6th and 7th of October, 2022.
Hitchhiking in Russia: the longest lift I have ever got until now (1300 Km)
It is a very good hitchhiking spot where I am. The cars have to slow down a bit and there is plenty of space for parking. Plus, the highway starts right after here. A few cars stop to ask where I am going or something but nobody is going to St. Petersburg.
After perhaps 30 minutes, Nikolai stops and he makes me believe he is going somewhere further on my way. But after only about 20 Km outside town, he shows me he is turning away and drops me off in this fuel pumps on the road. Not a gas station per se, but just some fuel pumps.
There is a black van leaving the spot while I am walking and carrying one backpack in each hand plus the sign. So that is the scenario in which I ask the driver, showing him my sign with a lot of trouble, if he can take me there. He is a bit doubtful for a few seconds but then makes a sign I can come in. He helps me to put The Hulk on the back of the van and I get in on the back seat.
Aleksei is going to St. Petersburg. He is going all the way to Saint Petersburg! Can you believe this? I barely could! He came all the way to Murmansk yesterday, to delivery some fish, and now he is going back. Aleksei cannot speak any English though, and no internet to translate anything, so we just manage to understand each other. I have no idea of the circumstances of the travel. Will he stop for the night somewhere or will we manage to arrive sometime tonight? I have to contact / warn my CS host in town somehow soon.
My new friend is a quite large man! He also has some quite rare features, like his blue eyes in contrast with the colour of his skin and his Kazakh / Mongolian features. I think that back in the old times he must have been an attractive young man.
At some point, the van stops. Aleksei tells me the problem is fuel. We are in the middle of nowhere and I wonder how will we manage. But when he comes out of the van, to the back side, I notice he has a huge bucket of diesel. Perhaps 50 litres or so. Now we just need to manage to fill the tank. Using a small cup to fill a 5 litres water gallon, it takes quite a long time to get the tank going. Luckily, I realize that the 5 litres gallon actually passes by the top of the 50 litres bucket, and I tell him to just drop it in so he can fill it faster. He is happy with my contribution and in a few minutes we are back on the road.
We stop a few times so he can take a nap. I nap too! Alksei is so kind and offer to pay me a meal. We eat some borscht, salad and mashed potatoes. My mashed potatoes come with a meat burger so I give it to him, trying to explain I don’t eat meat.
It is pouring rain all day long! Almost 900 Km of non-stop rain. I did manage to see some of the landscape at the beginning though, even though some of the trees are quite dead, I also managed to see some nice yellow ones and some pines too.
Later night, Aleksei gets us some of these Russian traditional pastries, which can be filled with cow meat, or chicken, potatoes or cabbage. He gets us the ones with cabbage, and tells me the name in Russian: kapusta. It is so cute the way he tries to explain to me though, that it is not meat. He says “no” and then gesture a cow, using his index fingers to imitate horns. Perfect! I understood perfectly! He also has a big thermal where he makes tea by getting hot water from the gas stations.
During the night we stop for a few hours and sleep in the van. The seats are reclining so I actually manage to sleep.
We get back to the road early morning. The first thing Aleksei does is to buy some milk and more pastries, so that’s our breakfast. He drinks lots of milk! Yesterday he drank a whole bottle during the day. I have just some with my pastries in the morning.
Aleksei also manages to tell me about his girlfriend and his farm. He works in St. Petersbug and has a house there. Actually, that’s where his parents live. But he tells me he left them and got a farm, with a nice two-story house, just about 30 Km outside the city. That is where he is going today, to the farm. He will take a shower and rest today so tomorrow he can go back to work.
I am OK staying outside the city; I just need to grab another lift for the final 35 Km. But I do need wi-fi so I can warn my CS host that I arrived two days earlier than expected and also to get proper directions to her place. The gas station where Aleksei plans to drop me off is closed, so we have to go back a few kilometres to the previous one. He is very kind and drive me back there, and even apologies for it, when he didn’t need it!
I say goodbye to this very kind and warm soul at the gas station. What a wonderful journey I have during my first time actually hitchhiking in Russia with a Russian person. Stereotypes down, the truth prevails! And I just know that everything will be alright…
10 Years Around the World 