Changes

*There is different things you can say about your marital status. If travelling with a guy, the classical story of the married couple can work well enough, but won't necessarily stop a determined guy from trying his chances. Also keep in mind that many truck drivers (but generally not drivers of private cars) know that foreign hitchhikers tend to lie about their status as married couples. This might actually encourage some truck drivers to try his luck even if in the first point they never intended anything at all. If travelling alone as a girl, it seems to be safer to say that you are unmarried - meaning, for most people, a virgin. The purity of virginity is widely respected and can provide protection. You can usefully combine both of these strategies (if travelling in a couple) by saying that you're cousins because a) you will be seen as a unmarried virgin, b) male relatives traditionally protect unmarried female family members and c) a cousin might at some point also have been picked by the family to be a future husband to the girl.

*Something that plays into the dynamics of hitchhiking in Turkey as well are the mostly Russian/Eastern European prostitutes that can be found practicing their trade all over Turkey. As a girl hitchhiking, be it alone or in company, you will at some point likely be confused with one of the working ladies. As an effect of many of those girls being Russian, the words "rus" or "natasha" have come to mean "foreign prostitute". If your driver says any of those words, he's most likely asking if you're a prostitute. Make very very clear that you have nothing to do with this, say ''yok'' very clearly without hesitating, smiling, laughing, or any other even remotely flirtateous reaction. Be insulted. Likewise it's not a very good idea to say that you're Russian or even from any Eastern European country that could be associated with Russia, especially Ukraine. If the driver has understood that you're not a prostitute, he'll usually not bother you about it any more.