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Seems like the question comes up fairly often here- Any tips on hitchhiking? I would first suggest people check out the Hitchhiking Megathread sticky post at the top of the Hitchhiking Forum that @Matt Derrick has compiled. It's a fantastic list of resources on the subject that are quite useful. If for whatever reason you've stumbled upon this post first by using the search feature on the site(which we hope you're using), definitely check out those links. If opening up nine different links isn't your style of researching and you're just looking for a brief writeup on hitchhiking, here's a few tips & tricks I've personally developed over the years that might help someone get started. I'm absolutely certain I'm leaving a lot out, and that's why those links above are so important.
What I'm dropping here is more like.. my own personal method of hitchhiking and just some things that maybe not everyone really thinks about but I've certainly found them to be effective. I think most people can figure out the basics;
Make a sign, put your thumb out, stay on the lawful side of the "pedestrians not allowed beyond this point" sign on the on-ramps, try to appear clean, do your best to actually be somewhat cleanish. Smelling bad would be more offensive than looking bad once you're in the car but looking bad will stifle your ride opportunities. You don't want to be standing at an on-ramp in the middle of nowhere, you want to be at one where a lot of cars enter the highway.
Taking things deeper-
Location location location.
Ideally you should be at a very popular gas/food/lodging exit. The ones that have truck stops like Flying J, Loves, Pilot, etc are definitely poppin. These tend to be at the end/outskirts of a town along the major freeways that run through that town. Sometimes they're just out in the cuts standing alone. It isn't the trucks that make those truck stops great(because many trucking companies have rules that prohibit truck drivers from picking up hitchhikers) So get that whole 1970's hitchhiking imagery out of your head. I don't even bother with semi trucks really. The thing that makes those truck stops great is that a lot of people use those same truck stops to fill up on gas/food/beverages etc while in route on long distance road trips. So they're going to be entering the onramps that you should be standing at.
Also take a look at the actual onramp you've chosen. Try to avoid hitchhiking on one of those corkscrew onramps. You want a very very long straight away with a nice clean paved shoulder that extends beyond the position you're standing at by ideally 6-10 car lengths or more.. The driver is accelerating to get their speed up to highway speeds preparing to merge in with fast traffic. You need to find an onramp that lets them see you, make the decision to pick you up and then still have the actual time and opportunity to pick you up.
Appearances.
Be smiling, not frowning. Even if it's the worst day of your life, nobody wants to pick someone up that looks miserable. I think some folks out there hitchhiking think "if I look sad and pathetic they'll feel bad for me and pick me up". No, they won't. Put a big stupid shit eatin smile on your face and look jovial. Don't wear sunglasses. Drivers need to peer into your soul and feel like they're looking at a human being. They need to see that you're human and eye contact touches their hearts, shades blocks them out. Smoking cigarettes tends to reduce your chances of someone pulling over to pick you up by some margin.
You're more noticed when you're standing, sitting makes you a smaller target.. easier to not be seen. Try to avoid hitching in groups of three or more people. A three person party means one person is sitting directly behind the driver in a standard two seats up front three in the back type of vehicle and that makes a lot of drivers feel unsafe because who wants to have a stranger sitting directly behind you while you're driving.
If you have a lot of gear with you, block it with your body or with the other items you have. So for example, if you have a big pack and then a couple additional packs.. Idk why you're carrying around so much luggage but if you are.. put the large item up front where it's the one item of gear they see. Behind it you've hidden your other shit. This is a pretty insignificant practice if they have tons of room in their car and aren't that uptight of a person. Some people may glance at all your shit and just go nah, that's gonna take too long to load all that shit up and they're just gonna keep on rollin.
Signs.
This is definitely just my own personal opinion but I generally spend more time creating my sign than I spend waiting on rides so there's something to it. I've found that a clean and pristine piece of white cardboard with very well written bold black lettering stating where you're heading works tremendously better than a beat up dingy brown piece of cardboard with dumpster swill stains. If you're capable of keeping a piece of white cardboard clean and perfect in appearance.. it might give the driver the notion you yourself are clean. It isn't hard finding white cardboard, it's usually where the brown stuff is.. just gotta look for it.
If you feel confident in yourself and you're not too afraid of drivers harming you, then I think it's ok to write an actual destination name on your sign. Such as a city you're trying to reach. If you're at all skeptical about drivers and worried in any way, you may want to only put the direction you're traveling but make no mention of the final destination. This allows you to nope out of an offered ride with a perfectly reasonable excuse and I'll get into that later in the "feeling unsafe" portion.
Protection.
If you're wearing a visible fixed blade knife on your belt as I do(or any type of weapon that's noticeable really) try to wear it on your right side and slightly more towards your back than your side. If your waist were a clock and the fly on your pants sits at noon and your butthole is 6 O'clock the knife sheath should lay at about 4 O'clock if that makes sense. When you stand facing the cars coming at you, try to slightly have your hips twisted to the right so that the view of the knife is completely blocked by your body. As the car gets near you, you slowly turn to the right continually because sometimes they slow down after passing you and you need to be watching for that but also keeping your weapon blocked from view if they're looking in their mirror. As your body turns with their movement passed you, the knife is always hidden on the other side of your body facing them. Once they pull over, grab your bag and just carry it with your right arm and let it hang in front of your knife until you're in their vehicle.
The idea is to hide the knife entirely from the moment they first see you until you're in the car. This is also to have it in it's ideal place while you're riding in their car. They can't see it, they can't reach for it, they don't even know it's there. It's in the best place it can be, usually dangling from your belt down the side of the passenger seat between the door and seat, easy access. Also, don't stab them.. just in case you thought that's where this was going. Most drivers prefer to go about their day unstabbed. Don't be stabby, that's not why you have that knife. But you know.. if they try to harm you then the rules change right? That's why you have it at your side and ready. Hitchhikers are generally 9.5 times out of 10 not the threat out there on those roads. It's the drivers we need to be worried about. Not all drivers, it's probably the same margins. 9.5 drivers out of 10 are going to be pretty fuckin rad.. but you're gonna get that one guy eventually.
Feeling unsafe.
Sometimes you're standing on an on-ramp and it's obvious you're looking for a ride, you got your big ass cardboard thumb out you got a sign up but then someone pulls up and skeeves you out for one reason or another.
How do you address this? If you're worried that they're dangerous in some kind of way, couldn't this uncomfortable conversation potentially trigger them? What do you say when they pull over and you're having this initial conversation with them? "Uhh, think imma just wait for the next ride, I just remembered I have a doctor's appointment I need to go to" Obviously that's nonsense, they're gonna know most lines you feed em are bullshit. You're hitchhiking, you clearly need a ride but just not from them. Do you tell them the truth? "Ehh, you kinda give me the creeps sir. I don't feel safe getting into your vehicle, I think you're gonna try weird shit." That's kinda of offensive, especially considering we don't really even know the person's intent. The last thing I want is for this person to spaz out on me. I mean better there at the on-ramp before I've gotten into their vehicle but still something I'd rather avoid all together.
So here's my line, feel free to use it. I think it effectively turns down the ride and the reason doesn't offend the driver because it's actually reasonable. The very first moment you get a chance to speak to them, don't waste it with hellos or small talk. You need to get the opener on them before they ask the question- Where ya headed? Never let em get that question off first. That's actually your opener. "how far are ya going?" They'll tell you. If this is a ride you want to refuse and you know it right away, you immediately reply back with "ahh, I'm trying to get one straight-through ride all the way to "insert name of place at least 100 miles beyond the destination they revealed they're heading to". This tells them you trust them, you see no reason to not get in their vehicle, you just need a straight-through ride is all.
If they're insistent, they'll clap back with some shit like "well, I'd get you a lot closer than here" but you can just say you don't know all the best spots to hitch from along the way and some places prove challenging to get out of so you'd rather try to land the one shot ride all the way to your destination. You can also circle back to this at any moment during the initial conversation before getting in the car if something creeps you out after you've passed your chance to reject them. Just pause and go "aww man you know what, I'm actually thinking I might be best off trying to get a straight through ride all the way there, it just occurred to me I don't know this highway well and don't wanna get Munsoned out in the middle of nowhere." Or however you wanna word it, it's the same spiel just worked in after the small talk because you've noticed something in that time that's concerned you.
Color elicits emotion
Another tip that isn't so much common but rather one of my own theories/practices is colors and the emotions they invoke in people. There's definitely something to this. It's the reason why McDonald's chose yellow and red and so many other megacorporations select the colors they use for advertising. I try to display blue to elicit calming and comfort and most importantly trust. So if the choice is red shirt or blue shirt, go blue every time. Red can give them a sense of danger or to be cautionary. Yet somehow yellow and red makes people want to live on the edge and shovel a couple big macs down their gullet. They don't even realize it's happening. They don't actually think "Oh this person is wearing a red shirt, they could be dangerous". It's all subconscious thought. They'll make the decision to not pick you up because you might be dangerous and they don't even give a second thought to why they thought you were dangerous. It's the colors you're presenting, it's the knife on your hip, it's the fear of the unknown that lies behind those sunglasses.
Gimmicks.
Get creative with cardboard. I make these big silly hands and tuck them into my sleeve or just hold the back side of it if I'm short sleeved. The whole goal is to draw more attention to you like a billboard would, and it also makes a lot of people laugh for some reason. If you can make people laugh, they're a lot more likely to want you in their car. So use cardboard props, get creative.
Guess that's about all I got for now. Hope some of that helps. Be safe out there y'all.
What I'm dropping here is more like.. my own personal method of hitchhiking and just some things that maybe not everyone really thinks about but I've certainly found them to be effective. I think most people can figure out the basics;
Make a sign, put your thumb out, stay on the lawful side of the "pedestrians not allowed beyond this point" sign on the on-ramps, try to appear clean, do your best to actually be somewhat cleanish. Smelling bad would be more offensive than looking bad once you're in the car but looking bad will stifle your ride opportunities. You don't want to be standing at an on-ramp in the middle of nowhere, you want to be at one where a lot of cars enter the highway.
Taking things deeper-
Location location location.
Ideally you should be at a very popular gas/food/lodging exit. The ones that have truck stops like Flying J, Loves, Pilot, etc are definitely poppin. These tend to be at the end/outskirts of a town along the major freeways that run through that town. Sometimes they're just out in the cuts standing alone. It isn't the trucks that make those truck stops great(because many trucking companies have rules that prohibit truck drivers from picking up hitchhikers) So get that whole 1970's hitchhiking imagery out of your head. I don't even bother with semi trucks really. The thing that makes those truck stops great is that a lot of people use those same truck stops to fill up on gas/food/beverages etc while in route on long distance road trips. So they're going to be entering the onramps that you should be standing at.
Also take a look at the actual onramp you've chosen. Try to avoid hitchhiking on one of those corkscrew onramps. You want a very very long straight away with a nice clean paved shoulder that extends beyond the position you're standing at by ideally 6-10 car lengths or more.. The driver is accelerating to get their speed up to highway speeds preparing to merge in with fast traffic. You need to find an onramp that lets them see you, make the decision to pick you up and then still have the actual time and opportunity to pick you up.
Appearances.
Be smiling, not frowning. Even if it's the worst day of your life, nobody wants to pick someone up that looks miserable. I think some folks out there hitchhiking think "if I look sad and pathetic they'll feel bad for me and pick me up". No, they won't. Put a big stupid shit eatin smile on your face and look jovial. Don't wear sunglasses. Drivers need to peer into your soul and feel like they're looking at a human being. They need to see that you're human and eye contact touches their hearts, shades blocks them out. Smoking cigarettes tends to reduce your chances of someone pulling over to pick you up by some margin.
You're more noticed when you're standing, sitting makes you a smaller target.. easier to not be seen. Try to avoid hitching in groups of three or more people. A three person party means one person is sitting directly behind the driver in a standard two seats up front three in the back type of vehicle and that makes a lot of drivers feel unsafe because who wants to have a stranger sitting directly behind you while you're driving.
If you have a lot of gear with you, block it with your body or with the other items you have. So for example, if you have a big pack and then a couple additional packs.. Idk why you're carrying around so much luggage but if you are.. put the large item up front where it's the one item of gear they see. Behind it you've hidden your other shit. This is a pretty insignificant practice if they have tons of room in their car and aren't that uptight of a person. Some people may glance at all your shit and just go nah, that's gonna take too long to load all that shit up and they're just gonna keep on rollin.
Signs.
This is definitely just my own personal opinion but I generally spend more time creating my sign than I spend waiting on rides so there's something to it. I've found that a clean and pristine piece of white cardboard with very well written bold black lettering stating where you're heading works tremendously better than a beat up dingy brown piece of cardboard with dumpster swill stains. If you're capable of keeping a piece of white cardboard clean and perfect in appearance.. it might give the driver the notion you yourself are clean. It isn't hard finding white cardboard, it's usually where the brown stuff is.. just gotta look for it.
If you feel confident in yourself and you're not too afraid of drivers harming you, then I think it's ok to write an actual destination name on your sign. Such as a city you're trying to reach. If you're at all skeptical about drivers and worried in any way, you may want to only put the direction you're traveling but make no mention of the final destination. This allows you to nope out of an offered ride with a perfectly reasonable excuse and I'll get into that later in the "feeling unsafe" portion.
Protection.
If you're wearing a visible fixed blade knife on your belt as I do(or any type of weapon that's noticeable really) try to wear it on your right side and slightly more towards your back than your side. If your waist were a clock and the fly on your pants sits at noon and your butthole is 6 O'clock the knife sheath should lay at about 4 O'clock if that makes sense. When you stand facing the cars coming at you, try to slightly have your hips twisted to the right so that the view of the knife is completely blocked by your body. As the car gets near you, you slowly turn to the right continually because sometimes they slow down after passing you and you need to be watching for that but also keeping your weapon blocked from view if they're looking in their mirror. As your body turns with their movement passed you, the knife is always hidden on the other side of your body facing them. Once they pull over, grab your bag and just carry it with your right arm and let it hang in front of your knife until you're in their vehicle.
The idea is to hide the knife entirely from the moment they first see you until you're in the car. This is also to have it in it's ideal place while you're riding in their car. They can't see it, they can't reach for it, they don't even know it's there. It's in the best place it can be, usually dangling from your belt down the side of the passenger seat between the door and seat, easy access. Also, don't stab them.. just in case you thought that's where this was going. Most drivers prefer to go about their day unstabbed. Don't be stabby, that's not why you have that knife. But you know.. if they try to harm you then the rules change right? That's why you have it at your side and ready. Hitchhikers are generally 9.5 times out of 10 not the threat out there on those roads. It's the drivers we need to be worried about. Not all drivers, it's probably the same margins. 9.5 drivers out of 10 are going to be pretty fuckin rad.. but you're gonna get that one guy eventually.
Feeling unsafe.
Sometimes you're standing on an on-ramp and it's obvious you're looking for a ride, you got your big ass cardboard thumb out you got a sign up but then someone pulls up and skeeves you out for one reason or another.
How do you address this? If you're worried that they're dangerous in some kind of way, couldn't this uncomfortable conversation potentially trigger them? What do you say when they pull over and you're having this initial conversation with them? "Uhh, think imma just wait for the next ride, I just remembered I have a doctor's appointment I need to go to" Obviously that's nonsense, they're gonna know most lines you feed em are bullshit. You're hitchhiking, you clearly need a ride but just not from them. Do you tell them the truth? "Ehh, you kinda give me the creeps sir. I don't feel safe getting into your vehicle, I think you're gonna try weird shit." That's kinda of offensive, especially considering we don't really even know the person's intent. The last thing I want is for this person to spaz out on me. I mean better there at the on-ramp before I've gotten into their vehicle but still something I'd rather avoid all together.
So here's my line, feel free to use it. I think it effectively turns down the ride and the reason doesn't offend the driver because it's actually reasonable. The very first moment you get a chance to speak to them, don't waste it with hellos or small talk. You need to get the opener on them before they ask the question- Where ya headed? Never let em get that question off first. That's actually your opener. "how far are ya going?" They'll tell you. If this is a ride you want to refuse and you know it right away, you immediately reply back with "ahh, I'm trying to get one straight-through ride all the way to "insert name of place at least 100 miles beyond the destination they revealed they're heading to". This tells them you trust them, you see no reason to not get in their vehicle, you just need a straight-through ride is all.
If they're insistent, they'll clap back with some shit like "well, I'd get you a lot closer than here" but you can just say you don't know all the best spots to hitch from along the way and some places prove challenging to get out of so you'd rather try to land the one shot ride all the way to your destination. You can also circle back to this at any moment during the initial conversation before getting in the car if something creeps you out after you've passed your chance to reject them. Just pause and go "aww man you know what, I'm actually thinking I might be best off trying to get a straight through ride all the way there, it just occurred to me I don't know this highway well and don't wanna get Munsoned out in the middle of nowhere." Or however you wanna word it, it's the same spiel just worked in after the small talk because you've noticed something in that time that's concerned you.
Color elicits emotion
Another tip that isn't so much common but rather one of my own theories/practices is colors and the emotions they invoke in people. There's definitely something to this. It's the reason why McDonald's chose yellow and red and so many other megacorporations select the colors they use for advertising. I try to display blue to elicit calming and comfort and most importantly trust. So if the choice is red shirt or blue shirt, go blue every time. Red can give them a sense of danger or to be cautionary. Yet somehow yellow and red makes people want to live on the edge and shovel a couple big macs down their gullet. They don't even realize it's happening. They don't actually think "Oh this person is wearing a red shirt, they could be dangerous". It's all subconscious thought. They'll make the decision to not pick you up because you might be dangerous and they don't even give a second thought to why they thought you were dangerous. It's the colors you're presenting, it's the knife on your hip, it's the fear of the unknown that lies behind those sunglasses.
Gimmicks.
Get creative with cardboard. I make these big silly hands and tuck them into my sleeve or just hold the back side of it if I'm short sleeved. The whole goal is to draw more attention to you like a billboard would, and it also makes a lot of people laugh for some reason. If you can make people laugh, they're a lot more likely to want you in their car. So use cardboard props, get creative.
Guess that's about all I got for now. Hope some of that helps. Be safe out there y'all.
