During the covid-19 pandemic, nothing was normal. The countries were changing their rules and rules, about which you could have thought, were existing. We had 72h after our covid test time, to reach Turkey, while being in North Macedonia. An interesting journey. Hitchhiking from Skopje to Turkey.
What was the route?
The route was basically quite simple. Somehow getting out of Skopje, exiting North Macedonia, to enter the EU again, by crossing into Bulgaria. From Bulgaria it would go directly to the Turkish border. The distance would have been around 550 km.
While hitchhiking through Europe, we had an average of around 250 to 300 km, so the distance was nothing, which stressed us at the moment. Still, 72h hours wasn’t a lot of time, but we had no choice. To enter Turkey, it was necessary to arrive before 72h’s with the negative covid test.
The problems about the idea
The problem with the idea was, that we didn’t think about it, that it might not be the best idea. It was the shortest way to get there, but the fastest way is not directly the fastest way for hitchhiking. During the trip, we changed the route a bit. At the end the route was over 100 kilometers longer and you can see underneath, how it roughly looked like.
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How did it go?
It went horrible at the beginning. While hitchhiking there is something really good to know, whenever you are in a city, it is not easy to get out! This was the same in every country, in some it was easier to get out and especially in Skopje, it was the complete opposite!
We were walking a lot, to reach a good point, where the only way was out of the city in the direction of Bulgaria. Should have been easy, but for hitchhiking North Macedonia is a really bad country. All Balkan neighbors were easier hitchhiking. After crossing the border from Albania to North Macedonia, things changed!
We were waiting for a long time, while starting in the early hours, at around 10 in the morning. After getting the first ride, it was already getting dark. The first ride also didn’t go far with us, which wasn’t important, at least out of the city!
It took a while until we made it a bit further, we made it to a gas station. At this gas station, there was one highway to Bulgaria, which we wanted to take, and the other one to Serbia. We were talking to many people and nobody was going to Bulgaria, everyone went to Serbia.
It was really frustrating there. We didn’t even go far and sleeping at that place was also not an option.
Plan changing
We needed to change plans! One guy was saying that he would go to Niš, a city far away from the border. Also near the city was the highway to Bulgaria, which was good for us. We didn’t know if it would have been better there, but getting out of North Macedonia was a good option for us. We were crossing a border, which we wouldn’t at all expect to cross during that trip.
It was an older guy, who was able to speak English, which was great. He went all the way to the capital Belgrad. The border to Serbia was a really simple one, we just were stamped in and that was it.
The ride went quick and he left us out on the highway, which was perfect for us, but also weird, just being out there in a new country. It was really cold and we had to walk a while to reach our highway. Already the thought was there, to sleep there somewhere, due to the time. It was really late.
We couldn’t even think about it well, because after not even a minute on the right highway a truck with a turkish number plate was stopping. Getting into a truck at night could have been a bad idea, but we needed that ride, to be less stressed.
Welcome to Bulgaria
We were in the truck and he was going all the way to Turkey, but not with us, that was clear from the beginning. He didn’t speak English, just Turkish. With the help of an offline translator, we were talking with each other.
At the border to Bulgaria, he let us out because we needed to walk over it, by ourselves, to pick us up behind the border again. Only one other person would have been allowed, but not two others!
Everything went smooth and the trucker had also because of the time not an issue. Nobody was in front of him, during the day, it can take a long time for truckers to cross borders.
While continuing driving, we fell asleep and woke up in the morning again. We were in the middle of Bulgaria already, with not a long distance to go. It was already past the capital Sofia, perfect for us. At this point our paths were not going with each other anymore, so we searched for another ride. We had a lot of time left, but were on the direct route to Turkey.
It again didn’t take long, this time a trucker from Iran was stopping to take us this time all the way to Turkey. We made it in around 24h’s and had time to explore Bulgaria, but that would need to wait until next time. We didn’t want to be stressed anymore, but the stress came back at the Turkish border, which was unnecessary and complicated. This story is time in another article.
Summary
Being stressed from the corona restriction of counties was something quite normal, but having such a time stress wasn’t normal for us. With crossing at the end 650 km’s in a bit over 24h’s was a good accomplishment. By being stressed a lot, we were able to reach our destination. There it was possible to see that everything can be possible, if you really want it.
It was good to reach Turkey in time, but of course also sad, to not be able to see Serbia and Bulgaria at all, but everything comes with a cost.
Even long distances, being able to reach and also changing plans last minute are things, can help reach your goal.
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