News und Ankündigungen von der Tramprennen-Crew

Let the good times roll! Tramprennen 2012 can begin! Registrations can start NOW! :)

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It’s been a while and we know we’re a bit late since we announced the relaunch and starting the booster phase for team registrations for early June. Sorry for the circumstances, sometimes things take a little longer as expected…anyways, after months of preparations and all kind of thoughts we’re more than happy today to be back on the road and officially start the Project Tramprennen 2012 – with you! For us it’s always a special moment – and believe us, every single team registration that reaches our mailbox will put the biggest smile you can imagine on our faces! :)

It’s the 5th Tramprennen this year for Viva con Agua and back in 2008 when we started the first race with 11 people to Spain, we never thought about such things like team registration and donate systems, we did not even think about a website to be honest. This year we prepared a race that suits for 150 potential participants! Isn’t that crazy shit?!??! =) We have 6 routes, starting in Germany, Danmark and Belgium. It’s the first time that Tramprennen really becomes an European hichhike race with hitchhikers from all over the continent!

And now: fire from all holes!!!

We want you to be part of Tramprennen 2012 and share two great weeks on the road with you! Register a team and race with many many other hitchhikers to Romania for Viva con Agua and a water project in India! It doesn’t matter whether you’ve hitchhiked 100000km or never before, doesn’t matter where you come from and how old you are (well, you should be older than 18 or hitch with your parents! ;)…)! Find a hitchmate and join us! We’re looking for you, looking forward for dumb-ass teamnames and profile pictures, looking forward for every single cent that goes into the water projects of Viva con Agua and last but not least to kick your ass on the roads to Romania! :)

What you need to know now

Check out the FAQ for further information and skim through the beautiful new redesign! You can register a team from now on! We’ll then provide you with everything necessary via mail.

These are the basic steps:
1. Find a hitchmate and register a team (one person needs to be male at least)
2. Do your homework: fill your team profile, send the liability waiver form, transfer the money for the hitchpackage
3. Choose your route
4. Find TeamSponsors and Owners for the WASH-Project of Viva con Agua in India :)

Behind the Website, into the Code and the future of this project

You probably wonder why it has taken so long for us to relaunch the website and everything you see is another design. The majority of the new stuff are backend functions that help us to organize the race sustainable and beyond Tramprennen 2012. Still, the website is now smartphone compatible and staffed with many more cool and helpful features.

Two years ago we implemented every team profile and sponsor manually, in 2011 they were already automatically. Same with mails. This year we can easily set up a new route with as many stages and possible teams as we want to. That means further, that anyone with a good reason can organize or request a hitchhiking race via our platform – the Hitchhiking Hub. Wouldn’t that be amazing, a hitchhike race in Canada or in Australia? The new plugin is able to realize this idea and can provide the technical background. A milestone in the evolution of the whole project for us. For the first reason, because we want to spread the word about hitchhiking – and there is no better way to do so with a hitchhiking race. Secondly, because we always wanna integrate new and interested people into the project Tramprennen and make it independet from a certain group of people (well,us :P).

In the future we’ll add more features on the hitchhikinghub.org. New ways of demonstrating the art of hitchhiking, blog systems for hitchhikers and probably even an app for smartphones where you’ll be able to track your hitchhiking trips without big effort.

It’s a big dream and we strongly believe in it: hitchhiking makes the world a better place. It builts friendship and trust among people all over the world. We think this is a good reason to keep working on such a project. And we’re happy to have you on board on this wonderful journey! :)

That’s it for the moment! Are you ready?!

Cheeeers, Tramprennen 2012 Crew!

Routes No.V. & VI: Grover and Oscar The Grouch on the road to Romania

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There we go, the last two routes of Tramprennen 2012: Grover and Oscar the Grouch!
Starting in Berchtesgaden and Bayreuth, going through Austria, Czech Repuclic, Slovakia and the Ucraine till Romania!
Just a few steps are missing and we’re ready to relaunch our website and start registrations for Tramprennen 2012! So be ready, find your hitchmate and wait for news in the near future! We’re close! Rock’n’Roll :)!

Route No.V: Grover

Berchtesgaden (D) – Neusiedler See (AT) – Banská Štiavnica (SK) – Kosice (SK) – Mukacheve (UA) – Cluj-Napoca (RO) – Lacal Surduc (RO)

Route on Google Maps

Start: Berchtesgarden (Germany)
Size: cosy
Water: easy to hitchhike to the Königsee
Important: hometown of a famous woodworking school

1st stage: Neusiedler See (Austria)
Size: close to a village
Water: directly on the lake
Important: on hot days the water temperature can raise up to 30 degree

2nd stage: Schemnitz (Slovakia)
Size: very small
Water: mountains!
Important: town wall from the 13th century

3rd stage: Kosice (Slovakia)
Size: bigger
Water: on the river Hornad
Important: Kosice has more monuments than every other city in Slovakia, meeting point the other route

4th stage: Mukachevo/Мукачеве (Ucraine)
Size: 91.000
Water: for sure a bit
Important: The city is now a rail terminus and highway junction, and has beer, wine, tobacco, food, textile, timber and furniture industries

5th stage: Cluj-Napoca (Romania)
Size: fourth biggest city of Romania
Water: some streams and a river, more important are the mountains and the forrest surrounding the city
Important: 45 000 students are living in the culture-city

6th stage: Lacul Surduc
Size: Lake!
Water: Lake!
Important: Lake!

Route No VI.: Oscar the Grouch

Bayreuth (D) – České Budějovice (CZ) – Stare Hamry (CZ) – Kosice (SK) – Ghilvaci (RO) – Targu Mures (RO) – Lacal Surduc (RO)

Route on Google Maps

Start: Bayreuth (Germany)
Size: not to big
Water: River, small rivers and a lake in the park
Important: the Richard-Wagner-Festival takes place until the 28th of august

1st stage: České Budějovice (Czech Republic)
Size: medium
Water: Beer!
Important: more famous is the german name Budweis

2nd stage: Stare Hamry (Slovakia)
Size: tiny
Water: Ostravice River
Important: forest covers 86% of village’s area

3rd stage: Kosice (Slovakia)
Size: bigger
Water: on the river Hornad
Important: Kosice has more monuments than every other city in Slovakia; is meeting point with Grover

4th stage: Gilvachi (Romania)
Size: very small
Water: one stream, some fields
Important: home village of Walter Mutter

5th stage: Targu Mures (Romania)
Size: medium / big
Water: River Mieresch, Lake and a subterranean water
Important: there you find the biggest Hungarian minority and the city was in the history a party of Hungary in places.

6th stage: Lacul Surduc
Size: Lake!
Water: Lake!
Important: Lake!

Routes No.III & IV: Ernie & Bert hitchhiking through Poland and Ucraine

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After Kermit and Cookie Monster we’re happy to announce the 3rd and 4th route for Tramprennen 2012: Welcome Ernie & Bert!
Starting in Leipzig and Dresden, these two routes will lead us mostly through Poland and Ucraine. crossing the Carpathian Mountains, whoop whoop!

Route No.III: Ernie

Dresden (D) – Krakow (PL) – Zamosc (PL) – Lviv (UA) – Lyuta (UA) – Carei (RO) – Lake Surduc (RO)

The Route on Google Maps

Start: Dresden (Germany)
Size: large!
Water: the river Elbe passes the city withendless grassland
Important: football, watch this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BJ7BDtE8yI

1st stage: Krakow (Poland)
Size: large
Water: Vistula river passes through the city
Important: the second highest building of Krakow has never been finished and is now named „Skeletor“

2nd stage: Zamosc (Poland)
Size: small
Water: there is a lake (at least seen on Google Street view :P )
Important: the city is listed as UNESCO world heritage since 1992

3rd stage: Lviv (Ucraine)
Size: large
Water: 296m above sea level
Important: was capital of chocolate in Europa and is still famous for sweets :)

4th stage: Lyuta (Ucraine)
Size: small
Water: three rivers (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene! :D)
Important: The European Rainbow Gathering took place close to Lyuta in 2009

5h stage: Carei (Romania)
Size: small
Water: not sure about that
Important: a Romanian football player was born in Carei

6th stage: Lake Surduc (Romania)
Size: Lake!
Water: Lake!
Important: Lake!

Route No.IV: Bert

Leipzig (D) – Opole (PL) – Gródek nad Dunajcem (PL) – Lviv (UA) – Dolyna (UA) – Dej (RO) – Lake Surduc (RO)

The Route on Google Maps

Start: Leipzig (Former German Democratic Republic)
Size: large
Water: many new lakes surrounding the city
Important: played the significant role in instigating the fall of communism in Eastern Europe

1st stage: Opole (Poland)
Size: medium
Water: the Oder River changed its direction after a flood to the West in the 16th century. 400 years later, the people followed ;)
Important: the Penny Bridge

2nd stage: Gródek nad Dunajcem (Poland)
Size: small
Water: situated directly at a huge lake (says google Maps, we’ll see!)
Important: funny name

3rd stage: Lviv (Ucraine)
Size: large
Water: 296m above sea level
Important: was capital of chocolate in Europa and is still famous for sweets :)

4th stage: Dolyna (Ucraine)
Size: small
Water: nature
Important: By the end of the 19th century to big city fires destroyed the town completely

5th stage: Dej (Romania)
Size:
Water: wherethe Someşul Mic River meets the river Someşul Mare River
Important: Dej means Deus (God in Latin)

6th stage: Lake Surduc (Romania)
Size: Lake!
Water: Lake!
Important: Lake!

The first 2 Routes: From Gent and Copenhagen to the Surduc Lake

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Heya folks,
Here are the first two routes of Tramprennen 2012, the 4 other ones will be published within the next days aswell! :)
Start: 18th August 2012
End: 1st September 2012

First off, the theme of this year’s race: the heroes of our childhood days – the Sesame Street muppets! :)
Route No.I: Kermit the Frog, starting in Copenhagen!
Route No.II: Cookie Monster, starting in Gent!

We have chosen the routes randomly and we have no clue what to expect there. Maybe you’ll see the most beautiful village in the world, maybe the most terrible city you’ve ever seen…But to be honest: We don’t care. Isn’t that the reason of travelling, to expect nothing except the unexpected? It’s up to you to make it a special journey: Welcome to the playground called planet Earth! 8 Billion people worth to get to know, billions of birds and plants, of trees and leaves, lakes and seas! The goal is not to reach a specific place, but rather to go on an inspirational journey. And we’re looking forward to be on the road for two weeks with many many great people and hopefully you aswell!

And now: Let’s DANCE! :)

Cookies and Quacks to you!
Cheeers,
Tramprennen 2012-Crew! :)

Route No.I: Kermit the Frog

Copenhagen (DK) – Lüneburg (D) – Dresden (D) – Ostrava (CZ) – Banská Štiavnica (SK) – Szeged (HU) – Lake Surduc (RO)
The Route on Google Maps

Start: Copenhagen (Denmark)
Size: large!
Water: sun, beach, water
Important: the autonomous town of Christiana is still existing

1st Stage: Lüneburg (Germany)
Size: small for a city
Water: just culture!
Important: City, country, fun… the tourism slogan of the city..

2nd Stage: Dresden (Germany)
Size: large
Water: the river Elbe passes the city withendless grassland
Important: football, watch this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BJ7BDtE8yI

3rd Stage: Ostrava (Czech Republic)
Size: third largest city of the czech republic
Water: directly at the river Oder
Important: center of the heavy industries in the Size!

4th Stage: Banská Štiavnica (Slovakia)
Size: very small
Water: mountains!
Important: town wall from the 13th century and we meet the other route

5th Stage: Szeged (Hungary)
Size: third largest city of Hungary
Water: river mouth of the Mieresch in the Theis, 15 small lakes and 3 big ones
Important: sunniest city of Hungary

6th Stage: Lacul Surduc
Size: Lake!
Water: Lake!
Important: Lake!

Route No.2: Cookie Monster

Gent (BE) – Kassel (D) – Prague (CZ) – Vranov nad Dyji (CZ) – Banská Štiavnica (SK) – Oradea (RO) – Lake Surduc (RO)
The Route on Google Maps

Start: Gent (Belgium)
Size: third largest city of belgium
Water: where the rivers Schelde and Leie crossing
Important: Gent is known as „the proud city“ and „the city of flowers“

1st Stage: Kassel (Germany)
Size: medium
Water: on the river Fulda and very,very green
Important: famous for the art exposition „documenta“

2nd Stage: Prague (Czech Republic)
Size: large
Water: on the river Moldau
Important: the golden emperor city with the big night life

3rd Stage: Vranov nad Dyji (Czech republic)
Size: population: 845 people
Water: a dam just around the corner
Important: it’s a market town

4th Stage: Banská Štiavnica( Slovakia)
Size: very small
Water: mountains!
Important: town wall from the 13th century and we meet the other route

5th Stage: Oradea (Romania)
Size: medium
Water: the river Crisul Repede is crossing the city center
Important: since 2008 there are trams of type ULF in operation

6th Stage: Lacul Surduc
Size: Lake!
Water: Lake!
Important: Lake!

Da läuft was schief…

/in ,

Es ist der 15.Oktober 2011, der erste weltweit organisierte Protest gegen Banken, Lobbyisten, Politiker, Atomkonzerne, Genmais, Arbeitslosigkeit, Bunga-Bunga Parties und Mario Barth. Ein Protest gegen alles sozusagen. Das scheint zu passieren, wenn der Körper gegen seine Organe rebelliert. Alles oder Nichts.

Vigo, Galizien. Am Ende des Protestmarschs eine Kundgebung mit Mikrofonzugang für jedermann. Attac, malestar.org und ein paar Betrunkene haben gesprochen. Dann kommt er. Gezielt und schnell zischt seine Faust in den Himmel, als würde er Gott persönlich die Nase brechen wollen. Zack! Volltreffer! Die Masse schreit und pfeift begeistert Beifall.[singlepic id=2011 w=320 h=240 float=left]
„In dem Land, aus dem ich komme, hätte man mir längst die Kehle durchgeschnitten! Wir können dort nicht auf die Straße gehen, protestieren und unsere Meinung öffentlich kundtun! Danke an alle, die heute ihre Stimme erhoben haben und auf die Straße gegangen sind!“, sagt der Mann und verschwindet mit einem fröhlichen Grinsen wieder vom Rednerpult.
Knock-Out in der ersten Runde. Mit drei Sätzen. Der Knock-Out für jeden Kritiker, Zweifler, Pessimisten, Miesepeter. Wäre dies ein Boxkampf, Boris Becker und Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder hätten vor Wut gepfiffen, stehend und mit zwei Fingern im Mund! Meine Freunde: Brot und Spiele sind vorbei. Das Römische Reich beginnt zu wackeln.
Wer noch nicht ganz verstanden hat, wogegen oder wofür eigentlich protestiert wird: Es spielt überhaupt keine Rolle. Die Menschen protestieren, weil sie protestieren können. Weil sie das Recht haben, zu protestieren. Und das ist gut so. Denn…

Mikrofon und MC `s sind nicht zu trennen wie Religionen und Krieg.
Da läuft was schief…
Ja wir und das Mic sind nicht zu trennen wie Nike und Kinderarbeit.
Irgendwas stimmt hier nicht…
Der Stift und das Blatt sind nicht zu trennen so wie Willkür und Macht.
Da läuft was schief…
Wir und dope Beats sind nicht zu trennen wie Lügen und Politik.
Irgendwas stimmt hier nicht! (Blumentopf – da läuft was schief)

Sechs Stunden vorher sind wir auf dem Weg von Santiago de Compostela nach Vigo, der größten Stadt Galiziens, und sitzen im Auto eines Journalisten der Zeitung „La Voz de Galicia“. „In der Form kann und wird das aktuelle System nicht weiter bestehen können. Ich kann euch nicht sagen, was passiert. Aber irgendetwas wird passieren.“
[singlepic id=2008 w=320 h=240 float=right]
Mautstation. Blauer Himmel, Sonnenschein. Drei Helikopter fliegen über unseren Köpfen hinweg und löschen einige Kilometer entfernt einen Waldbrand. Sieh an, da brennt er auch, der Baum. Seit Monaten hat es hier nicht mehr geregnet. Auch die Pflanzen warten auf einen Wandel.
Das nächste Auto hält, eine Englisch- und Deutschlehrerin. „Hoffentlich sehen wir uns später auf der Demonstration, ich werde in jedem Fall da sein!“, sagt sie. 1989 war sie zufällig in Berlin.
Vor Ort treffen wir auf die ganze Bandbreite an Altersklassen und Demo-Sprüchen, ob spitzfindig oder stumpfsinning. „Wir sind die 99%“, liest man auf vielen Pappschildern und auch in Gesichtern. Der Spiegel hat es im repräsentativen und metaphorischen Sinne wohl nicht ganz verstanden. Shits Happen.[singlepic id=2010 w=320 h=240 float=left]
Wir schlafen am Strand, ich schaffe meine ersten Meter auf der Slackline. Kein Boden unter den Füßen, die Arme haltlos in der Luft. Hmn, irgendwie bezeichnend. Generation Praktikum. Naja, vielleicht können wir unsere Zukunft auch ohne Fundament aus Beton gestalten. Ein paar Schritte bin ich schließlich schon ohne Ast vorangekommen. Irgendetwas jedenfalls muss sich ändern.
Zum Beispiel die Rückseite des Bustickets im ÖPNV von Vigo. Gutscheine für Gratisburger bei McDonalds. Sebastian Bensmann würde sagen: „Da schmeißte dem Hund halt wieder nen Knochen hin und dann hält er auch erstmal schön die Schnauze. Gib dem Pöbel was zu Fressen und Gut is.“ Selbst Käptn Blaubär musste irgendwann schmerzhaft feststellen, dass seine Feinschmeckerinsel eigentlich die Verschlingpflanze Gourmetica Insularis ist, sein übermäßiger Konsum ihn lediglich fett, träge und verwundbar gemacht hat. Blaubär wurde glücklicherweise vom Vagabundierenden Flugsaurier in letzter Sekunde gerettet. Doch wer rettet uns? Jesus? Sicherlich nicht. Vielleicht die inspirierenden Worte von Gunter Pauli. Im Hier und Jetzt jedenfalls sind es ein Argentinier und seine Freundin, die uns kurz vor der Dunkelheit an der Autobahnauffahrt einsammeln und zurück Richtung Santiago fahren: „Ich wohne schon ein paar Jahre hier, aber eine derartige Protestwelle habe ich in Spanien noch nicht erlebt. Soviele Menschen. Etwas liegt in der Luft…das konnte man gestern spüren.“[singlepic id=2009 w=320 h=240 float=right]
Etwas liegt in der Luft. Und vielleicht kommt er bald ja wirklich, der erhoffte Regen. Für die Pflanzen – und die 99%. Denn irgendwas läuft da schief.