Simone Paccagnella is one of those "crazy" who have decided to experience the more adventurous side of traveling.
The desire to know the world has always pushed us to make adventurous, crazy and extreme gestures. The stories of men and women who on board a boat, a motorbike or a bicycle have decided to turn the globe are more and more frequent, giving many people hours of leisure and daydreams through their stories.
Hitch-hiking
Then there are those who decide to travel by asking ordinary people for a ride, to those who accidentally find themselves passing through their parts as a simple family man returning from work or a mother committed to bringing the children home afterwards. the school.
This travel frontier, in some ways perhaps the most extreme, is hitchhiking. Take what is strictly necessary, load it on your shoulders and walk along the side of a road with the only hope of crossing a car willing to save us a few kilometers on foot.
The story of Simone, in fact, tells of his return to Italy from Estonia to the sound of long walks, makeshift passages and unique landscapes. Because the beauty of hitchhiking, according to Simone, is just that: it allows you to enjoy every single detail of the world around you and savor its essence. And all this beauty will eventually change you, just like our protagonist did.
Simone's story
Simone is a boy from Turin with a passion for traveling, the story of his journey begins during his university period at the age of twenty-two. Like any self-respecting university student, Simone dreamed of being able to live an Erasmus experience. And as for any self-respecting university student, the term Erasmus for Simone meant above all fun, crossovers with other cultures, foreign people and good nights in unknown cities.
During the second year of the University of Turin Simone applied for England, but the dreams of learning English as His Majesty commands vanished with the rankings of the assigned places. Too many questions, too much competition and for the young man from Turin England remained a dream.
The following year Simone applied again, but this time he preferred to move towards less sought-after destinations. The choice was between the warm and sunny Las Palmas, complete with coconut waiting for him on the beach, or the cities of Riga and Tartu, cold and mysterious towns of Northern Europe where a student would hardly ever think of experiencing his best time. .
Simone's adventurous spirit and curiosity led him to choose the city of Tartu, in Estonia, where he was welcomed by many other students gathered in a single building, the Raatusee, thus sharing an apartment, bills and perplexity with each of them.
After the months in Erasmus, it was time to go back to reality and Simone decided to do it his way: by hitchhiking. Accompanying him in this crazy adventure was his Spanish friend Jonay, a university student he met in Tartu with whom he managed to create an excellent relationship in cold Estonia.
A journey of almost three thousand kilometers through the heart of Europe without ever having the certainty of who will meet during the long journey.
Through makeshift shelters, crumbling B & Bs and unruly motorists, Simone and Jonay will experience situations bordering on the absurd, where it will take a cool head and great sacrifice in order not to go crazy and drop your backpack on the side of the road.
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia the countries crossed in the long itinerary of the two travelers where they will come into contact with different realities and cultures, but always able to leave something in the soul of those students who left Tartu simply armed with nothing.
An experience that will bring significant changes in Simone, narrated with great care and irony on the pages of his book 2 Erasmus in hitchhiking (work under construction with through crowdfunding su www.bookabook.it/projects/2-erasmus-in-autostop) where it will be possible to read details and curiosities of the return trip of the student who left to improve their English and have fun, but returned more adult than before.
