Stats

Hitchhiked distance: 4555 kilometer

Number of lifts: 57

Average waiting time: 11 minutes 56 seconds

Waiting time total: 11 hours 20 minutes

You can download the log here. But be careful, it contains as well a short stage to Bishkek, that I did.

My Route

I hitchhiked from the chinese border to Amlata and did a little trip do Kirgistan, before coming back to Almata and going the long way towards Aktau at the Caspian Sea. Check out the route here.

People

It is a bit difficult to describe the typical Kazakhztan. The country is a cultural melting pot. The native Kasach person has blond hair and blue eyes, as I was told. And some day Dschinghis-Khan came along and made everyone become Asian. Or somehow like that it happened. If you walk through Almata it is impossible to see, if that person ahead of you is Kazakh, Chinese, German, Russian, or even a Turk. People look so different. I loved that.

People in Kazakhztan are kinda chummy and warm. Not as rough as the Russians. Kazakh‘s are like the Colombians of the UDSSR. Many of them speak some German, even if it is just a few words. And every second person is driving an (old) German car. You will get invitations for drinking fairly easy and people seem honestly interested in you.

What I recognized as well is, that you can have a quiet and relaxed time in Kazakhztan. Because everyone is looking so different, nobody seems to be alien and you can assimilate yourself pretty good. Very pleasent.

One thing I should mention and which regards mostly the woman who are going to hitchhike through Kazakhztan. Kazakhan men are very macho.like and I heard an above average number of stories about tried rape and sexual harrasment from my female hitchhiking friends. I can not really evaluate this, because I am a man and I was not molested by myself. And I don‘t want to put all Kazachans in one pot or create unneccessary fear. But Kazachztan follows some kind of reputation in this regard and I want you to be aware of that. It does not mean you will be in any kind of trouble or in the need to go nuts, if you visit Kazachztan. There are lots of wonderful people to meet. I just want you to take care of yourself guys.

Roads

The roads. Thats a very special topic in post sovjet countries. First I should say, that you will find big and well maintained roads between the major cities and moving around here should be not a problem at all. But i wouldn‘t say that about every region in Kazakhztan.

When I came from the chinese border to Almata I already crossed one of those wrecked roads, which can be a bit tough to deal with sometimes. But what I encountered in the center of the country was even for me a new level of apocalypse. Allthough I hitchhiked on the worst roads of our planet before. I mean, streets are there to make movement easier and open up new territories. In Kazakhztan they more seem to be an additional obstacle with a special feature which is: They are make your life a living hell and you might be faster walking or taking the dirt-road which wriggles aside the main road. Something I only discovered in post sovjet countries, btw.

I had a very interesting hitchhiking tour from Qyandiyaghasch to Makat. Three cars in eight hours and directly through the Kazakhan Steppe. People prefer to do a 1000 km detour instead of going this 400 km long stretch. For a reason, how I had to find out. This road is probably the worst I ever encountered in my hitchhiking life. But beautiful! Worth it! In its very special way.

Besides be aware of the fact, that Kazakhztan is mostly Steppe, just little mountans but mostly wide wastelands. Until the horizon. A little bit like Argentina but with less people. I really liked blasting through this. Because hitchhiking was super easy.

Tactics

Right in the beginning I gotta break a lance for Kazakhztan. I had so much fun there while hitchhiking. Fuck yeah. People just know whats going on. Basically every car is a taxi here, which is a bit problematic for your movement. But if you are clear from the beginning and tell them right away, that you won‘t pay/have no money, then most of the time they gonna take you anyway. But a clear communication is very important and so to know some basics in Russian. Also mention, that you do Autostop and most people will get what you do. It is definitely a different story than in Japan where everyone thinks you are absolutely lost and need help. In Kazakhztan you will get more of this „Ah another hitchhiker!“-feeling.

Another point I really enjoyed: You can hitchhike basically everywhere along the road. Sometimes you need to walk a bit to find a better spot, but positioning is straight forward and uncomplicated. You will also find good onramps at the bigger junctions and roundabouts in the cities. I would not recommend to position yourself at bus-stops, because people will think you wait for the bus. Also because the locals are hitchhiking here and they usually pay. Don‘t get into that sharktank.

Thir point about Kazakhztan is night-hitchhiking, which works fantastically. There is no difference between day and night-time. Cars stop equally fast. Very comfortable. But I guess my hitchhiking suit and the reflectors did a good amount of work here.

Kazakhztan is a super easy and straight forward hitchhiking country. Just use the bypass roads, when going through bigger cities. They are existing almost every time and you don‘t want to end up inside the cities. Because there is Moloch time.

Impressions

Specifics

I told already that Kazakhztan is pretty flat but at the border with Kirgistan you will find some nice mountains and in Almata you have a nice view on them. Almata is a beautiful city anyway, if you like grey Sovjet prefab estates, which I do very much. But mostly because of the people. I thought the Kazachan people are really friendly and nice and I definitely gonna head back one day and visit some friends there.

Culinarily I could connect very well to Kazakhztan as well. Beside the good old Plow (rice dish) and the omnipresent Samsa (filled pasties) we also made a very delicious summer soup with potatoes, chives, eggs, some kind of yoghurt drink and sparkling water. Sounds strange but tastes terrific. Also you got some Kwas, which is some kind of a light beer, made of fermented bred and the good old Kumis (rotten horse milk). Not made for everyone but people in this region seem do like a sour taste.

If you head towards Kazakhztan you will either cross Russia or through Central Asia. In the latter case it could get a little complicated, because getting visas in countries like Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan can be quite a hustle. I by myself took the cargo boat through the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan. Was a funny tour that I can only recommend. If you need more infos about this passage you should check in with Caravanistan.com, which is btw. by far the best ressource for informations, if you wanna travel Central Asia.

Der Beitrag Hitchhiking in… (20) Kazakhztan erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

Stats

Hitchhiked distance: 11010 kilometer

Number of lifts: 129

Average waiting time: 40 minutes 20 seconds

Waiting time total: 69 hours 55 minutes

Log is available here.

My Route

I entered the United States of America the first time through Texas and stayed some weeks in Austin. From there I was flying with my friend Patrick Falterman to New Mexico. I hitchhiked to Denver and went on by trainhopping to Salt Lake City, California all the way up to Seattle. It was also my first contact with trainhopping at all. What a blast!

Later I hitchhiked up and forth in Washington and Oregon, before I set off through Canada into direction New York. I lived a month in New York and hitchhiked from there 5000 miles to the Northend of Alaska. On my way back I had a small detour through San Francisco before entering Canada again.

People

I can‘t say, even after more than half a year in Northamerica, that I understand the people there. The USA are big and divers. It is hard to make a general assumption about this place. The States can be very different from each other. Coast vs. Inner country, west vs. East, everywhere are people a bit different. But all are Americans and therefore part of this wicked society. I just try to give an impression about that.

In the beginning I have to say, that I had my biggest culture shock in the USA. You would think that the people in the USA would be more similar to us Europeans than f.e. the people in South America. Not at all. At least in my opinion. The USA are the same kind of capitalistic dickheads as we Germans, but in America society is much more brutal and uncertain than in Europe. It starts with the health-care system and goes on with living on debts, short-term paychecks and underpaid jobs (which you need more than one, of course). I mean, our system seems compared to what I encountered in the USA like an ideological, flawless Socialism. And there is an abnormal pressure to perform, that we have not at all on our continent.

Generally it was a bit hard for me to connect with the people in Northamerica further than the normal superficial interaction. Everyone is very friendly and polite for sure. But if it gets a bit more personal you will meet their bounds pretty soon. People are very protective about personal issues. And then this pseudo-friendlieness. In the beginning I really hated it, but you get used to everything. When I went back to Germany, I even missed that people are so superficial friendly with each other. I spend a lot of time in California and I had to learn, that it is not so important what you say, but more, how you say it. Germany, compared to that, is a very direct society. A friend just told me: „You can‘t hide in Germany.“ And this is, after months within this superficial but nice world, a bit annoying as well sometimes.

On big topic in the USA is fear. Fear something could happen. Fear to get killed by a hitchhiker. Fear of terrorism. Fear to become sick. Fear of life. The USA are in my opinion much more neurotic and paranoid than the rest of the world. People like it to be stable. Everything should stay how it is. Brazil was similar neurotic in my eyes and I think it has to do with the strong influence of religion within the society.

Especially when hitchhiking you will encounter this fear very directly, when you try ask for rides at a gas station. This is not very appreciated. If you approach people, they will have a very negative attitude towards you. They look strange, want to be left alone and see you as scum. It feels like running the gauntlet sometimes. And I never experienced that in another country. Canada for example is the very opposite of this. People approach you at the gas station, ask what you are doing there and start a conversation with you.

To understand hitchhiking in the USA you have to consider another part. In the USA are living a lot of people in the streets and there are many who have serious mental health issues and would be in the need for help. But there is no health system, that would take care about them and therefore the people are left by themselves. And for everyone who has no car, due to the lack of public transportation, the only way to move around is by hitchhiking.

You gotta understand the general difference in traveling culture between the USA and Europe. Here you move around with your hippie and student friends, people think you are cool and hitchhiking has quite a good reputation among people. On the American streets (while hitchhiking as well as while traveling), there is a wild mix of hobos, homeless, hippies, students, drug addicts, people who are on the run, people who are distressed and people who just don‘t want to be part of this society anymore and live as an outlaw. The characters you meet are much more radical, extreme and annoying than in most other parts of the world. For the good as well as for the bad. It is different to hitchhike the USA than to hitchhike in Europe. But I found it super exciting to move around in the USA and meet people there. I met some really great characters there that opened up my world a lot. Thanks for that!

But what really sucks is the outcome of this mixture towards hitchhiking. As a hitchhiker people in the USA will treat you like a drug addict criminal. That is the mean difference to Europe, because here you are (like in most countries in the world) the cool kid and free spirit, because you hitchhike. In the USA you are the scum because you hitchhike. And I will never get used to that. It is one of the biggest disadvantages about this country. Hitchhiking is not fun at all with this.

In addition to that there is a statistical reason. It takes a while till people stop for you. I had more than 40 minutes average waiting time in the USA and this is only be topped by Colombia as the worst country for hitchhiking. For the 130 rides I had, this is a very bad average waiting time. There is not much left of the Hippiedream about hitchhiking through the USA. Reality is made by hard numbers and woebegone waiting times, with people that hate you, because you hitchhike.

In the end something positive. People in the USA are very helpful. Not to give you a ride, but in general. And this has to do with the many homeless people around. Constantly they throw food and drinks at you. Even money. People in the US see it as their responsibility to help others. It is part of the cultural peculiarity.

In the USA people like to help, donate, give away food. They see it as an inadvertent intervention if the state would do so. It is a typical Republican agenda to keep the state as small as possible and out of as many part of your daily life as possible. In Europe it is the opposite. When the state is fostering volunteering, some people might say this is shit, because the state just uses the free workforce to not fulfill his own responsibilities. There are two very contrary positions about the role of the state towards the society. And those influence the people a lot. Good for you guys being in the USA because you might get food and drinks for free. But it won‘t bring you any rides. Anyway, take the presents, For the people there it is important to help others and you make them happy if you let them help you.

Roads

The American Highway Network is the most beautiful collective of roads in the world for me. And that, for sure, is a big plus about hitchhiking in the USA. Even if it helps just a little. When I first time came to Texas I just thought: „Fuck yeah, this is exactly as beautiful and perfect how I expected this roads to be!“. There are those sweet shootings from the post war period, pale pictures from the 50‘s, time of the oil boom, beginning of a new era and the time were most of this magnificent infrastructure was build. Long, straight interstates, flower-shaped interchanges, few cars in the road and somehow I have the Hoover-Dam as well as Kennedy in my head, when i think about this. Don‘t know why. But with this pictures I entered the USA. And the roads have been exactly how I expected them to be. Not the rest tho.

My excitement might also be supported by the fact, that the american Interstates are bigger, wider and longer than most of the other roads in the world that I was hitchhiking on so far. The continent has a lot of space and you will feel that very quickly, when moving around in the USA. Everything is bigger, Roads, Cars and Egos. I think it is the perfect country to do a road-trip, if you want to drive by your own. Afterwards I went to Japan, which is kind of the counterpart to this society. There is not much space, everything is small, detailed and tight. Japanese cars felt like toy cars to me, when I arrived there from the USA. Sometimes I even had to laugh, when someone came across me in the street with his dwarf-mobile.

What I missed while hitchhiking thought the USA was: Service areas. There are regular gas stations at almost every exit with fast-food restaurants. But no service stations, like we know them from the European highway network. That is a clear disadvantage, when it comes to hitchhiking. There are too much gas stations, so it is hard to find the frequented ones. Sometimes you are lucky, sometimes not. Only north of New York I encountered some really nice rest areas along the toll roads. Between NYC and Montreal. They have been wonderful, but I think it was a specific along the privatized highway there. In general I don‘t think the interstates are that good of an infrastructure for hitchhiking, especially if you go for a long distance hitchhiking trip through the USA.

Beside the Interstates you got Highways which are something like the German Bundesstraße. I can not really recommend the Highways either. Traffic moves too fast and often I had problems with the police. Especially in Idaho they kicked me out of the highway regularly and I had to switch to gas stations or slip roads. If you go cross country in the north I would always prefer to take the route through Canada.

Cities in the USA are also a bit special. There are many cars around. Too many. Every person in the USA seems in the need for an own car. They even introduced car-sharing lanes, where you are only allowed to drive if you are with two or more people in the car. Up to 500$ you gotta pay, if you use them while being alone. There are many traffic jams. And this is a chance for us hitchhikers. During rush hour it is very easy to catch rides out of the cities. You can catch them directly on the interstates during the stop and go traffic. Or better take the onramp, if the cars stand all the way back into it.

Tactics for hitchhiking in the USA

I hated it to approach people at gas stations in the USA. And many owner also didn‘t allow that you do it. I got kicked out by sheriffs from those places as well as I gave up, because the people where too annoying. I prefer to thumb along the road. But that was not very expedient as well. Biggest problem was, that most people in the USA are not driving very far. The average length of a ride was below average.

F.e. in Canada the average distance was about twice as high as in the USA. Both countries are similar big, so we can compare this very well. I guess the US-people just don‘t like to travel within their country so much. You an definitely find people on the Interstates that are going cross country. But how to catch those rides the best I couldn‘t figure out. If you have an idea, let me know.

Hitchhiking onramps in the USA is a bit laborious. Of curse it differs between the states and it is often the only option anyway. Maybe a sign might be useful, but as you might know, I am never hitchhiking with signs.

One advice I can give here:

You should dress as serious as possible. As I told before, people have a strong association of hitchhikers, people without money, criminals, wicked people, prisoners, scum…etc. Even when I was in my hitchhiking suit people tended to throw money and food at me, because they thought I was homeless. Maybe shaving would have helped. But the stereotype is deep inside their heads.

Also you will get into a lot of police controls and they will be far more relaxed, if they recognize that you are sane. Sometimes they might even give you a ride to get off the highway. I had a lot of rides with the police. As much as in no other country in the world. Always in the prisoner box in the back!

In general I just wanted to point out, that it is worth to look a bit different from the rest of the folks on the road. Even if you stay punk within yourself. When I was hitchhiking through California recently, I had a green military coat and looked a bit aristocratic in it. I had the feeling hitchhiking through the USA worked much better this way.

But anyway. However you look, if you hitchhike through the USA stay sober in any case!

Specifics

Contrary to other claims, Hitchhiking in the USA is not forbidden! Just in some places there are laws against hitchhiking. But the legislation within the states is different and in most of the states yoz are allowed to hitchhike. But even in states where hitchhiking is forbidden, the question is still if the law is enforced or not. Often it is up to th officer that controls you and they, sometimes, don‘t even know about the specific laws about hitchhiking in their state.

In the worst case you will get a fine, but I don‘t know anyone personally who got to get one. But to have it complete: In Utah, Idaho, Nevada, as well as New Jersey and Delaware hitchhiking is officially forbidden. But in Idaho f. e. I had plenty of police controls and never any problems, even rides with the police. A good overview about the states should give this map. Furthermore it might be interesting to have a loser look to the actual laws, Sometimes it is forbidden to solicit rides at the side of the road, but you can go to gas stations and ask there. Hitchhiking can mean many different things. Be creative. Most important is, that you get the next ride.

I mentioned already that everything in the USA is bigger and more snobbish than in other places of the world. One of the peaks of this gigantism you could observe in the North American Caravan Culture. Caravans are in the USA as big as a touring coach in Europe. And because this is not enough, most people also pull their oversized trucks behind themselves. Here this would be a rig with a trailer, there it is just the pensioner going for some holidays. Strange.

There are lots of awesome national parks in the USA which can be visited. Beside the big, famous parks (Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon) I can recommend the Zion National Park. Also you find the famous Redwoods in northern California. Beside Cannabis farmers and Hippies you will find some of the biggest trees in the world out here. A must see if you going to have a trip along the Westcoast.

New York. This city. They say, if you can survive in New York, you can survive at any place in the world. Seems legit. New York is very impressive with all its skyscrapers and glamorous but also shameless expensive. You pay for everything, too much in New York and in the end you have to tip 20% on top of this. But happy us it is also a very good place for dumpster diving. There is my most favorite dumpster in the world: Sushi at the Time Square. Every night fresh and for free. Have a look it is worth it!

And btw. you can fly pretty cheap to the USA. I shouldn‘t promote this here, but it is so damn cheap and I would rather see my crowd take those places than anyone else. With Norwegian airlines you can fly from Oslo to New York from 86€, one way. This is the cheapest connection I know. But even to the Westcoast and starting from Central Europe you should be able to find flights with return for not more than 450€. Bes is to book directly on the Norwegian website. Don‘t order any food, you can bring it with yourself for the flight. Makes it cheaper.

Police controls are often and they might take a while. Especially in the border regions, they always have to check with the state police, as well as with the federals. Don‘t be surprised. If you get into a control (and you will for sure) stay calm and friendly. Always follow the advices of the law enforcers and try to get a ride with the police if it brings you into a better positioning. They call this courtesy rides and they are the way to go while hitchhiking in the USA. And the police always shows up with at least two cars, because every policemen in the USA has to have his own car. Like everyone in the USA in general, I have the feeling.

Impressions

Der Beitrag Hitchhiking in… (19) the USA erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

Of course hitchhiking success depends on different factors. Position is just one. And an experienced Hitchhiker won´t do much mistakes. He/She knows, what works for him/her and what not. There might be places, that certain people like and others don´t. Like standing on the end of a service station area rather than asking at the gas station, or taking position in front of the traffic lights. There is one person who loves to do that and another on who hates it. And if you take a position you don’t like, it definitely will decrease your chances. Keep that in mind. All about attitude. I for myself try to like every position. Even if it feels wrong, I take it as a challenge and work eagerly towards my next ride.

If you work in a team of two experienced hitchhikers, better let one person choose the position. This would be also the person who is responsible for the thumbing. There is no need to start a fight and create a bad atmosphere in your team. Sometimes it is better to let the hitchhiking person just do it the way he/she is used to it. Most positions are equally good, if the attitude is positive.

What is a position?

In general a hitchhiking position has three main characteristics.

1. Speed of the passing cars

They can be slow, damn fast or not moving at all. In general we want positions where the traffic is slow, just because of the fact, that the communication time between you and the driver increases and you can make him pull over with a sunshine smile and your gentle waving thumb. Also drivers are more tempted to stop, if they move slow already.

2. Visibility

Second quality of a position is the visibility. You would think that you should take a position, where the driver might see you from far ahead. I am actually not sure about this. Sometimes, when the cars see you 1-2 km before they arrive, it is very hard to have a significant and connecting sign language. People might decide about taking you or not, even before you gotta chance to interact, which is not always optimal. Sometimes it is good, to be the flashing object, that occurs behind the corner with a sunshine smile and a gentle waving thumb, surprises the driver and makes him pull over.

3. Keeping area

Although with the visibility, keeping area is something, we don´t have to discuss. There must be enough keeping area for the car, to pull over, get safe from the road and make you also being safe when getting into the car. A lot of people won´t stop, if there is not enough keeping area.

I write that with being conscious about the fact, that some people just stop on the street and others would stop everywhere, whenever they see a hitchhiker. Even if they have 3 km rush hour behind them, they are moving on a one laned road out of the city and a mass hysteria of hatred behind them, because “hey, there is a hitchhiker!”. This all happens. Fair enough. But you should not support this behaviour with your positioning. Always choose a place, where it is safe for all to stop and interact.

In general I think there is a difference in the importance of those criterias. In my eyes the speed of the traffic is most important for positioning. Always try to find a spot where cars go slow. Fast traffic is the worst. Keeping are is important but under certain circumstances it can be less important. Visibility is the last criteria. You should be visible, for sure! But the question is either, at what point you should get into the drivers attention and it is definitely not always an advantage in positioning if you are seen from far away (like say on a 1-2 km long straight road). Especially if this is combined with fast traffic. The principle should be to give enough time to react for the driver, but more time means not always better chances to catch this ride.

Beside this, we have some basic and reoccurring structures and can identify an ideal position. If there are not traffic jams, everyone is moving in the same speed, the traffic has 24/7 the same frequency, our hitchhiking partner does nothing but standing beside us and looking good (which imho are the best settings) and there is always a good keeping area and no weather changes. We got three major structures:

1. Curve

As you might see, I already marked the ideal position. When we get a curve, we most likely stand behind it, at the position where the cars start speeding up, when getting out of the curve in direction downstream. If there is another curve behind, stand between the two of them. They won´t go to fast.

2. Crossing

Place yourself behind the crossing in downstream direction. Not before, so you might miss the people from the crossing road. Makes sense, doesn´t it?

3. Branch off

Same with the crossing. Usually you don´t want to stand in the main road and wave down the traffic which takes of in your direction, but stand on the beginning of the road, directed towards your destination.

Good positions and bad positions

Bad positions are in general bridges or tunnels, because there is no keeping are, overpasses, inside of towns or villages or in places where it is forbidden to stop, like prison areas or under „No stop“ signs. Hitchhiking in those places will decrease the amount of cars that are going to stop. Also it is wrong to hitchhike in bus stop, as you will be seen as a passenger not as a hitchhiker. But if there is no other keeping area, it is acceptable to use bus stops. Hitchhiking in narrow roads can cause car accidents and you should avoid those places.

Good positions are police checkpoints/controls, frontiers, railway crossings, defects of the road carpet, traffic lights, traffic jams, roundabouts and so on. It is important to position behind those places and not in front, as the drivers attention will be concentrated on the percularity of the road and not on you. It is all about the minimizing disturbance and putting yourself into the focus.

How to find a position?

You can have a look into our great Hitchwiki to find hop out spots for almost all bigger citties. Feels invited to add information and help the database growing. But you don´t have internet or hitchwiki all the time. Usually i never look up spots and use my Hitchhiker Instincts. I move into direction highway/my road and then i have a look in place, while singing all the time: „These boots are made for walking.“ Walk walk walk, if you don´t like the place. There will be another one within the next 5 km. Promise!

Also a good reason, not to carry your fully stuffed 25kg expedition-backpack and a brand new Walmart tent in your hand and maybe a guitar or some cooking pots hanging somewhere around you. Hitchhiking is more important, than being your own house. Travel light, be more flexible and enjoy the road.

How do I know if the position is good?

If you try to hitchhike an nobody stops for a long time, you might stand in a wrong position. It might be usefull to have a rest or walk to another position then. For me personally a position is good, if it makes me feel good and does not hurt any of the major qualities above. And I feel good while hitchhiking, when I get reactions from my by passing traffic. 5 minutes waiting, while everybody is ignoring you, can be much more difficult than 30 minutes road-side-show, while cheering, laughing and having fun with your traffic. I prefer having fun, staying in good mood and think then hitchhiking is working better automatically. The faster the traffic, the more they tend to ignore you. Find a spot, where they have to slow down („Stop“-Signs are great) and have to deal with you, your sunshine attitude and the gentle waving thumb!

General advices about positioning and hitchhiking

But there is a major principle about positions and taking rides: Only get into the car if you know that it can get you to a good position. This sounds simple but is one of the major problems, that can occur, when you hitchhike. Even I make this mistake from time to time. If you are on the highway and it is just going to the next village, you might end up in a very bad spot. It is a tactical mistake to get from a good position into a bad position. Sometimes it makes sense to wait for a better ride, instead of taking everything that stops. Also sometimes it make sense to get out of a car earlier, than going the full distance, if you can not make sure to end up in a good position.

I (almost) never take positions, if it is going downhill. Faster traffic, cars have longer braking way and it is harder for them to overcome their natural skepsis and pull over for you. Best is, to be on top of a hill.

Stay in the traffic current, don’t let yourself fall out of it. Especially in countries that have a dense highway network, it is the worst tactical mistake, if you get driven out of your main track. This usually takes a lot of time to fight your way back and pick up speed again.

Also, if you go a long distance, your chances to catch a good ride are increasing while progressing on your route. There is a certain point where finding a ride to your final destination is not anymore about luck, but about simple probabilities.

An example: When I was hitchhiking 3700 km through Kazakhstan (Almaty-Aktau) it was very unlikely, that I would catch a direct ride when I left Almaty city. Especially if the final destination is about a one day drive away you will likely find traffic that is going there during day and night time. If there are no major cities on the route, it also can mean, that you will likely catch a good ride.

In this case I had a direct ride around 2300 km before Aktau. That was luck. I did not take it all the way, because they stopped for sleeping. Around 1000 km before Aktau I catched a Truck that was going directly to my destination. It was in a place, where they where no major cities in between and I knew, that there would be relatively much direct traffic. This truck also stopped for sleeping in the night around 500 km before my final place. I could have waited 5 hours and arrive the next day, but the position was just too promising.

I kept on going and hitchhiked in the night. 20 minutes later I had my final ride. Especially the last ride,was very likely. I was confident to make this move, because I knew this position was in the current, on a good section of my overall route, with no major cities in front of me and enough traffic in my direction. Simple analytics for a successful hitchhiking.

This idea of wrong traffic (not your direction) turning into right traffic (to your direction or destination) also is crucial for my strategie to pass big cities. While from the entrance to the center of the city it is very unlikely, that you will find a ride that really helps you and walking might be the better option, your chances to find traffic (at least) to the other end of the city are constantly increasing, when you pass the city center and move outwards of the town and not inwards anymore. The city center defines the tipping position, where catching a good ride is not luck anymore but possible.

Some people hesitate to drop me in rural areas, because they think, nobody ever will pick me up there. The hopeless position. In Argentina I was going from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia and in my first night I had a position at a gas station, which was not very successfull. 50 km in front of me was a major intersection, though in the middle of nowhere, without any lights and other structures. My driver told me, that there was nothing and I thought: „Very good!“ No disturbance. And people tend more to help you, if they perceive the place as hopeless. In this case it took me 2 minutes and the first car to catch a 800 km night ride from there.

This does not mean, that you should bring yourself in danger and try to get into rural areas in the night. Only take those positions, if you can handle to survive there, when nobody picks you up! In this case I knew there is an major intersection with traffic in my direction and that drivers would stop either than on the gas station, i was positioned before.

Wintertime and i mean real winter with snow and stuff (i know not everyone of you might have that), is hitchhikers heaven. I love it, when there are 1-2m high snow hills at the road side. You know why? Cause it makes life so much easier, especially in rural areas with not a lot of traffic. The question about the keeping area is not important anymore, because there is just no keeping area. Which means you basically can stand everywhere. It does not make a difference. Also people in the winter pick you up, everywhere. They are much more hold to stop and give you a lift.

This advice is for cities and small roads, not for highway with fast traffic (remember, winter, snow, slippery roads, longer braking ways…be careful what you do). If you are hitchhiking on a fast and big road in the winter the situation changes completely. Keeping area and taking a safe position is getting even more important here.

When you are in danger of getting into heavy rain, try to stay near a shelter. It is not worth to get soaked. I prefer shelter rather than carrying rain equipment with me.

Der Beitrag Positioning and hitchhiking erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

If you go hitchhiking your speed is all about your technique. In day-time the advanced and not-advanced hitchhiker might move with more or less the same speed. But with the right equipment and technique you can also move through the night without any problem. There is less traffic, but therefore the cars will go further. More experienced hitchhikers use the night for their movement as well as the day.

On my „Royal Stage“ from New York to Alaska I achieved a very good time while rushing through Canada. I had one of my best runs going from Thousand Islands border USA/Canada to Otter Falls/Haines Junction in Yukon Territory. I did 6071 km in 107h 8m; Ø56 km/h. I think this is faster than driving by yourself. And since this tour had a acceptable length, I would like to call it my personal best time.

In the Russian hitchhiking school you calculate an average speed of 50km/h during summer-time and 40 km/h during wintertime. This counts for most of the developed countries like Iran, USA, Kanada, Russia, Germany, Argentina, etc. The calculation has to be adapted if you move through mountainous territory with serpentines. In general the road is getting slower the higher it is. In technically more difficult regions your covered distance can drop down to 200-300km per day. I experienced that, when I hitchhiker through the Bolivian high plateaus.

The longer your tour is, the harder it is to keep up the speed. If I would have traveled only 3 km/h less on my Canada crossing, that would have meant in the end 321 km less distance. 3 km/h less sounds not much, but it really makes the difference in the end.

When I started hitchhiking we always calculated with twice of the normal driving time (if you drive by yourself, including rest and sleeping breaks). For beginners this is a good landmark, which is easy to achieve. If you fail this, you do something wrong. But in my covered routes through Asia, as South and North America, you can see, that the Russian calculation is realistic, especially if you move a longer distance.

If you hitchhike alone you will always be slightly faster than going as a couple. With three person your average speed will drop significantly. Border crossings are always different, but you can calculate an average delay of one our, when getting into a new territory. Crossing cities is a big issue and you should calculate around two hours more, than the normal driving time, especially if you need to fight your way through a Moloch like La Paz or Panama City. With or without public transport. Crossing cities is one of the hardest things to do and you can lose much more time here, if you are an unexperienced hitchhiker.

The more experienced the hitchhiker is, the less will be the difference in the movement speed between each other. And this is independent from age or gender. Who argues, that you hitchhike faster with a woman, just because she is a woman, has not enough own experience to convince drivers to stop. And if one of my female hitchhiking comrades is hitchhiking faster than me, then it is about her advanced technique and not about her pussy.

In general I want to show with this article, that hitchhiking is able to be scheduled and your speed is most dependent on your skill. This includes body language, clothing, attitude, gesture, facial expression, how good your communication is and how charming you can make cars to stop. Also your positioning is very important and that you avoid tactical mistakes like, letting the driver decide where to put you or taking rides that won’t bring you any advantage. All that are parameters which affect your speed and they are much more important than pure luck. Who argues that hitchhiking is about luck might not know how to hitchhike properly.

Der Beitrag Personal best – How to calculate your hitchhiking speed erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

Stats

Hitchhiked distance: 15.032 kilometer

Number of lifts: 89

Average waiting time: 19 minutes 15 seconds

Waiting time total: 28 hours 33 minutes

Log you can find here.

My Route

I started in Hong-Kong, made a short detour through the Yunnan region in the South and stayed three days in Dali. Afterwards I took a route along the Tibetan border to Chengdu and Wuhan. I continued in direction Bejing into Heilongjiang at the Mongolian border.
The last part lead me all the way from the north-east corner to Kaxgar in the far south-west. From here you can enter the highest road in the world, but I had to turn around and continue into Kazachztan. I hitchhiked more than 15.000 km in less than three weeks.
Route nach Kashgar 12.915km

Kashgar – Horgos 2117km

People

Everyone told me, that the Chinese would be so different. And they are indeed. But I did not experience those differences as drastically as expected. First it should be said, that China is hardly possible to realize, with its 1,35 Billion inhabitants and as the most populated country in the world. The cities are unbelievable big and you will find lots of tower block complexes,, like it should be in a god socialistic country. Also you gather a lot different ethnic groups in one country. The Han Chinese make the biggest group. In the South-West you will find a lot of Tibetans, in the North the people look more like Mongols and in the very west are mostly Uyghurs, which are more Turks/Central Asian than classical Chinese. I definitely learnt that China is not the same like China.

Also I mostly had to do with the new Chinese middle class, because they are the ones who move on the highways and my time in China I spend mostly along highways. I think the different between them and people in Europe is not very big. They also want to consume, drive the newest cars, have smartphones, are interested in travelling and used Google Translate to communicate with me. Not much different than in other countries.

In general the Chinese are very polite, but not like the Japanese who do a bit too much for you. While in Japan some people do a three hour long detour, because they think it is necessarily, this won’t happen in China, which I find very pleasant. But anyway, if you sit in a car during lunch, breakfast or dinner time, you most likely will be invited to eat with the people in your car. Also regularly people bought me food and gave it to me as a present for my upcoming way. Chinese people care about you, what lead to the decision to travel without any money. It was just not necessary here.

A point that I did not like very much was, that sometimes the Chinese people miss to leave yourself some prvacy and they stare at you, as if you would have eight noses. Or they make a video, or foto, or selfie, which happened almost every time, when I was picked up. Sometimes they even gather in groups to look at the stranger. A bit like in a zoo. Maybe as an explanation I think, that China went through a period of incredibly fast changes and foreigners still have a kind of exotic status. People are just very excited about you travelling through their wonderful country. I guess we need to get used to this while hitchhiking. And they don’t want anything bad from you, just miss a little bit of decency. If you don’t like selfies, you better stay out of China.

Btw. Driving is another thing. Chinese can’t drive very well. Unexpected movement, stopping in the middle of the highway without reason, driving slowly on the very left lane or totally ignoring of any road marking are daily observations in the Chinese traffic.
Roads
China has a perfect Highway network, which is a main indicator for the raise of this country. Not before 1988 they opened the first 17 km long highway section, which is now part of the ringroad of Shanghai. It took then 23 years till they had 74.000 km highway and overtook the Interstate-Network in the USA to become the worlds biggest highway network. Nowadays (2016) they have 123.000 km highway. 11.000 km of that only build in 2015. I just write this numbers, to make you understand HOW fast China is growing to overcome the development gap. The higway network is the most important project towards this process.

Even more impressing it will be to actually drive on this highways. There are service areas, like in Germany, which provide a perfect infrastructure for hitchhiking. The highways are in a very good shape and even in more rural corner, like on the Russian-Mongolian border in the North, you have consequently paved highways, which make it very comfortable to travel up and forth through China. If you consider how big this country is, this is a respectable achievement.

The highways in China are toll roads, which might cause that they are mostly used by a new, rich Chinese middle-class and you won’t find any wrecked cars there. The toll stations are a good position for hitchhiking, which gives an additional plus point for China. And what I absolutely enjoyed was, that the capacities of the infrastructures are far from being fully in use, which cause that in more rural areas you have a combination of very very little traffic, new roads and huge service areas. I liked that. But I am also a bit nostalgic and have pictures of the empty American and German highways from the 50s in my head. Todays roads are often so full with cars. In China you can smell pioneer atmosphere which is very intriguing in my eyes.

Another point about the traffic infrastructure, which has not directly to do with the highways. China has another impressive way of transportation: trains. It makes totally sense to invest in higspeed-trains, because the country is so big. There is a as well a huge train network, which are mostly build on high-tracks. The Chinese trains remember me on the German Inter-City-Express and they furthermore seem not to be less fast. Another indicator for the catching up process with the western countries.

Tactics

Before we start talking about hitchhiking, you should understand first: China has a huge highway system with a perfect infrastructure for hitchhiking: the service areas. Signs along the highway are usually with Chinese and Latin sings. Orientation is not as difficult as you might think and you can travel easily throughout the whole country.

The biggest challenge might be the communication problem, but here are some tips, how you can get around that and hitchhike through China like a boss.

Google Translate
Thanks to offline language packages and with offline speech recognition you got a wonderful tool to communicate with the people, even if you don’t have internet. Also if you get out your phone, most Chinese people will follow your example and use their translators as well. I made a couple of conversations like this and it worked really nicely.

WeChat
Better than translate might be to get yourself a WeChat account. This si something like a chinese WhatsApp and everyone is using that. You will recognize their surprising looks, when you show them your WeChat ID and ask them to scan it with their phone. But why WeChat? Because it has a automatic translator build-in. Only working with internet, but really reliable and the people are so happy about it. Also you can make them sending the selfies they did with you. Very practical.

The precious letter
I got a pre-written letter with me, which I got from a hitchiking buddy before. And honestly, I don’t really know what exactly was written on it. Something like „Hello I am Stefan from Germany, I am here to travel your beautiful country. Usually I move by hitchhiking (explaining hitchhiking) please don’t bring me to a bus or train station. I like to travel that way….etcpp.“ When people were reading that piece of paper I always could observe a big smile getting into their face. Beautiful. My secret weapon. I passed the letter to another friend who is hitchhiking through China. From hitchhiker to hitchhiker. Here is a photo of this letter.

List of Chinese number plates
Chinese number plates are as precise as in Germany. The first sign stands for the province and next comes a letter, which stands for the city/region. The capitals of the provinces often have the letter „A“. For a more precise determination you can download the full list of Chinese number plates from Wikipedia. Very helpful if you want to approach people directly at the gas station or make yourself a sign.

Service areas and overview signs
In almost every bigger city or highway intersection, you will find a service area. The people will usually know where. And if you want to keep control about you movement, there are some overview signs on the highway, where usually the next three service stations are shown. Very helpful if you plan your route. Just keep your eyes open.

Service areas have often a gas station, a restaurant and sometimes even free Wifi. Doors are always open in China and you can sneak on the roofs of the buildings to find a nice sleeping place. Just be careful which door you open, sometimes there might be someone sleeping behind already. Several times I ended up in peoples private rooms.

Hitchhiking in China can be executed in several ways. It works perfectly if you just stand at the end of a service area and stick your thumb out. Signs make sense but with the number plates it might be easier to find a ride by yourself, than making the ride find you.
Another good strategy is as followed. You get on the highway and go to the toilet or drink some water. Usually it will not take long, till someone approaches you and starts talking. You won’t understand anything. Let the person talk for 30 seconds and then then take out your letter. While he is reading a big smile will occure on his face. They might say „Germany!“, if they are at the part of your origin and laugh. After reading the contact person will start to search car for you and include other people in the process, which stand around you meanwhile and watch the scenery. Then everything will go its way and work automatically.

I have to add, that the Chinese culture is very much focussed on the collective. Socialistic. It is somehow the collective responsibility to care about you as a tourist. I had the situation very often, that I wanted to get out of a car and the driver insisted to find the next ride for me. Then we talked across the parking area and when he found a car there was a strange conversation occurring. I did not understood, but it was like „Are you driving to Beijing?“ „Yes.“ „Oh, very good, because this person needs to go to Beijing!“ And then they already put my backpack into the car. I never had the feeling that they would actually „ask“ if they want to take me. This part was kind of self-understanding.

Of course it will not always be that easy to hitchhike through China. But most of the time it will work by itself. Alternatively you got very good options for positioning, like exits of service areas. But also toll stations are good. Police controls make sure that you will meet slow traffic, but you should be careful, that the police is not hitchhiking for you, which might take ages. In the end you can also take position directly on the highway intersections, which is illegal, but since there is a lack of traffic police in China, hardly anyone will molest you there. Also those intersections are perfectly made to get around cities.

China is a great country to hitchhike long distances and life on the highway.

Impressions

Specifics

Almost every male Chinese person is smoking. Smoking is part of the Chinese culture, like beer of the German one. If they are lightening themselves a cigarette, they are usually getting two out of the package and offering you one. I had owners of bars, who came to our table and offered cigarettes as a welcoming gesture. Some people smoke tobacco bongs before lunch. I mean, i saw a lot of countries, where they smoke a lot, but China is definitely world champion in this discipline.

Who still thinks China is a development country might have missed the last 15 years of life. This country is blooming and you can see a new player in worlds power game uprising. Not even the perfect highway networks and the new middle class, but also the cities are growing massively. Sky high living blocks shoot out of the ground like mushrooms. Big shopping centres for consumers needs are set, which are far from everything I know in Germany. China is rolling as unstoppable as a mud-avalanche.

In case of food China was the most interesting country I have ever travelled through. I guess I never ate anything twice. Chinese kitchen is so divers and really really good. I tasted some new things, like pork feet, lung, pickled intesticals, duck neck or other things, that sound disgusting but are actually really good! And you should consider, that I just came out of food paradise Japan and it was even harder to impress me. But Chinese kitchen did so, definitely!

The Chinese wall was very beautiful and if you want to be alone, you can just wander in one of the sections that are closed for tourists. Most of the people visit the renovated parts, which does not mean, that the other ones are not accessible. A little bit adventurous to get there but the view pays definitely off!

The Yunnan region in south, near the border to Myanmar is one of the most beautiful areas I have travelled to so far. People are mostly Tibetans and the foot of the Himalayas gives a stunning scenery. People, scenery and food are especially good here and I can recommend to visit there.

Xinjang is the biggest province, which consists mostly of desert. But in the north there is also water and agriculture, which surprised me. There should grow the best peaches of China and also you will find lots of Muslim people in this area. China is not like China here anymore, but more like Central Asia. Completely different to the East of the country.

Internet is not really working well in China, as Google, Facebook and several other services are blocked. You should use a VPN. I by myself had also a Hong-Kong Data package, which made me being able to access all services!

Der Beitrag Hitchhiking in… (18) China erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

People

Germans are quite okay people in general. Okay, we are the worst of all capitalists and not as good as people think about us outside of Germany. Yes we have a huge stick in our ass and tend to be a bit inflexible if it is about laws and rules. Organization is very important, because it makes us feel safe. We like it precise and need to optimize and criticize all the time. Everything which is not sticking to the norm is looked at skeptical and need reglementation. Understand this. Confusion is just not good for the efficiency.

Beside the technocratic philistinism, the Germans are also quite interested and open. For me most important, that in Germany is relatively less fear. Hitchhiking is not difficult. People are willed to give rides. I hitchhiked in more than 50 countries throughout my life and I can say, beside other places like Brazil, the US or Colombia, the Germans are very warmhearted and open towards hitchhikers.

Hitchhiking has a very good reputation in Germany. Not least through the yearlong initiatives of several clubs and organizations. Also I should mention, that one of two empiric researches about hitchhiking were made in Germany [Trampen FIEDLER, Joachim, et. al., 1989; Anhalterwesen und Anhaltergefahren: unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des “Kurztrampens”, BKA-Forschungsreihe Sonderband, Bundeskriminalamt Wiesbaden.]. Beside that there are some luminaries, like Dieter Wesch the „Angel of Hitchhikers“. This guy picked up 9528 hitchhikers so far and would be in the Guiness Book of World records, if there would be a category for him. And for sure the „Hitchhiker-Pope Dieter Höft, who opens his place for stranded hitchhikers. He even comes and picks you up from the onramp, if you give him a call and invites you for free beer and free accomodation at his home!

Such nice people! Who can say we Germans are not hitchhiker friendly?

The scene

I am just part of it since around ten years and can only guess the real beginnings. I think I was part of a generation of hitchhikers, that were there, when everything was rolling already, but not the real pioneers. But thats okay. Most important: Germany might have beside Russia, Poland and Lithuania one of the best organized hitchhiking subcultures worldwide.

Ahead Abgefahren e.V., a club who wants to free hitchhiking from the hippie smell and reestablish it in the public sphere. They did for years an excellent lobby and pr-work and definitely started to carve the stone. Abgefahren has a annually race during Whitsun, the German Championship in Middle-Distance-Hitchhiking. All the old fellows are already retired and settled down all over the world. But you knew, that our beloved Hitchwiki was/is on the same server as the Abgefahren club page? And it is not by accident, that the second most written articles are in German. Because the old Abgefahren staff did a lot work here. Thanks fellows! Great job!

Beside that we have Tramprennen.org probably one of the biggest hitchhiking races in the world, organized by the Club of Roam e.V.. Every summer for several weeks a group of hitchhikers is rushing all over Europe. Great fun, I never participated by myself so far, but what they developed over the years deserves a lot of respect! One of the biggest and most active hitchhiking projects at all. They are very beginners friendly and seem to be a warmhearted community. Tramprennen.org has furthermore a complete different target group than Abgefahren, which is kind of surprising, because usually everyone know everyone in the hitchhiking cosmos.

And then there are we. Me and my buddy Ralf (former treasurer of Abgefahren) founded the first German competetive hitchhiking club DTSG, to establish the Russian way of hitchhiking in western Europe and Germany. Our competitions are a bit harder. Usually we pick a challenging route with elements of exploration and orienteering in unknown territories. We take a certain corner of Germany, which is outstanding beautiful, and then hitchhike for 2-3 days up and forth. All in a competition, with checkpoints and rules. We target people that like to be outdoor and seek adventure. Who wants to have a leisure time, might not be right with us. We hitchhike with the knife between our teeth. But I can strongly recommend to try it out. Usually it is a lot of fun.

Roads

Die Autobahn. Okay, if we exclude that I think the American Highway is, for aesthetically reasons, the most beautiful road in the world, there is nothing better than a German Autobahn to move forward. Especially hitchhiking. Germany has no general speed limit, just a „recommended speed“ of 130km/h, which means, you should not go slower. There are not much countries in the world, who do not have a speed limit and even less, who have the right road conditions, to drive as fast as you want. With 250km/h towards your destination…..that you only can have in Germany.

I should say, that the Autobahn is not ideal for thumbing. Not as in Russia, Argentina or Canada, where you usually just stand aside the road. Directly on a German highway it is almost impossible, cause cars are too fast and the police will be there within 5 minutes to get you off there, because it is not allowed to hitchhike directly on the highway. If you want to go on the Autobahn you have to use the onramps. Thats why the Russians call the Autobahn also „The Tube“. If you once are in, you will get pushed through.

Beside the Autobahn you also have normal country roads with a general speed limit of 100km/h, which can be a bit challenging sometimes, cause the traffic runs quite fast over it. Especially if you end up in some part, where the roads are as well build as the Autobahn itself. There is also another type of road, which is called „Kraftfahrstraße“. The problem: You are not allowed to hitchhike here either. I always did that: Hitchhike anyway, if the police comes you pretend to be stupid and they will give you a lift to a better position. Works always well to get rides with the police in Germany, if you are in a fucked up position. Just be polite and friendly as with your drivers.

Sick streets, but also sick cars. Cmon. BMW, Audi, VW, Porsche and Mercedes are all German producers and make the most beautiful cars in the world. If I hitchhike in Germany I prefer to travel with business people, because they drive the newest models and go fucking fast. With 250km/h towards your destination. I explored a lot of highend-car-technique while going through Germany. It is definitely exciting and characteristic for hitchhiking here.

What should be mentioned as well is, that Germany is transit-country for the polish transport industry, which is sooo useful if you move through Europe and hitchhike transnational routes. They often drive through the night and are faster than trucks. Always first choice to get a ride with a polish person. I would count that as advantage for location of Germany.

Tactics

Moving in Germany. There are several strategies. I know people that only use the onramps and are doing good with it. They mostly have a good keeping area and people stop relatively fast.

I personally prefer the gas station hopping. Because it is so fucking easy. You just move from gas station (in German called „Raststätte“) to gas station. Just talk to the people that stop and fill new gas. Over the years I optimized my technique in a way, that I move as fast, as I would do, when I drive by myself (considering 250km/h business man who compensate the waiting time). I can hardly describe my way of asking, it is all instinctive. I can see, who might take me and who not. Usually I do not need to ask more than 1-3 people. In the end I even started thumbing at the end of the service areas, cause asking became so boring and I lost the fun of hitchhiking a bit.

Of course you need to be a bit charming and look accurate. So no beer, not carrying two expedition bagpacks, no dog pack and other things, that might disturb average people, even if those things are totally normal. To ask has a lot to do with superficial things. If they can trust you, it is half of the game.

Germany has a very complex and complicated highway network. It is good, because you always can choose between the routes, but it also can be very confusing, if you do not know the area. You shoudl definitely pack a map with all service areas and study it, whenever you can. Alternatively you can download here a .pdf with all service areas and onramps on it and combine it with your smartphone. Orientation and planning is very important to not miss your next checkpoint. I know my routes by heart meanwhile, know every service area and onramp and still I carry a map with me. Just a basic tool!

What is also unbelievable helpful in Germany are the number plates, where you can determ relatively precise, where a car is registered. So you can guess, where they go or come from. Note: There are certain areas, that are used for rented cars. (Europcar has „HH“ (Hamburg), Avis – „EU“ (Euskirchen), Sixt – „M“ (Munich), Hertz „DN-H“ (Düren)). The first letter is usually the district, where it is registered and after a while you should know what you need to look for. Beside that, there is a little patch which tells you, what state that number plate is sticking too, which also can be wonderful, if you do not know the district letters.

A list (in German) with all number plates is here.

And some general information to the number plate (in German) you can finde here.

Specifics

The cheapest food with the best value at the service areas is the good old German Bockwurst. A special kind of sausage. I would never have thought, that I miss the Bockwurst one day. But after 1,5 years hitchhiking all over the world, I had to realize, that there is nothing as the German Bockwurst elsewhere. And it is somehow part of the service area culture. Recommended!

Everything at the service areas is too expensive. Especially water, which I find really bold. But you can find tabs which are used by the truckers and there you get some free water.

Even for the toilettes you need to pay. But usually you can jump over the barrier, if they don’t look. Nobody will pull you out the toilette, while you having a shit. Also there is nice music in the SaniFair locations! Shitting is a human right, nobody should pay for it.

Der Beitrag Hitchhiking in… (17) Germany erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

Stats

Hitchhiked distance: 4711 kilometer

Number of lifts: 79

Average waiting time: 11 minutes 36 seconds

Waiting time total: 15 hours 17 minutes

Log you can find here, as always.

Some comment about the stats. I had to wait once around 6 hours at a gas station, more or less hitchhiking, eating, chatting, until I met two japanese hitchhikers who found a ride for us. I did not take this waiting time into the statistics. Yes I faked it, haha! I want to admit this openly. It has a purpose, because this time would change the average waiting time and would not represent the real Japan, how I experienced it. A first-class hitchhiking country.

And in difference towoards my other logs, we have been hitching around in a team (F&M) most of the distance.

My Route

I started my hitchhiking trip in Tokio, went to Matsumoto, Tokio again and then down to Tokushima. We made a round on Shikoku island and visited Okayama on our way back to Tokyo.

Second expedition lead up to Aomori and back down to Tokio, while as we were visiting several onsens and exploring some mountain roads on our way back. Basically I was hitchhiking through all mainland of Japan.

Japanese people – Your hitchiking friends

It is really hard to imagine, that there would be another place in the world, where the people are as polite as in Japan. Politeness and feeling comfortable have a very crucial position in social interaction in Japan. For example: If you sleep somewhere in front of an entrance and people come the next morning, because they need to go to work. They would excuse themselve for passing by, because they have to go to work. They would never shout at you. Typical japanese.

While hitchhiking through Japan, of course, I had some awesome experiences. There is no coutnry in the world where people stopped as fast as here. Two reasons: On the one hand the politeness and friendly nature towards strangers, but also curiosity about you as a person. I think Japan is a very secluded country and they are happy to get some fresh impressions from outside. Therefore you should learn some japanese! I totally failed that mission and feel a bit pity about it. I think as a matter of respect towards the people you should have some language skills, because they are really happy, if you can tell them a little bit out of your traveller life.

Once we got 100€ as a present from our drivers. Just because. My hitchhiking partner said, that she was giving chocolate as a present to the drivers for a while, but it turned out, that people gave tons of stuff back to her. Something about the culture, if you receive a present, you give something back. For her it was a bit awkward, because the people gave too much and she stopped giving away chocolate.

If you ask me: Is hitchhiking in Japan dangerous? I would say: “Hell, no!” It might be one of the safest countries to hitchhike in. Even as a solo female hitchhiker you won’t have much issues of people harrassing you in this Japan. People in general are very careful, in means they care about you. Sometimes they might even take you, because they think something is wrong and they don’t get, that you hitchhike.

Japanese people did not really understand the basic principle of hitchhiking, which is: They go their way and give you a ride for a part of this way. No need to do detours. We don’t need detours. But japanese people do this all the time. Sometimes they drive 1,5 hours to your destination and if you ask them, where they go now, they point out a place 15 minutes from where they picked you up. Damn.

Without speaking japanese, those coincidences are hard to avoid. All in all a bit too friendly, but not a disadvantage for hitchhiking at all. Still I don’t feel very good with it. Btw.: The first time this happened while being with two japanese hitchhikers and hour driver paid 50€ toll fee, while doing a 1,5 hour drive to the place we had to go. So it is not just a phenomen which is related to foreigners.

Beside that I want to say, that Japan has a very young japanese hitchhiking community. I found several times other hitchhikers (all male) at the gas stations. Every time equipped with a sign. ALWAYS! Very well dressed as well. Made a good impression to me. Very likeable generation of hitchhikers, that is carrying out pioneers work for making hitchhiking in Japan more popular.

I got different explanations for this. There is a tv-series in Japan. Some team which is hanging out at the airport in Tokio and waiting for travellers to come out of the airplane and escort them. This series is very popular. And there is some girl, which is travelling with hitchhiking through the country and using couchsurfing. And if the japanese people see this they get totally intrigued.

A second reason: It is relatively hard to get cheap from A to B. There are trains, but those are expensive. Japanese has a very active ans superb underground music scene. I assume, that many musicians might travel with hitchhiking from as well. Once I got picked up by a young lady, who said, that she listened to a radio show of some musician and he said he is hitchhiking and that was the reason, why she picked me up. It is definitely very exciting what is happening in Japan at the moment.

Little sidenote, which I found very special in Japan: There are many female truckers and they also stop sometimes, to give you a ride.

Japanese Roads

Japan has an almost perfect highway system. Most of the country (except Hokkaido) is easily accessable through the expressways. An there you got THE infrastructure for hitchhiking. So called SA&PA (Service & Parking Areas). On the parking areas you got only some vending machines and toilettes sometimes. The service areas are much bigger most of the time, with gas stations, shopping malls and sometimes even swimming pools. Especially around Tokyo you got service areas that feel like a wellness spa for hitchhikers. Bakery, supermarkets, free Wifi, Toilette, little shops and massive traffic. But hey, I have never been on a SA or PA in Japan, where I was afraid to get stucked. They all work.

The normal japanese road is first of all: Tight and narrow. Sometimes we got rides with people that could not go on the Expressway, because it is too expensive and we had to give our lifes into the navigation system. It felt like a bad joke at some points, because we entered those really really small roads. Sometimes even missing the raod, because it looked like a gateway to a house. I never have seen anything like this. When I complained about Colombia and Chile because of the missing keeping area, so I have to say, that I was happy in Japan, if there was a keeping area at all. Same for the Expressways btw. Sometimes they totally forgot the emergency line. I think this is the biggest problem, while hithchiking in Japan: Space for stopping.

Beside that there is a second deficit. The locomotion is very slow. The tempo limit in the Expressway is usually 100 km/h. If you move on the country roads, you mostly do 50-60 km/h. Fortunately Japan is not very big and you just need 2-3 days to go across the whole main island. But if you move on the small roads, be prepared for an exciting tour!

Btw.: What venice for bridges…..oh no, stop. What Hamburg for bridges (Hamburg has the most bridges in all Europe. 2.486, more than Venice, Amsterdam and London together) is Japan for tunnel. There are so many tunnels in Japan. Unbelievable. Everywhere in the country. I guess there are far more tunnels than Expressways. Definitely a marked characteristic.

The bridges are also very scenic. I mean, I was impressed when I crossed through the US by the Golden gate Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge and some other constructions I crossed. But honestly, against japanese Engineering the US look like a developing country to me!

Especially about Tokio:

Hitchwiki says Tokio is not hitchable. I mean, it is true that you have NO SPACE AT ALL on the onramps. But hitchhiking  in Tokio works anyway. Awesome good, I have to say. I hitched three times on the Expressway from Tokyo and I waited not longer than 5 minutes. The second time I even got picked up together with two japanese hitchhikers that where waiting there with their signs. I mean, if the locals do it?

In Tokyo you got onramps that suck and you got onramps that REALLY suck (f.e. Shibuya in direction Nagano first entrance). I can not really recommend to hitch out there. I mean, it works. But it feels not right. Also I got send away by the police once.

Tactics for hitchhiking in Japan

Japanese hitchhikers use signs. If you know me, you know that I never do that. But I would recommend to follow this tradition n Japan. Maybe it also stops the drivers to do long detours for you, cause they know where you go and don’t stop, if it is off the track. Names/Signs of destinations is absolutely enough. Like in Europa. No need for complicated messages on your sign.

Keeping area is a big big problem, but you get picked up anyway. But I have to say, that this keeping areas are very important for people in Japan. Much more than in other countries I have crossed. Several times cars stopped up to 500m behind you (!) because they couldn’t figure out, where to stop. Once a guy walked back and approached me 5 minutes, after they passed by, coming back to get me into the car. Japanese people are very determed, if they decide to take you. I thought this is a outstanding quality!

Remember: Every car that passes by is a potential ride, even if they don’t stop! It happened so often, that people turned around and came back, 10-15 minutes after they passed by, because they thought about it and wanted to pick us up. For that reason stay charming and happy, even if nobody stops. All potential rides! If they stop at the horizon and turn on the emergency lights, it is a sure sign, that they give you a ride. And don’t worry, they wait!

Country roads are recommended for hitchhiking., Super easy. Super fun. But very slow locomotion.

About Expressways:

Every onramp has a toll station, so called Interchange (IC). You are not allowed to cross them by foot. I tried it several times and got icked out by the employees. But you can stand in front of those tations, that is not a problem at all!

About service areas:

Usually I would walk to the end of a service area and position myself behind the gas station (which are usually at the very end in Japan) at the beginning of the onramp. Several times people approached me and told me to take position much further in front of this in the middle of the parking area cause there would be ‘more space’. I mean, yeah, it doesn’t make sense objectively. But if you want to be a japanese style hitchhiker, you should take position in the middle of the service area. Or just out of politeness.

If you want to get out of Tokyo you can simply use Google Maps as it includes all Bus and Train routes and gives you also the cheapest price, to get to your destination. It is very simple and very helpful. In general that is a great way to navigate in Tokyo. You life will be improved, if you don’t need to sit for hours in front of the metro plan, to figure out, where to leave the train.

If you want to hitch into Tokyo, it is worth to have a look at the signs on the number plate. Just find out, how the district you want to go is written and scout out the right cars at the parking areas near the city. Usually you can see with the first two signs, where they go. If you don’t know, just ask some local to help you out. People showed me what cars I should look for several times, without me even asking for it.

Japan has a very young and sensible hitchhiking. Compared to the US, where people put hitchhikers on the same step as criminals or mental sick people, people in Japan have no fear at all to pick someon up. Hitchhiking and hitchhikers as well are perceived positively! No prejudices! This is a fucking unique situation which can’t be valued high enough folks!

Once a young woman turned around to pick me up and she said, she passed by, then called her boyfriend and asked him, if she should pick me up. He said: „Yes, go for it!“ and she returned to give me a ride. Anything more to say?

Be as polite as possible if you hitchhike in Japan, that this positive vibe will be preserved and the country can rise as a great hitchhiking nation! Don’t fuck this up, it is so precious!

Impressions

Specifics

Dumpster Diving works in Japan. They have so much ready to eat food, which they throw away every day. Trashwiki says that the 100-Yen-Store is good for this, but the stores I checked had locked dumpsters (they have special little sheds for the trash in Japan): Better choice might be the Family Marts! We had the most succes from all convenient stores in Japan at this ones. Around 10 they might clean the old food. Be there, observe and enjoy. If you find something, it will be awesome much and delicious.

Japan has a stunning bathing culture which is absolutely worth to explore. You got Onsens and Sentos. Onsens are like hot-springs, while as Sentos are public baths with heated water. There are several places with free outdoor Onsens, but this needs to be investigated. Btw. Being in an Onsen has a specific style: You first wash yourself, before you go into the hot swimming pool! Also there is a sauna most of the time. Beside Syria and Turkey Japan is my most favourite country in case of washing yourself.

The japanese kitchen is awesome and was a positive suprise to me. There is almost nothing, that I don’t like (except Natto which looks like slimy bit of snod). Beside Ramen there is Udon and Soba, which you should eat cold. But you can also try Tempora (deep fried…..stuff) and raw fish. In the supermarket you get some croquettes made with potatoes or meat. They are cheap and filling. Also the bakerys are very good. Best food since 1,5 years that I had in Japan!

Internet without provider might be difficult in the first sight in Japan. You have free Wifi everywhere but most of the time it requires registration and a official number to use it for free (1 day or 2 weeks sometimes). But there are other ways to get online. Almost every convenience store has Internet (Family Mart, 7Eleven and Lawson [Lawson is the best!]). Starbucks is also a good spot to go. If you hitchhike on the country roads, you can ask people to drop you there. Btw. McDonals has no Internet but plugs. Somteimes you also might find public open Wifis.

Not worth a note, but anyway: In Japan they drive on the left side. Keep that in mind, if you plan your route and watch out for Service Areas and hitchhiking spots.

Between the north and the south is a huge climate difference. When we went to Shikoku island, there where pleasent 20° and spring time, while as two weeks later in the north was still heavy snow and in Hokkaido you even could make an iglo. Japan is big and the climate divers.

So, if you want to hitchhike in Japan, just do it and enjoy! It is gonna be a great experience!

Der Beitrag Hitchhiking in Japan (16) erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

Stats

Hitchhiked distance: 2435 kilometer

Number of lifts: 63

Average waiting time: 15 minutes 46 seconds

Waiting time total: 16 hours 34 minutes

Log you can find here.

My Route

I went from the very end of Panama all the way north into Texas. Most of the time alont the Panamericana.

People

I was surprised by South America already. All the people said, it would be so dangerous, but in the end it was very wonderful. Same for central America. Panama and Costa Rica are kinda former provinces of the United States, now independent and a lot of retired US-Citizens live there. I experienced the hitchhiking there as laborious. I mean, what is worse than hitchhiking in the US? Right, hitchhiking in a country which exists of retired Americans. Lucky me i reached Nicaragua at some point, where it was much more convenient. Very poor country, but nice hitchhiking experience.

Honduras was a good country to hitchhike in, but it seems that this place is suffering a lot by drug trafficking and corruption. I did not feel very safe there, which is very uncommon for me. I would describe the country neutraly as…wild. Beside that also very cheap. I think the people are bloodsuckers, want to make the most out of the tourists and don’t give a shit at the one side and very hospitality at the other side, have a really warm interaction. I was only crossing but had a very intense impression. Negative as well as positive.

In El Salvador you can pay with Dollars, the life-standart is a bit higher and the people are very friendly. It is a little bit my insider tip for Central America. I never recognized this country before, but now I would say: „Go there!“, if someone would asked me for a recommendation in Central America.

And then Guatemala. My love. People are so super nice, very cheap, a lot to see and hell of a hitchhiking experience. Definitely my favourite in the review and the country with the best hitchhiking in all North America. A lot of Pick-Ups, many fast pick ups, nice roads, stunning landscape. Here I will come back!

In the stats Central America has a very good average waiting time. This is mostly because of Guatemala! Just saying.

Roads

Panama has a long highway which gets a bit unsteady in the north. But with Costa Rica the best road quality in Central America. Nicaragua is a bit fucked up, Honduras as well. El Salvador and Guatemala are somehow in the middle of that.

In Costa Rica you should follow the road along the coast line instead of the Panamericana in the middle of the country. It leads through the jungle, along of endless palmtree plantations. An ecological disaster but exciting to watch. In Guatemala you have a lot of volcanoes along the road, it is very scenic and the temperate climate is very convenient. At least if you got out of hot Panama recently.

In the South of Panama is very dense jungle. Be careful, the roads can get fucking slippery through the humidity. I was in an accident there because of this.

If you hitchhike along the Transamericana, then better take the short way through the south-west of Honduras. And check the borders beforehand. If you end up at the wrong border, it can cost you an entire day because of low traffic. Some borders are also not recommendable to cross during the night. Nicaragua and Honduras are in general kind of troubled kids in this region. But go there and find out for yourself and don’t let yourself get influenced too much by my experience.

Tactics

Panama get through it somehow. Not perfect, but possible. Panama City has a kind of city rail, which has only one line, but goes to the other end of the city, which is quite helpful. In Costa Rica I would definitely use the coast. More relaxed surfers and higher chances to get a ride. In Nicaragua just go with the flow. Don’t hitchhike during the night in Honduras, if you are not interested in losing some weight of your luggage and experience the „real adventure“. El Salvador (City) is a wonderful place to hitchhike through, if you stick to my Hitchhiking in Cities – Guide. Don’t be afraid of this cities. But when I was there the sun was shining friendly and maybe my impression is a bit too positive. For Guatemala is not much to say. Enjoy the pick-ups, enjoy the hitchhiking, enjoy the people. Guatemala City can be a bit exhausting, but possible.

Impressions

Specifics

Nothing to say here for this time.

Der Beitrag Hitchhiking in… (15) Central America erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

Contents:

The following text contains basic informations about the technique of competitive hitchhiking, how it is practiced and developed in Russia. The chapters are orientated to the Russian customs. The documentation is divided in three chapters: (1) Preparation (Equipment, Maps, Cars,…); (2) Strategy (Tactics); (3) Utilization (Nighthitchhiking, Wintertime)

(1) Preparation

Historical context:

Basic problem for our Russian friends was the big backpack in the former soviet republic. There was not much space in the cars for big backpacks. In the 80s PASL¹ developed it´s own, hitchhiking optimized backpack, which holds about 40l and looks similar to a parachute container. Traditionally there was a rope attached to the backpack, to being able to tie it at the outside of cars, if there was not enough space inside. Nowadays this is not needed anymore, but the rope is still there. Habits. After developing the backpack, our friends realized, that the conventional equipment was too big for it. Logically this meant, that they need to reduce the size of their gear.

Originally the technique of competitive hitchhiking had its beginning while making outdoor expeditions. For getting into the mountains to do a hiking or skieing trip, they hitchhiked, even if they didn´t knew it was hitchhiking. After a while they figured out, that at certain times and in certain places the hitchhiking works better or worser. It was the first step to analyze and optimize their own movement and can be seen as the beginning of the idea of competitive hitchhiking. The second most important milestone within this technique was the observation, that hitchhiking also works in the night. With being able to hitchhike all night through, also the needed equipment could be reduced alot, because there was no need for camping gear on short and middle distances anymore.

Equipment:

Three different types of equipment exist: Technical Equipment, Camping Gear and Clothing.

Clothing consists of three layers: The first layer has basically the function to transport moisture to keep your skin dry. On longer tours you should use every possibility to wash to keep up the functionality. Synthetic clothing is recommended, as this soaks not as much as wool and stays not as wet. The second layer has the function to protect yourself from cold. Here a fleece is very functional. In principle it is better to wear 2 thin layers, than just one thick layer, because the temperature regulation is working better this way. Also small clothings are easier to pack, easier to dry and two stacks have a better isolation. The third layer is to protect you against wind and rein and should be breathable.

The Russian hitchhiking uniforms, as they are used in competitive hitchhiking, are not made to keep you warm. Therefore you need additional equipment in winter competitions as caps, gloves scarf to keep yourself cozy in colder times. For the body you can use a downvest. This should be worn above the uniform, cause it is not working in compressed condition. In extreme temperatures you can wear thin synthetic finger gloves and on this mittens. Mittens are in general superior, cause they store more warmth. The finger gloves are very useful, if you have to touch cold metal, because, especially in Russian winters, you can injure yourself very fast when touching metal with you bare hands. As you have to dress and undress your gloves constantly while hitchhiking, the gloves are attached to an elastic tie at your arms. You don´t wanna lose this and so you wont. Another classical part of the equipment in competitive hitchhiking is a rain cape.

As shoes normal boots are recommended. In winter you can wear leather boots, they work and are easy to dry. Most important are insoles, cause 90% of the heat disappears through the ground. In cars or trucks you should take of your shoes, for a better heating of your feets. Also it is practical to buy your shoes one number bigger than you are used to, cause you feets will swell up if you sit for a long time or in a long lift. In deep snow you can overdraw your boots with nylons, to keep them dry. Same as with your body clothing it is also recommended to wear 2 layer of socks. First layer a thin one and over it a thick wool-sock. Cotton is not recommended.

Technical equipment exists of a small pair of field glasses to eventually check control points within the competition and observe the traffic. The hitchhiking uniform is especially developed for moving in the night and pays of during this time. Basically they are made to represent a silhouette of a person, cause this is easier to recognize for the drivers and has an advantage towards bright clothing on the upper part of your body, which not might be recognized as a person. Furthermore the uniform is there to give the impression of an accurate, sporty and kind person, to increase your chances getting picked up. In principle there is only a small amount of cars which stops for everyone and a small amount of cars which stops for no one. Therefore it is required to provide the best impression to the drivers, to secure an advantage within the competitions.

Beside that you should use active and passive reflecting equipment during the night. Beside a head-torch, which ideally can be switched on and of easily, reflectors should be standard equipment during the competitions. Reflectors can be used for the legs and for the hands. As the spotlight of the cars beams mostly to lower objects, we ensure a maximal reaction time for the drivers. They can see very early, that there is something beside the road and slow down.

A transportable charger, which can be used in the cigarette lighter of the car is very useful. Same for a compass. Compass, because usually, if not announced different by the referee, GPS navigation is forbidden during the competition and compass represents a more traditional way of execution in orienteering sports. Maps should be colorful and include measuring rod. Also important is a functioning watch to be able to note the times during the competition.

Camping Equipment is always a question of distance. In PASL for short (<1000km) and middle (<3500km) distances, camping gear is usually not taken. For the tent you can use the classical version with poles. But it is very costly to take this kind of equipment with you for just 1-2 nights. For the competitions we use special produced tents without poles, which provide a rain and wind protection and use less space in the backpack.

As summer sleeping bag a synthetical filling is recommended, because it is drying faster. Wools are not recommended, cause they are heavy and moisture-sensitive. For colder regions down is the material to go for. PASL members use amongst other things a double sleeping bag. It means less space but a better thermal insulation. As inflatables usually the Therma-Rest is used. They are better than normal foam mates, because those are big and difficult to store. The isolation to the ground is very important in the winter time. Sometimes you also can use your clothing for isolation. But remember to keep your equipment dry, especially in the winter time.

Cooking gear you should only take for long-distances. For short trips it is easier to just buy something on the way and take „non-cooking-food“ with you. For cooker you have different combustibles. Gas is the easiest to use and most of the times you need less, than you carry with you. High quality has aircraft gas. Fuel contains 20%-25% more energy than gas and you can buy it almost everywhere. Especially in wintertime fuel works much better than gas. Beside that you should, in extreme climates, always have half a liter kerosine with you. Sometimes the diesel in the tanks freezes and you can make it fluid with the kerosine.

As cooker a multi-fuel solution is recommended. In winter time you can cook in the tent, but be careful. Pots should be made of aluminum, because it is lighter. The more flat a pot is, the faster it will cook. If it is very cold in the night, you can take a bottle of hot water with you in the sleeping. Also a candle in the tent can increase the temperate. But as with the cooking, be careful. Technical equipment should also include a waterproof bag. In trouble plastic bags will do the job.

Also the food is dependent on the distance. For a 2 day competition we store the following catering: Small sausages, flat bread (like Tortillas, normal bread gets crushed in the backpack and is not useful for our purposes), dry nuts and fruits, chocolate (winter) or Nougat (summer- doesn´t melt), water mixed with juice (summer) or tea (winter) and canned fish or meat for dinner time. For longer distances always carry food for two days with you. Buckwheat is recommended, rice (more energy than noodles) and sugared tea with lemon. Be careful if you have a competition during summertime and you lose a lot of salt, because this can cause muscular problems. To prevent this you can use a teaspoon of salt for rebalancing the Water-Salt household.

(2) Strategy

Preamble: Example: Moving from A to B. Person one changes the car 15 times. Person 2 changes the car 3 times. Coincidence? No.

For longer distances you can calculate the traffic volume. There are times of the day where is less traffic. This is known most of the time and it is necessary to make optimal use of the „waves of traffic“ for your own movement. Beside that there are so called „dead zones“ existing, which are mentioned as corridors, with extreme less traffic. In general: In the morning time there is a lot of traffic into cities and in the evening a lot of traffic out of cities. For a long distance trip it is recommended to start in the morning, to catch commuters, which go more far.

Tactics of movement represent a fundamental discipline of competitive hitchhiking. Especially the effective switch between small and big roads is important for the success within the competition. In general you should move from one good position to another good position. It is better to get out of a lift before he reaches its destination, to take a good position, than going till the end. Same counts for nightfall. But in nightfall and on less used roads it is recommended to use every possibility for moving forward to the next position.

Technique for crossing cities: Hitchhike with the car into the city. Never position yourself at the entrance of a city. Better go out before (f.e. 70km before the city in cities without a ring) and wait for a suitable car. If you, because of drowsiness or other reasons, end up in the middle of the city, move forward as followed: (1) Get orientation (2) find a big street (3) hitchhike on the big street, find a lift. Ask for the way (4) get informations about the way. Forget the way description and find a new car. It is best to rate a good position by yourself.

Positioning. A good position is, if the driver has good view on the hitchhiker and enough space to stop. Positions are always depend on the environment: road markings, holding surface, ascend and tempo limits. Peaks of ascents are always good positions, f.e. It should be avoided to position yourself at the end of a descent.

Positioning examples:

Those positions are most of the time the best for hitchhiking. But always keep in mind the visibility and holding surfaces. Never try to catch a lift on a position, where the vehicle becomes an obstacle for the following traffic if stopping. Better: Find a spot where cars can safely leave the road. Don´t try to hitchhike cars that are followed by trucks. If a driver stops on the middle of the street, ask him to pull over to the side.

The hitchhiking signal (if thumb, hand, stop sign or waving) is a question of personal preference. More important is to lift you arm in the right moment, which should not be too early or too late. Without motion, there is no communication between you and the driver. Always look at the driver, Especially when moving in a team it is very bad, if one person does something else, while the other one tries to stop a car, cause this communicates you’re not ready. Small details are very important in hitchhiking, cause they determine, if the car stops or not.

(3) Utilization

Night hitchhiking is the core art of competitive hitchhiking. When we realized that a 24/7 movement is possible, it was the hour of birth for competitive hitchhiking. Much gear and a big backpack could be easily reduced and replaced with the nowadays backpacks. The technique and the equipment during the night differ from the ones during the day. You have passive reflectors and active light. Passive reflection is not working in the twilight and if there is no direct light available, like in a curve.

In the night it is recommended to flash your own source of light, to start communication with the driver. Mind the position in street lights. Always stand behind the light, to not being covered by your own shadow. If you don’t have a hitchhiking uniform, you can wear a white shirt on top of your jacket or pullover. In Russian Tundra you can make a small campfire in emergency case beside the road. This is understood as a common distress-signal. Beside that you should not forget to sleep. This is also something you can use the night for.

Trucks cover most of the time not very long distances and make  a lot of breaks. Especially if you go middle distances and during the night, this can turn out negative. Even if the driver tells you, he goes long distance, this can turn out as a short ride sometimes. Be prepared. The best is to ask the driver to announce breaks before you stop, to be able finding a better position and hit for the next vehicle. If you found a good spot, tell him he shouldn´t worry.

To fight the drowsiness it is good to eat something (seeds or chewing-gum). In the night it is much easier to move in a team as two, because then one person can sleep and the other one talk to the driver. But the best way to overcome drowsiness is to sleep. Try to take a most relaxed position and gain as much comfort as possible. The „as much as possible“ should be in the center of attention. In the morning you should look out for well-rested drivers, f.e. trucks that just started. It will be good for your own well-being as well.

Winterhitchhiking differs from conventional hitchhiking in the following points: it is cold, the average driving speed is less, you are endangered (especially in the east parts of Russia) getting stucked and the braking distance is higher, which is important for your own positioning. If the temperature is around the freezing point it is sometimes more dangerous than extreme colderness, cause the streets are slippery and drivers might not be prepared. Also, compared to the summer, small roads have less traffic if it is dark during winter time. The „dead zone“ begins earlier.

The equipment during hitchhiking in the winter should be kept dry! Never try to wear as much clothing as possible to keep yourself warm. It is working at the beginning, but not the best tactic. It is better to keep your muscles active for staying warm. For this you should wear less clothing to get warm faster and prevent sweating. For cold fingers you can simulate to chop wood. Don´t use masks in the winter, they could scare the driver. If you drive on the loading platform of a vehicle and it is very cold, you should use snow goggles to protect yourself. In general you should not walk during the hitchhiking, cause drivers might think you just want to go short distance and less cars will stop for you. But you can walk or run upstream (opposite of driving direction), it can work. In wintertime it is legit to walk, because so you stay warm at least.

Never be hungry if its cold. Carry Antigel or Kerosin with you to make Diesel fluid again.

Der Beitrag Basics of competitive hitchhiking – Beginners course documentation erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

In the end I had around 12kg and 50l volume, which I think is quite reasonable. My backpack was so full in the end, that I could not even fit an extra shirt in it. If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to leave a comment at the end of the article. I will be happy to reply.

Most important

Backpack

Around 50l, two sections, simple carrier-system, front access, really minimized design, very robust material and the typical Parachuter-Look. The backpack has not much to offer, but thats why it is so genius. It is taylor made from the Russian hitchhiker Alexej Vorov, who developed hitchhiking optimized outdoor equipment in the last 30 years. Simple and functional. I would never choose a different backpack.

Tent

Also from Russia, made by Alexej. Two container, both around 1,5l big and together 2,7kg heavy. It got a tent and a tarp. No sticks. Which might be a disadvantage, because you can not use it without two trees/obstacles/pillows. But I never had problems to hang it, wherever I was (except in high-alpine mountain areas).

Also: The tent fits perfectly in my backpack. The Russians developed the backpack back in the days and then figured out, that their other equipment is too big for the backpack. Logically they had to resize their other equipment. The tent is one outcome of this process.

The hitchhiking suit

Most important for my hitchhiking. My second skin. My hitchhiking suit. Our official DTSG uniform. The suit is primarily developed for night-hitchhiking but has also some small features, like the pockets on top of your upper legs (which are perfectly accessable, when you sit in the car, which we do a lot) or the colorful design. It is breath-active (synthetics, dry fast) and taylor made (of course). But thats it. Doesn’t keep you warm, does not protect you against wind or rain. I also have some leg-reflectors, which are part of the uniform.

My Writing-In-The-Rain notebook, which I introduced already in my logging article. Really really nice to log your hitchhiking adventures.

Sleeping

Ultra Light Summer Sleeping Bag (+11° Comfort Zone)

My sleeping bag has an extreme small packing volume and weights 420g. 40€ at Globetrotter. I am happy with it, as long as it is not colder than +5°, otherwise it starts to hurt, if you sleep with this baby. He disappointed me several times, until I got my winter sleeping bag (also made by Vorov). But now for the spring and summer I got it back!

Sleeping pad

You can buy inflatable Ultra Light sleeping pads. They have 1-1,5l volume, but are not very robust. Therefore I choosed the Therma-Rest version. On of my buddies recommends body-sized sleeping pads, but never tested them.

Electronics

Camera

I started with a cheap Panasonic compact-camera until it gave up. Now I got myself a Lumix DMC-LX3 for 90€. Got some nice Reviews and I wanted just a small camera for small money. I am really satisfied with the pictures tho.

Laptop

Since I had no Smartphone and I wanted to write the blog, I decided to take a laptop with me. One of my heaviest pieces in the backpack with 2kg, but for my digital comfort zone, absolutely necessary. Also I had to buy the laptop, because it was looking so damn well. I got a Thinkpad Edge E135 with a flash hard drive. Especially the Thinkpad keyboard is a lot of fun to work with and a huge advantage towards those terrible EEE-Pc’s as for normal laptops. A good middle way for me.

Smartphone

Got some as a present meanwhile. Thanks Bobby. My life is so much more simple now. Never get lost again, with Google offline maps. It is a Nexus 5 and the first smartphone which I ever have. Like it so far.

Action Cam

Actually I don’t know why I got one with me. We bought a bunch of Action Cams, sponsored by the European Union for documentation of our hitchhiking races. Now I record roads all over the world with is. We got a GoPro-Clon for about 80€, called SJ4000.

Head-Phones

Practical. Also good to combine with a MP3-Player. Got one as well meanwhile, but don’t really know for what, as I never listen to music with it.

Chargers

Yes, of course you will need chargers for all the shit you got.

Clothing

Okay, this is a boring point, but let’s do it, to keep it complete.

Basically I got my hitchhiking uniform, one set of long clothes and one set of short clothes. With my Equipment I can survive until -5° outside (hitchhiking, not sleeping).

• 2-3 shirts (meanwhile four)
• 2 pair of socks (Merinowool, doesn’t smell) (meanwhile four)
• 2 pair of underwear (meanwhile 4)
• 2 under shirts
• long underwear
• hat (warm)
• scarf (also warm)
• base-Cap (against sun)
• gloves (normal ones, thin, wool, 5 fingers which with you can still use your camera
• one pair of trousers (Jeans)
• short trousers (lost meanwhile)
• wool pullover
• one nice pullover for dates and official happenings (my one was of Kashmir wool, which Jonas mum gave me during a DTSG competition and brought me lost of compliments. But I lost it. Sorry Jonas mum, I really loved that one!)
• Daune inlet/jacket, can be compressed into the backpack, same as a sleeping bag.

Shoes

Leather with Vibran sole. Shoes should be bought for a purpose. My ones are not for high-alpine hiking, but a hybrid, because I walk a lot along streets. They are water-proved. In the winter you can use an extra inlet and thick socks, so better buy the a little bit bigger than normal.

Extras

Head torch

Actually more than just an extra, but crucial part of our competitive hitchhiking equipment and night hitchhiking. We use in the DTSG some head torch from Fenix. I think I can compete with a car beam. If I use it on the highest level, it hurts to look into it. Beside that it has a remote control and an external battery pack, to keep it warm near the body. Also it can get into the water and is shock-safe. It is a very good lamp and I love it.

Hip-Bag

Mine is from Daikine. In the end a matter of taste. I wanted something simple, black and robust.

DTSG Sticker

Have to bomb street signs and promote competitive hitchhiking….

Knife

Mine is a standart Opinel 8, with 8,5cm blade, which is also nice for cooking.

Toilet paper

This should not be here, but in the first part of this list. There is nothing worse, than hitchhiking around and having no toilet paper with you.

Sleeping mask

Does not weight much and is good against light. Actually, the longer I have this, the more I like it.

Daypack

Simple wool bag is enough, if you ask me. Enough to climb 4000m high mountains definitely.

Books

I had maximum 5 books with me. Now I got two. They make you happy twice. When you read them and when you get rid of them.

Medical support

I did some research in the beginning and most of the things I never used, which would be a reason to kick them out. But better safe than sorry.

• malaria Standby Medication. For the jungle.
• antibiotics
• painkiller. I got some Ibuprofen 600mg pills. They are good but not high-end. Some of my friends recommended me, to take some serious shit with me, to get sedated, when I really need it, like my leg is broken and bloody or other reasons for strong pain. But hard to get, even if it sounds right.
• desinfection. Got Bettaisadonna, the creme.
• anti-Histamines. Against allergic reactions.
• eye-Celaning-Liquid. If you get some chili in your eyes, this shit can safe your life.

Beauty farm

• nail scissor (lost and never replaced)
• tooth paste (hey here is a tip, in Germany we got Ajona Stomatikum tooth paste, really small and efficient and tasty. I even send myself some from Germany to the USA, because I don’t want to travel with something different.
• toothbrush
• piece of soap (oldschool and small
• deodorant

Dismissed

Things I had with me, but kicked them, because I did not see them as useful after 1,5 years.

Cooker

I had a small and simple Trangia cooker. Really good for one person, but you need quite a lot of fuel for it, especially if you go hiking for several days. You can only cook small meals with it.

Reason: Used it once. I am not the kind of guy, who takes the time to cook his own food I guess.

Selfie-Stick

Reason: Get rid of that shit.

Climbing shoes

Reason: Expected more climbing action, but didn’t do it in the end.

Water-Filter

I had a Sawyer Water Filter, which only weights some gram and is as big as a thick pencil. The company promotes the filter with the fact, that you can drink out of toilets with it. Pretty impressive innovation. But more for using in Africa and not when you are traveling and have access to water almost everywhere.

Reason: Used it once. Why carry it around with me?

Windbreaker

Pretty important if you go sailing, but also a good layer, if you want to keep yourself warm.

Reason: Had two of them. One got destroyed, when I crashed with a parachute. The other one I lost. Never replaced them.

Rain cape (plastic)

You can use a very thin one. Does not take a lot of room and you can find some protection during heavy rain.

Reason: I prefer to stand on a dry spot. Never used the cape.

Sunscreen

Reason: Why not try some skin-cancer this time? Or just avoid being at the beach all day.

Towel (micro-blabla).

Very small volume. And normal towels are really stupid for traveling.

Reason: Lost it. Now I just dry myself in the air or get back into my clothes while being wet. Life can be so easy.

Washing powder

Reason: No need to carry this around with you. You can buy it if needed. Most of the time you will find it anyway somewhere.

From the pharmacy: Something against shitstorms.

Reason: I prefer to stay near toilets, if I got heavy shitstorm problems. Let it out! And if it comes so hard, that you shit yourself 5 minutes after getting out of the restaurant, every product is useless.

Piece of rope

Reason: Never used.

Normal scissors to cut your beard.

Reason: Took it from me on the Chinese Airport. Well, then I let my beard grow now!

Finger tape (for long hikes and to keep your feet working)

Reason: Gave it away once and never got it back.

Der Beitrag Pack your backpack for hitchhiking around the world erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.