User:Xnothingxheldxbackx

Hitching Experience

Big Trips

Finland to Spain (May-July 2006): Started in Oulu, Finland and went north and then down to Stockholm. Caught the ferry (didn't boat hitch) to Tallinn, Estonia and then hitched through the Baltics and entered Poland stopping in Warsaw and Krakow. Then went to Slovakia and stayed in Bratislava. Managed to get a free train ticket to Budapest so ended up going to Budapest. Then hitched into Belgrade, Serbia and then proceeded to get lost in the Balkans going through Bosnia, Croatia and coming up through Slovenia. Then got lost through the Alps passing through the Austrian, Italian and Swiss Alps before coming out on the tourist mecca that is Interlaken. Passed through Geneva before heading into France and stayed in Grenoble. Then hitched to Reus (south of Barcelona, Spain). From there hitched to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls. Was a fast paced trip as left Oulu in mid-May and was in Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls in July.

New Zealand (Dec 2006-Feb 2007): Flew into Auckland, flew out of Christchurch. Went pretty much everywhere in between. Again, fast paced trip with tons of hiking thrown in too.

Australia (May-December 2007): Left Canberra and hitched to South Coast NSW. Proceeded onto Melbourne. Then flew to Tasmania for most of June. Went back to Melbourne and went to Adelaide which was home base for most of July. From there went to Mildura, Grampions, Geelong and Great Ocean Road and then back to Adelaide. Then went to Kangaroo Island before finally returning to Adelaide and headed north. Went through the Flinders Ranges as far as Blinman before turning onto the Oodnadatta Track and following it up to Williams Creek. *WARNING* Outback hitching is not impossible but if you leave the pavement carry at least 10L of water with you! Most people will stop and offer you water even if they won't offer you a ride. From William Creek took a ride back to the main highway and came out at Coober Pedy. Met up with a guy had met in Adelaide and got taken 200km off the highway to a Aborignal Reservation. Then continued up the center to Alice Springs. Did 150km of hiking along the West Macdonalds mtn ranges before continuing north all the way to Darwin. Went through Kakadu Park and then kept going west out of Katherine. Then left the main highway again to hitch the Gibb River Road through the Kimberly. *warning* do not attempt in the wet season, best times are at the start of the dry july-august. the later you leave it the less cars travel the road. It is possible to travel into the northern Kimberly (Kalamburu) but there are even less cars. Be prepared for minimum waits of 4 hrs up to a day. Then went to Broome, and continued down the west coast until detoured inland at Port Headland to go into Tom Price and Karijini National Park. Came out and continued down the west coast to Perth with detours at Exmouth, Denham and the Pinaccles. From Perth went through the South-west stopping at Margaret River first and then hiking along the Cape to Cape before meandering through to Pemberton. Did a section of hiking on the fabled Bibbulumn track before ending up in Albany. Starting hitching towards Espearance but ended up going into the Stirling Ranges (spectacular!) and eventually Wave Rock and back to Perth. Left Perth and ended going all the way to Adelaide in 3 days. Got one ride with a truck to Port Augusta and then another ride into Adelaide. Left to hitch to Mildura but upon arrival the friend who I was going to stay with wasn't there so ended up hitching 24 hrs straight to go from Adealaide to Canberra. Trip pace varied between extremely fast paced (1000km a day) to very slow paced, stopping in places for up to a week.

Small Trips

First time hitching ever was near my home on Vancouver Island, hitched to the beach with my best friend (2003).

In 2005 hitched from Canberra to Sydney, Australia. Then from Bundaberg to Mackay (Queensland, Australia). In 2006 did a side trip to Scotland and hitched after the West Highland Way. Also had another ride on a side trip in Spain.

Statistics

Only done km stats on my big trips:
Europe 2006(Finland to Spain)- 5830km (according to google maps)
New Zealand - 4398km (according to google maps)
Australia - 21 832km (according to google maps)
Europe 2008 (Switzerland to Norway to Vienna) - 6978km (according to google maps)
TOTAL = at least 39 038km (according to google maps)

not in total - hitched sections of my trip in Africa: South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Malawi.

Have kept a pretty accurate ride count and it stands at ~550 :)

My Advice

BE PREPARED! Be ready for everything, have enough food, water, shelter and clothing for you handle whatever conditions that could arise where you are.

Refuse rides! or at the very least get out of the car when the chance presents itself if you have a bad feeling. I have never refused a ride but I should have. I have had bad experiences...not with guys coming onto me or getting robbed, but I have been afraid for my life because they are such bad drivers. Or they have been having a domestic dispute with their partner. Have even had someone do a drug deal with me in the back and then had the client get into the car and snort a line of coke!

Be a jack of all trades. Always let the cars occupants express their opinions first. Shape what you say around what they have already said. You may be selling yourself out but it makes for much pleasanter rides with much more hospitality extended to you.

Give prizes for awesome rides/milestones. For example, every 100 rides with something special for 500...any advice for me when I hit it? ;)

Know what you are getting yourself into. When you walk out on the road you are putting yourself in fates hands. Don't try to fight it, if the ride takes you back to somewhere you have already been, go with it. There is probably a reason for it.

Trucks are a great resource if you want to get somewhere fast. Talking to truck drivers is also extremely rewarding because normally they have traveled extensively. However, you often miss out on lots of small things and truck drivers are normally limited in where they can stop. Truck drivers seemed to be more likely to pull over in Europe than elsewhere. Only had 1 ride out of over 100 in New Zealand with a truck. In Australia it was much the same but because of the vast empty spaces in Australia I did go to some truck stops. Some truck companies will not allow anyone but company staff in their vehicles. I found over 50% of drivers were willing to drive me but often they were going to the wrong destination. In Australia, you are much much more likely to get a ride with a truck if you ask a truck driver while he is pulled over.

Don't get in trouble with the authorities! Know if hitching is illegal, or if it's just illegal on motorways. Police and especially border patrol can make your life miserable! :|

NOW

As of mid October 2008 I have been hitch hiking east from Rome. Started with my younger sister and went Italy-Slovenia-Croatia-Bosnia-Montengro-Kosovo-Macedonia-Greece-Turkey.

Sister went home. Kept going solo.

Turkey-Syria-Turkey-Northern Iraq-Turkey-Georgia-Azerbaijan FERRY! cheated :(

Kazakhstan....

plan on going to China, wandering around central asia and then come out in Pakistan and head to India and then onto Australia

)