Looking for hitchhiking buddies
 

I am planning a trip to the south of Europe from Netherlands with a friend of mine, we are pretty new at this and it would be nice to meet some people who are also interested and want to come alongside, the more the merrier, any advice also would be appreciated. Thank you

Hitchhiking has gotten out of fashion in Europe.

It will be quite hard to find drivers who are willing to take you with you, also because it has become difficult to stop at the entrance to a motorway.

The majority of truck drivers are now from Eastern Europe, which does not make hitch-hiking easier.

Also, trains and buses have become so dirt-cheap that the need for hitch-hiking has vanished.

Also the more the merrier does not apply to hitching - most people will take one, or a at most two hitch-hikers, if they take any.

I agree with the others above. I have watched a (single) hitch-hiker wait DAYS trying to get out of a nearby town with no success. He was a reasonably well-dressed middle-aged man. The whole town was laughing about him after a couple of days. You just don't hitch-hike around here anymore.

"The more the merrier" is laughable. No one is going to load a passel of hitch-hikers onto a vehicle. The more there are of you, the less your chances of getting a ride.

Buy train/bus tickets. They're cheap if you know what you're doing.

I would suggest most of the folks that haunt this Forum are a bit beyond the age where hitch-hiking fits their life style, so getting advise from us would be a surprise. We might be pleasantly surprised, though, how many rides we might get if we shuffled out to the on ramp with our walkers.

You might get more relevant responses from the Thorn Tree https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/welcome where more of the folks are in your age group.

It's not just that we are old folks, but that hitch-hiking in Europe has become a thing of the past. You'll get the same response on Thorntree IME.

<i> Looking for hitchhiking buddies
Posted by: Joblqck on Nov 5, 16 at 7:09am</i>

Yup, you are about 40 years too late for free rides in Europe. And two guys would never get a ride, but a guy and a girl could manage.

If you can't afford trains take a bus, http://www.eurolines.nl/en/.

Well I am old enough to take hitch hikers onboard. I used to but I don't see them anymore.

In france blablacar organizes hitch hiking but sharing the cars.

Well there are still people who will pick up hitch-hikers. We have done so in the not too distant past, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
My youngest son hitched to Berlin, and to Croatia a few years back. He got the train/lane home though. It was done as a competition amongst some of his mates.
He was usually with a friend, but sometimes they split up if it meant getting a lift.
Never more than two of them together.
We picked up solo hikers, never doubles.

If you want to give it a go by all means do so, but not as a big group, and be sure you have the money for the train/bus to somewhere civilised in case your lift drops you in the wilds.
There are plenty of cheap buses available, not only Eurolines but Flixbus too. A more reliable, and probably safer, method of seeing Europe.

This is unnecessary and frankly, it is unsafe. Have you heard about what became of hitchhikers in Australia? Google the name 'Ivan Milat' and you'll soon find out. No reason to think there are not Ivan Milat types in Europe.

Why not investigate Busabout? Like HoHo buses but they go long distances and are dirt cheap.
http://www.busabout.com/

Joblqck, your post brought on an overwhelming flood of nostalgia in me, memories of the 'sixties, hitchhiking around England and Scotland and elsewhere. But now? "Trending negative" as they say on Wall Street.

Spotify that song that begins "Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end...", It says it all.

Then again, buck the trend and try it, you just might succeed, but don't be in a hurry or on a schedule.

We were talking about about civilized countries, not Australia.
Rutger Hauer didn't play as an European did he ?

"We were talking about about civilized countries, not Australia"

What a strange thing to write! In jest? Out of ignorance? With malice? Or just plain, well, strange?

Have you not heard of humor, Michel? It's called "Pulling one's leg" in some parts of the world, i.e., a slight verbal jab to get a response and a smile. You will find quite a bit of that sort of repartee on this Forum; usually meant in a bantering way --- but I will admit, not always.

Well, I've heard of it, and wasn't sure if you said what you said in jest, as I wrote. So now we know. Thanks for clarifying.

It can actually be quite fun, Michel. For example, the poster you chided is Belgian, so you could with justification jab him sometime about the horrible slop they sell as beer in his country. That would surely get a reaction!

Well, humor is a delicate thing. What's funny to some is boorish to others. I'll leave it at that.

Life is too short and can so easily end very abruptly to take it seriously...

> Well, humor is a delicate thing. What's funny to some is boorish to others. I'll leave it at that.

Agreed. Humor yes but respect also. If only Woin had used a smiley, a winking one.

When I was a student, Many years ago, I used to hitchhike quite a bit (and over long distances), so I feel I owe the odd hiker a lift. That said, I'd probably not pick up more than one hiker.