Project 888/Press

note: not for distribution yet ! --Robino 23:57, 10 July 2008 (CEST)

[Fabrice] edited this today: 17:44, 11 July 2008 (CEST)

Feel free to use this press-release to your own local/ national context. You can distribute it to radio stations, tv, magazines, newspapers, etc.

English

A hundred hitchhikers to take part in European Hitchhiking Week

On the 8th of August and as long as a week before, hundreds of hitchhikers will team up to hitchhike to Paris to promote the idea of hitchhiking. Participants are hitchhiking from as far as Armenia, Russia and Finland. Other places of departure include Utrecht, Brussels, Berlin, Barcelona, Geneva, Rome, Athens, Istanbul, Budapest, Prague.

This project shows that the hitchhiking community is still very much alive. Every year thousands of people hitchhike all over the world; and in many countries it is still a common way of getting around. This is the first hitchhiking event of this kind. The goal is to suggest to the public that it could be a great human experience to pick up a hitchhiker, share their car and exchange stories. One of the participants established the goal of visiting all the European capitals before arriving in Paris on the 8th of August. Another couple in their late fifties , Marie France Gardiner and her husband, heard about this idea and they decided to also take part while touring Europe.

"I love hitchhiking! It is my favorite means of transportation because it is a great way to meet some nice people and exchange stories. It is great to see how helpful people can be. Sometimes they even bring you as far as your front door or they may invite you over for dinner and to spend the night", says Fabrice Renucci, one of the event organizers who will be departing from Yerevan, Armenia.

The European Hitchhiking Day became the inspiration for the shooting of a documentary. Five teams made up of a hitchhiker and a cameraman will be documenting what it is like to be a hitchhiker, filming their adventures from starting point all the way to Paris. Other participants will be contributing to this project with photos, journals, short movies, radio-recordings, and other art-forms, bringing together one joint expression of their love for hitchhiking.

Journalists are free to join the European Hitchhiking Week. They can team up with experienced hitchhikers, attend prepatory meetings taking place all over Europe from the 3rd up untill D-day. They may also follow a hitchhiker or call one of them along the way.

Contact details

French

Available on July 11th