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Picking up hitchhikers

1,217 bytes added, 20:23, 2 April 2014
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[[File:IMG 5212.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Yaniv with luggage and sign for [[Verona]]]]
A good starting point for your judgment is often their luggage. You should take a good look at the person's belongings as you slow down and pull over. Do they have a well worn rucksack and are their hands full with a map and a book while they frantically try to grab everything and rush toward your car? An honest traveler will probably have similar paraphernalia. Still, many hitchhikers hitchhike for short day trips on well-known territory and sometimes don't carry any luggage at all.
 
Other ways to know are
1. If the hitchhiker/s is/are walking on the highway with a sign or had their thumbs up as it tell that the person is trying to get some place. Keep that in mind if the person is not walking that does not mean he/she is not good enough to be picked up it could also be because tiredness.
2. Keeping a proper eye contact?
3. Smiling in a friendly way?
== Communicate ==
If, before you let them in, you ask them where they are going and they say a place that is very very far away, but you are only going to a place that really is just 20km down the road, don't just drive off as it is quite likely that they would very much appreciate the extra 20km that you can take them. Even one km can be a big help if you happen to know that it is a better spot (e.g. a big petrol station along the motorway) than the one they are in.
A better spot is also more important than how far. Taking someone from a good big petrol station and putting them on the motorway (or off the high way) might make more problems than it solves. As long as you can put the person at a somewhat better or the same quality place, a little bit of a ride is better than no ride, if not much else it gives the hitchhiker a new scenario and some hope.
In any case, it's good to show some sign of recognition, even if you don't plan to stop. A quick smile or a gesture indicating that you're only going locally can give a hitchhiker some hope. And many hitchhikers love human interaction, so it's nice to have a chat at a petrol station.
Most hitchhikers will try to converse with you to get to know you, in case they are not talking its good to try to initiate a conversation as they could be tired from all the waiting and walking.
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== Traffic light ==
Sometimes you encounter hitchhikers at [[Traffic light hitchhiking|traffic lights]]. If the traffic light is followed by a convenient place to stop it's best to go there. Otherwise you have to [[trust]] on your instinct.
== [[Petrol station hitchhiking|Petrol station]] ==
Many hitchhikers prefer to ask drivers for rides at petrol stations. This gives both hitchhikers as well as drivers more time to think, chat, and develop a rapport with which they can [[trust]] in one another. Some of the people working at the stations don't like hitchhikers and consider it soliciting so can be rude and may ask them to leave so if you feel like giving them a ride ask them to wait for you out side the gas station until you pick them up.
[[File:Washing car window in the North of Finland.JPG|thumb|250px|left|It might even happen that a hitchhiker cleans your windows]]
[[File:Parnu-riga.jpg|thumb|200px|[[User:Amylin|Amylin]] hitchhiking to [[Riga]]]]
It's great when it happens, but hitchhikers don't need to go to their final destination with just one ride. Usually a hitchhike trip takes many consecutive rides. To avoid missing out on cars that go shorter distances people often put two or even more destinations on their sign.
 
==Flexibility==
Hitchhikers are flexible travelers as when it comes to rides as their main concern is to get to the destination, so they wouldn't mind sitting in the back of a truck, if its allowed for example in [[Missouri]] its allowed to sit in the back of a truck. Ask them if they would be willing to ride in the back if you feel uncomfortable or don't have room to sit or simply leave.
== Stuff ==
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