Hey! Just wanted to ask if there is someone fighting with depression/anxiety/PTSD, and how do you manage to be okay while travelling? Both me and my boyfriend are diagnosed with mental illnesess but we are still travelling by hitchhiking (our longest trip was 2 months on the road!) Im proud of us that we can do that even tho we have these problems and i think we can cope with our illnesess pretty well even while travalling, but still i would like to hear if there is someone like us. Thanks :)

Hoping to arrive at about 07:00 at the northbound "Liftplaats" next to the stadium of the local FC Utrecht, with the bus, actually two, from my mother in De Bilt. Destination is Vilnius, and no sightseeing, just moving on, although spending a night sitting in a petrol station might not be ruled out. ;)

Only, you already know what's coming, female partner, two guys are just too slow, and happy to drop you off anywhere along the route, most likely via Hannover, Berlin, and Warszawa. Then again, I came to Utrecht via Frankfurt, a matter of a small 300 or so km detour, and although I don't expect that to happen again, it might.

Contact details @ https://prino.neocities.org/, but feel free to reply here if that makes you feel safer.

Has anybody got any recent experience hitching this route? Or hitching in Spain in general?

A buddy and I hitched across Spain back in 2017. We managed it but always had long waits.

I’ve a day to get from Faro to Sevilla as I have a flight. Thought I might save the €20

Just having had a look at my stats, I found a weird, wonderful, and totally irrelevant coincidence:

1. This year has 366 days,
2. The trip from Vilnius to Utrecht this Tuesday/Wednesday is my 366th recorded trip, and
3. The ride with the Turkish woman that dropped me off almost next to the bus-platform on the station in Utrecht was my 366th ride of the year.

Yes, I like numbers…

Hi there! I'm looking for information about hitchhiking from New Orleans to Chicago. I'm gonna go to New Orleans next summer and I have to arrive to Chicago in just one month.

I would like to know if is it legal, some advices and everything you can recommend.

Thank you very much

After getting up at 3:45 to answer a call of nature, I decided that it wasn't worth trying to get another 25 minutes of sleep, so got out, ate a few crackers, let out the dog to let him lift his leg, and at 4:50 I decide to go. The first bus doesn't go until 5:19, and I walked up to the over-next bus-stop, where I stuck out my thumb, if I were to get a ride into Vilnius, rather than take the bus I would gain about half-an-hour, the 35 bus arrives at the stop where I need to make the first transfer some four minutes after the 2G bus has left, and that delay, waiting for the next 2G, would causes me to miss the next transfer, to the 68.

Needlessly to say, I got my ride, at 5:06, from a guy who'd picked me up before, earlier this year, at about the same time, and at 6:21 I reached the A1 next to the Gariūnai market. Just two(!) minutes later I was on my way, the driver graciously dropping me off on the first petrol station on the A5. It took me close to an hour of asking around to get the next ride, to the A5/129 junction. After crossing the A5, and walking back to the slip-road after the petrol station, it took six minutes to get the next ride, to the just finished junction towards Vilkaviškis and Marijampolė, and from there another short ride took me to the exit for Kalvarija and Vištytis.

Nineteen minutes later I got my first real long ride, with an Ukrainian guy driving an Estonian-plated van on his way to Warszawa. I didn't go all the way to Warszawa, as it's nowadays even harder to get out of the place. There are two useful MOPs (rest-areas) before Warszawa, and where I used to get out at the old MOP Gaj, I nowadays get out at the far more modern MOP Przyjmy, around 70(!) km before the Polish capital.

It took 1:42 to get a ride that could have taken me to Pforzheim next to Stuttgart, with a Lithuanian guy who happend to live in Groningen in the Netherlands, but again I decided to get out a bit earlier, on MOP Nowostawy, just before the A2/A14 junction, where I had my "traditional" plate of tomato soup. Four minutes after finishing, I was on my way again, this time to MOP Tulce, the last MOP before Poznań.

And here, at 18:00, 789.7 km and 13:10, of which 7:32 spent driving, the thumb stopped working. I don't know how many people I asked for rides in the next few hours, but nobody wanted to give me a ride, including, it would have been nice, a potential one in a pink-gold Porsche with what might have been a female "influencer". She was actually going to Germany, but as a woman alone she didn't fancy giving me a ride, c'est la vie…

In the end, at about 22:30, I decided to get some sleep, nestled myself on one of the benches, and "slept", waking up at about 4:30.

At 5:00 I started moving again, a Polish couple on their way to Giessen told me that they could take me to Berlin, and, horror of horrors, rather than driving past Berlin on the A10, as I was told they would do, they turned into Berlin, and at 8:00 I was dropped off, fortunately, close to the Schöneweide S-Bahn station.

More than three hours later, (a walk, an S-Bahn ride, a much delayed ride on delayed regional train, and another walk) I finally reached Raststätte Michendorf on the A10. Let's say I wasn't a very happy bunny, and the presence of another hitchhiker, also heading towards Hannover didn't improve things. He walked around, and eventually told me that he had found a truckdriver who could take him towards Helmstedt, but didn't seem very enthusiastic about it.

As there wasn't a lot of traffic, midday isn't really a time people leave Berlin, I decided to do what some of you might consider a bit silly, go for plan-B, and also consider rides to the west via Frankfurt, and at 11:54 I struck gold, a guy in a very nice modified BMW M5 gave me ride towards Erfurt. Sadly, when the winter tires had been put on, they were not properly balanced, and that unfortunately limited our speed to just about 200 km/h, according to the driver the real top-speed was around 340 km/h, and when I was dropped off on Raststätte Eichelborn Nord, 243 km later, just before Erfurt, our average speed had just been 144.k km/h, respectable, but not much more than that.

It took 14 minutes to get the follow-on ride, a ride towards Frankfurt with a guy who happily ignored the fact that he wasn't allowed to pick up hitchhikers in his company car, one of the favourite (99.9% bullshit) excuses in Germany to say no to hitchhikers. He could drop me on Raststätte Wetterau on the A5 just north of Frankfurt, but in the end, at 16:16, I ended up a bit to east on Frankfurt on Raststätte Weiskirchen on the A3.

Having covered 792 km after leaving MOP Tulce at 5:00, I should have been, distance wise, in the Netherlands, but instead found myself with around 450 km to go to Utrecht. Ouch…

But Prino being Prino, "the darkest hour is before the dawn", half an hour later, and by that time it was really dark, I found a Dutch guy returning to the Netherlands from a fair in Nünrberg, and just over four hours later, he was tired and the weather wasn't very nice, so he didn't drive very fast, I was back in the Netherlands, a bit over 60 km from my destination.

Quite amazingly the two rides that took me to Utrecht were with women, both of them giving me rides with very little hesitation, and just as remarkable, the first was Polish, and the second originally came from Türkiye, and although the latter was on her way to Amsterdam, she picked me up just south of Vianen, she asked me where I would like to be dropped off, and when I told her that somewhere next to the central station in Utrecht would be really nice, she just changed the destination on Google Maps on her phone, and I was dropped about 100 metres from the bus-stop of the bus going to my real final destination, my mother in De Bilt, and just eight minutes later it departed.

In the end I covered well over 2,000 km, where the "real" distance from my start in Vilnius to Utrecht would have been around 1,665 km. Was the extra 20% worth it? For me it was, if you've only stuck out your thumb for your first 10,000 km, you might think I'm insane, but once you've covered your next 90,000 km (or like me, your next 750,000 km) you might agree that being flexible with your route may not be that bad.

Hi there! Is there anyone here who has traveled from Iran to Pakistan? How dangerous is it? What is the best way to go, and which is preferable - hitchhiking or train? Are there any trip reports about this region? Maybe there are some guides? Thanks!!!

Hi fellow hitchhikers,

Seasoned in hitchhiking abroad with my friends and solo in France/Belgium for a few years now, I decided to set off on a solo hitchhiking trip through Eastern Europe (September - November). It was a kind of trial run for a longer hitchhiking journey—one that I’ve been dreaming of for a while—lasting at least a year and spanning multiple continents.

Of course, I met many amazing locals, was often incredibly lucky, and received so much generosity and kindness from so many of them. But the problem IS that I had bad experiences, exclusively with men driving alone. Over a month of traveling, there were 3 men who tried something or made inappropriate insinuations while I was hitchhiking, and one fucking Couchsurfing host.

When I talk about it to people around me, the blame is often put on me: I shouldn’t travel alone, it’s too dangerous... This trip gave me a huge disillusionment—I feel like I lost a part of my freedom. I know I’m already very lucky to be able to travel, but I’d really like to have the chance to travel with more peace of mind. These very bad experiences (which, I know, make up only 1% of my rides) reopened some old traumas. Now, I’m constantly afraid when I’m in a car with men and always expect the worst.

You might say, “Well, why do you keep hitchhiking, especially with men driving alone?”

1. Because I don’t want to give up this freedom.
2. Because I don’t want these experiences to make me start thinking that all men are disgusting creeps.

I’ve become much more careful about who I accept rides from, but obviously, you can never really know! A creep doesn’t necessarily look like a creep (cue the remix of don’t judge a book by its cover).

Anyway, I’d love to hear about your experiences, especially from other women who hitchhike solo. How have your hitchhiking journeys been? Are you afraid? How do you react in alarming situations? Do you have any tips to share? Have you ever had this kind of disillusionment? A lingering sadness or anger because you feel reduced to nothing more than a sexual object instead of a human being?

PS: I don’t need to explain why hitchhiking over buses/trains, right? You get it!

How to find your way in life after traveling?

Hey yall, I hope this question is alright for this sub. Dont know where else to ask.

I left home at 15, couching surfing around friends houses until I was 17. Then left the south, traveled west, and hitchhiked up and down the coast for a few years w some kids I met along the way. Around 22 I tried to go back to a normal life and moved back to my home state. 24 I said fuck it and went travel on foot again because it was all I could ever think of. 26 I bought a suv and traveled living out of the back of it for a couple of years. I finally settled into a spot out west and havent traveled for a few years now. Anyway, I really love where I live and it's the first place I've ever lived where I actually consider staying but here's my problem:

When traveling, I feel more like myself than any other time in my life. I spend my days doing whatever I choose to do and would barely spend any time busking to make just enough money to live on and not worry about anything else. Now, where I live is beautiful and lots to explore and adventure, but I spend more time working than actually living my life just to afford to be here. Also I've had trouble finding a new community here because traveling so much has just made me a very different kind of person than most of the ppl I meet and it's hard for me to relate to ppl in college or w kids or who are much more established than I am. Sometimes it feels like traveling was me living real life and living in society just feels mind numbing.

I'm a little older now(early 30s) and not really looking to travel on foot again, but considering getting another suv to live out of. I've also thought of woofing or helpx or finding a permaculture spot to live and work at. Sorry this is so much but if anyone could give me a little help w some direction or how they feel fulfilled in life after traveling I would really appreciate it!

TLDR: how do I find direction in life again? I went back to a normal life and it's boring compared to traveling

Trying to travel from Eugene Oregon to LA California

twenty one & have hiked across country.

From gulf of Mexico to pacific coast & I hiked to Colorado.

So... starting off expect alot of mental strain never give up n take care of them feet; keep ultra healing lotion.

While trekking & always hydrate I went to Colorado, first mistake @ this time of the year (09-2-24) & from Florida it took a month itself for a ladyfriend Californias got 3 thousand miles of beach Length Try to hike down pch (pacific coastal highway) itself & id recommend stay away frim new york as ive never been.

Heard its rough & I was in LA last week.

plus keep a knife on u & tons of lighters; & get a hammock.

tents are too heavy.

So states ive been through i will list.

if you have any questions feel free to ask,

Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, new Mexico, & Arizona, & last but not least California.

(I did a cross country hiking) any questions or tips (got About 4 thousand miles under my belt...?

I was in a pub watching a rugby match and I met this french guy who told me his story about hitchhiking all throughout Italy while Couchsurfing, and I was immediately fascinated by it, so I decided I want to do it as well.

I've traveled a lot and consider myself pretty frugal, but I don't know exactly what essential gear to take for my first trip. I'd like to start right after Christmas, for 2 weeks, taking a plane to Eastern Europe and making my way back to Italy.

Are people easily approachable there? Is Couchsurfing widespread (I didn't buy the subscription yet)? I already slept on a bench in Slovakia once and don't want to repeat it.

All the tips I've gathered online just tell you to buy the most appropriate, and expensive, gear, but again, in the spirit of hitchhiking, I refuse to spend unreasonable amounts.

A long shot, but does anyone have any experience hitching (as a westerner/outsider) in any of the above countries since the war started? Does it still work ok, any problems with authorities etc?

Hey guys,

I dont know if this is appropriate, but I wanted to share my insta page with you. Before I started my journey, I was really uncertain whether it would be possible or not: a month ago I started hitchhiking from Germany to India with my doggo named Karakol with a budget of 5 Euro per day. Didnt have too much experience yet hitchhiking, last time doing so was before covid and I was worried that people wouldnt stop for me and the doggo.

But what should i say? It has been a phenomenal month, all the sorrows I've had beforehand were really unnecessary. People do stop for us, more than just sometimes even because of the doggo, they invite us home and are so damn helpful that I still cant grasp it fully. I am uploading a video of our adventure every day, so if you want to join us on our ride come over to www.instagram.com/thumbsandpaws or https://www.tiktok.com/@thumbsandpaws or https://www.youtube.com/@Thumbsandpaws

But beware, we like to travel slowly and are still in Croatia after 50 days, as the journey itself is the destination. I want to experience nature, culture and happiness!

Thumbs Up

Michael and Karakol

Hey there vagrants, travelers and bums. Asking this because I couldn’t find a solid answer and I couldn’t come up with one myself. So I’m not really an experienced hitchhiker, but not also a total newbie, I have like 5000km under by belt so far but I just cannot decide on this matter. When I’m in a city, and I DO have a way of getting to a gas station/truck stop on the highway that doesn’t involve hours upon hours of walking… is it generally better to try and hitch from the city from an on-ramp (WAY more cars passing you at normal speeds) or go to a gas stop on highway (the few cars that do pass, every one of them is doing a long trip) and try my luck there? If it matters, I’m talking Europe so far. Thanks in advance for any advices. Happy travels everyone!

I am a 21 year old college student from New York. This January I am going to be studying abroad in Florence, Italy for 3 weeks. I am going to fly into Barcelona, Spain and spend the next few days hitchhiking along the coast to Florence.

I have a plethora of small hitchhiking trips under my belt so I have a bit of experience, though I’ve never done it in Italy. I am going to challenge myself to find accommodation as much as I can through the people I meet along the way, but I can always rely on hostels.

Do you have any tips for me or sights I should stop and see along the way? I was toying with the idea of heading up into the mountains to stop at the Isola 2000 ski resort for a day.

I’ll be flying into Barcelona on the 27th or 28th of December and I want to get to Florence by New Year’s eve, if anybody wants to join me for part of the trip.

My birthday is coming up soon and I wanted to celebrate by hitchhiking from Toronto to San Diego.

My plan is to go through the east coast so pass by New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and California, and then either fly back home or travel up to Vancouver and fly from there.

I want advice on what places are best to hitchhike in the U.S. (are there particular roads or spots), what towns anyone recommends I should check out, and if anyone knows of a site that can connect me to folks who are hosting couch surfers.

Hi guys, I'm looking forward to hitchhike east Europe, specifically in the Balkans. I am starting from north of Italy, where I am from. I intend to keep it low budget, camping and couchsurfing if possible. I would love to have a companion and a buddy to share the trip with. I only hitchhiked in italy, and I am curious about other countries. About the dates I'm pretty flexible, I was thinking either February or April. So if you are up for it, then write me :) Nice travels

Headed home for thanksgiving to Missouri! If anybody happens to have a preferred way out of Chicago I'd love to know what junction you take to get out of town. Should I go all the way to Harlem and Archer or are there any gas stations right off of 55 with a high rate of helpful truckers? Also would accept HH stories from the area just to paint a picture of what to maybe expect here 👍

Hello! I'm Chris, an 18 yr old guy from Athens, Greece who is planning to hitchhike across Europe to Ireland! My most likely route is GR-NMK-SRB-HR-SLO-IT-CH-FR-UK-IE. Do you have any tips, or even, would you be willing to join me on part of this trip? It's my first hitchhiking adventure.

Всем привет! 17 числа буду буду выезжать из Калуги в Краснодар автостопом. Делаю для себя некий опыт,хочу поделиться с вами. Уже холодно,так что придется держаться силой мыслей и рукой в штанах. Буду выезжать к вечеру,так больше шансов найти человека который возьмет меня. Так же,я парень и для меня хуже ситуация,мало кто захочет брать парня в машину. Я выгляжу не особо приятно,нет не в том плане дефекты или грязный. Лицо,постоянно уставшее,мешки,бледная кожа из-за проблем со здоровьем. Такая себе картина,честно говоря я бы не пустил себя в машину.

I'm thinking of hitchhiking from the Netherlands to Italy or Portugal next summer after i'm done with my master. But i read on here that Spain, Italy etc are all hard to hitchhike in. Any advice or recommendations for different countries or places? Thanks!

And it's too early to go to Palanga, so wish me luck adding a Kaunas yo-yo. 🤣

While adding a bit of code to the REXX exec that produces the file to update my "to-hitch" list, I found out that while I hitched on 1,080 days, I only got picked up on 1,060 days…

The discrepancy?

I've had six rides that spanned three days, which obviously means that I didn't get picked up on the day in the middle. The other 14 non-pickups were not only all on the last day of a multi-day ride, but on the last day of a trip.

I can't go too far at the moment, but I can get you out of the state. I know it sucks to get stuck in bmore. I have room for two and dogs.

https://www.zeewolde.nl/nieuws/liftershalte-kwartiermakerslaan