News and announcements by the Tramprennen-crew

Welcome Pro Asyl!

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As the preparations for TR2015 are busting, it is time to introduce you to our new partner:

Welcome to ProAsyl!

This year Tramprennen plans to support ProAsyl as well as Viva con Agua. Because we want to support refugees rights as well as access to water!

Every hitchhiker knows this incredible feeling: Some have butterfly in the belly, or a jumping heart or fizziness in their thumb: it describes the overwhelming excitement of being on the road again, moving freely, crossing borders, and living adventures in foreign places.

But not everyone has this luck. Political barriers to migration are growing and intolerances are spreading all over Europe. Globally, about 50 millions of people are forced to leave home to escape from wars, torture, violence or the violation of their basics rights. And Europe is not as welcoming as other countries have been with us.

The purpose of Tramprennen is and has always been to promote freedom of movement for all and solidarity amongst people. So it sounded natural to support it as much as we could through an organization that can be trusted.

ProAsyl is a non-governmental human rights organisation, which has been working for more than 25 years for refugee’s rights in Germany and in Europe. As well as informing and raising awareness about it, ProAsyl help refugees during their asylum procedures and support refugees-lead projects that empower them. Last but not least, ProAsyl advocates against inhumane European migration policies and that no one is illegal. If you want to find out more about ProAsyl, check the link.

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We will keep supporting Viva con Agua and its aims to improve access to drinkable water, sanitation and hygiene worldwide. As a reminder, check out the great work that Viva con Agua does.

The donations to Tramprennen will be split 50/50. Half of the money raised will go to Viva con Agua, half to ProAsyl, as easy as that. It is not only about money, it is about spreading the word, promoting solidarity and respect, one hitch at the time.

For the rest of Tramprennen 2015, we will keep you updated!

A lot of funkylicious surprises coming soon!

 

 

Hitchhiking at the Port of Dover

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Rumeiern um Minden – The 2015 Easter Hitch Competition

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easter

Can you find Minden?

We hope so, because the traditional Easter Competition is again just around the corner.

What comes this time after the 60 hour Race, the Costume Competition, the for-an-Apple &’n Egg-swop Race and the Hitch-bingo?

K-Ei Lipkowski invites us to “Rumeiern in Minden”.

All around the town of Minden, Easter eggs are hidden and have to be found. Who brings the most eggs to the pub will be added to the glorious list of the leading teams of the Easter Competition, win the golden Hitch-egg. On the top of that, he/she could get at the pub the Sugar-Egg!

RULES/HOW IT WORKS

Here is the way the game goes, you all potential egg-addicts.

Fundamentals

1) As always the competition is based of trust and good will. We cannot and don’t want to control you. Whoever is cheating is just a bloody idiot.

2) We won’t accept any discriminatory behavior. Respect and Tolerance!

3) Hitchhiking is the only way to go, using public transport is not allowed this year. Well, it is actually not sure that Minden’s got any type of public transport service anyway or that the town is even connected to any other towns (see 5.)

4) You are completely free to choose the type of transport you hitch with (car, bike, boat, train, plane…) as long as you don’t pay for it. Minden stagecoaches are also allowed…

5) You can participate as alone or in a team (recommended). But if you decide to do it as a team, you can’t split on the way.

Start

1) Each hitchhiker and each team wake up in the early morning, treat himself to an heavy breakfast, brush his teeth and can start off.

2)  Starting point: up to you.

3)  Starting time: from 10 in the morning on Easter Saturday (April the 4th) and as late as you want.

Aim

The aim is to find as many eggs as possible. They will be hidden in and all around the town of Minden. They could be anywhere: buried in the backyard of Granny Schröder, at the petrol station with the counter assistant, in the hen house by the local farmers, or in an eagle nest… Anywhere! J

Find the eggs, keep them and bring them to the final meeting point to have a chance to win the Sugar Egg and take the golden Hitch Egg home!

Mode

1) The hide-out of the Eggs can only be reached by hitchhiking

2) At each hide-out there are a certain number of eggs that are consecutively numbered. So no egg thievery or cheating by adding some eggs during the race. The eggs that are in small number in some spots are worth more than others. For example, 6 eggs are hidden in the backyard of Granny Schröder, each is worth one point. At the counter of the petrol station they are 3 eggs that are worth 2 points each.

3) When you find a spot, you can only take one egg at the time. Please don’t remove, eat, destroy or hide better the other eggs, so the other teams can have their take as well! See Fundamental 1)

4) We will let you know the exact locations of the eggs on Friday evening (April 3rd) on our website tramprennen.org and on the Facebook page of Tramprennen. A PDF file with all the detailed infos will be available for download.

5) Our Hitch radius will be +/- 25kms around Minden, but remember that compared to previous years, this time you can’t use public transport. If you or your team want, it is allowed to walk an extra 2 or 3 km.

6) Each egg collected and brought back in one piece is worth one or more point. Our (obviously) independent panel will be in charge of the counting and should start before 6.30pm on Sunday.

End

Our final destination and meeting point is at a pub called the Backstage in Minden. You have to be there on Sunday April 5th at the latest at 6pm, otherwise you or your team won’t be in the score ranking!

The icing on the cake..
Klingelingeling, klingelingeling – the milkman’s coming selling eggs:Of course there’ll be some extra stuff to do in this year:
-on the one hand: we have the approved method of the so called Applaus-O-Meter. Have an raw hen’s egg with you and let one of your drivers beautify it artfully. The most beautiful (hen’s!!!)-egg will bring you 4 extra-points on your scoreboard!
-on the other hand: surprise :)

Hiding places: Rumeiern_in_Minden

 

Tramprennen 2014… it’s hard to put into words!

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We were standing in a desert beach at the Albanian Adriatic Coast a few hours ago. Although there were no cars at all, it took less than ten minutes to get a ride and get offered coffee once again. Five minutes after that, the driver interrupted a wedding reception so we could try some of the wedding cake.

So what now? We are sitting in an Internet Cafe in Shkoder (still Albania), looking at the fist Tramprennen-Videos, the pictures of those who are still on the road and reading the first updates of those who already returned to “normal life”. The crazy Tramprennen-Time has to end for all of us at some point, even if we hope to take as much as we can from this world where everything is possible.
After the blackout that just erased the text I had written here in Shkoder, it seems like time to say some final words about Tramprennen 2014, even if it’s difficult to punt into words!

It was more or less two weeks ago that we hitchhiked more than 2500 km with 130 people to Macedonia. We arrived a bit exhausted and thrilled to Ohrid, and imposed a state of emergency on this little town including campsite. Macedonia was definitely happy about our visit: the police tried to arrange rides for us, the people working at the border followed the race and convinced a bus driver for us to give us a ride… (still: No Borders! )

Everything started when 132 young people gathered in Wurzburg a couple of weeks ago. It was still unclear for many of us what we would be expecting. This year was a year of changes, since we had new rules, a big and chaotic joint start and it was the first time that some guys from the old school couldn’t take part in Tramprennen. There were many things that didn’t work as expected this year: the beamer at the campsite was only one of them. Registration start, donation tool, liveticker: many things that will hopefully improve in the future.

But still: Tramprennen 2014 was a great success! It was amazing to see that we were all together capable of collecting more than 9000 Euro for drinking water! Viva con Agua was also very pleased and sent a big thank you to all of you. The collected money will be invested by Viva con Agua in cooperation with Welthungerhilfe in WASH projects in India.
The WASH projects are one of the long-term impacts of Tramprennen, but not the only one. We hitchhiked from Wurzburg to Macedonia and on the way, we experienced so much hospitality and willingness to help, that it became impossible to think of any prejudice about foreign places, cultures and people. Drivers opened their doors to us more than a thousand times, they trusted us and so did we: and we were all enriched by these experiences.
What about the destinations? Twenty to thirty batik-shirt-wearing crazy hitchhikers left an impression wherever they went. House projects, abandoned houses and theatres were transformed into accommodation for us. Football tournaments took place, whole town parties were thrown for different routes of Tramprennen. Myriads of impressions and new acquaintances are the things we will remember for a very long time.

Listenting to all the different route dynamics and plenty of stories at the final destination in Ohrid was a great pleasure for everyone in the Organization Team. It showed us once again, that Tramprennen is only a platform where people create their own stories. And that everyone taking part of it: hitchhikers, drivers, hosts or donators contribute to the making and shaping of Tramprennen.

Simultaneously and unfortunately, Tramprennen 2014 reminded us that there are also risks when riding a car. One of the teams had an accident because of a storm this year. Fortunately, nothing terrible happened, but still, at this point a big HEY and greetings to Mia, who will have to spend the rest of the summer with a plaster cast. On top of that, we also had the (baptized by Tue as) “Dickschiss-Massacre of Kotor”, a gastro-intestinal infection that impeded some participants to make it to Ohrid. For them: we hope you heard the big applause you got at the award ceremony at the lake, and once again: we wish you all the best!

Before there’s an internet blackout again, I want to finish with these lines: Tramprennen wouldn’t be possible without an engaged Organization Team. Because we all want Tramprennen to remain being what it is, we would love to hear about all of your ideas, proposals, etc. However, most importantly: we need people who love hitchhiking an want to contribute to keep this hitchhiking project alive!
gro.nennerpmartnull@ofni is always happy about a full inbox ;)

See you soon on the road!

NEWSLETTER*3

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Whoop,whoop! That`s the final newsletter before the race starts on
Saturday. We can’t waiiiit!!!!!

While we are writing this newsletter to you, we are also washing
shirts and bags in the bathtub, drying them, doing silkscreen
printing, programming the website, distributing eddings, sim cards,
stickers, flyers and prepare a few other suprises. Long story short:
shitloads of work, but even more fun! Anticipation is huuuuuuuuuge. So
let`s get ready, here we go

Final topics

1. Passport
2. Start in Würzburg
3. Sim-Vards
4. DONATIONS
5. Schengen-Routes

1. Do not forget your passport!!!
———————————————————-

Most routes will go through countries where an international passport
is probably required! So PLEASE BRING YOUR PASSPORT (ID card might
also work, but we can not make any promises).

2. Start in Würzburg
———————————

The meeting point on Friday is at the campsite “Kalte Quelle” in
Wuerzburg.

Here is a description on how to get there:
https://www.kalte-quelle.de/html/so_finden_sie_uns.html

We will be there on Thursday already und will try to get some snacks
for friday! Please remember that is a bank holiday in Bavaria on
Friday, so no shops will be open in the area!

We will send you the latest updates about how to get there and where
you will find us on Thursday.

The drawing of the routes will start on Friday at 8 p.m. (sharp!!) So
please be there in time, because time is limited on Friday.

You will all get your hitchpackages on Friday, at least the ones who
paid in time. But we are very keen and eager to find a solution for
everyone, do not worry! Futhermore you still need to sign the waivers,
so the earlier you get to Wuerzbug on Friday, the better!

3. Sim Cards
———————

Of course the legendary LIVETICKER will also be part of this years
race!!! And to make things easy and cheap for you, we (well actually
blau Mobilfunk) will provide with you with sim-cards, including credit! So
please feed the ticker!!
This year, we will even get some surfsticks, so you could even bring
your netbooks.
ATTENTION: Most of the Sim cards are normal (classic)SIM cards. Some
of same might not fit into your smartphone. So maybe you could bring a
phone that suits the classic sim card, or maybe you can even punch or
cut them in the size you need. We will find out….

4. DONATIONS
————————-

Believe it or not: Pille is sitting right next to us, trying to fix
the donation tool and we all hope that it will be ready before the
race actually starts.

Nevermind: We are about the raise the first 2000€, whooooop whoooop!
Well done guys, concidering all the trouble we have and had with the
donation tool.

But that was just the beginning, let us all go crazy, one week of
madness for Viva con Agua and clean drinking water and sanitation
projects in North India!!

You can even raise donations during and after the race!!! DON`T STOP
US NOW!!!!
Sky is the limit…

https://www.betterplace.org/de/fundraising-events/tramprennen

5. Schengen
———————–

To those of you who are not residents of an European Union country
(e.g. USA, Brasil…): If you are only allowed to travel through
Schengen countries because of your Visa status, please get in touch
with us. We will sort out a solution.

Just 3 days until Würzburg, good luck for all your preperations!

The Tramprennen 2014-Crew!

Ps: This year`s LIVETICKER NUMBER is:  +49- (0)157 795 991 98
If you registered with your mobile number on our website, you can even
feed the newsticker from FRIDAY on with your own number, just send a
text message. The blau.de number is already attached to your team and
will appear automatically on the ticker.