Hitch Hiking 101: A Beginners Guide

Welcome to the crazy, chaotic world of hitch hiking!

My initial thought for this post was to write some kind of 'Top 10 Tips' or something, but as I began to think and plan what to write I realised my first two points were as follows:

1. Not everyone is out to get you, putting your faith (and life) in the hands of some random person as they speed towards a town you've never heard of takes some getting used to, but 95% of the time they're friendly and will ask 1000 questions about you - mainly, why on earth have you chosen to hitch hike.

2. Some people are not to be trusted, follow your instincts and don't get in a car if you don't feel it's the right thing to do.

... Although both these points are true, they are rather contradictory, which could lead to a bit of a pointless 'Top 10 Tips'...

Welcome to the confusing, chaotic world of hitch hiking. What works in one place won't in the next, sometimes a simple thumbs up - which I feel is the universal sign for someone who needs a lift - can be incredibly rude depending on where in the world you are.

For us, this trip across from London, England to Vilnius, Lithuania, consisted of a lot of lovely ransomers, some of which were incredibly interesting; Sonja for example, was a 71 year old Dutch lady in her 30 year old camper van who was heading back to her home from Croatia where she had been holidaying with her husband for years and when he passed away 4 years ago, she just kept up the tradition and travelled the 1500km (ish) all on her own.

One thing to prepare for is a lot of down time and decision making when you're tired and hungry. A lot of sitting in cars. Sitting at gas stations. Sitting by the side of the road. Deciding where to sleep. Deciding where to stand. Deciding where to eat. Deciding what to eat. Deciding which gas station will be most lucrative to your needs. To have a sign. To not have a sign. How to stand your bags. How to position yourselves on the road. Is it legal to hitch hike on roads. Is it legal to hitch hike from gas stations. Is it legal to hitch hike at all...

Generally for me personally the whole experience was a lot more fun and easier than I expected, although stressful at times, but I put that down to never having travelled at such a leisurely pace before. I needed to find something to worry about.

Luckily I had an experienced hitch hiker with me to keep me cool, calm and collected when my head got a little hot and my heart got a little tired of the journey.

All was fine, until we hit Poland, which we were told it would be difficult, but after the ease in which we moved from place to place in the first 5 countries was not expecting the patience that would be needed for Poland. Our crossing from Dover to Dunkirk, across Belgium, Netherlands and Germany was easy going with a useful lift coming by every 5 - 15 minutes. But in Poland it was a whole different kettle of fish - as my mum would say. We would stand at gas station for hours in the blaring heat being ignored a hell of a lot. Some people will at least acknowledge you and explain in very short hand signals they're not going far or their car is full, which is completely fair enough. Other people though will find a reason to look anywhere but at you, and it is one of the funniest things to watch, although frustrating after 4 hours.

In some cultures it's just not something people do, making it a bit of a difficult way to travel at times.

Now a very important point to make is that patience is a virtue... Patience is your best friend.... Sometimes your only friend... Now I am 100% renowned for being impatient and grumpy when I'm tired/hungry/uncomfortable (sorry mum and dad!), so for me this was a a test. Your patience and concentration will be measured, if you start to day dream of getting a quick flight or getting a comfortable train, then the magic and romance will leave your hitch hiking experience and you'll just feel like a lemon. Finding ways of enjoying the slow pace of hitch hiking is the best way to survive and start to enjoy the experience. Appreciate lifes journey rather than racing to the end destination as fast as possible, don't wish your life away and any time negative vibes come along - which they always do - just overrun your tired, achey, frustration with good vibes of appreciation and love for everything you have and you'll have a great experience!

I really did start off wanting to write a 101 guide to hitch hiking, as a beginner myself, but it's just not possible in my eyes. The experience is what you make of it. You decide whether it'll be a positive and life affirming choice and whether the journey is an important enough part of life to take your time over getting somewhere. And at any point you can decide to catch a flight, train, coach home if it's not for you... it's all down to you.