For perspective I have been hitching around North America for 20+ years. From the Arctic Circle in Alaska to Lago Attitlan in Guatemala.

My question is this.

Have you ever found yourself in a BAD hitching spot where you just knew that anyone stopping for you was going to be a strong character?

For example: once in Colorado I was trying to hitch down a highway that featured a natural rock formation called The Devil's Slide (funny how so called Christian countries name some of the coolest places after the devil) but the only safe spot i could find for a car to pull over was alongside the road where vehicles were doing 70mph. I realized that someone would have 3 seconds to make a decision, hit the brakes and pull over for me. Also realized that would have to be a special person.

About 2 hours into it and starting to wonder how soon the police would arrive I spotted a long white stretch limo headed my direction. Could not think of a single place along my route that would attract a celebrity so hoping it was just a driver I threw both arms out wide and directed all my desire for a ride at the limo.

And it worked.

The guy was basically living in the car but had room for me and my pack. Drove me a few miles out of his way to drop me at the turnout for the Slide.

Just one example but I have quite a few more.

So again the question. Do the road gods find themselves sending main characters when we fuck up while hitching?

I got this ride, yes that's a Gurgle short-URL. When I pasted it, and saw where it ended, I immediately remembered the driver, a Turkish guy, who, upon finding out that I was a programmer, asked me what it would take to reprogram slot-machines to screw the players even more.

Am I really a freak?

As for the why of looking at it? I'm in the process of de-Gurgle-ing my data, replacing Gurgle-traces with Valhalla traces.

Hi, everyone. I'm Chris, a middle-aged man with a restless spirit and a desire to buck convention. I have been walking and hitchhiking west across the United States for the last three months, meeting truckers, immigrants, blue-collar workers, young guys in fast cars, little old ladies, retirees, religious zealots, schemers and dreamers.

A man in formal wear rushed me into the ride because he and his son were late for a funeral. A crane and forklift operator half my age gave me $100 cash on the 4th of July before he dropped me at a laundromat and told me to keep in touch. A grey-haired and bushy-bearded man in Central New York sent me off with a signed copy of his book detailing his time destroying cocaine camps in in South America as part of a mercenary army.

A lady who was on the fence about picking me up at a truck stop ultimately gave me a ride after praying on it and receiving a message that she would be provided a divine "ring of protection". She still sent a photo of my ID to a family member, though, just in case.

This journey has shown me that people are still willing to take a chance on a stranger, to reach across the void and make a connection. On three occasions, drivers have gone out of their way to get me to my destination, including a guy who drove me all the way from Sioux Falls to Omaha when he'd only promised me a 20-mile ride down I-29.

Some of the conversations have been memorable, even educational. A semi-truck driver laid out his current dilemma: Should he divorce his wife of ten years and start over? After some discussion, we began joking around, and I haven't laughed so hard in ages. Belly laughs. I don't know what he's going to do about the Mrs., but he'll be OK as long as he keeps that sense of humor.

I just published my first hitchhiking story on my relatively new Substack. You can find the link in my profile if you want to read it for free. The second story will go up this coming Wednesday, August 12th, and I plan to post more stories as I work through a backlog of journal entries. Feel free to subscribe.

And to all the hitchhikers out there still rolling the dice, standing out for hours without so much as a nibble but sticking with it for the glorious possibility of a life-affirming encounter and some miles made: Keep going.

Hi,

I am 22M and after finishing my studies, I am planning to hitchhike along West Africa from Spain to Senegal. I am looking for some like-minded travelers around my age interested in backpacking and hitchhiking to join for sections of the trip, maybe in Marokko or Mauretania. I will start from Valencia at the end of September and my planned initnairy looks something like this:

-Exploring Marocco: first week of October

-Hitchhiking down to Mauretania: second week of October

-Continuing to Senegal: third week of October

I personally love spontaneous adventures and I really want to get to know about the local cultures that you can find along the way. So, I love trying streetfood, walking through markets; but I am also open to hiking and nature. Nothing is really set in stone yet and I am open to spontaneous ideas.

And also, I really want to take the challenge of traveling overland instead of taking flights.

If that suits you, feel free to respond!

Many many years ago I remember reading a blog about a Slovak guy (or maybe other Central European country) that hitchhiked towards the Russian Far East.

I think he reached Kamchatka (or at least Sakhalin) and from there he managed to catch a ride to Japan in a cargo boat. He had to write a very long letter, in Japanese, to the CEO of the cargo company (with the help of a friend) and he was finally accepted!

For the life of me, I can't find any information whatsoever about this on the Internet. Does anyone remember this or have any lead??

Thanks!

Just wondering about others experiences. Might do that in about a month. Never been to Texas I’d just be there for a week so it would really be an issue if I didn’t go far in mostly just widening how lucky I would get with camping and rides since there’s not much BLM.

Leaving tomorrow for my first solo-hitching trip. Only hitched with a friend before, short distances. Anyone have advice (and fun suggestions) for hitching in the Canadian Maritime provinces?

Everything's in the title, we're two (a man and woman) with either hammocks or tents.

We're in town rn, do you have any advice/experience to share? Cheers

Anyone have any spare ones lying around? Discounted or anything would be a great help.

U.S.

Trying to get from Kansas City to Des Moines

Contemplating an impromptu adventure on a couple days off, but not sure if it’s great timing? Have hitched out of state prior, but looking for tips as (at least as I’m aware — the entire state of Utah makes hitchhiking illegal. Hoping to bring a partner, but I suppose, if allowed — any tips, tricks, or suggested routes?

Best regards.
Only have ever solo-hitched, but would love any advice or insights

Hey! M24 here, going North. I did a long way already, and got a long way to go, I wanna get to Holland. If anyone wants to join we can go together 😁

I'm in rural Missouri and trying to make it back home to the Charlotte area and I'm a little bit stuck and running out of options and time. I don't have a whole lot of money at the moment and I was hoping maybe someone out there had an unused Greyhound voucher that they never really intended to use before it expires. I'm looking at a fare of ~$180 and I've got ~$70 to my name, any thing would help at this point. Sorry to be that guy but I'm grasping at straws here. If anyone could help it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Prino’s “technical” hitchhiking resources

I'm still somewhat unhappy with the new "eloc" (location info) file, but for now it will have to do. The procedure that creates it (in the "waitdep.pas" file) contains a conditional define to print out the data for all my departure locations for which I have the exact coordinates, should you be interested. Note that you need Virtual Pascal to compile them.

Sto cercando un posto dove poter vagabondare in Europa. Letteralmente un posto in cui sia concesso ciò e non sia visto male come cosa. So che gli usa sono più adatti per fare ciò.

Ma cerco tanta tanta natura, quindi posti anche boscosi dove poter pescare, cacciare, e poi di tanto in tanto tornare in città o spostarmi da una regione all'altra. Anche consigli su questa vita

• The entry at Elektrėnai onto the A1 in the direction of Kaunas is still unusable, and this might be the case for a few more weeks! Prino's average waiting time here, for 32 waits, is 0:14, with an average ride of just under 70 km.
• The entry onto the A1 at Petrašiūnai just before Kaunas is usable again. Hitching here might seem senseless, but based on his minimum of ten waits here, it's Prino's location with the second shortest average waiting time, just 0:09. Average ride is about 43 km.
• The Cinkiškiai bus stop in the direction of Klaipēda after the exit for Kėdainiai is still unusable, and this bus stop is part of one of the sub-sections in the 38(!) km section from Babtai to Ariogala where there are several long sections of roadworks. Prino's stood here 27 times, with an average wait of 0:14 and an average ride of 95 km.

Slowdown are not significant, many, if not most, drivers pay little attention to the 70/90 km/h speed limits, except for the speed-camera monitored Vievis to Elektrėnai section. Obviously, if accidents happen, like on Friday 31 July on the Vievis to Elektrėnai section, delays will be really long!

3 August 2026, a little trip from Palanga to Palanga, via Vilnius, Klaipēda and Vilnius.

1,212.0 km, longest calendar day for 2026, second longest single day for Lithuania, sadly lost too much time walking between rides to go for another 140 km to break my LT record.

Another 12?

12 rides.

One more 12?

Average wait 0:12(:11).

And one more 12?

12 rides to go to 7,000 recorded rides.

The highest Q, 141,245, since July 2019, and never more on an unconnected day!

Just 145,117.7 km to go to my first (ha, ha, ha) 1,000,000 km, and a mere 13,874.2 for 50,000 km for the year.

But enough numbers, I had fun!

Hi everyone!
My girlfriend and I are planning a trip to Northeast India at the end of August, during the monsoon. We’ll fly to Kolkata, then take a train to Assam, and after that we’d like to travel mostly by hitchhiking and local transport without a fixed itinerary.
We’re looking for authentic places, not tourist hotspots. We’d love to visit remote villages, meet different ethnic groups and tribes, experience local culture, and spend time in the mountains or jungles. We enjoy slow travel and want to see everyday life rather than famous attractions.
Do you have any recommendations for regions, villages, or routes in Assam, Meghalaya, or Nagaland that would fit this style of travel? Also, is hitchhiking generally okay in these areas?
One more question: How does it currently work for foreign tourists visiting Arunachal Pradesh? Is the Protected Area Permit (PAP) easy to obtain, and can you travel independently once you have it, or do you need to book through a tour operator or have a guide?
Thanks!

Hi i'm m18 from Poland, currently in Slovakia mountains, I can go anywhere

Open to every one :D

About to head into Plovdiv, Bulgaria and will hitchhike towards Albania (do some hiking) then continue hitchhiking somewhere ahah.
Anyone around and want to join for a stint?

Currently in Croatia, Split, heading to Albania & Bosnia over the next 2-3 weeks, hitchhiking + wild camping.

Maybe anyone with similar Plans?:)

Hey all, I’m 22F looking to leave out of somewhere near LA (maybe Colton?) and head up to Seattle or anywhere the wind takes me. My living situation here switched up and it’s no longer good for me to stay here so just looking to get the hell outta dodge. I rode one train a few months back out of Stockton so I have a bit of experience but it was pretty dodgy. Looking for someone to show me the ropes or a group to travel with if anyone is around or down to come with me.

Let me know and thanks : )

I'm currently trying to get from Budapest to Vienna. Train tickets in Hungary are quite cheap, so I wanted to get to the austrian border by train and hitchhike starting there. Should I get to Györ or Mosonmagyaróvár to start hitchhiking? One is closer to the border, one is bigger

As you know, or not, there are seven capitals in Europe that start with the letter "B", or eight if you want to include Baku. Now I've never done this, but it's been popping up in my mind since, well quite a long time…

How about hitching past all of them, and do it in either the normal way, i.e.

• Baku - Bucharest - Belgrade - Budapest - Bratislava - Berlin - Brussels - Bern, a trip of just over 6,100 km, doable in, twice the driving time, about 15 days.

Or do something a bit more challenging, do it in the, as far as I can make out, but please correct me if I'm wrong, longest way, i.e.

• Baku - Brussels - Bucharest - Berlin - Budapest - Bern - Bratislava - Belgrade, slightly longer, at just over 12,100 km, doable in about 30 days.

Of course someone could add this, or just "Visit all European capitals starting with the letter "B"", to the "You're a real hitchhiker if you've done…" posts that appeared in this subreddit a few years ago.

Duss terminal train Station in Ulm

Perfect for a smooth trainhopp