Hitchhiking in England and France

[Sawman]

"After a bit more waiting I started to wonder if I should have taken that lift just to get out of the city, not exactly an ideal spot. Then three gansterish and vaguely intimidating youths walked past. One of them, a G-Unit clad black teenager stopped dead in his tracks and said, "Woahwoahwoahwoahwoah... Are you, HITCH-HIKING?!?" I smiled and said yes, and he continued, "That is NOT gonna happen man! This ain't... AMERICA!" He laughed some more, looking incredulously at me then went up into a block of flats."

I thought the preceding was an interesting quote. I have heard that there are much more hitchhikers in Europe than in the United States. Maybe Continental Europe has more hitchhikers than England. Hearsay sometimes is not reality.

At least you expanded the gangster kid's horizons; you did your part to keep the world safe for hitchocracy.

"He told me not to buy a ferry ticket to France but to ask the cars in the port as they were charged per car, not per person."

This is very helpful information for anyone trying to get on a ferry from England to France.

[pathfindertom]

i ENJOYED IT. THANKS,

PATHFINDERTOM/TOMAHAWK

[Scrappy]

It may seem that there was very little positive in your three day drenching wait, but what you might possibly learn from that, is that nothing lasts forever, and the only constant in life is change, and when you can overcome that much negative and still live on, it makes you so strong that your very future is affected from your triumph. Those finger flippers and obscenity shouters were only trying to build up their low self esteem by stepping on you in the hopes that they might feel elevated from putting you down. Is that really a surprise? You overcame. That is a spirit improving move. You write well so please keep on helping those less fortunate, who need to see that the road is not all a bowl of cherries, but is nonetheless worth the effort.

[NinjaMonkey]

It may seem that there was very little positive in your three day drenching wait, but what you might possibly learn from that, is that nothing lasts forever, and the only constant in life is change, and when you can overcome that much negative and still live on, it makes you so strong that your very future is affected from your triumph.

Yeah I'm actually really glad my start on the road was [MOD EDIT - DELETE] it made everything in the next year so much more beautiful in contrast. Even a 5 hour wait was a great improvement. I love the way you analyse these things Scrappy.


Thanks for all your feedback guys. I'm really happy you enjoyed it.

P.S. why aren't my quotes working? [HTML & BB Code not available on this Board ~ MOD]

[greasyjoe]

16 hours, 13 hours and 12 hours are the longest I've waited, Austria, Croatia and Serbia respectively. I can offer a little advice.

First - Wear a collared shirt, dark trousers, black shoes. If you can, be clean shaven and presentable. It makes a MASSIVE difference to the lifts you get in Europe, except for France, where they just don't seem to "get" hitching these days. It takes 5 days to get to Greece in jeans and 3 smartly dressed. 2 days less food and drink, do the math

Second tip. Use gas stations. If it rains, run for cover. Stay dry as no one stops for a drowned rat.

Three. Use A4 paper and a black marker to name a town a long ways down the road. I once got a lift from Greece to UK by using Munich as my road sign. That's Greece, FYROM, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, Germany, Belgium, France and England in one go. Sweet.......

Four. Learn the towns that number plates represent. If you see a car in a gas station filling up and you can ask him if he's going to "his" town, he's more likely to pick you up.

Five. By your driver a coffee and a muffin. For the sake of 5 bucks, they make take you 10 miles out of your way and save you an awkward walk or interchange. Pay it forward, so to speak.


Hope this helps someone.

[themodernnomad]

The best thing about 3 day hitchhiking waits is watching the bloddy town fade into the rearview mirror. Makes it all worth it, somehow.

And have been there, unwilling to leave tent/shelter due to rain. Once I stayed inside an abandoned boat in Chile for two days eating uncooked pasta and watching everything flood. Dilirium, indeed.

Good tale, man.

-MN

[NinjaMonkey]

The best thing about 3 day hitchhiking waits is watching the bloddy town fade into the rearview mirror. Makes it all worth it, somehow.

And have been there, unwilling to leave tent/shelter due to rain. Once I stayed inside an abandoned boat in Chile for two days eating uncooked pasta and watching everything flood. Dilirium, indeed.

Good tale, man.

-MN

Hahaha. YES! I used to suck on raw rice for hours in the rain later on in my travels. So happy to hear someone else repping the raw carbs!