This is just my prep for CPE exam which I'm going to take soon. I Thought that it might be interesting to some of you since it's truly authentic. Enjoy.
It was a mutual idea, that came out spontaneously in my and Richard's heads. Both of us have already explored the west –particularly Spain, so this year's summer holiday we focused on the other side. Turkey? I can clearly recall even now –after eight years –how this name popped out when we were sitting in my room. As single travellers we had to make sure that a trip together would suit us both. It wasn’t much of a problem, we just concluded that everybody does everything necessary without the dependeningt on the other.
We set off Thursday early morning. Even the start was a classic. Richard was late, so we missed the train. Never mind, we wanted to hitchhike anyway, so why not start from Galanta straight away. Since the beginning we were determined that if it’s not going to work we will split and meet again on predetermined meeting point. Oh, but it did work. we didn't expect it to run so smoothly, as if it was preplanned. The following night we entered the land of Ataturk, the border between Europe and Asia.
This was the travellers’ heaven and we were totally aware of it. Moments of excitement were mixed with on overwhelming feeling of the unknown and unseen. Everything was for the first time, everything was new. We were imprinting all of it into our untouched brains.
Hitchhiking was the best part of it. A never ending source of countless new experiences, it brought us to very many interesting, exciting and useful situations –sometimes even a tad dangerous. But we didn’t mind. We were young, reckless and thirsty for adventure. It was the trip of our dreams, on the edge, beautiful and unique. We travelled on the very minimum budget. It was a test of our endurance and mental challenge as well.
The most vivid story is probably the one from the city Van, on the shore of the lake Van, near Iran’s border. Richard desperately wanted a carpet. A matter of a few minutes if one has money, but it took us the better part of an hour to cut the price to one within our reach. It was worth it and I’m pretty sure that the shopkeeper must have remembered us for ages –westerners who fought for every penny!
This trip was a real journey. It showed me the wonders of travelling and therefore it won’t be replaced. There were bigger ones, there might be more extreme ones, but there is not going to be one like this!
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