Europe and The Thumb, a Hitchhikers Guide

Travelling and tourig across Europe by using your thumb is definitely an adventurer’s way of sightseeing and meeting interesting people.

Hitchhiking or as it sometimes gets called ‘thumbing a lift’ is a readily accepted approach by many thousands of people in Europe and just about everywhere else in the world for effective travelling.

The Benefits of Hitchhiking

The benefits of hitchhiking are enormous;

• freedom of choice as to where and when you travel
• you can be dropped off wherever you choose
• the chance to find exciting places that you may never have seen
• the opportunity to have conversations with fascinating people
• the possibility of making new friendships
• the most effective adventurous way to tour a country or continent

Before you start your adventure it is worth giving some thought to how you are going to undertake your journey and to learn the techniques of ‘thumbing a lift’

The hitchhiking techniques that are detailed here will help you to travel safely, quickly and will mean that you will have to wait for at most thirty minutes for a lift.

The 10 Best Places To Stand

When you are hitchhiking it is important to think about where you need to stand to get the best return for your ‘thumbing a lift’ efforts.

Motorists will want to see clearly what you look like before they decide to stop and let you enter their vehicles. Here are the 10 best places to stand.

• On your feet (sitting down may mean that nobody can see you)
• In a place where there is plenty of space for the motorist to stop
• Just before the entrance to the junction where you want to travel
• In a lay-by under a sign saying how far it is to your destination
• On a main road where there is plenty of moderately moving traffic
• At the exit from a truck parking area of a roadside restaurant
• In a large open area just after the exit of a petrol filling station
• On the way out of a town / city in the direction that you want to go
• A reasonable distance away from where other people are standing
• Where you are clearly seen in the day and in a well lit area at night

The 10 Worst Places To Stand

If you are new to hitchhiking then these are some of the reasons why you may not have had much luck in getting a lift. These are the 10 worst places to stand.

• At a crossroads
• Before a busy junction that goes to another destination
• At traffic lights
• Where the motorist has no place to stop
• By the entrance to a filling station
• At a bus stop
• Next to a sign that says ‘no stopping or parking’
• On a flyover or bridge
• On a roundabout
• Under the shadow of trees in the day or in a poorly lit area at night

Standing where there are lots of other people who are ‘thumbing a lift’ is also not a good idea as it will only increase the competition and reduce your chances of hitchhiking quickly to your destination.

And don’t carry a sign saying where you want to go, it will only make it look as if you are desperate.

When you are hitchhiking try to travel light, carry only essential things, like food, drink, a change of clothes, a toothbrush and a good book, you never know when you might need it.

Other things can be bought and used when you reach your destination.

When you are travelling or touring you will progress much quicker and there will be more people who decide to stop for you, if you don’t appear to be carrying your entire belongings with you.

And dress in a way that you would want to see someone, who you would give a lift to, if they were hitchhiking.

Hitchhiking is one of the great pleasures of life and is the main reason that we were given a thumb.

Wherever you go, enjoy your journey.