AN UNPLANNED EVENT
Sweden, 1990. I was 19 years old and had just finished my tree-planting season in the forests of Jamtland. It was backbreaking work and there was an ache in my soul to get out. Somewhere. So I stuffed my backpack with some clothes and a sleeping bag with a Goretex cover, then headed out in the fields from our cottage in the north of Sweden, Söderåsen.
Sleeping Outdoors in Scandinavia
I decided to take my journey north. The first road was a gravel road, and my first ride was from a native missionary going over to Norway. I don’t remember all the good people who gave me a lift. I just know that they helped me in my time of need, so hitchhikers are always welcome when I have room in my car.
I slept outdoors every night. If someone would see Norway in autumn, it’s so beautiful with everything turning yellow-orange. The more north you went, the more northern lights came out.
I headed west, turned right (which means north), and then hitchhiked as far north as I could; through the most beautiful landscapes and fjords, all the way to North Cape, the northernmost point of Europe. North Cape was a plain tourist destination at the time, and I had no desire to share my experience with others.
There’s actually another point past the northernmost point of Europe—Knivskarsklippan—so I hiked out to this rock that was a few kilometers from North Cape. I reached it just before the sun went down, so I lay down and slept there as the northernmost person in Europe! The weather was calm and the view, amazing. I was tired, but happy.
Heading to England, France and Spain
I woke up the next day. I had no travel plans, I just wanted to wander. Since I couldn’t go further north, I suppose I had to go south. I didn’t know back then that it would lead to Africa…
I went through my mother’s home country of Finland to get back to Sweden, which went so much faster than going through the curvy ways of Norway. After going to an Earth, Wind & Fire concert with my brother in Stockholm and visiting with good friends in England, I headed down to France and the south of Spain, where I got a lift from a girl and her boyfriend.
Colliding with Another Car
It’s not easy for us hitchhikers to know whom we’re going to get when we thumb a ride. This time I got a couple who were as high as the Empire State Building was back then. The girl was preparing her Alfa Romeo for a right turn when I saw yellow lights getting brighter and brighter. We collided head on. I’ve had other accidents and thought, Now this is going to hell and I won’t be getting back!
The car swung around so many times that I couldn’t keep count. I grabbed my backpack and flew out of the car through the passenger door. I then got up and ran away from the car, which was still rolling toward me. Time stood still.
Looking Through a Splinter in My Eye
I ran back to the car to check on the couple, who were still inside the car. They said they were fine, but they were obviously in shock. I ran up the highway towards the other vehicle. With a glass splinter in my eye, I saw an older Frenchman with a crutch under his arm. He was shouting frantically at me with hysteria in his eyes and blood on his face. My first instinct was to hug him because he was alive, but he didn’t seem inclined. I took him back to his crashed car and his wife, who was still inside. She was bloody but okay. He was screaming while she was crying. I was quite annoyed because I just wanted them to be quiet and appreciate that we all lived.
The ambulance came and took away the hysterical French couple. Another ambulance came for my noble, albeit high-as-a-kite, chauffeur. I was taken to a hospital in Granada, where they took the glass splinter out of my eye. They wanted me to stay, I asked to go.
Waking Up to a Guy Shooting Up
I slept in a park in Granada that night. I was a little shaken, so I didn’t sleep so well. I woke up in the morning to see a guy my age shooting up a syringe of what was most likely heroin in his arm.
“Buenos días,” I greeted. He mumbled something back while looking at me with glassy eyes. I saw many old syringes on the ground. Drugs seemed to be fairly normal in their day-to-day life here.
