Italia

I was 18 years old and had decided to hitchhike solo around Europe.  I bought a plane ticket to the Netherlands and began traveling south with an Australian woman I had met in front of the American Express in Amsterdam who was in need of a male hitchhiking companion to Italy. After a number of adventures on our way south we left Florence, Italy by a hitchhiked ride in a very small Fiat. Our packs were stuffed around us and our driver enjoyed practicing his English as we putted along the back roads to Rome. The car with its small air cooled engine would overheat after an hour or so of hauling the three of us and our packs. We would pull over and let it cool down, then head back down the road for another hour or so. At one point our new friend asked if we minded taking a detour to buy some wine. The fiat worked its way up a small winding road to a cobble stoned towered village surrounded by vineyards. We purchased several bottles of the local white wine and restarted our journey to Rome. We were at an advantage now whenever the car overheated. We would all sit on the grass and drink our wine next to idyllic farms and sun speckled wheat fields. Our journey ended at dark in Rome after a beautiful day. Italy