The art of hitchhiking

The art of hitchhiking.

In these times of JoyMakers (as in smartphones) taking nearly complete
control of our travel experiences, I'd like to recall some pure spontaneous
beauty commonly referred to as hitchhiking or auto-stop.

The first time I tried to hitch, I did it as a joke.
How surprised I was someone would actually stop & offer a ride.

Starting off with little town to town rides, mostly not lasting longer than
10-15 minutes, I slowly moved on to longer distances lasting at maximum
12 hours.
One of these longer rides, from Austria to The Netherlands, I could
even take a nap in a bed.
Like the ones in the cabins of long distance trucks.
Clearly beats Ryan Air et el.

The main obstacle to overcome are waiting and safety.
As for safety, I sure many plane or train journeys can be just as dangerous
as hitchhiking. One needs to be on guard always, no matter where
one might go.

I've waited anywhere between, less than a second to about 6 hours.
Many times I've moved to another location after 2 to 3 hours waiting.
Usually by foot, sometimes by bus or train.
The occasions where I've waited more than 3 hours were usually at
isolated petrol stations on the motorway/ autobahn.

The longest wait, as far as I remember, was 6 hour wait in Hamburg
for a ride to Berlin, in the time that the iron curtain was still in place.
The new autobahn to Berlin was just completed, and the route was
not in use much, as I found out.

Keeping in mind the intensity of the traffic is the best way to avoid long
waiting times.
So to the contrary of the Hamburg- Berlin route,
the 2 southern corridors are way busier.
I recall that even in the middle of the night,
the corridor Hanover- Berlin never gave me any trouble.
Mostly within half an hour an opportunity for a ride would occur.

The shortest waiting time I've experienced was zero seconds.
The guy that offered me a ride, asked an old couple if they'd
went the right direction and before getting out of his car,
a new ride was secured.

There's much more to mention,
I'll leave that for later.

To be continued...