Have You Ever Hitchhiked?

[litechick]

It's one of those things that I think is getting lost in time.  My impression is that a graph would show hitchhiking on a steady increase and peaking in the 60's and dropping off dramatically from then until now.  These days I think it is something which is just Not Done.

 

I only ever hitchhiked once in 1992 but it was a big trip--300 miles each way--and every ride would be its own story.

 

On the other side of the coin, I have picked up a few hitchhikers and the blue ribbon winner was the guy who revealed that he didn't really need the ride and lectured me about how stupid I was for picking him up.

 

Have you ever put your thumb out?  Have you ever picked someone up?

[Altherion]

Not intentionally, but a few times I was walking alongside a road wearing the badge of the lab I work for and people would stop and give me a ride. I don't think it was ever for more than an hour's walk, but it's still nice.

[Arkhangel]

No, and I would never. As a young woman it just seems stupidly dangerous. Sure, the vast majority of people who might give me a lift are probably great people who'd be fun to hang out with - but all it takes is one nutjob who gets you alone in his car and that's it, you're a body in the woods.

[3CityApache]

I used to travel all around Europe hitchhiking between 1993 and 2000. I've been to Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and France. The longest trip took about a month and we made more than 4 thousand km with my girlfriend. Netherlands was by far the best place to get a lift.

 

As a student I used to hitchhike constantly in Poland as well. Some crazy stories I could tell.

 

And when I drive without kids I always try to pick up hitchhikers.

[The Mance]

I used to hitch quite a bit.  I'd catch a ride up the mountain when I worked in Taos Ski valley almost every day.  This was fairly common, though, so often there'd be a line of hitchers waiting at a particular parking area.  

A few longer trips as well:  Winterpark, CO to Taos, NM returning from a summer of tree planting.   Bellingham, WA to Dana Point, CA returning from a summer of salmon processing.  Tulsa, OK to Tampa, FL after van died and needed to catch up to vacationing relatives of my travel companion.  

 

I made the best time on the Winterpark trip, though that was one of my sketchiest rides.  Got picked up by a Dog the Bounty Hunter lookalike in a huge diesel dually pick-up truck.  Ameriacn flags and bald eagles plastered all over the place.  Wouldn't let me keep my pack in the cab with me because carjacking!  Which was also the reason he had a loaded 9mm under his leg the whole ride.  Spent the whole 3 or 4 hours listening to a frothing at the mouth, 1994 equivalent of a Teahadi rant about gunz, illegals, and "faggot hippies"  and etc. ( I can only imagine this guy under Obama).  Anyway, I think the only reason he didn't kill and eat my faggot hippie ass is because I was actually on my way home from having a job.

[Gertrude]

The only time was when I was in college and my car broke down about 10 miles outside town. (pre cell phone days) It was a family with a child, broad daylight and I was a sad looking girl. My mom freaked on me and told me a story about a family who picked up a girl and kept her in the basement for years. Thanks mom.

 

I was traveling with my dad in Alaska. He was in the service there when I was born, so it was a nostalgia trip. He was talking about how it used to be illegal to pass a hitch hiker on the road? Or maybe just a thing you did because it was so desolate and dangerous if you broke down. Anyway, he decided to pick up a hitch hiker. He seemed decent enough until he started stroking my hair. My dad couldn't get him out of the car fast enough. It always cracks me up because we introduced ourselves and he commented on it being easy to remember my name because blah blah. When he got out, he said 'Good-bye, Lisa'. Lisa is not my name.

[Littlefingers In The Air]

I never hitchhiked, but I play a hitchhiker on tv.

[AverageGuy]

Once. I was on my way to Mordor. Some guys started chasing me, then this guy I was with said we had to go through this creepy mine, so I stuck out my thumb and caught a ride with some eagles.

[Grand Moff Mithrandir]

Hitchhiking is big where I come from. It's the norm for a lot of people.

[deleted01]

It's not very common in the UK, to my knowledge at least. Most people wouldn't stop anyway, but I'd never consider hitchhiking. The closest I thing I can think of was when I broke down in a residential area, and a fellow road user stopped to help me push the car on to the kerb. I then had to go to a nearby house to get some water, which was scary enough - for both me and the residents.

I saw a guy in my town recently with a big rucksack and his thumb out, and felt sad for him, because he'd be damn lucky if anyone stopped for him. The fear of crime is just too high, at least around these parts.

[Tears of Lys]

Yep. I did it back in the '60s one time. I was with two of my girlfriends and we were on the way to a local beach. The bus didn't run that day for some reason and we had around a five-mile trip in to where the beach was. We stuck out our thumbs and a car came along with four young guys in it, we got in, and they then proceeded to lecture us on how dangerous it was to hitchhike. "What if we were rapists?" :eek:

Then when I was around 20 I picked up two guys who were probably around 15-16 yrs. old. I was feeling very sophisticated and woman-of-the-world-ish when all of a sudden my parents pull up alongside of me and order me to stop the car. They made me dump the kids off and then lectured me about the dangers of picking up hitchhikers. :blush: "But they're just kids!"

Anyway, after all the lectures, I have nothing to do with hitchhikers anymore.

[Dr. Pepper]

I guess I technically have.  On several islands in the South Pacific I've been picked up, though I wasn't actively attempting to hitchhike.  I just knew that if I started walking, someone would pick me up.  In Southeast Asia, same thing.  Was walking and someone stopped to pick me up and because I didn't want to walk anymore I hopped in.  I think instances in other places would more likely be considered paying for a service since I negotiated a price when they stopped.  But that was mostly to make clear that I didn't want them touching my body in any way.

 

I haven't in the US, unless you count being picked up when car breaks down and dropped off at a mechanic in town.  Otherwise, when I'm walking, it's just assumed that I'm walking without requiring or wanting a ride.   

[Eponine]

 

I used to hitch quite a bit.  I'd catch a ride up the mountain when I worked in Taos Ski valley almost every day.  This was fairly common, though, so often there'd be a line of hitchers waiting at a particular parking area.  

 

 

Yeah, there are places along the road here where a lot of people backcountry ski and then try to get a ride back to their car, and I've picked up people plenty of times. 

 

I've hitched back to trailheads where I parked along the Appalachian Trail before.

[Jo498]

It was rather common among younger people in Europe in the 80s and 90s (and by no means only a "counterculture" thing). I am not the type and never actually travelled by hitchhiking, only hitched rides for shorter distances or in emergencies. But I know people who travelled large parts of Europe "by thumb" as students in that time and my younger brother did quite a bit even in the early 2000s.

[Lord of Oop North]

It is actually returning to popularity in many traffic-congested cities that also happen to have HOV lanes, but is now known as "slugging". A car stops at a well-known pick-up or drop-off location, tells the waiting people where they are going, and picks up a passenger, which allows them to use HOV lanes to get to their destination faster.

[Seventh Pup]

Only if I have a good towel. 

[Datepalm]

Yup, regularly, short or long distance, for pleasure and practicality and on three continents. (Yes, as a young woman, and yes, almost entirely alone.) Finland ties with Jordan and Albania for the best, France was the worst. 

[maarsen]

I hitchhiked a lot back in the 70's. I had a job at a chicken farm for a well known soup company. I would get dropped off in the morning but I would have to hitchhike back home after work. Even smelling like chickenshit, I never had much trouble getting home.

[Lily Valley]

I've hitchhiked quite a bit around town as a youngster.  My first apartment was way way way out at the east end of town.  The lightrail was a couple of miles away and the bus only ran on the hour until 5pm.  A depressingly early time for young ladies to be in their beds.  We hitched.  Got several lectures from mums about the dangers of hitchiking, but never got into any trouble.  There was always at least two of us. 

 

Hitched a lift back to Portland from Seattle with 3 friends after the first Lollapalooza.  I don't remember how we got up there in the first place. 

[Larry of the Lawn]

Mostly just while backpacking or emergencies, although one time I did hitch to and from Black Crowes concert about 40 minutes away.  

 

I pretty much always pick up hitchhikers if I have room in the vehicle.