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.

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.

Looking through the window at my side. To the driver pointing on me: „He has no seat-belt.“ Driver: „Ahm…well. There is no seat-belt on this side.“ Policemen: „This is forbidden, you can’t drive like this.“ Driver: „Okay, what are we going to do then?“ Police: „How about….a coffee?“ Driver: „One dollar for a coffee?“ Police: „Yes.“

Canada

Note: It is forbidden t hitchhike in British Colombia.„Where are you heading to?“ „Vancouver.“ „What, all the way? Well….there is a bus station, I could give you a ride to.“ „Nono, it is alright. I am hitchhiking. It is not far. One ride and I am there.“ „Yeah thats true.“ „I just wanted to walk a bit further, I don like this position. Maybe use the onramp over there.“ „You can walk under the highway pass. There is more space to stop. And you sure will find a ride.“ „Cool.“ „The guys from the highway patrol might give you a hard time, when they see you. I don’t care, I am not from the highway patrol, as you can see.“

Northern California

Two cars stop. „What are you doing here?“ „Hitchhiking.“ „You are not supposed to do that here!“ I give him already my passport. „aha, where are you going?“ „Seattle.“ „To the jail?“ My suit, my suit….. He checks my papers, the younger cop arrives and starts chatting with me. „Ah don’t worry, you are not in trouble.“ As if I would be worried. I tell him my story. The other cop comes back. „Hey Frank, this guy hitchhiked all over the world!“ „Really?“ „Man, I would love to give him a ride to Winters, but I guess this wouldn’t help.“ Third car arrives, which is very unusual. They called for the Sergeant. Now all three of them are surrounding me. Sergeant: „Where are from?“ „Pardon?“ He gives me a clap on the shoulder. „Where are you from?“ „Oh, Germany.“ „Nono, where in Germany?“ „Frankfurt.“ „Oh, I lived in Frankfurt for two years. And Frank, you also lived in Germany, right?“ „Right.“ Short chat about how beautiful Germany is and that they really liked Sachsenhausen. Then they suddenly all turn around and walk to their cars. While they go the Sergeant said: „Well, you are not supposed to hitchhike here. So….hitchhike your way out! I don’t want to read about you afterwards!“ Alright.

Special: The Mexican

„They deported me already 13 times.“ „Really?“ „Yes, but I always came back! They fly me out, then I go dancing, to some party in Tijuana. And when I am drunk, I go back.“ „So it is possible to cross the border?“ „In the past it was easier. But I know how to do it. If you do it the first time, it might be difficult. But I did it so often, not a problem. If they catch me and deport me, I just try the next day.“ „Do you have friends, that pick you up from the border?“ „Nono, my family sends me money and I take a Taxi to the Greyhound station and then go by bus. I don’t know why they still deport me. It is a waste of money!“

Der Beitrag Traffic Exists. Hitchhiking Possible; (12) The very best of: Police controls erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

17.02.2016, 17:43

Arrived at the „hotel“. Take your shoes off and make yourself comfortable. The friendly lady at the reception told me, that the US-Departure area will close around 20:30 and will turn into an area for relaxation afterwards. Since this is a self-catering hotel, I bought all my food in a Chinese supermarket already. Got some rice with pork, sweet-sour. It is a lot, so I can eat from it all night long. Also got some San Pellegrino blood orange lemonade. All inclusive. My room-mate is sleeping. Couldn’t say hello to him yet.

16:37

Since I have so much food bags with me, walking around is kind of annoying. So I got myself a nice trolley. Now I can make a tour through my new home. Bumming around!

17:11

The lady at the reception is very lovely. I asked her for showers and explained, that I will stay two days at the airport. She was fully into that and told me where to go in the night, to have it quiet. „And never forget to look at your belongings!“ If the security will bother me? Not at all! They are used to people sleeping here. Let’s see if they are still used to it, when I put out all my camping gear.

Showers are unfortunately for VIP’s. The hotel wants 18 Dollar for showering. Fuck that, I thought. But the receptionist said, that you can use the shower for three hours. In this case, maybe tomorrow evening I am going to visit the Spa and spend some time there.

17:21

Fuck yeah, here in the very last corner of the airport I even have my personal plug. Another supply-problem solved.

19:55

One of the airport workers just came behind my bench, spread a piece of paper and started praying in direction Mekka. Good spot here. Isolated and quiet.

20:57

Now in jogging pants.

21:42

My personal need for privacy is disturbed. There is some guy vacuuming the carpets. His supervisor is talking constant bullshit. Is he really not doing anything else, than screaming across the hall how this guy has to clean the f… carpets?

22:05

I am really wondering, what the job of this guy is. Standing there. 50M away from his employee, with folded arms and does nothing, than giving stupid advises.

22:48

Sleeping time. My bed is made. A bit fresh here, but lucky me I carry two sleeping bags at the moment. One for the summer bag and one for the winter. Model summer will do it.

18.2.2016, 02:44

Seems like some people joined our dorm room for this night.

11:26

Breakfast. Cheese-Sticks with peppers and Avocado. Also some cheap cheese with it. I am sitting inside the airport at a little waterfall. Suddenly two sparrows appear and wanted to have some of my crumbs. Once I put a bunch of it on the floor, they were already disappeared.

12:41

The cleaning woman was faster, but now the little birds are back and have eggs on their faces. No crumbs here little stupids.

13:45

To be honest, not much going one here. But good to finish up some articles. Time for a nap tho.

16:04

Vanilla pudding. Have no spoon tho, need to eat with my fingers.

16:51

The airport boot-camp starts right behind me. Time to move on. Also I just found out, that there is a second floor in the airport. Let’s check that out. Seems like there are more carpets down there.

17:20

Of course here is a Tim Hortons as well. Unfortunately no hot chocolate here. What a dump. But I changed money. Had some Colombian Pesos and Dollars and now I exchanged some Yen. Without any fee. Nice bills!

17:51

An older guy is doing Tai-Chi in front of me. Seems like the big work-out wave is starting right now. I will go and get some kind of bowl, to make a good-old Indian type bath. Saw that the family toilets have a sink. Fuck that 18 Dollars!

20:20

The idea with the shower. It started pretty normal. The first two cups have been filled with cold water, but I was used to this already from South America. To my surprise the water turned warm after a while. Also I manipulated the sensor at the tab with a piece of paper. Since it was running all the time, it turned from warm into hot into so-hot-that-it-hurts. I washed down the soap from my body with it. I tried to let it sit and cool down for a moment, or pour it from one cup into another. Not very successful. In the end it was just painful. But „18 Dollar, 18 f… Dollar“, I said myself all the time, while washing myself.

But nice, I showered. Now time for bed.

21:00

But before dinner time. I still have some sausage, avocado from the breakfast, vanilla pudding, pita, naan, hummus, cucumber, chocolate bar and of course some San Pellegrino. Still three cans left, which I got to drink till 06:30 in the morning, before getting on the plane.

21:03

Four cans…..

22:22

Feast at it’s end. As closure eating some more vanilla pudding with my fingers.

19.2.2016, 00:10

Now sleeping time, after drinking another can of San Pellegrino.

08:48

I am through the Check-In. Still have tons of food. My arm hurts, from carrying my hand luggage. It is so heavy. But I got 20 hours in China between the flights. I am prepared for surviving one more week at the airport.

09:46

While I wait for the boarding and destroy some more food, I recognized, that I accidentally got my cans through the security check. Little cheeky friends. For that I got to drink some winners-bloodorange.

10:32

In the airplane. Someone has disgusting exhalations. Woah, get a grip!

10:42

By the way, I don’t understand shit here. But the have a nice screen with remote control, which is also a controller. Why did nobody developed this so far. We could have a massive LAN-party in the airplane. I would love to play Smash-Brothers or Mario Cart against the others now.

20:41

„Airplane Relaxation Exercises“ and everyone takes part. Hilarious

21:37

Change planes. Check out. The Chinese security control was a bit better than the Canadians. Had to give away my lighter and my scissors. I could have hijacked the whole f… plane…..

20:20, I think the 20.02.2016

Central China. Internet works…..a little. No Facebook. No Google. This will be a boring night for me. Only bright spot is, that my Uruguayan Plug seems to work here.

21:49

Relax-Area with canvas chairs and showers. Actually not to bad here.

21.02.2016, 05:58

Desaster. When I entered the plane yesterday, they gave us three meals till we finally reached central China. This morning on the way to the toilet I felt like getting ripped apart. Shitstorm as fuck. Sichuan Airlines is gonna be a culinary challenge. I think resign any more meals on my connection flight.

08:47

My last San Pellegrino will brighten up my day and my stomach as well.

10:37

At the check-in I see some people with cute little patches on their jackets or colorful knitted socks. You can see, that we are going to get into Japan. Sweet.

And then I checked out of my airport hotel. I did not eat anything else. In Japan the whole package of social networks awaited me. And now, I am finally in…..Asia.

Der Beitrag Like a god in France. Living at the airport. erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

Earlier in December I realized, that I won´t get a Russian Visa outside of Germany and my whole plan to cross the Bering Strait would not become true. I could have had invested a lot of money to overcome this issues, but it is not worth at all. The B-Plan to cross the Pacific by sailboat would have taken an additional 6 months, only to get to Australia, before working my way north towards Asia. Not an option for me. I don´t want to spend another year on the road. I am tired. Exhausted.

I lived that dream to achieve a full circumnavigation with hitchhiking. And I let go of it now. I will not make it. I will take a flight across the Pacific. With this flight I will violate the only rule: Not using public transport. Some know I violated this rule already, but it is less than 1 % of my overall distance. Not important at all. But flying over the Pacific is not acceptable, however I would turn it. I will fail.

I should go for it till the end….some say. But I passed a certain point during this journey and realized, that it is not that important for me anymore. It hurts to go this step, after I dedicated myself to this expediton for such a long time. I feel ashamed towards myself, that I don´t make it. Deep shame, because I disappointed my own expectations. This is how it feels. It is important for me to be honest towards myself. I fail. Have to see it that way and deal with it. It will be okay.

Ending the expedition does not mean to end my vagabonding, but to start some leisure time, slow down and see people I love. It is not about the hitchhiking anymore. Now it is about me. But of course the hitchhiking goes on. I will fly to Hong-Kong in May (and make a stop in Japan). From there I am gonna hitchhike home to Germany. I will do some detour, cross Mongolia, Kazachztan, Central Asia, Iran and everything else on my way back. I want to hitchhike the infamous Pamyr Highway. Hopefully be home at the end of the summer.

The road was very lonely in the past time. I loved it. And I suffered it. Which makes me love it anyways. This expedition was definitely the most exciting and adventurous time I ever went through. It is a blessing that this became a part of my life. Something very special. But also something I worked very hard for. I am exhausted. It feels like it is time for change. I need sleep.

I want to have a home. I want to be back in my lovely Leipzig. I want to see my family and friends. I want to have a regular life. Want to chill at the Hitchgathering and visit fellows around Europe. Of course, I can´t wait to do some hitchhiking races with my boys again. And I want prepare some „smaller“ adventures that have nothing to do with hitchhiking at all. Got some ideas. So much I want, which I can´t do on the road. It was never my plan to be a full-time vagabond. I guess: Time to settle down. Soon.

I still have miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep.

Warm roads

Here are some impressions from the past trip. Unfortunately I have no foto of Prudhoe Bay, cause it is dark here.

Wild animals

Here is Mister Moose. Or Mrs. Moose? Clamsy animal.

My driver is posing with a porkupie, which we found on the way. I should stuck in Beaver Creek for two days, 30km away from the Alaskan border and DJ offered me his couch to stay for the night. It would be the first real sleep I had, since entering Canada.

Maybe licking some salt?

Definitely one of the highlights have been those wild buffalos. Thought they would not exist anymore. But they looked very healthy and relaxed.

Roads

Hitchhikers hell in Wawa. EVeryone told me not to stuck there. Here during Twilight. -15° and -25° winchilld. I was waiting two hours for my next ride. Miserable cold.

Already on the Alaskan Highway. More dirt road than highway. But beautiful.

This part between White Horse and the Alaskan border was one of the most beautiful roads I have ever driven. Behind Hayes Junction the mountains started and the Yukon shows itself with full beauty. I never saw a landscape that felt so spacious like here. And I drove a lot of roads. This one was very special.I felt small and developed respect for this wild nature.

My Indian driver with a historic wodden railroad bridge in the back. Nice guy!

Stop at Hotsprings in Yukon.

Prudhoe Bay

Here in the far north you either let your car running all the time, or plug it to electricity. Otherwhise it might not start again.

Main road out of Dead Horse. Windchill -36° today.

Prudhoe Bay flat and hostile. Nothing here but Oil industry. Not even sun at the moment.

Der Beitrag I hitchhiked from Germany to Alaska. The end. erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

In my 10 day calculation is included, that I might rest 2 nights, if people invite me. Also I might be stuck somewhere for whatever reason. This route as a kind of masterpiece for me and I am really looking forward to it! I wanna have this delicious trip in one part, without stopping in between. I want to be fully into this. Because being on the road is what I love.

In the following article I want to talk with you about:

How to analyze and plan a long-distance trip like this? What strategy I chose for the winter hitchhiking and in general what to say about the New York – Alaska passage.

Let´s go together through certain characteristics of the trip and im gonna share my thoughts.

Building a strategy

First of all, and this is most important, what to do when going on a long tour like this: Make a plan! Think about the upcoming tour! This might go without saying, but I think that is something that we gotta be very aware of. And as I wanna approach this topic from the scratch, we better give some credit to this point.

If you wanna do a successfull hitchhiking trip, sit down and plan it. With a proper map. You have to create a game plan to make a good tour. Get an idea about tipping points and chances. When I went from Stockholm to my home base in Leipzig, I knew that behind Kopenhagen is a good place to catch something out during the night. I was there around 02:00 and got a lift to Hamburg soon after. Worked. When i approached Lima I knew it was a goddamn moloch and I had to avoid at any costs to get dropped in this city. So I consciously searched a ride before the city limit all the way to the other side. Worked well. Would never have taken anything different.

You can work on this also while you´re on the road. Thats why you need a map. It is the basis for a good decision making. When you are on the road for several days you need to keep the overall run in focus. You will have hard times, you will have easy times, but don´t slacken or you get in the real deep shit, that will cost a lot of time. If you have a run, stay concentrated. If you have a bad time, keep trying. Never give up! The next lift is near. Especially the night hitchhiking will be most crucial for a successful run.

Let´s have a look at the route together.

Route and Cities

I know half of the route already through my testrun and have also a full list of 24/7 gas stations between Calgary and Montreal. I know the Transcanadian Highway works well and I am not taking an alternative route through the USA, even if it might be a couple of hundred kilometers shorter. Rather watch out for long-distance lifts in Canada. Good experience I can count on in this case.

What awaits me further north in and around Alaska is something I can just guess and put together from conversations with locals and other hitchhikers. Definitely not much traffic. Last part between Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay will be mostly trucks operating. I am aware of this. But, some good news for hitchhikers: In Alaska is even a law that you gotta stop, if someone is standing at the side of the road and might be distressed. So people will most likely stop. If there is traffic. And people won´t leave you in the middle of the shit, cause they know how dangerous those conditions are. I trust my drivers in this case.

Cities are always an issue. I got to cross some of them in Canada. All in front Winnipeg I remember as very unpleasant to hitchhike through. But also Regina, Saskatoon and of course Edmonton are on the list. The advice is quite simple: Don´t arrive in the late night, which will for sure result in stucking for a few hours and lose too much time. If this happens I necessarily got to be at a 24/7 gas station to have a little chance catching the next ride. Although not all gas stations might provide a good hop-out into my direction. Got to choose rides and drop-offs wisely here. Also commuter traffic in the morning is annoying and I would not count on it. Intuitive the worst time for hitchhiking, because it is a lot of traffic but no one wants to pick up. Anyway: Best is to be there during daylight with enough time to cross, or just shoot directly through the place.

Weather

It is pretty clear, that hitchhiking into Alaska during January will offer the experience of damn cold climate. I expect temperature down to -35° and a strong merciless wind in the Prairies of Canada. Wind is a considerable source of misery during the cold, if not the worst. The coldest temperatures will be expected in the Prairies, as well as during the last part North of Fairbanks. Beside that I can not say, if I will run into any Blizzard or other spontaneous weather phenomenas. However: It is gonna be fucking cold! This conditions are not fun and mistakes might be unforgivable. I am aware of this and will prepare myself.

I have to check the weather daily and also talk a lot to my drivers if mother nature is freaking out around us. I need to know, if certain roads are closed, especially when passing through the Rockies. Maybe the weather is forcing me to take 1-2 day break on the road somewhere. Hopefully not.

The right equipment will be another important aspect. I by myself work with layers. I got a windproof winter jacket, which by itself might be not warm enough, but my friend gave me a nice down feather jacket, which I will put under my normal jacket. Beside that some long underwear. Two pairs of socks (thin and warm), long-sleeve shirt, special insulated ski-trousers, some -100° winter boots and a trapper head.

I will get some high-quality mittens in Canada and also some cheap thin wool gloves for wearing under them. This is important. You can´t do shit with mittens, sometimes you will need gloves. If you touch steel with you bare hands in -40° you will burn yourself pretty quickly. I even heard stories about people who lost all their fingers, cause they dropped their car keys into the snow and couldn´t find it. Shit happens. So better have „some“ protection, just in case you need to take off the mittens. Avoid cotton in your equipment. If it gets wet, it stays wet and this can be very unpleasent in cold temperatures.

Another point, which especially on a long-distance tour is of importance, that the cold makes you more tired. I might be able to camp outside until -20° at least, but wanna avoid this if possible. But I know from my testrun: The cold is sucking your energy out of the bones. It is much harder to stay awake several nights in those conditions. In Colombia or Mexico I could just lie in the sun and take some rest, during the day. Easy. Not possible on this route. Gotta keep an eye on my well-being.

Another thing is: The cold itself is not the biggest problem, but waiting in the cold is what makes you cool down. But I can make some gymnastics whenever needed. Or how our Russian fellows say: Against cold it helps to move. Against tiredness helps to sleep.

Daylight

Something to consider, especially in the winter: The days are much shorter. When I leave New York we will have approximately 7,5 hours between sunset and -rise in Edmonton. In Fairbanks it will be less than 4 hours during this time and checking for Prudhoe Bay resulted in the information, that there is no sunrise at all. Can´t say how much work the twilight will do, but I rather expect nothing to not get disappointed. Why is this important?

You might expect daylight as an issue for finding rides, but that is not a real problem. On my testrun from Calgary to New York, around 60% of my whole distance was covered during the night. And I caught some very good night rides through Canada! Some around 700-900 km long. Moving in the night is a crucial thing on a long tour and it works. So I am not worried about it.

I am more concerned about the cold. Temperatures drop drastically in the night. It is a real threat. You don´t wanna be out there without cover. There is no way I can risk to stuck at an empty crossing during the night. Usually I don´t give a fuck where I am. Even dark places without any light are sometimes my choice for positioning, because I can catch lifts there more easy (sometimes). But in the far north might be very little traffic.

Strategy

You got all my thoughts on that. So, now is the question how to approach the route most wisely? It is quite simple. The last 14 months I mostly used classical hitchhiking, which means for me, standing at the side of the road and stick my thumb out. In Germany and Europe I am used to ask drivers, just because it is so successful and I can move almost as fast as going with my own car by this technique. And this will be the way to go for me on this trip.

I´m gonna stick with the 24/7 gas stations as a matter of safety and ask the incoming drivers. It is like hopping from checkpoint to checkpoint. Who is going around in Europe might know what I mean. This gives me a better opportunity for having control about my lifts and where they go. Sometimes when you thumb, you won´t have enough time to ask all information. Especially when you are miserable you take the ride blindly and find out, that it will put you in another difficult spot. I have to avoid those kind of mistakes.

Also I simply like the Canadians. Talking to them is great fun, they are usually much more friendly than the people in the US and this approach is definitely advisable here. If I won´t get a lift, at least I will have a nice conversation most of the time. Furthermore I can check the number plates and pick the long-distance commuters, which definitely exist in Canada. Hopefully I will find some post-Christmas/New Year people going all the way back home to Alaska from….let´s say New York.

I am not focusing on trucks until I am in Alaska. The success rate is just to small in the southern regions. Once I am in more rural areas, I will give it a try. Also I might use the chance during the day to thumb directly on the highway, but I´m gonna decide this spontaneously. But my main approach is „gas station hopping“.

I won´t write another roadtrip article about this tour, but if you want you can follow me on Facebook, where im gonna post regular status updates and positions. I wish you a Happy New Year and myself warmroads.

Der Beitrag Long distance winter hitchhiking – From New York to Alaska erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

The tour is a test run for my big winter hitchhiking tour in Januray, which will lead me up to Alaska. On the one hand i want to have a look on the route towards New York and on the other hand i want to test out some strategies for winter hitchhiking. I will write a more specific artile about this in Januray, where i will explain my plan. Beside this i also want to see till what temperatures i can sleep outside. -15° shouldn´t be a problem.

My equipment is not complete tho. I bought a jacket, hat, scarf and some trousers in the nearby Thrift store for around 25€. This stuff is not enough for extreme conditions, but better than nothing for this moment.

But i have already two very important pieces. One is my handcrafted Vorov winter sleeping bag, which almost killed me already, while trying to pick it up. I didn´t had the chance to test him so far, as the lowest temperatures during my camping on the last trip have been around 2°- -2°. It was not possible to keep the sleeping bag closed in thos nights. Just too warm outside.

Also i got myself some Baffin Workwear boots for 35€. Good Canadian Quality with steel caps and for temperatures down to -100°. there are as big as my bagpack. Real moon-boots! I like them. Could be cleaned tho. But most important, that they are warm. I think I will have lots of fun with those babys.

I miss some mittens really urgently, but this has time till January. Beside that I am dreaming of a cozy pair of Polar-Bear-Trousers like the guys in this picture got. Arctic Hipster Style.

Warm Roads

Der Beitrag Traffic Exists. Hitchhiking Possible; (10) Winter Hitchhiking Test Run erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.