So I've been doing hitchhiking for quite a few years now and was wondering if any of you by any chance does it on a regular basis. The first time I tried it (on long distances) was 7 years ago on a holiday in France (I was 16 then) and since then I have travelled this way quite a lot, never outside Europe though. If any of you is into this then this is the thread to post any experiences you might want to share.

My best one probably was when I returned from France (near Lyon) home to Poland in just 19 hours. I was returning with my sister then. We made almost 2000km in just 19 hours. Used 4 cars. And arrived almost at our doorstep. That was great.

But the most memorable ride was when I was with a friend some 2 years ago. We were near Brno in Czech and were trying to get to Bratislava. And we actually caught a limo. It was on a petrol station, we have been waiting for some 5 hours, on the road for the past 24 hours, and starting to get desperate when this limo came. It was a driver working for the Chinese embassy in Bratislava and he took us all the way there. It was really my friend who asked him so credit goes to her. Pretty much the only time I rode in a limo. :D

Anyway, why I'm writing all this... there is this annual hitchhiking competition held in Poland, and every year it is from Gdansk in Poland to a different city in Europe (the idea is to visit and get to know other European cities). I'm participating for the third time this year; that limo incident happened on one of those. Anyway, the idea of the competition is you travel in 2-people teams, you can only use hitchhiking and whoever arrives first wins. Then there is 1 or 2 days during which you can visit the city.

Anyway, today the official announcment came. This year the 10th edition of the competition is from GDANSK to SPLIT in Croatia. 28th April to 2nd May. I'm really excited. [img]smile.gif[/img]

So, if by any chance any of you from Europe would like to come and participate just let me know and I'll get you more info. And since I've never hitchhiked in Croatia, if and of the Croatians here have any tips then I'm all ears.

Well, hitchhiking in the States is, I think, illegal. I do remember when I was a kid though driving in the van with my mom and sister, she picked up a lady who ran out of gas. That was my only encounter with a hitcher. But I'd have to say, after seeing "The Hitcher", I probally wouldn't pick up a hitcher, unless she was an attractive girl.

Hitchhiking through Croatia? You'll find very hitchhiker-friendly people here. Can't tell you any further than that, never hitchhiked for long stretches myself. I guess the normal rules of hitchhiking sanity apply here as well as anywhere.
If you find yourself in Zagreb with time to spare, contact me somehow, and we'll go get a beer or something.

Is there any sort of prize for winning the contest? And how do you know the winners actually hitched the whole way instead of arranging transportation ahead of time?

I'd only pick up a hitchhiker if i knew them. Anybody remember the movie "Monster" with Charlize Theron as Aileen Wournos, the hitchhiking prostitute who murdered guys who picked her up? The strip of highway she frequented was the same road I commuted to work on. Don't think I ever saw her, but who knows?

They don't. You have to promise at the beginning of the tournament that you'll only use hitchhiking.
There are not any big prizes to be won. And international trains are quite expensive. So you'd be stupid to spend money on those just to arrive first and win. And besides, even if you spend all that money, you'll have to find a train that fits that timetable, and even then you won't have a guarantee that you arrive first: a hitchhiking team could still beat you and you could spend all this money on nothing. Of course if you want to you could still cheat and use something other than a train in a way to make sure you win (airlines, your own car...) but that is even more expensive and in the end you really are only cheating yourself.

As for prizes, This year the champions will get a souvenir cup and a some small prize, second and third place will get some small prizes, and everyone including the losers will get to visit a beautiful city, meet many interesting people and have lots of fun. And also this certificate.

Oh yes, and before in those competitions you could only use public transport in the starting and destination cities. Recently they started allowing the use of public transport within any city of population 100,000+. It's really good they allowed this because if you arrive at one end of the city and your destination is on the other side it was almost impossible to get through it. Now, you can use public transport to get to the other side of the city.

Just on a side notice, those tournaments are not relly same as normal hitchhiking.
_In normal hitchhiking you travel during day and if at night you're not travelling in a car, you find someplace to go to sleep. In the tournament time is a factor so you don't want to waste any second and hitchhike even at night.
_In normal hitchhiking you can normal transport to get through some sections of your route.

I just confirmed it with the other person that they'll be able to make it so my team is ready. I'm really excited about it, this will be great. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I used to Hitchhike quite a bit when I was in college (late 80's)... and I still do pick up hitchhikers occasionally (you don't see folks hitching much anymore in the US).

My most memorable ride was a short one, I was picked up by an older African American couple (noteworthy due to the fact that there were VERY few minority families in the area I lived in... other than American Indian).

As I settled into the back seat, we started chatting, and just about the first words out of the gentleman's mouth were "Do you know Jesus?" Well that question startled me (to say the least), and I paused for a couple seconds. They were breaking the hitchhiking rules, asking such a personal question, and it made me wonder if or how I should respond. I thought about it and couldn't really come up with a reason why lying would be better than just going with the truth, so I responded "yes". I was on my 15th year of Roman Catholic education by then, Jesus and I were just about on a first name basis.

In hindsight, I think they were asking so they wouldn't make me uncomfortable, because after they were sure I was a believer they pulled out their bibles and started singing old gospel Hymns. This was how they passed the time on long trips, by singing... and I could tell they'd been doing it for a LONG time. Now I guess you could say that this was something new for a Catholic boy from Upstate New York. Not just the fact that I was riding along with a Black couple when I’d never even talked to a Black person before in my life, but just as much from the religious side. Catholics don't really talk about Jesus outside church, and certainly not with 'strangers'. Catholics don’t sing their belief for all to hear… it’s just not seemly.

Well as you might surmise, these folks were most definitely NOT Catholic. They had the windows rolled down and were just singing away… WHERE ANYONE COULD HEAR! Another sure sign was the songs, not something you'd hear in any of the Churches I'd ever attended. It wasn't the stuffy orchestral stuff with their somber cadence, chock full of pomp and circumstance. It wasn't the flower child folksy stuff, with strumming guitars and overtones of Sonny and Cher. This was the real deal, songs that had me imagining a swaying choir section and clapping hands. These were gospel songs for a church that was ROCKING... leaving no doubt in my mind forever after why the Black community could produce so many brilliant musicians while the white community produced DISCO. It was a 20 minute concert I’ll never forget.

That sounds like a very cool contest.

I rember I was on the side of a road. There was a pick up that passed me. He had a small fridge in the back. And I am guessing it was not strapped down to well. Because it came flying out the back. The guy was by himself. So I ran up the road and helped him put the fridge into his truck. Then he gave me a ride. Was only up the road a few miles though. [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

The majority of hitching in the States is on the West coast where there's still a large subculture involved with several common sites for hitchers and cyclists to meet and sleep etc.. It isn't entirely illegal - depends on state law and then it still depends on if you attempting a hitch on the interstate or other roads (which normally present less legal problems).

I've spent sometime travelling between Victoria, Canada and the Bay Area.

Just be sure to bring some pretty girls along for your team, that'll make it a lot easier to get rides.