• Thumb Drive

    Slovenian signHITCHING is like a
    litmus test for national well-being: the
    poorer the country, the easier it is to thumb a lift. Progress begets stinginess--once the average household acquires its
    own wheels, individuals are far less inclined to worry about others. The exception is in rural areas, like
    Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, where merciful passersby rarely leave hitchhikers to
    the elements.

    In my guidebooks, I
    counsel against hitching because I have to.
    Most travellers read their travel guides far too seriously and hold us
    authors liable for missed busses or a bowl of lukewarm soup at a café. To such I say that hitching is definitely
    off limits (Stranger Danger, blah, blah).
    For the record, I would never hitch in my own country, but any
    respectable traveller should occasionally go to a place where hitching is the
    only way out.

    Flying Ryanair already
    feels a lot like hitchhiking—a similar mood of uncertainty fills the air, we
    are all apprehensive passengers wary of one another, and each of us is plotting
    how we will achieve our real destination from an obscure drop off point. Thus I travelled to Slovenia, thanks to a
    one pound flight from Stansted to the one room terminal of Maribor
    International Airport    . Maribor is
    Slovenia’s second largest city, renowned for the personal visits by Adolph
    Hitler     and home to the world’s oldest living grapevine. (Stara trta is
    at least 400 years old and still produces around 100 bottles of highly-prized
    wine every year—the current pope is said to be a fan.) Slovenia might be the cutest country I’ve
    ever visited--somewhere between Luxembourg and a Disney cartoon with the Julian
    Alps thrown in. The towns are all
    cobblestones and half-timbers, the mountains make breathtaking silhouettes and
    the brooks actually babble. More than
    half the country is covered with old growth forest, and every prim house is
    surrounded with a picture-perfect garden.
    Small-scale organic farming is the national past time and for nearly a
    decade, the country has been a declared GMO-free bio-region in Europe. The air is unbelievably clean, the
    restaurants serve beautifully fresh vegetables, the mountains are dotted with
    natural thermal baths, and I’m thinking the country has the highest flowerbox
    per capita statistic in the world.
    Indeed, Slovenians enjoy the good life and I was happy to partake, if
    only for a few days. Such healthy
    living has me convinced that this is Europe’s new green Mecca, especially
    considering a sturdy alpine chalet with a pristine view sells for under 60,000
    Euro.  read more »


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