Hitch-hiking to Lithuania (great news story)

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Wed 12 Dec 2007 11:02
Hitch-hiking to Lithuania (great news story) - Billy Whizz
Did anyone see this great news item? from news.yahoo.com 27th November.

What would you do if your tour bus left you stranded at a motorway service station, without your mobile phone, more than 800 miles from home in a country where you did not speak the language?

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AFP) - A Lithuanian farmer who was left behind at German road stop spent nine days trekking part-way home, living on apples and water from puddles along the route, a Lithuanian newspaper reported Tuesday.

Saulius Marcinkevicius, 41, had decided to go on his first ever trip abroad with a group of fellow Lithuanian farmers who were bound for an agriculture fair in Hanover earlier this month, the daily Lietuvos Rytas said.

The rest of the group forgot him when their coach stopped at a service station near Leipzig on November 13.

Marcinkevicius, who had only his jacket, passport and around 100 euros in cash, decided to make his way home on foot.

He spent the next nine days walking around 200 kilometres (125 miles) eastwards to Poland, sleeping rough in woods, scrumping apples from orchards, and drinking from puddles.

Marcinkevicius told the newspaper that he did not speak any foreign languages and had not dared to ask for help -- even though he was stopped on several occasions by German police who caught him walking alongside the motorway.

Upon reaching the German-Polish border, he explained himself to German guards with the aide of an interpreter.

He then hitched a ride with a Lithuanian trucker who helped him finally to get home to Kupiskis, in northern Lithuania, last Sunday.

He later checked in with Lithuanian police, who had been searching for him and had even alerted Interpol.

Marcinkevicius, who lost five kilos (11 pounds) during his trek, has vowed never to leave Lithuania again.

However, he appeared to have taken the odyssey in his stride, telling the paper: "I got lost, and went through some extreme experiences, the kind that other people sometimes pay big money for."

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Wed 12 Dec 2007 11:55
Hitch-hiking to Lithuania (great news story) - Round The Bend
A variation of this could be the next Top Gear challenge for the 3 Amigos!
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