How to Hitchhike

I think one of the scariest things I did in the last 2 1/2 years was overcome the embedded fear of hitchhiking, and I'd like to share a little bit about it with you all!

In the United States, it seems we are constantly hearing about these frightening hitchhiking experiences. People pick someone up and wind up in a ditch, they see an "unassuming-looking" person standing there thumbing a ride, and end up without their wallet, or some tramp (oldschool term for someone who hitchhikes around) turns out to be a total creep...with a weapon. It's no wonder that most people here will tell you not to risk it and the law forbids it. And with stories like that flying around, I really can't blame anyone for being scared to either be the hitchhiker or the lift-giver. But this was something I wanted to put to the test, and last summer I did.

While I was traveling in Portugal, I met a Bulgarian gal who had hitchhiked all the way from Bulgaria to Porto, Portugal, a distance of well-over 3,500km (roughly 2,174mi), and was so inspired to give it a shot. I mean, I Couch Surf so I can spare costs on housing, why not hitchhike so I can also spare costs on transportation? Oh yeah, that's right...I'm totally freaked out by the idea of doing it! Hah!

In the end, I did hitchhike, and in spite of being asked to "make love", offered to be taken to Lisbon (about 315km/195mi in a direction I wasn't headed) and given a place to stay there and friends to hang out with, and one man that gave me a lift trying everything he could to initiate some sort of bodily contact with me, the experience wasn't bad.

Ok, so all of that sounds pretty bad, I did vow after to never hitchhike in Portugal or Spain again, and it definitely highlights some of the MAJOR issues we have in the world with men/women's relations[hips], as well as how women are viewed and believed to be acceptably treated, but I am not going to get into that right now. That's awholenother post of its own. So, back to hitchhiking....

Since I first tried hitchhiking last summer from Porto to Madrid (I ended up catching a train from Salamanca to Madrid because it got quite late and I couldn't risk not making it to Madrid that night since I had a flight to Norway in the morning), I have since hitchhiked from Rotterdam (Netherlands) to Leuven (Belgium), Leuven to Beauvais (France), Osuna (Spain) to Ecija (Spain), Split (Croatia) to Zagreb (Croatia), Zagreb to Ptuj (Slovenia), and Triesen (Liechtenstein) to Lugano (Switzerland). There have been so many more occassions in which I could have taken advantage of this free mode of transport, but didn't because I made any number of excuses as to why it might not be the best option at the time. But again, I begin to digress, and this is all really beside the point. Just trying to provide some background, and now that I have, I will get on to some tips on How to Hitchhike! :)

Thank you for you patience. <3

So, tips, How to Hitchhike, here we go!

• Don't be afraid or better, don't let fear get the best of you! I know this is hard, but you just have to walk out there trusting yourself and confident it's going to be great. Trust me, great things happen through hitchhiking. If you need some proof, check this out!

• Be ready to face rejection. Over, and over, and over, and over again. It's good practice for life, really. But just remember: don't take it personally.

• Trust your intuition and don't be too nervous to say "no" to someone. If you get the creeps from someone, then just say "no." Once, my friend and I were hitching together, and a guy stopped, as he was getting ready to clear the backseat for us, she asked me how I felt about it, and we both admitted we had a weird feeling, so we said, "You know, I think we'll wait for a ride that's going to (where we were going, but you can say anything, really), but thank you!" and let him drive away. It's your life on the line, so don't be too concerned about offending someone who stopped for you if they weird you out.

• DO NOT DRESS IN SEXY CLOTHES! This one is more specific to the ladies out there... I think this shouldn't even need to be said, but, you never know. i realize rape culture is horrific and it shouldn't matter what you're wearing b/c it doesn't mean you're asking, but there is some level of common sense that needs to be involved when you plant yourself on the side of the road. And dressing skantily is not part of that. (PS. I hold no responsibility for liability for anything that happens to anyone during their adventures, no matter how inspired by my stories it might be. Lo siento.) My Bulgarian friend actually suggested dressing in gender-neutral clothes, so from a distance they won't know if you're a boy or girl. What I found? I wore my baggy, massive hippie pants almost every time, and was still offered sex and hit on. So, it doesn't make a difference.

• Write down your route. If you're not going to have data on your phone whilst hitching, then make sure you write down all the possible highways/freeways you can use to get from A to B. And here's a tip: download HERE Maps to your phone. They work offline. Download the app + the maps specific to whatever country you'll be in. Then you can check your route as you go, and figure out which city/town to put on your next sign based on where you might get dropped off.

• Smile, smile, smile, smile! And throw in some waves! You're a human, reaching out to other humans, when you bring your personality into it, people are more apt to stop! The first time I hitched, I got dropped off at a petrol station, and immediately saw I wasn't the only one trying to get a ride.. a Polish guy with a sailor hat was also waiting. Now that's a good way to break down some barriers and put off the fears of the driver!

• Read everything you need to on hitchwiki! This is the best source I've ever encountered for hitchers, and you can even search where you're hitching from, and see what the pro's recommend in regards to where you should plant yourself to hitch out from heading whatever direction you need. There hasn't been a time I've hitched that I haven't hit this page up first. It's like wikipedia for hitchhikers, and contains endless amounts of valuable information.

• Always have an extra pen on hand! You never know when your Sharpie will run out!

• Get ready to have some awesome adventures and meet some great people!

So, ready to hit the road!? Hope so! And don't forget to stop by here, Facebook, or Instagram and share your hitching stories with me! ^_^

Blessings, Love, Light & Wonder from Above to all of you!

-Allie-Sun <3