Hot answers tagged hitchhiking
14
If possible, try to hitchhike with someone else - it's slightly harder as two to get a lift, but much safer.
Text someone with your route when you get a lift, as a back-up safety so that someone knows where you are. Include the make and model and license plate of the car.
I've heard people suggest carrying a knife, but to me that feels like it might end up ...
9
The short answer is yes. I've hosted probably 20+ people who got to my location via hitchhiking, and most of them had hitchhiked all the way across Europe and couchsurfed most of the way.
The only method is messaging people individually, yes, but I don't see why that's a problem. Simply state that you're hitchhiking and will be there on sometime between x ...
9
Simple answer: YES. Not necessarily in that there are signs, but certainly there are many hitching-friendly countries. Some people on this site would claim you can hitch in any country.
Hitchwiki is a great site for checking out the 'hitchability' of a country. It has a list of all countries and their ratings for your quick reference guide.
So for ...
9
There is a similar exchange for hitch-hikers in Norway called haikeren.no. I haven't used it, but I would find it strange if you find any offers for a ride on an odd route like Kiruna-Tromsø on a specific date. You can of course place your own ad to tell that you are looking for a ride, but I don't think the site is well known and much in use. Even if you ...
8
This totally depends on the country, each country has different rules. Wikipedia has a page dedicated to Knife legislation. Check the countries you will visit before brining your knife with you.
Same thing goes for pepper spray, it is different from one country to another, again Wikipedia has a page dedicated to pepper spray.
Stun guns are a bad choice as ...
8
Well the obvious answer is to hitch - that'll lower your transport costs massively ;) It all depends on whether you're up to trying that. I don't tend to, personally, but on the occasion I have, it's pretty fun.
One thing to note about the public transport on Sicily is that it's nearly a 6 day service - the transport options are massively reduced on ...
8
For private charters, the industry term for what you are describing is "empty leg". A quick internet search will bring up a number of sites that list empty legs.
The NY Times had an article about this recently: http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/travel/fly-a-private-jet-at-public-prices.html
7
I've been hitchhiking all over the world for the past year and a half, currently in Europe. But we're not supposed to do broad or list questions on Stack Exchange.
So rather than list out all kinds of stuff I can think of I can make it one right answer by pointing to what might be considered the current best online resource:
The Hitchwiki page on ...
7
I once forgot a towel while backpacking. I was on a minimalist trip, so I didn't want to buy one and as I was traveling with only a schoolbag sized pack, I had very limited absorptive items (only 2 shirts, one pair of hiking cargos, one pair of board shorts total). So, every morning, I would shower, then use the shirt I wore the previous day as a towel, then ...
7
things I do occasionally with my towel while traveling:
fold it to a pillow at night, or cover any (stained) pillows i encounter in cheap hostels/motels
place wet clothes on one half, then wrap the other half over it and sleep on it, and the clothes should be dry next morning
as a beach towel
group loose or dirty/wet items together in your backpack
fold it ...
6
As @Halabi already mentioned, the answer differs from country to country. I was expecting that the answer be that both are not allowed. Apparently even pepper spray is allowed in some EU countries.
Personally I would say both are really drastic measures to protect yourself and unnecessary. In general you would not need those to protect yourself.
In Europe ...
6
Towel? Air dry, if needed.
As for sleeping, I always went with the long johns, ski mask, coat and gloves approach. You can shed those items during the day and take up half the space as a bulky, "look at me I'm obviously a vagrant" sleeping bag.
But yes @Ginamin, towels make amazing pillows.
6
I used TomTom Route planner to check this out.
And it confirms that SH4 is their suggested route, so I'd suspect it's totally fine to travel on.
5
The first thing to mention is that it's common to exchange phone numbers when making or accepting a couch request. I basically require that myself, since if you're going to trust someone with your place of course you should trust them with your phone number!
It sounds like the only solution for your dilemma is planning stays further in advance. You are ...
4
Well since you've not been too specific aside from 'without a car', I'll take this opportunity to go to town.
1) It's technically possible to walk between the two places. According to Google Maps and Directions, it'll take you approximately 1 day and 15 hours of solid walking, so I'd suggest trying to fit in rest stops, at least in Baltimore.
Also be aware ...
4
There isn't much of information available, but I could find one sentence that may help you:
Hundreds of trucks go daily from the port town of Igoumenitsa, in the
north-west of Greece (coming with ferry from Italy), Istanbul and
other Turkish destinations. 99% of these trucks will be driven by
Turks and sometimes Iranians too, and the remaining 1% ...
4
I calculated the route of your trip so that we can see trough which regions you will probably travel. The first part of your trip goes trough Armenia and there is already the first problem. Wikipedia says about the climate in Armenia:
Winters are quite cold with plenty of snow, with temperatures ranging
between -10 and -5 °C (14 and 23 °F).
I think ...
4
So, this is a question which is probably a little subjective - some people will probably tell you to be careful and never camp, others will say they've never heard of problems (much like when you tell someone you want to use Greyhound buses in North America).
A bit of research seems to say that:
" Amongst the wild animals found in the forests of Georgia ...
4
Hitchwiki.org exists.
Now when it started, it was more about the 'hitchability' of each country, but it's now evolved to include a forum and groups, so you can try and organise hitching in advance, or meet up with other hitchers. It covers most countries in the world, and is in multiple languages.
4
I found this site: carpoolworld.com with Norway listings, but the community here does not seem so big as Mitfahrzentrale or Mitfahrgelegenheit (in other countries also known as Carpooling).
So, the answer would be: similar websites are popular in several European countries, but not in Norway in particular.
4
Lightweight synthetic hiking trousers are designed to allow a comfortable range of motion and to wick away sweat, while still offering some protection against the sun and minor scratches.
Even if not hiking in the back country, they have features that make them excellent travel garments, such as
multiple deep mesh pockets where you can store your map, ...
4
I've hitchhiked plenty during the 1990s, all over continental Europe and never found a sign useful. I would make sure I would travel from gas station to gas station, where I then could talk to drivers in person. You get to know the driver a bit, and the driver gets to know you a bit, while you can figure out whether the driver is going in the right direction ...
4
To counter @jpatokal a little - although I get what he's saying, I have hitchhiked with and without a sign.
In the UK, I tried to hitch from Guildford (hah) to Southampton. The driver who finally pulled over said that he only slowed to see what my sign said, so in that case, it got his attention. I merely had the road on it (A3 if I recall), as it gives ...
3
Obviously this varies between jurisdictions, but I don't think any jurisdiction would consider you an accomplice for something you had no knowledge of.
However, some jurisdictions make it a (completely separate) crime to not notify the authorities of certain planned or commited crimes that you are aware of, and of course depending on the nature of the ...
3
IMO it depends on the road layout. In most places the ramp simply leads to a road in one direction. However in some places, Gordano Services (Bristol UK) for instance, the ramp leads onto the road system where the driver then changes to Wales or London.
In such places a sign is a useful thing. I would suggest carrying a fat marker pen...if you find you need ...
3
In Japan, I used a sign that said simply "I SPEAK JAPANESE" (日本語できる), and was repeatedly told that they would not have picked me up without it. Of course, you have to actually know the language to be able to use this!
But other than that, I think signs are generally pretty useless. It's better to have more cars stop and have to wave on a few because ...
3
In France, there are no such road signs, but there are ways to organize hitchhiking.
Many web sites such as carpooling.fr or covoiturage.fr let you express your travel need or find a driver willing to take passengers.
The most obvious support from government is to not forbid hitchhiking.
Another form of support is through the promotion of car pooling by ...
2
I have done hitchhking in Belgium (Ardennes) without much problems.
There are no official signs. Btw, I also didn't see them in the Netherlands (and I live there).
For the netherlands: I see regularly people hitchhiking, good places to stop are gas stations (especially along high ways, but you have to get there by car first). From there you can go almost ...
2
The best solution I can think if is using Google Maps. Enter your route and let it display on the map. Then go to the search box and enter for example hotel, hostel, camping, etc. You may have to try several keywords to find anything useful. After that, each result for that keyword is displayed on the map. Now you can check which of them are close enough to ...
2
Without specifying a jurisdiction, every answer to this question would be "maybe, or maybe not". There's a legal term for this: being 'accessory' to the crime ('aiding and abetting' in some countries / situations). It also depends the severity of crimes and usually, the more a severe a crime, the more likely it is that you can be charged as being an ...
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