Hitchhiking 1200km from Sweden to Germany: part 3

Now I am chatting with the CEO (who is also a rock star) of a Swedish construction company, and it turns out that the lift to Germany (or a music festival in the Netherlands) that I had hoped for...

...is not gonna happen.

More Swedish wilderness

So how am I going to make it back to Berlin? Swedish drivers have proven to be none too fond of hitchhikers.

Not to wory, my host (the CEO) says... he knows a better way.

One of the guys who runs a corporate coffee supply company in his building is driving down to Helsingborg the next day.

In a large motorhome.

And would probably be overjoyed to have some company on the long trip.

Win!

Now my host is leaving for the Netherlands that day (today) so I can't stay at his place.

But, in the back of his company's office they have a day bed for workers.

As well as a full shower and locker room.

So I am welcome to stay there for the night.

He even gives me a giant glass of fresh local Swedish honey to take with me.

I thank him profusely and assure him that his office will be safely guarded with me there as the impromptu night watchman, except for the parts when I am sleeping on the job of course.

(I would make a terrible night watchman.)

Fortunately the night passes without incident and the next morning I meet up with my new lift, the corporate coffee connoisseur.

He's taking a brief vacation to go see his daughter perform at the very south of Sweden, in Helsingborg.

And, since I am trying to get to Germany -- which will take me through Denmark -- that's perfect. Helsingborg is one of the major crossing points from Denmark to Sweden.

The other thing is, this man is a very successful coffee salesman.

So where hitchhiking often means squeezing into cramped, dirty, junk-filled sedans with tattooed guys (whose muscles mean they are not paranoid about personal security or dangers from hitchhikers) ...

...this time I am going first class.

Cruising shotgun in an RV that is all while leather, all new, and about as comfortable as you can possibly make a motorhome.

And we are doing it for not a short lift of ten or fifty kilometers, but all 350-plus kilometers down to Helsingborg.

Hell yes!

And all the while I get to learn the ins-and-outs of the (more interesting than it sounds) corporate coffee delivery business from a good-time-loving former-salesman-turned-entrepreneur who wants nothing more than to practice his English.

Which I am more than happy to help him with, seeing as I don't speak any Swedish.

(Except, of course, for "fika.")

Several hours of smooth Swedish highway and a brief lunch break later, I extricate myself from the warm embrace of the leather co-pilot seat and grab my backpack from the back.

The coffee entrepreneur leaves me at the Helsingborg ferry terminal, with a smile and a wave, no doubt wondering where I got the crazy idea to travel from Sweden to Berlin without spending any money.

But I've got some successful lifts behind me, a big fat sharpie in my pocket, and a big piece of cardboard that I borrowed from the rockstar-turned-construction-CEO.

How hard could the rest be?

Hahahahaha... famous last words...

(What happened next ... will be posted soon ... follow me @traveladdict so you don't miss it)