..
2 travelers (american) in a VW bus, & a guy on a motorcycle..
me & the 4 kids who were a troupe busking a fairyland/dance theater out of washington state, & two dogs..

& an incredible, incredible night full of stars that left me weeping...

i will never forget the curly blonde guy, though i have long forgotten his name..
what great conversations..

God, how i want to visit your land...

many, many years ago, i almost did..
had a bit of an accident in france, & had to restrict the rest of the hitching to england...

i want to go back...

maybe... maybe....

maybe this time around i will...

no answer from other folks, so maybe i should just do europe & some of japan..

all kinds of meat in the stew, at the moment..

should you ever come to the states, please look me up.. even as you plan..
if i am alive, & if i can help, i will.
remind me that i spoke of my german friends & the fae travelers, & i will remember my promise, here.

i hope your family is well.

you sound like a most excellent son, an i suspect your parents were good & reasonable folks.

my heart,
my will
& the prayers which can be comprised of no more than what honest & truthfull thought actually are

go towards them..

do not worry about your degree
or material
or anything other than your freedom, as you feel it to be, at any moment...

the demands of others upon us, for more than that

are War.

do not give attention to the disappointments of others, no matter how dear they are, or how much you respect them, or how much you believe they have..

so long as you can create your own way, from whatever presents itself to you, without theft or the dishonor of deception

then you are as free as anyone can hope to be,
& those whom truly love *you* will see that it is *you* they love,
rather than what they *imagine* is what you should be..

they will know you as you are,

& love you for it.

& if you can be loved by those whom you love,

for that

then you have something that make freedom all that much more sweet,

but nothing to be greatly mourned, if it
cannot
be had...

i am sorry i write in english prose, my friend...

they are not one of the skills i have been fortunate with...

thank you for speaking to us, & i dunno, but.. maybe if i ever get there, i will learn, a little..

Gute Nacht, my friend

john

 

[Anagor]

Hi!

I fondly remember a trip heading to the Oktoberfest celebration in Munich. My friend and I were heading south on the Autobahn. While attempting to pass a busload of Munich-bound folk, we exchanged waves, greeting each other. Before I knew it, 1/2 liter bottles of bier were being handed down from the bus through the sunroof.

The bier was plenty welcome, but damn how I wish we could have been on that bus instead.

Were you hitchhiking?

 

[Anagor]

Hi!

it was a great day & a great evening...

Sounds nice.

God, how i want to visit your land...

I'd like to visit other countries and meet people there too. So far I was in Austria once (school trip as said) and in the Netherlands (work related). I'd really like to visit England, Ireland and the US ... Maybe sometimes I will ... I plan to visit UK this year.

many, many years ago, i almost did..
had a bit of an accident in france, & had to restrict the rest of the hitching to england...

Okay ...

should you ever come to the states, please look me up.. even as you plan..
if i am alive, & if i can help, i will.
remind me that i spoke of my german friends & the fae travelers, & i will remember my promise, here.

Yes, I will. Thanks!!! But US won't be so soon I'm afraid. Have to save a bit of money first.

i hope your family is well.

Thanks, yes. More or less. My father (73) is doing well, still working as a freelance engineer. My mother is physically well, but she isn't like she used to be. It's because of the artificial coma years ago.

you sound like a most excellent son

I'm not so sure about that. As I hit puberty I definitely wasn't. I was truant, had to repeat classes twice cause of bad grades. I barely got my Abitur [1] with 21. There were other issues ... My parents always tried to help me, were patient and forgiving. We had our fights but in the end ... well I'm glad I could help them in the last years. Really. ::angelic::

an i suspect your parents were good & reasonable folks.

Yes, they are.

do not worry about your degree
or material
or anything other than your freedom, as you feel it to be, at any moment...

No, I don't worry about my degree anymore. And yes, freedom is important for me. Just have to figure out how I can live free ... I'm thinking about that every day right now.

i am sorry i write in english prose, my friend...

No problem.

Gute Nacht, my friend

Dank Dir! Hab' einen schönen Tag und danke für Deine Antwort!
Thanks! Have a nice day and thanks for your answer!

Cheers!

[1] Abitur (from Latin abire "leave, go off") is a designation used in Germany, Finland, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after twelve or thirteen years of schooling (see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years). [...] The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as Abiturzeugnis, issued after candidates have passed their final exams, is the document which contains their grades and formally enables them to attend university. This means it includes the functions of a school graduation certificate and a university entrance exam. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abitur]

 

[Kim Chee]

Hi!

Were you hitchhiking?

No, driving.
I don't know what we would have done if we were hitchhiking, they gave us beer and left.
Reminds me of this:

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I didn't hitch or ride freight in Europe.

 

[Anagor]

Hi!

No, driving.
I don't know what we would have done if we were hitchhiking, they gave us beer and left.
Reminds me of this:

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LOL ...

I didn't hitch or ride freight in Europe.

I find freight train hopping quite interesting. But here in Germany it's not possible I think. No community, trains are much faster, run on electricity, not really good cars to ride I think. I went to some stations recently and watched freight trains go by. Compared to the videos I watched about train hopping in the US: no way. Perhaps sometimes I'll ride a train in the US sometimes. Would be great. But here ... no.
Cheers!

 

[troublefunk]

Hello all,
I'm a newbie,dont know if i should have introduced myself before replying? Excuse me for not doing so....
Re train hopping in Europe,i've seen 2 vid's by the 5TH DIMENSION called ROAD DOGS - RIDING TRAINS IN EUROPE. They rode around Belgium,Seem's to be an awful lack of fence's in that country They've shown it's possible in Western Europe.
Is it ok to post external link's to 5TH DIMENSION vid's or will i get an ass kicking from mod's?
My biggest concern would be getting out of yard's over here,some are super secure compound's,hardly the easiest place to wander about in search of a way out.

 

[Anagor]

Hi!

They've shown it's possible in Western Europe.

Yes, okay. Of course, it's technically possible, I agree with you. But I wouldn't try it here. First reason: I think trains go faster here and most of the time there is two way traffic. Can be that a freight train is doing 100-120 kph (there are trains going as fast as 160 kph) and the opposing passenger train is doing 200 kph. hmmm...
Another point is that trains here run on electricity most of the time. Maybe nothing to worry about in general, but it's high voltage and may make things more difficult/dangerous. Just what I think.
But the main reason is: I think in the States there is something like a hobo tradition, a community. Authorities know that there are people hopping trains. If you get caught it may be that you'll be just send away (if you're lucky) or spend some days in jail (if not so lucky). (Disclaimer: that's what I read, I may be wrong.) Here I'd be afraid to get massive problems when caught, especially since police most probably wouldn't know that you're just about to get a free ride somewhere (and some adventure). Compared to the US or Canada "nobody" is doing it here. So I wouldn't be afraid to go to jail for a few days but to get a huge fine, probably compensation for hindering traffic and so on. Maybe a criminal record. That's not worth it in my opinion.