Many people think the days of Kerouac style travelling are long gone and that hitchhiking is just for uni students going to Morocco for charity. However it’s a rewarding yet under-appreciated way to travel. For me hitching has often been faster and more comfortable than the bus as well as a great opportunity to meet some interesting local people. The following tips should give you an idea of how to get going.

1. Make a sign using cardboard (from any supermarket) and a thick black marker pen. Make sure the name of your destination is as big as possible. For a long trip it’s quite handy to take a whiteboard panel and wipe-able pen so you can keep reusing the same sign. You can also add some personality to your sign, examples of things I’ve tried drawing are: a smiley face, writing “student to …” on the sign and putting s.v.p on the sign while I was in France. They all worked nicely.

2. Choose your spot wisely! You’ll need to find somewhere so that cars have enough time to see you and read your sign as well as space for them to stop just past you. A great website with a plethora of rated hitching spots to try out is www.hitchwiki.org. One word of warning; the map won’t show you the best way to get to each spot so you might find yourself climbing fences and running across private property… but that’s all part of the adventure.

3. I would advise girls to hitch in pairs for safety reasons but for boys I’d say don’t be afraid to hitchhike alone. As a single man you’ll be less intimidating than a group and also it’s more likely the cars driving past will have space for you. In fact most lorries have only one passenger seat so if you travel in twos you’ll miss out on an effective long haul lift.

4. While you’re waiting for a lift listen to some music and just enjoy yourself. The hardest part of hitchhiking is being patient and taking a lot of rejection repeatedly. You’ll see people drive past pretending not to see you, people with full cars gesturing that they’re sorry and many people laughing and generally looking surprised that you’re waiting  for a free ride. Hold your thumb out with your sign up and keep smiling, I promise someone will stop eventually. I’ve always had in mind a contingency plan that I would only wait for an hour maximum and if it took longer than that I’d take a bus.  Having hitchhiked over fifty times in eight countries the longest I’ve had to wait was forty-five minutes, more frequently than you’d think I even got picked up in less than  five mins. (The quickest lift I ever had was in Switzerland, after I stuck my thumb out the third car that came past picked me up, it took less than thirty seconds.)

5. When a car pulls over run up to the front window and ask the driver if he can take you as far as you need to go. If  they can only take you part of the way it’s probably worth taking the lift anyway because the nearer you get to your destination the more likely it is people will be travelling there. If they’re going to somewhere away from the most direct route its probably worth waiting a little longer for a more practical ride. At this point some people say you shouldn’t take a lift if you have doubts about the driver, while this may be true, I think its pretty judgmental to decide someone is probably dangerous by how they look. It’s up to you what risks you take but in my experience I’ve met a range of amazing characters who you might deem to be odd at first glance.

6. Carry a pack of cigarettes or a bag of sweets with you so that you can share them with the driver on the journey. It’s a great way to break down the stranger barrier and show that you appreciate the lift. Then you’ve got the journey to get to know someone completely random!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA                                                          Hitching from Bosnia to Croatia