Hitch hiking, or thumbing a ride

This is a guide to hitch hiking around Europe and some of my observations while I was doing it.
Hitching a ride
I used to hitch a ride everywhere; I would go all over Europe from Denmark down to Spain and from England right over to Greece.

Sometimes I would get a bus to the edge of the city but usually I would walk and find a slip road to the motor way then stick my thumb out and wait and often within minutes someone would stop and pick me up, but sometimes I would wait all day long and not get a ride.
Hitching a ride to Greece was the longest ride and it took four days in a van with eighteen beauty queens going to Athens for a contest.

Paris is a hard place to get out of if you don’t get on the right road for cars or trucks to stop. They have to see you and be able to pull over easy.
I’ve had rides in cars, big trucks, buses, vans and motorbikes. I once went all over Greece on small motorbikes with my bags clutched tight in front of me.
I had a good ride once in a truck that took me all the way from Paris to Portugal chatting non-stop all the way with the driver; but mostly the rides take you to the next town.
Getting dropped off on a crossroads in a hot country miles from anywhere can mean being stranded for days before you see a car come by and sometimes walking to the next town is all you can do. I once got left in the middle of nowhere in Spain but got a ride on the back of a tractor to the nearest road.

There were times I would have to sleep beside the road in my sleeping bag to wait for the next day and for the traffic to come along so I always made sure I had water and some food to see me through the night.
No one likes to pick up a wet traveller so if it rains it’s best to just hole up somewhere until the rain stops. Night time is another time they don’t like to stop for you so when it gets dark it’s time to find somewhere to sleep.
Sticking your thumb out for rides is a good way to travel but in some countries they don’t recognise the thumb and you have to use your hand down by your side as if flagging them down, which is what you are doing really, so it is good to know the local ways to hitch a ride.
Using a sign is good and a lot of people will stop because they’re going to that exact same place.
If you’re a girl don’t go flashing your leg or you’ll get the wrong sort stopping. If there’s two or more of you trying to get a lift then stand together and be upfront, don’t go hiding the extra one in a ditch to come running if a car stops; bad idea.
If there are two or more hitching then it is best to split up and meet later at an agreed place; people don’t like to pick up too many.

A good combination is a man and a woman with not too much baggage; people feel safer when they see a couple and are more inclined to stop.
Single women on the road will often attract the wrong sort and so could be asking for trouble so it is better to travel with a companion; two women together is better than one alone.
Two men travelling together may have to wait awhile but it is often the women drivers who will stop for them. I once hitched rides from England right down to southern Spain with my best friend and found it was mainly women who pulled over to give us a ride.
One woman in France took us south for hours and as it was getting dark by the time we were about to get out, she offered us the use of her wine cellar to sleep in for the night and then gave us breakfast in the morning and took us to the edge of town to the best place to carry on.
There are dangers out there so you do have to be careful. If you don’t feel right about getting in a car then don’t, back off, there’s always another ride and the next one could be just right.
As a man I was never afraid to go it alone but even so I can tell you there are some strange people out there so it is always safer to go with another.

On slip roads to highways, motorways, autobahns or auto routs you will usually meet others there first and so will have to wait your turn for the best spot, but many times I’ve got there last and within moments a ride has stopped for me, so I think your luck could depend a lot on what you look like and how clean and tidy you are.
On motorway service areas you can ask for a ride to where you’re going when drivers have eaten and feel relaxed and are more inclined to listen to you, but don’t bother people when they are eating because it annoys them, wait until they have finished and you will have a better chance.

The policy of truck drivers is not to pick anyone up in the UK but in Europe some of them will still stop for you and if you give them your duty free allowance you can get across the channel for free or very cheap.
Some pick you up because they want someone to talk to on their long journey so be prepared to be agreeable, it’s a small price to pay for a free ride.
Images from Pixabay