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It's easy to find a lift in a service station on Europe's many highways leading towards Calais, but if you're in Calais, it's a good idea to wait in front of the ticket office. When buying a ticket, the driver has to produce a passport or ID card of every person in the car, so you should be going into the office with him.
If you can get a lift into the harbour terminal with tickets bought in advance - and you usually will as it doesn't matter if the number of passengers stated on the paperwork and the number of passengers are not the same - you might have some time before the ferry leaves, espcially so with lorries. Use this time well, walk around the huge parkings (which is perfectly fine) and talk to as many people waiting for their ferries as you can. You'll often be able to get a better lift, especially one going past London if you're going north. There might be an issue if the number of passengers coming into the harbour isn't the same as coming onto the ferry, but [[User:Zenit|Zenit]] followed said strategy successfully in May 2011 - P&O don't check the tickets again as you enter the ferry (only as you enter the port), Seafrance ''might''. It might be a bad idea to let the vehicle that brought you into the port in the first place cross without you - if somebody tries to give you shit, you won't be able to "prove" that you'll be crossing etc.
You can also get across by tunnel. Cars and lorries get loaded onto a train which takes them over. The price is the same for each vehicle as well, no matter how many persons there are in the car. However, it is very difficult to get a ride at the tunnel entrance itself, because the road has about 15 lanes coming directly from the motoway, the cars are going quite fast and the drivers will concentrate on finding their correct lane, so most of them won't see you. The staff is quite unfriendly and you will be sent away (remember though that this also applies if you try to hitch too far in the port. Most people are being told that hitching by the tunnel entrance is illegal (which is probably doubtful).