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I'll soon be continuing my world hitchhiking trip from Germany to Scotland.

When I need to use ferries I try to find one that charges per car because I can try to hitch a ride with somebody taking their car on the ferry.

If there is no such ferry then I'd also like to know and I'll put aside some money for the ticket.

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A quick check on the most basic ferry of all, Dover-Calais with P&O, reveals that the cost of a car is the same no matter how many people are in in it. Simply check the price on this site and vary the number of people. I suspect that most other routes are the same.

However you do have to book the number of people, so your plan to hitch a ride is unlikely to work. And security considerations would probably prevent it happening anyway.

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    "security considerations would probably prevent it happening anyway" -> what "security considerations"? Also, is the number of persons booked per car actually enforced, given that the price is the same?
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Commented Jan 26, 2020 at 5:09
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    Ships require a passenger manifest. So every passenger must be booked.
    – Krist van Besien
    Commented Jan 26, 2020 at 9:17
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    I've since learned about the requirement for the number of passengers to be in the paperwork in advance. Tell me more specifically about these security considerations though. What do you know, or is it just a vague assumption?
    – hippietrail
    Commented Jan 26, 2020 at 13:24
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    It is a security consideration. The ship’s security. Ships are allowed to carry a certain number of passengers. In case there is an accident or a fire the crew needs to know how many people are on board. Hence everybody must be recorded.
    – Krist van Besien
    Commented Jan 26, 2020 at 16:37
  • @KristvanBesien sure, but who's to say you cannot add an extra passenger as your car enters the ferry terminal?
    – JonathanReez ♦
    Commented Jan 28, 2020 at 0:56
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The Eurotunnel might be your best bet as they do charge per car (and up to 9 passengers.)

It is also the quickest crossing.

That said, security is quite heavy on channel crossings, and the penalties for people smuggling high so I suspect that it will not be easy to find someone willing to offer a lift.

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    Security is definitely heavy. I took a ferry as a foot passenger and obviously cleared UK immigration still in France, having a good laugh with the immigration officer whilst he was checking my British passport. Enjoyed a great experience at the ferry, then to be greeted by an extra immigration check when we arrived. It seemed like Border Force pretty much interrogated everyone (from the foot passengers at least). The lady was straight off asking me questions for probably 5 minutes (when at the airport immigration you might get 1 or 2 questions if ever mostly as a curiosity). Well, now I know.
    – kiradotee
    Commented Jan 25, 2020 at 21:45
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    Surely being a legal tourist with an Australian passport would be enough to make people not worry that smuggling is happening?
    – hippietrail
    Commented Jan 25, 2020 at 22:39
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    @hippietrail. Possibly, and you might well get lucky if you patient. But there are often hundreds of people hanging around the roads near Calais trying to get across and so people will be more wary than usual and will be taking a risk in trusting that you do indeed have the right to enter.
    – Mark Perryman
    Commented Jan 25, 2020 at 22:46
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    The problem is that most people using the tunnel would not be able to distinguish a legal tourist with an Australian passport from an illegal immigrant with a forgery claiming to be an Australian passport.
    – Patricia Shanahan
    Commented Jan 26, 2020 at 1:27
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You can also use the train ferry which is subsidised and not super expensive to the Netherlands and Ireland:

It’s probably best not to try and circumvent the ferry rules when you’re travelling across an international border, they could deport you which would be very bad.

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  • The seat 61 site has instructions how to get train tickets from any station in the Netherlands to several in England. seat61.com/trains-and-routes/…
    – Willeke ♦
    Commented Jan 26, 2020 at 9:02
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    I don't want to circumvent any rules. I've ridden with people who were taking their car onto ferries before. But I won't do it when/where it's not allowed.
    – hippietrail
    Commented Jan 26, 2020 at 13:21

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