Help please! First time hitchhiking. From Toronto to Mexico City | Squat the Planet

Help please! First time hitchhiking. From Toronto to Mexico City

Qwe

Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2019
Messages
8
Reaction score
3
Location
Toronto, Canada
Hi!

I'm looking to HitchHike if the circumstances allow it or otherwise drive from Toronto, Canada to Mexico City, Mexico in the summer of 2020. I have zero experience with HitchHiking and have never been to Mexico. I would greatly appreciate any advice on which routes to take, which areas to avoid, what items are absolutely necessary for me to bring, is hitchhiking from Toronto to Mexico possible or should I be looking into driving?


I ordered Matt's Anarchist guide and am starting to do research online. Any answers, tips, or anything ya'll think might be necessary for me to know would be great.



Thanks a ton!!
Omar
 

Older Than Dirt

I'm a d-bag and got banned.
Banned
Joined
Mar 5, 2019
Messages
495
Reaction score
1,730
Location
Upstate
Well, in summer, it will be hot as fuck, and it will get steadily hotter as you go south, so bear that in mind. if you left in about a month you could follow warm weather south instead of baking.

Of course it is possible. You are asking lots of questions you will find answers to in gear and hitching sections . Read up and come back when you are much more specific.

LEARN SPANISH!!!! Will be steadily more and more useful in US as you get closer to Mexico, and your life will depend on how well you speak Spanish by the border if not sooner.

Welcome and best of luck.
 

Qwe

Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2019
Messages
8
Reaction score
3
Location
Toronto, Canada
Well, in summer, it will be hot as fuck, and it will get steadily hotter as you go south, so bear that in mind. if you left in about a month you could follow warm weather south instead of baking.

Of course it is possible. You are asking lots of questions you will find answers to in gear and hitching sections . Read up and come back when you are much more specific.

LEARN SPANISH!!!! Will be steadily more and more useful in US as you get closer to Mexico, and your life will depend on how well you speak Spanish by the border if not sooner.

Welcome and best of luck.
My bad! I realize there is A LOT in these forums and I can find a lot of my answers.

Thanks!
 

Older Than Dirt

I'm a d-bag and got banned.
Banned
Joined
Mar 5, 2019
Messages
495
Reaction score
1,730
Location
Upstate
since you were so gracious: Superwide marker (i prefer the Sharpie Magnum) for making signs, cardboard from side of road ditto, dark backpack (military or Osprey), superlight sleeping bag (US military MSS green bag), hip-length thermarest or similar, 8' x10" or so dark colored tarp (plus cord and stakes), plastic groundsheet, sturdy boots, small knife in pack, P-38 can opener, poncho, LONG book, hat, sunglasses. what else? water bottle since you kids get dehydrated so easily. Food? maybe a small alcohol beercan stove and bottle of fuel. very small cookpot. cheapass headlamp.

PAPER MAPS of each US and Mexican state you will pass through (allowing for the fact you will go some route that you can't possibly predict now. At least a large format US road atlas) for when you are in the ass end of nowhere, and must choose between the road to Buttfuck, and the road to East Buttfuck, with no cell service.

And the ever popular rock-in-a-sock in a handy pocket (a roundish rock roughly the size and shape of a new potato).

"Oh officer, it is a rock from home, my lucky rock, that i carry for when i get home-sick. I keep it in the sock to keep it safe and shiny." Practice saying this in English and Spanish, and also pulling it out and whacking bad guys with it.

i will be getting on a plane to Portugal with my family tomorrow night, obviously without a knife when i get there, since i will not check a bag. However, i will have a long but narrow silnylon stuff-sack, and a beautiful skull carved from some kind of spotty agate- my lucky rock.
 
Last edited:

Django

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 3, 2018
Messages
115
Reaction score
187
Location
Alaska-Argentina on a bike
I reccomand a sign. Make a sign (even more than one) in advance, so you can write your destantion clearly. I carried a thick marker with me. You can make a sign out of card boards.
Write a good far-local destantion (from Toronto, Chicago might be a good destantion, or maybe new York).
Crossing borders hitchhiking is challenging, the driver would hesitate about it. Maybe from Toronto just ask to hh to the us border, cross, then continue hh.

I like gas stations, cause you can talk to people. Try to be respectful or you'll be kicked out by staff.
Truck stops are good not only for the 18 wheelers but also long distance private drivers stop there, and usually you can get a shower if needed.

Look at the license plates. Usually if it's a different state, safe to assume that the driver is on a long road trip. Also RVs and big cars in general.

Nowadays truckers aren't allowed to take riders. Some of them can, but it can be hard work. I'd go for private cars.

What else..smile, dress like a traveler, not a hobo,
Have an instrument maybe.

You can read my post on hh forum about my trip North this winter, it is very detailed.
Plus watch this, I need more views:
 

Coywolf

Make America Freight Again
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Dec 12, 2014
Messages
2,528
Reaction score
4,993
Location
Mormon Country
Website
www.youtube.com
Spend alot of time on the "hitchhiking" ans "where to" sections on this website. This trip has been done before, amd there is a wealth of info, if you can use the search feature correctly.

Also search the "travel gear" forum.

I will also second everything that @Older Than Dirt and @Django just said. Good info.
 

About us

  • Squat the Planet is the world's largest social network for misfit travelers. Join our community of do-it-yourself nomads and learn how to explore the world by any means necessary.

    More Info

Help us pay the bills!

Total amount
$10.00
Goal
$100.00

Latest Library Uploads