Hitchhiking?

Question

I saw two hitchikers today and couldn't believe my eyes; they're lik e an endangered species. Has anyone ever hitchhiked/picked up a hitchhiker before? What was it like?

Answer 1

Never its ILLEGAL!!!!!!!

Answer 2

do i really want to see your dead body on the news

Answer 3

I'm old (37) and hitchhiking was OK back in the day.

i would hitch rides once in a while but I did notice that most people picking up hitchhikers where perv (and I'm a guy) or Jesus freaks spreading the word. I was happy with the Jesus freak.

I will pick someone up if they are obviously stranded due to their car breaking down. I'm no perv or Jesus freak and I carry a .45.

illegal LOL

So is going 1 mph over the limit but i do that all the time.

So is impeding traffic (going too slow)

Everyone breaks a law just about everyday. try not to get self riotous.

Answer 4

In the US, they're a dying breed.

The most likely place you'll see them anymore is around skiing areas, hitching a ride to the top.

My aging father routinely picks up a clean-cut appearing, young hitch hiker on skiing trips to help him put chains on the rental car or get out and push if he gets stuck.

The two guys we picked up 20 years ago in New Zealand on the way to the ski area were great guys. For a ride up and a ride down when the lifts closed, they bought several rounds of beers for both of us. (We're not going to discuss the fact that I was underaged, even in New Zealand, to be drinking.)

Unfortunately, there are so many crackpots, morons and mental defectives on either side of the car door these days that it's driven hitch hiking into remission. I'll still stop and offer help to someone that looks like they need it and won't make me regret stopping.

But for the most part hitch hiking is pretty much dying out.

Answer 5

If someone broken down I will see if they need help. It is only illegal to pick hitch hikers by prisons.

Almost everyone has a cellphone today so hitch hiking is really not needed.

Goodluck

Answer 6

not illegal in the UK, i pick them up all the time i am a taxi driver

Answer 7

I use to hitchhike a lot, covered nearly the entire US a few times and all across Canada, doing the maritimes a few times.  I liked it.  Oddly enough it was a fast way to travel as it took no preparation, no planning , just stick out the thumb and go.   The night sky on an empty highway became my companion and telegraph (meanwhile my body was being fed with negative ions coming down from the clear sky)  .  Often a driver would pick me up in the wee hours who hope to see a hitchhiker to help him have conversation and stay awake.  Never heard the traffic safety board indicate we were increasing highway safety though.    It helps if you can be cool in challenging situations.   I have met young guys who have been raped.   If you don't want to be asked about s*x when the person asks:"can I ask you a personal  question?"  a simple "I'd rather you didn't ." might surfice.  If you open a door and something says no, say something polite and close the door with you on the outside.   I got to study lots of things out there on the highways.    Hitchhiking in desert regions at night can be more hazardous due to rattlesnakes seeking the warmth of the highway at night.  A trailer truck rolled over a rattler headed my way a bit east of Tucson one night.  Tucson was the worse region for closet homosexuals.    I liked creating themes and listening to instinct.  I fixed a lot of cars that had minor problems, solved a lot of personal problems and listened to a lot of people.  There was a freedom of expression that I enjoyed, like in a "T" group from the 60s.  People often speak easier when they don't know a person and will never see them again.    I was very please to meet most of the hundreds of people I met for a little while.  Some say it is different now.  Well the world has more people that think it is cool to be a sharpie preying on others, but they are not of the majority.   Lately I have been repeatedly tempted to head out to the highway again and stick out my thumb.  I have been picked up by people who knew people I had met from way across the country.   I often felt very spiritually in tuned and the heavens in tur n listened to me and let me know so.

Answer 8

I'm 49 and in college hitch hiked all the time. I'd Hitch Hike home during holidays and I went to school in upstate New York and lived in Cleveland Ohio.

It was a great time. You have to have the right personality for long distance travel this way. You have to be open to any and all experiences that come your way including bad weather, sitting on the side of the road for hours, being hungry etc.

However, you meet some very interesting people, learn a lot about your self and how others live. It really opens your eyes to viewpoints other then your own.

Yes they are extinct....sad commentary on the violence in society today. It's too bad. Hitch hiking helped me grow and become a better person with an open mind and more tolerant of others not like myself.