Hitchhiking?

Gee Steve, Jeremiah probably could not have found those websites on his own through Google.

Hitchhiking is just not done here in Germany, though I can't speak of other countries. It is illegal on the autobahn.

What you can do is join the Mitfahr Zentrale and get rides that way. You join up, pay a few euros to the person driving to help cover fuel costs and you are on your way. So, a ride from Frankfurt to Berlin would run about 10-20 euro. The biggest problem is sometimes they take more than just you and it can be a long crowded car ride. Hopefully someone else will post about their experiences doing this in other countries. I know a lot of people who do this. On the other hand with one of the special train tickets, say the "Quer Durch Deutschland" ticket, you can ride all the way through Germany for 34 euro.

I don't understand why you feel that travelling alone through Europe with no set itenerary is dangerous or a risk.

Jo pretty well nailed it for all of Europe. I don't think I've seem but a couple of hitchikers (and they were scruffy looking individuals) in years, and the only way I get around is by driving. That way of traveling died out with the Vespa trips in the '60's.

While I agree that people don't hitchhike in Europe these days, I have to say that Ed is off by a decade. ; ) Hitchhiking was still common in the seventies. I never did it alone, but I hitchhiked from Reutlingen to Heidelberg in the seventies. I also hitchhiked from the Youth Hostel outside of Florence into the city centre.

The only place where I have seen hitchhikers or had it referenced recently as fairly common place is in the western isles of Scotland. There is little public transportation on places like Skye and Harris and so it happens. When I visited Skye about ten years ago the girl who came to help at the B&B frequently hitched a ride to work. Of course she did it so often that the drivers picking her up got to know her. ; )

Pam

You will find some hitchhikers in more rural areas, as Pamela says, where public transportation isn't common. I've come across some in rural France and Spain. But they're usually locals going from one village to another. Most countries have banned hitchhiking on their larger highways. For inexpensive transportation, buses are a good option. You can check Eurolines.com for point to point. There are also a couple of companies that offer bus "circuits" around Europe, for which you can purchase passes. They include busabout.com. You may also want to consider a Eurail pass for young people.....so many days travel in so many weeks or months...but be aware that you will have to pay extra for reservation/supplements on most of the fast trains.

Sure, you see local folks moving back and forth and, often as not, I give them a ride. But they're not burdened with knapsacks and looking like they're trying to cover umpteen zillion miles on the cheap.

Pam, you young chick you. Mid-sixties to mid-seventies was what I call the Asia Decade and I was pretty well tied up on the other side of the world. Darn near forgot what Europe was like.

Jeremiah,

"I am going to be in Europe from March 12th until my money runs out"

You'll have to keep the provisions of the Schengen Limit in mind and ensure that your stay in the Schengen zone does NOT exceed three months. If you're caught, the results could be quite unpleasant.

"it may be dangerous to hitchhike, but so is travelling alone in Europe with no set itenerary"

I'm not sure travelling alone in Europe with "no set Itinerary" is any more dangerous than travelling with an well organized Itinerary. If you plan well and observe reasonable precautions, you shouldn't have any problems (of course there can always be exceptions).

Hitchhiking could be risky so it's not something I'd recommend. With good planning you can buy P-P rail tickets in advance at very good rates (Lee has lots of good info on those in Germany) and a Railpass would probably reduce travel costs as well. However, keep in mind that Railpasses do NOT include the reservation fees that are usually compulsory on high speed trains.

If time is not a factor, travel by Coach (Bus) is usually quite inexpensive.

Cheers!

I hitchhiked all over Europe for 6 months and it was a great experience. Of course, that was 30 years ago (1979). In my more recent Europe travels, I've seen extremely few hitchhikers, so few that it's kind of shocking when you see one. So I suspect that mode of travel has gone by the wayside.

As Ken says, you have a max of 3 months. As long as your money runs out before then, you're okay.

Cheap European travel isn't as cheap as it used to be. Best of luck.

Starting in mid-March, eh? Hitching and camping, eh?

Consider that in many places in Europe, attempting to "camp" could be pretty uncomfortable in March - even dangerous - just from the cold.

With all due respect, to me your plans sound like a lot of wishful thinking and unrealistic. Maybe I'm wrong and you'll have a fabulous time - I hope so - but I suspect you will learn a number of valuable life lessons from attempting such a trip. Good luck.

Hi Jeremiah,

I know that these posts have told you not to hitchhike, but I'd like to give you some of the other side.

I'm a college-age student and while I wouldn't hitchhike (I'm too nervous to), one of my good friends did this past summer (2009). She went to Germany for a school trip for 3 weeks and then spend the next 2 months couchsurfing, hitchhiking, and waitressing (illegally) until she nearly ran out of money and needed to come back to school for the fall.

She used www.couchsurfing.org, which I've also joined and looks fairly safe. She would spends up to a week with someone and then at the end of that stay, would go to the train station and pick the next cheapest destination, generally working towards Central Europe. Towards the end, she had to hitchhike a lot more, but she said that was safe too.

Now, she had a really good trip. She enjoyed it a lot, but her friends worried about her a lot too. Just make sure to give someone your contact information (maybe you'll have a cell phone?) so that they can check on you once in a while and that you bring a list of phone numbers and email addresses to ask people for help or money if you need it. Just be aware that you are taking risks and I think you'll have a good trip. Of course, I've never done this, but I do know someone that did recently so it is possible.

Hope you have a wonderful trip!