Is hitchhiking dead?

[Fearkiller]

Excellent quote indeed:

" Chronicler: '- - I learned more from a month on the road than I had in three years of classes.'

Kvothe: 'Teccam said the same thing: No man is brave that has never walked a hundred miles.

If you want to know the truth of who you are, walk until not a person knows your name.

Travel is the great leveler, the great teacher, bitter as medicine, crueler than a mirror-glass.

A long strech of road will teach you more about yourself than a hundred years of quiet introspection.' "

-The wise man's fear by Patrick Rothfuss

 

In the book traveling is done mostly by foot and horse. What would be today's equivalent?

Trip to a foreign country? Hiking?

Though I could pack a backpack with water, cheese, beans and salted meat

and take off walking where my nose points, it isn't going to happen anytime soon

 

Do people pick up hitchhikers anymore? How dangerous it is?

Self defense? Knives and tazers are illegal and not much use in a car.

Stunning the driver at 60 miles an hour not practical and legally messy business...

Pepper spray? Martial arts?

 

Doing random chores in exchange for a place to sleep?

Wold need loads of personal charm to pull that off...

 

Ideas, discussion?

[Gonzosan]

Speaking of hitchhiking you should watch the series on Hitchiking that Vice has. You can see it on Youtube, but they have a series in China, Los Angeles and I believe one that goes from Mexico to Alaska. I thought it was pretty awesome.

[Fearkiller]

Interesting as well...

 

"However, my proudest aquisition was a dark blue cloak that I had bought of a fripperer's cart for only three jots.
It was warm, clean, and, unless I missed my guess, only one owner from new. Now let me say this: when you're travelling

a good cloak is worth more than all your other possessions put together. If you've nowhere to sleep, it can be your bed and blanket.
It will keep the rain off your back and the sun from your eyes. You can conceal all manner of interesting weaponry beneath it if
you are clever, and a smaller assortment if you are not. But beyond all that, two facts remain to recommend a cloak. First, very little
is as striking as a well-worn cloak, billowing about you in the breeze. And second, the best cloaks have innumerable little pockets
that I have an irrational and overpovering attraction towards." -Kvothe, The name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

[Cinnamonbite]

It's illegal in a lot of places. 

[Daisygirl]

Theres a hitchhiking wiki---
http://hitchwiki.org/en/Hitchhiking
Me and my boyfriend hitchhiked a bit when we were trying to get from where we had been tramping to the nearest town.... So not dead yet XD the memorable hitchhike was a lovely old Scottish guy and his wife who regularly picked up hitchhikers in their camper van, was less scary than i imagined and we had a great time. My dad always picks up hitchhikers too. This is NZ tho, not sure bout other places.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

*edit* 

We came up with a catchphrase to signal to each other if we thought something was off about the people we were hitch hiking with. Plan was if one of us was uncomfortable, we would signal the other like that, say a phrase you can sneak into any conversation but is distinct e.g. "remember that time in Waiuku?" then the other would wait 5 minutes and then come up with an excuse to try and get the driver to drop us off, e.g. that we would like to see x attraction in that general vicinity.

 

If that didnt work... well waiting for traffic light/heavy traffic and then opening the door and gapping it could work as a last resort.

 

Also good to keep valuables and money hidden away whilst travelling.

 

Also let someone e.g. parent or family member or friend know by txt when you hitchhike, general appearance of car and driver, place you were picked up and going to, estimated time till destination and time which you will contact them. If they dont hear from you immediately they wait an hr and then if no response, raise the alarm. 

 

--

 

In terms of places to stay, NZ has camping grounds and DOC huts open to the public often in remote areas/on tramping routes where you pay say $10 a night to stay there, theyre all over the place. Think theres a pass that you can get where you can visit as many as you like in a year as well. Do other countries have this? 

[Ancalagon The Black]

Its not totally dead yet. I live in upstate NY and I have given rides to folks. Usually these are short distance rides. I do know some people here who have hitchhiked all over New England.

 

Knives are not illegal but they are also a very poor choice of self defense tool.

[kaelvan]

Yeah there's still hitchhiking. I seen few of the same people that wait on the side of the road trying to hitchhike to get to work (or whatever they do) on my way to my job (I live in "upstate" NY).

[benboyd85]

Couch surfing is the closest thing I would attempt to hitchiking. Also, I think Uber has replaced it....

[Plitog]

Freakonomics did an interesting podcast episode called Where Have All The Hitchhikers Gone.

[fdavis]

HitchBOT couldn't make it in the states

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hitchbot-destroyed-philadelphia_55bf24cde4b0b23e3ce32a67

[Tolsimir]

It's not dead, but it may have evolved? I think a lot of people use couchsurfing or blablacar to plan their travels now, so even though they are crashing people's couches and hitching a ride, there's a sense of security. And by planning it that way, you'll see a lot less hitchhikers at the side of the road; they already have a ride. 

 

A friend of mine traveled from the Netherlands to Spain by herself, hitchhiking. She asked every driver she hitched a ride with if she could take a picture of their numberplate. She'd tell them she sends it to a friend to let them know where and with whom she is, "just to be sure, you know, a girl traveling by herself". One guy rejected and she didn't get in the car. 

[Fearkiller]

It's not dead, but it may have evolved? I think a lot of people use couchsurfing or blablacar to plan their travels now, so even though they are crashing people's couches and hitching a ride, there's a sense of security. And by planning it that way, you'll see a lot less hitchhikers at the side of the road; they already have a ride. 

 

A friend of mine traveled from the Netherlands to Spain by herself, hitchhiking. She asked every driver she hitched a ride with if she could take a picture of their numberplate. She'd tell them she sends it to a friend to let them know where and with whom she is, "just to be sure, you know, a girl traveling by herself". One guy rejected and she didn't get in the car. 

Fast snapshot of security. Excellent idea.