Our first time with BlaBlaCar

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More than 1 thousand kilometres, 8 cities and some nice people we met while hitchhiking using BlaBlaCar.

Rob and I always search for the cheapest transportation, most of the time we use buses to get from one place to another. But when we were trying to leave Portugal the options were quite expensive. We got a flight ticket from Seville to Marrakech and we had to go from Lisbon to the Spanish city in a cheap and safe way.

That was the first time that we hitchhiked. Actually it wasn’t a proper hitchhiking because we paid for the ride, but definitely was the first time we traveled by car with a completely stranger.

Before starting our journey around the world we had already heard about BlaBlaCar, but never thought about using it. Turned out we didn’t have a cheap alternative to reach Seville so we decided to have a look on BlaBlaCar website and got surprised by the offer of rides.

blablacar

If we traveled by bus we would pay around 47€ per person. With a shared car we paid just 13€ each. That’s it, we got a ride with a really nice girl. Our first time hitchhiking was a great experience.

With two days in  advance, we booked the car. The meeting point was at Setúbal’s train station at 12 pm. We left Lisbon around 11 am, we took a train straight to there.

Train to Setubal

At 12:15 pm she arrived with another girl, we loaded the car and started the trip. In the beginning, I was worried about travelling with a strange. But when I got inside the car I realized that the person who should be scared was the driver. She was with three completely unknown people in her car, and one was Rob with the double of her height. All of us needed to trust each other!

That’s the amazing thing about this type of community. People trusting, respecting and sharing. It is a win-win situation. The ride took almost 5 hours. Of course, I slept almost the whole trip, and that’s why we don’t have any picture. But don’t blame me, Rob slept as well!

Once we have broken the ice and had a good experience sharing a car, every time we need to travel we check the Blablacar website. Till now (4 months on the road) we already hitchhiked six times. It has been 8 cities around Portugal and Spain, 1.121Km reached and some really nice people that we met.

Check out the official BlaBlaCar website here!

Have you hitchhiked in Europe? Did you about BlaBlaCar? Leave your thoughts!

18 thoughts on “Our first time with BlaBlaCar”

  1. Shelley!
    Thanks for stopping by!
    BlaBlaCar is really a nice experience, we got good drivers that gave us more than a ride, we receive useful information about the destination and also had a good time together. If you have the opportunity to try go for it.
    It`s cheap and fun!
    Best travels!
    Nat & Rob

    Reply
    • Hey Lily!

      For us sharing a car was always a good experience! Some drivers are more serious, others are talkative and fun. But always really respectful and pleasant.

      As you are traveling alone I recommend to check out the drivers´ profile, if they are male or female, and the reviews about them are really helpful. Some girls just give rides to other girls. That way you will fell safe to start sharing car.

      Good luck and best travels!
      By the way, I loved the penguins on your website!

      Reply
    • Hey Juergen!
      For sure it´s not a new thing, but professionalize this type of “service” is good. Especially considering the safety for the driver and travellers in sharing the car with a strange. And I believe that more and more companies based in sharing economy will appear in a few years.
      Best Travels
      Rob

      Reply
  2. BlaBlaCar and other websites about sharing rides are a really nice solution for travelling. You spend less and meet nice people! 🙂
    Around Spain, Portugal and France works perfectly!

    Cheers
    Nat

    Reply
  3. We’ve used blablacar a few times since being in France and it is so popular here, especially because of the ridiculous costs of motorway tolls. It is definitely the cheapest option, its safe and you get to meet cool people 🙂

    Reply
  4. Major travel warning about Blablacar!!!

    I booked a ride to Sevilla where I had to take a flight I couldn’t’ miss since I had to pick up my mom, who was coming from Canada, at the same airport.

    They made a huge mistake and, despite receiving a confirmation by email, my name didn’t appear on the driver’s phone app. The ride was full and I was left alone where I had no other option but to take a taxi which ended up costing me 200 EUROS. Being in a small city not well-connected sucks.

    I asked for a compensation of the same amount in credit to use on their website, but they refused saying the they couldn’t aka didn’t want to.

    I used to praise this service after using it a lot, but please, be careful. They don’t care about you; they don’t care about leaving you stranded and penniless and taking you hostage on a day you had no other option but to empty your travel savings because of a mistake they’ve made.

    Reply
  5. You feel like you became hitchhikers for the first time but in our country Uganda, it’s something very normal.

    Reply
  6. These blabla cars seem enjoyous, as a person, i think you get to interact with various people depending on who is next to you.

    Reply

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