The ASA/GLEN Hitch

Georg shares his hitchhiking experiences, two months and 3500 km!

Hi, I’m Georg, a passionate hitchhiker since Mai 08. I would like to greet all my hitchhike brothers and sisters and want to recommend to all other people to join our movement.
In the last two months I hitched 3500 km and I can tell you only good experiences. Further, I eventually learned a lot about people and my own. I can tell you that very different types of people will give you a lift and that you will find your way to destination every time. All these different people that I met, told me some good stories and I would like to tell you three of them.
The first lift that I get was in the south of Germany. I waited on a motorway patrol station and tried to find someone to hitch with. Unfortunately, my “technique” was not that good and after half a hour I still stood there at the station. But then, my rescuer was coming - in the shape of an old Hippy! He suggested me to take me in his VW-bus to the next patrol station. I agreed and we talked on the way a lot about hitchhiking today, in the past but especially about music. In the end he treated me with an coffee and gave me two of his CD’s with awesome 60’s Jazz-music. A very nice guy and a real reason to carry on with hitchhiking! Three weeks later, I hitched from Hungary back to Germany. At first I thought this could be something more difficult than in Germany but I was not right. It was much more easy. Everyone was nice and open minded. I met for example three guys that drove to Germany. Their car was full of baggage and they spoke only a few words German but it was an matter of course for them to give me an lift. But not only that, they supply me with ice-cream, chewing gums and some magazines. The last example that I want to tell you is one of the most typical I encountered so far. I stand a couple of days ago on the roadside and shows everyone my hitchhike-thumb. After 20 minutes a craftsman picked me up in his transporter and brought me close to my destination. I make the best experiences with these type of persons; nearly everyone with a transporter gave me an lift (if you ask them)! They have every time enough space for my baggage, drive long distance and have mainly a free seat for me. And sometimes, with a little luck, you can have some good discussions or they give you a beer. 
Eventually, it’s up to you to hitch or not. However, in my present hitchhiking-history of two months, I made only good experiences. It’s more easy then I thought before, I’ve met a lot of interesting people, I’ve saved money and its fun. You have just to keep a wide smiling, look like a friendly student, but like a professional hitchhiker and never forget to be offensive and ask the people. So if the sun is shining and I’ve enough time, there is no other opportunity for me then hitchhiking!

Georg