Beds on the Hitchhiking Road

One issue each night is where to sleep while hitchhiking.

During my 151 night hitchhiking journey through 24 countries, I used a combination of couchsurfing, free-camping, friends, family, renting a bed, sleeping while in transit.

Occasionally I don’t really sleep anywhere at all.

I paid for 9 nights accommodation only during my 151 day journey. Here is a summary of the places I have slept on this journey.

Type Nights
Free-camping 17
Couch Surfing 58
Friend 28
Family 12
Transit 7
Rental 9
Workaway 20
Total 151

Free-camping refers to the action of sleeping outside using a sleeping bag and sometimes, a tent as well. I made a video a few months ago to show where I was sleeping outside (which you can see below; if you want to see it in full-screen, click the Youtube symbol on the video and it will take you to the Youtube page where you can enlarge it).

CouchSurfing refers to staying at the house of somebody organised through the website, couch surfing. If I met somebody through couch surfing, and went to stay with them a second time, I moved them from the couch surfing category into the friend category as we obviously got on well. Family refers to accommodation with family living abroad or accommodation organised by family member visiting me. Transit refers to times when I slept in cars, lorries, train stations or general travel situations (sometimes not sleeping overnight at all). I also included a time when I was invited back to the summer house of a lovely family who picked me up while I was hitching. Rental refers to the nights that I paid for accommodation. Five of these nights were because I was meeting friends who were travelling out to meet me on the road, three because I hadn’t organised couch surfing in time, and one because it was very cold outside and I thought that my hitch partner might get ill if we stayed outside for much longer. Workaway refers to using the website workaway to organise a bed in exchange for a little bit of work. Below is the number of nights that I spent sleeping in each country.

Country Nights
France 8
Belgium 4
Holland 5
Italy 13
Germany 9
Denmark 2
Czech Republic 7
Austria 4
Poland 28
Latvia 5
Lithuania 4
Estonia 3
Serbia 1
Bulgaria 10
England 1
Turkey 10
Greece 3
Croatia 5
Hungary 19
Luxembourg 0
Romania 2
Slovakia 4
Slovenia 2
Switzerland 2
Total 151

And finally, for completeness, below is a list of where I spent every night. You can also read stories, see my map, and see who picked me up on my other pages.

Date Type Location Country
Thu 7 Jun Free-camping Garden of an abandoned building, Brussels Belgium
Fri 8 Jun Couch surfing A Belgian guy, Brussels Belgium
Sat 9 Jun Family My cousin, The Hague Holland
Sun 10 Jun Couch surfing A Belgian guy, Gent Belgium
Mon 11 Jun Couch surfing A Belgian guy, Gent Belgium
Tue 12 Jun Couch surfing A Dutch girl, Maastricht Holland
Wed 13 Jun Couch surfing A Dutch girl, Maastricht Holland
Thu 14 Jun Couch surfing A Dutch girl, Maastricht Holland
Fri 15 Jun Couch surfing A Japanese girl, Maastricht Holland
Sat 16 Jun Friend A guy from Leeds University, Paris France
Sun 17 Jun Free-camping In the garden of the Eiffel Tower, Paris France
Mon 18 Jun Free-camping Service station, past Lyon, before Italy Italy
Tue 19 Jun Free-camping The only bush in Santa Margherita Italy
Wed 20 Jun Free-camping A market square in Rapallo Italy
Thu 21 Jun Couch Surfing An Indian guy, Como Italy
Fri 22 Jun Couch Surfing An Indian guy, Como Italy
Sat 23 Jun Couch Surfing A ‘squat,’ Zurich Switzerland
Sun 24 Jun Couch Surfing A ‘squat,’ Zurich Switzerland
Mon 25 Jun Couch Surfing A German girl, Cologne Germany
Tue 26 Jun Couch Surfing A German girl, Cologne Germany
Wed 27 Jun Free-camping By a railway line outside Osnabrück Germany
Thu 28 Jun Family My cousin, Hamburg Germany
Fri 29 Jun Family My cousin, Hamburg Germany
Sat 30 Jun Family My cousin, Hamburg Germany
Sun 1 Jul Couch surfing A Danish girl, Copenhagen Denmark
Mon 2 Jul Couch surfing A Danish girl, Copenhagen Denmark
Tue 3 Jul Transit A moving Polish truck in Germany Germany
Wed 4 Jul Friend A friend from Canada, Vitry-le-François France
Thu 5 Jul Friend A friend from Canada, Vitry-le-François France
Fri 6 Jul Friend A friend from Canada, Vitry-le-François France
Sat 7 Jul Friend The apartment of my friend’s brother, Lyon France
Sun 8 Jul Friend The apartment of my friend’s brother, Lyon France
Mon 9 Jul Transit Slept in Milano train station. On the floor. Italy
Tue 10 Jul Family An apartment, Desenzano Del Garda Italy
Wed 11 Jul Family An apartment, Desenzano Del Garda Italy
Thu 12 Jul Free-camping An orchard near Verona Italy
Fri 13 Jul Couch surfing A Polish girl in Padova Italy
Sat 14 Jul Couch surfing A Polish girl in Padova Italy
Sun 15 Jul Couch surfing A Polish girl in Padova Italy
Mon 16 Jul Free-camping A service station near Udine Italy
Tue 17 Jul Couch surfing A German girl, Graz Austria
Wed 18 Jul Couch surfing A German girl, Graz Austria
Thu 19 Jul Free-camping Inside a bush, Prague Czech Republic
Fri 20 Jul Couch surfing A Czech guy, Liberec Czech Republic
Sat 21 Jul Couch surfing A Polish guy, Wrocław Poland
Sun 22 Jul Couch surfing A Polish guy, Wrocław Poland
Mon 23 Jul Couch surfing A Polish girl, Kraków Poland
Tue 24 Jul Couch surfing A Polish girl, Kraków Poland
Wed 25 Jul Free-camping Under a bridge without a tent, Minsk Poland
Thu 26 Jul Couch surfing A Lithuanian guy, Vilnius Lithuania
Fri 27 Jul Couch surfing A Latvian guy, Riga Latvia
Sat 28 Jul Free-camping A beach near Riga Latvia
Sun 29 Jul Free-camping Beside the motorway Latvia
Mon 30 Jul Free-camping Freedom Park, Tallin Estonia
Tue 31 Jul Free-camping A park near a beach, Pärnu Estonia
Wed 1 Aug Couch surfing An Estonian girl, Tartu Estonia
Thu 2 Aug Couch surfing A Latvian family, 17km from Valmiera Latvia
Fri 3 Aug Couch surfing A Latvian guy, Riga Latvia
Sat 4 Aug Transit An invitation to a summer house Lithuania
Sun 5 Aug Free-camping A barn (Hitch Gathering 2012), Ambraziškiai Lithuania
Mon 6 Aug Free-camping A barn (Hitch Gathering 2012), Ambraziškiai Lithuania
Tue 7 Aug Free-camping A field near Augustów Poland
Wed 8 Aug Friend A travel friend, Kraków Poland
Thu 9 Aug Friend A travel friend, Kraków Poland
Fri 10 Aug Friend A travel friend, Kraków Poland
Sat 11 Aug Friend A travel friend, Kraków Poland
Sun 12 Aug Friend A travel friend, Kraków Poland
Mon 13 Aug Friend A travel friend, Kraków Poland
Tue 14 Aug Friend A travel friend, Kraków Poland
Wed 15 Aug Friend A travel friend, Kraków Poland
Thu 16 Aug Friend A travel friend, Kraków Poland
Fri 17 Aug Couch surfing A polish girl, Warszawa Poland
Sat 18 Aug Couch surfing A Polish girl, Warszawa Poland
Sun 19 Aug Workaway Hotel using workaway, Dwór Mościbrody Poland
Mon 20 Aug Workaway Hotel using workaway, Dwór Mościbrody Poland
Tue 21 Aug Workaway Hotel using workaway, Dwór Mościbrody Poland
Wed 22 Aug Workaway Hotel using workaway, Dwór Mościbrody Poland
Thu 23 Aug Workaway Hotel using workaway, Dwór Mościbrody Poland
Fri 24 Aug Workaway Hotel using workaway, Dwór Mościbrody Poland
Sat 25 Aug Workaway Hotel using workaway, Dwór Mościbrody Poland
Sun 26 Aug Friend Camping at a friend’s, Warszawa Poland
Mon 27 Aug Friend Camping at a friend’s, Kraków Poland
Tue 28 Aug Friend Camping at a friend’s, Kraków Poland
Wed 29 Aug Friend Camping at a friend’s, Warszawa Poland
Thu 30 Aug Transit Overnight train, Kraków to Bratislava Slovakia
Fri 31 Aug Couch surfing A Slovakian guy, nr Malacky Slovakia
Sat 1 Sep Couch surfing A Hungarian guy, Budapest Hungary
Sun 2 Sep Family Apartment, Split Croatia
Mon 3 Sep Family Apartment, Split Croatia
Tue 4 Sep Family Apartment, Zadar Croatia
Wed 5 Sep Family Apartment, Plitvice Lakes Croatia
Thu 6 Sep Family Campsite, Senj Croatia
Fri 7 Sep Family Apartment, Ljubljana Slovenia
Sat 8 Sep Workaway Workaway placement, Budapest Hungary
Sun 9 Sep Workaway Workaway placement, Budapest Hungary
Mon 10 Sep Workaway Workaway placement, Budapest Hungary
Tue 11 Sep Workaway Workaway placement, Budapest Hungary
Wed 12 Sep Workaway Workaway placement, Budapest Hungary
Thu 13 Sep Workaway Workaway placement, Budapest Hungary
Fri 14 Sep Workaway Workaway placement, Budapest Hungary
Sat 15 Sep Workaway Workaway placement, Budapest Hungary
Sun 16 Sep Workaway Workaway placement, Budapest Hungary
Mon 17 Sep Workaway Workaway placement, Budapest Hungary
Tue 18 Sep Workaway Workaway placement, Budapest Hungary
Wed 19 Sep Workaway Workaway placement, Budapest Hungary
Thu 20 Sep Workaway Workaway placement, Budapest Hungary
Fri 21 Sep Rental Apartment, Budapest Hungary
Sat 22 Sep Rental Apartment, Budapest Hungary
Sun 23 Sep Friend A travel friend, Malacky Hungary
Mon 24 Sep Friend A travel friend, Malacky Slovakia
Tue 25 Sep Friend A travel friend, Malacky Slovakia
Wed 26 Sep Couch surfing A German girl, Vienna Austria
Thu 27 Sep Couch surfing A German girl, Vienna Austria
Fri 28 Sep Rental Hostel, Prague Czech Republic
Sat 29 Sep Rental Hostel, Prague Czech Republic
Sun 30 Sep Couch surfing A German guy, Berlin Germany
Mon 1 Oct Couch surfing A German guy, Berlin Germany
Tue 2 Oct Rental Hostel, Prague Czech Republic
Wed 3 Oct Friend A travel friend, Brno Czech Republic
Thu 4 Oct Friend A travel friend, Brno Czech Republic
Fri 5 Oct Couch surfing A Hungarian girl, Szeged Hungary
Sat 6 Oct Couch surfing A Hungarian girl, Szeged Hungary
Sun 7 Oct Couch surfing A Romanian guy, Bulgăruș Romania
Mon 8 Oct Couch surfing A Romanian guy, Bulgăruș Romania
Tue 9 Oct Couch surfing An American girl, Belgrade Serbia
Wed 10 Oct Couch surfing A Bulgarian girl, Sofia Bulgaria
Thu 11 Oct Rental Apartment, Sofia Bulgaria
Fri 12 Oct Rental Apartment, Sofia Bulgaria
Sat 13 Oct Rental Apartment, Sofia Bulgaria
Sun 14 Oct Friend A travel friend, Sofia Bulgaria
Mon 15 Oct Couch surfing A Bulgarian guy, Plovdiv Bulgaria
Tue 16 Oct Couch surfing A Bulgarian guy, Plovdiv Bulgaria
Wed 17 Oct Couch surfing A Turkish girl, Edirne Turkey
Thu 18 Oct Couch surfing A Turkish girl, Edirne Turkey
Fri 19 Oct Couch surfing A Turkish guy, Istanbul Turkey
Sat 20 Oct Couch surfing A Turkish guy, Istanbul Turkey
Sun 21 Oct Couch surfing Another Turkish guy, Istanbul Turkey
Mon 22 Oct Couch surfing Another another Turkish guy, Istanbul Turkey
Tue 23 Oct Couch surfing Another another Turkish guy, Istanbul Turkey
Wed 24 Oct Couch surfing Another another another Turkish guy, Istanbul Turkey
Thu 25 Oct Couch surfing Another another another Turkish guy, Istanbul Turkey
Fri 26 Oct Couch surfing Another another another Turkish guy, Istanbul Turkey
Sat 27 Oct Transit A truck in a field Greece
Sun 28 Oct Couch Surfing A Greek guy, Thessaloniki Greece
Mon 29 Oct Couch Surfing A Greek guy, Thessaloniki Greece
Tue 30 Oct Friend A travel friend, Sofia Bulgaria
Wed 31 Oct Friend A travel friend, Sofia Bulgaria
Thu 1 Nov Friend A travel friend, Sofia Bulgaria
Fri 2 Nov Transit A service station trying to get a lift, Maribor Slovenia
Sat 3 Nov Rental A hostel, Strasbourg France
Sun 4 Nov Transit En route to my family England
By | 2013-12-08T19:24:44+00:00 November 28th, 2012|Euro Hitch 2012|2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. James 03/05/2014 at 10:39 - Reply

    Jamie, love the site. I have been looking to do this myself for a while now, so I am finally going to pack my bags in a couple of weeks when I finish University. I was wondering how easy it was to use Couch surfing abroad? Did you have a phone on you, and just try and find wifi? or did you use other methods??
    James

    • Jamie 07/05/2014 at 02:18 - Reply

      Glad to hear that – I hope you have a wonderful time. Using CS was super easy everywhere except popular tourist cities (Paris, Prague, Venice) where most people get way too many requests to deal with. I had a basic phone (£10 from Tescos) which I used if I got badly lost, but mostly I relied on finding free wifi.

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