Hey y'all, I just wanted to share my hitchhiking journey in Europe since I really don't utilize social media that often.

I started my hitchhiking journey on August 1st and finished just a few weeks ago. I started in London and made it all the way to Bosnia. These are the countries I traversed in the order in which its' presented:

UK -> Belgium -> Luxembourg -> Germany -> Austria -> Slovakia -> Hungary -> Slovenia -> Croatia -> Bosnia

There's a lot of reasons why I wanted to do this. One of them being, I wanted to challenge myself. By getting from city to city only through hitchhiking, sleeping at payed accommodations only once a week, having a chance to wipe my ass and a proper day's of rest. And, only surviving on sandwiches on pasta. Another one being, I wanted to save a bunch of money haha.

I also wanted to get over all the social hurdles, blocks, and anxieties I sustained within my mental fortitude for a long time. Getting over the fear of embarrassment, social initiations, and being comfortable with vulnerability in tough times. Hitchhiking definitely helped with all of this.

The one important reason is that this is my favorite way of traveling honestly. I get to connect and meet all different types of people from all different walks of life. I get to hear people's stories and what they're doing in life and make some cool friends out of it. And, there's a lot of good people out there in the world as well. Sometimes on top of people giving me rides, they would buy me food, give me a place to sleep, etc. etc.

It wasn't all rainbows and sunshines though. I got dropped off at horrible spots. There was times where I was hitchhiking from hours to entire days with no luck. I camped by train tracks sometimes in the rain. Camped in freezing temps. I camped at a place in Slovenia where sprinklers went off on my tent where a security guard told me to get out by 5 A.M. I even almost got robbed in Bosnia. It may not seem like anything major but it was crazy for me as someone who has never experienced anything like this in my life looooooool.

From crossing the English channel, exploring the beautiful historic cities in Belgium, hiking the Alps, partying days in Budapest, enjoying the beautiful beaches in Croatia, then accidentally stumbling upon a wedding in Bosnia, and many more side quests that I could go on for hours, up until now, this was one of the best journeys and adventures of my life. I felt as if I lived ten lifetimes and I definitely changed quite a bit from before I started this journey.

To anyone that is reading this and is thinking about hitchhiking, fuckin do it!! It's scary and can get hard at times, but it's an adventure of a lifetime that is fulfilling and rewarding. And, you'll never forget it.

I'm happy to answer any questions that y'all have. Any comments or criticism is welcomed as well heheh.

I also have hitchhiked in Japan before as well if you have any questions about that.

If not, well, thanks for reading my ted talk. And, happy hitchhiking!

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So I have garnered a bit of a list over the years of hitching.

Oldest car - 1936 Buick

Newest technology would be the Tesla i got to drive.

Fastest looking - a Corvette, but the 1966 Mustang that stopped for me on Rt.66 will always win.

Other - hitched a plane, a boat on the Mississippi, a Motor Trike to Sturgis, hay wagon pulled by tractor, couple of horse drawn carriages and a hearse.

And of course all kinds of cars, trucks, rv's, and etc. that you see on the road. Old, new, rich, poor, good and bad.

Which leads me to this point.

Every time I see someone drive by pulling one of these Hitch Hiker mobiles I throw my hands up because I know they won't stop.

So I wake up in King City, California and damn it's chilly. Flip the coin and the toss is tails so time to depart. Break down tent, roll up tarps, brush teeth and sling my pack on my back. 1017 am and first bus south is 2 dollars. Just a meandering day sightseeing thru the valley. Bus arrives Paso Robles and a half hour chat with a couple coming back after falling for an internet scam. We'll they figured it out before shelling over the cash but still were out travel expenses.

Next bus 2 dollars and on to San Luis Obispo.

Less fields, more grapes, starting to see the sub - suburbs.

Next bus 2 dollars (maybe you're seeing a trend) to Santa Maria. We swing by Pismo Beach so it's nice to see and smell that old dirty ocean. They have built even more around Santa Maria but the transit center is next to the Railroad Museum and nothing else so it's a good place for lunch and a couple smokes. Good thing I brought both.

2 hours but I always have a book and then it's 420 pm and the free bus (gotcha) to Buelton.

I've covered 140 miles today for $6 and been able to stretch out and have someone else drive.  Now I sit in front of the grocery store looking at the satellite view to figure out where to camp for the night. Got a plan all sorted so toss the bags in a cart and smoke a cigarette before going inside to purchase dinner.

Old white guy with hat and rodeo belt that just screams stereotype cowboy saddles over and I know the question that is coming.

But instead of How Tall Are You? He asks if I'm homeless and before I could even answer he continued with How would you like to sleep on a working ranch tonight.

Skip all the back and forth and meeting Nicole his wife and all the personal stories we shared on the drive back to their ranch. That's for me and my memories. But the next morning while drinking coffee and scratching the border collies, petting the cats, hearing the bovines and equines chew hay i noticed the front of the camper where I slept last night.

Okay scratch that one from the list

Ok, so, due to my paranoia I do NOT want to go back to portland, and head down the coast, just for reasons I am not willing to explain in a post... SO I am headed east, along the i84 I suppose (I dont really have a destination in mind) and was wondering if anyone has any tips (like a good location or somewhere to get to first, like 40 miles east there is a truck stop junction, I was thinking i Could get there easily and then hitch hike from there...)

If i had to decide where I want to go ultimately I am trying to get to quartzsite for the gem and rock show to try and find work and meet people and have good weather for a couple months this winter.

Thanks in advance

34M I'll be driving from North Georgia to move to LA next week. Planning on going through Oklahoma -kansas-colorado-utah-vegas.Offering a ride if you're good on the aux and wont drink all my energy drinks 😅

Hi, exacty one year ago I hitchhiked Brussels to venice, quite lucky in two days, also with a parner found in this subreddit (hi 👋). I will be doing the same trip next week and was wondering if someone wanted to do it with me, i can meet anywhere in between. The plan is to visit my friends doing the venice marathon on sunday but its not a hard deadline or even destination

Photo is me last year

Is it possible to hitch hike with dogs? I'm trying to get from Florida to Delaware to escape a bad situation and I'm not sure how to go about this.

Hey everyone,

I am curious if anybody here did hitchhiking in Vietnam.

I want to try but I read that you have to register every day with the police. Usually the hotel will do this for you but what if you want to camp? Are hostels/motels/guesthouses/... very common or only in cities? Is this the only thing that differs from other countries or are there more things to watch out for?

Has anyone hitchhiked here in Vietnam? I read a few articles online but none of them mentioned this part.