1

I am not really a hitchhiker but I have been offered rides maybe a dozen times in my life.

I am a male in my late 20s. Nevertheless, yesterday I was hiking on a road and in a position where, if the roles were swapped and I were the driver, I would have probably offered me a ride.

It was evening, getting dark, it was a rural road, the traffic was not too frequent to make it dangerous to stop the car (there was maybe one car going by every couple of minutes), I was hiking southwards toward the village of Vojnic, Croatia, and there was no sidewalk. The culture of the area (north of the village of Vojnic) seems quite hospitable and friendly. Yet I walked for two hours including in the dark without being offered a lift, resting in a couple of non-operational bus stops along the way. Could one of the issues be that people in this rural area are maybe not confident enough in their English or German language ability to offer a ride? Or are people less likely to offer rides because it is on the routes used by migrants? Is there anything one can do to skew the odds in your favor a bit?

To clarify I wasn't actively soliciting rides by gesturing with the thumb up sign (I might or might not do consider doing this in the future because to my mind it has a semblance to begging), but I still thought someone might stop to help out. (I am also not normally walking in the dark - it was an exception).

Edit: this is awkward for the question, but I found a much higher level of xenophobia in southern Vojnic municipality which wasn't obvious elsewhere. I suppose this is another reason I have reservations about using the thumbs-up sign: in xenophobic area in particular, it may be less safe than other methods as it's awkward using this method to decline a lift if something doesn't seem quite right with the driver. I am therefore interested particularly in secondary methods like strapping a sign for the place you're driving to your rucksack.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/5gtEEn4hz1eovdfC7

Improve this question
10
  • 6
    I am not sure if there are cultural differences in play here, but where are you from? I've been hiking quite a lot in central and northern Europe and never expected passing cars to stop and ask if I wanted a ride. After all, the purpose of hiking is often the hike and not necessarily getting from A to B.
    – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
    Commented Jun 10, 2023 at 11:39
  • I am influenced by experiences in Germany and Slovenia. I am very inexperienced in hitchhiking, but from my few experiences I thought somebody would offer a lift if I were in need. In Slovenia I was offered while waiting at a bus stop which the person in the car thought was not in use at that time of evening, & another time when I was walking alongside a road in the rain. This time I thought maybe because it's dangerous to walk along a road in the dark. Once I also took part in a hitchhiking race for charity in Germany in a small team & we barely ever had to wait at Autobahn petrol stations
    – novice
    Commented Jun 10, 2023 at 13:05
  • 4
    FWIW, I have been living in Germany for the last 30 years and I have never experienced in that time that a car stops to ask if I wanted a ride. I would have found it rather odd if someone did.
    – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
    Commented Jun 10, 2023 at 13:10
  • 7
    Noone wanted this to be a discussion about how easy it is to hitch hike in different countries, but you are asking about a situation where you were not giving any signs that you were looking for a ride, but expects car to stop and ask if you need a ride without it in any way being obvious that you seek a ride. What I am saying is, that it may of course be countries where that is common, but I have never been to one and I find your expectations more than odd.
    – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
    Commented Jun 10, 2023 at 13:47
  • 12
    "What can increase the chance of hitching a ride?" - "actively soliciting rides by gesturing with the thumb up sign." You will increase the chance of a ride if you actively let drivers know you're looking for a ride. Seems obvious to me.
    – Midavalo
    Commented Jun 10, 2023 at 14:46

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
10

You will increase the chances of hitching a ride if you indicate that you want or need one.

The easiest way of doing so is the thumb up sign. This is not begging, this is showing intention.
An other time honoured method is holding a piece of board with the name of a town, mostly a destination but anything in the direction you are going may work. You can have this under the straps of your backpack so it shows to cars coming up behind you.

Actively walking along a road with no sign you need or want a ride is often seen as hiking your way there, not wanting a ride and drivers will often not offer rides as they themselves would not expect to want a ride in the same situation.

Improve this answer
3
  • 1
    Sorry about that! I was wondering also if it would be possible to expand a little bit on where people get the cardboard from, since I haven't seen any lying around (although I know in some cities it does lie around). Do you ask for cardboard in the supermarket? Sorry for the dumb question!
    – novice
    Commented Jun 17, 2023 at 16:40
  • You can ask in any shop, if you can communicate with the people. People expecting to hitch rides may well keep some board in their gear.
    – Willeke ♦
    Commented Jun 17, 2023 at 17:01
  • @novice I usually hitchhike by asking around at gas stations. If I need a break from talking, I ask the staff there for a piece of cardboard. They are usually very friendly towards hitchhikers.
    – Ben
    Commented May 31 at 1:23
1

I wasn't actively soliciting rides by gesturing with the thumb up sign

In Croatia (and in the Balkans in general) it is quite common to see people just walking from A to B along the road. So for the drivers you were just part of the landscape (at night they could not see you were a "hiker" instead of "one of them").

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .