Hello again, dear travelers! In the last article we learned.
Have your seat belts fastened?
Today we will rush along a steep road from the village of theory to the metropolis of practice. Therefore, tune in to a positive wave and catch passing advice on how to hitchhike correctly, what things to take on the road, how to find a good travel companion, and what is the fundamental difference between a KAMAZ and an asphalt paver.
If you really want to hitchhike but don't know how, there are two ways.
First- begin extensive theoretical training. Study sites dedicated to independent travel in general and hitchhiking in particular, sign up stray hitchhikers and listen to their advice, go to a local hitchhiking club, watch relevant films.
This is all certainly interesting and educational, and even seasoned travelers can get valuable information from good sources. The most useful information is, of course, new acquaintances - your possible friends, hosts, guests and fellow travelers.
Perhaps meeting them will be so fateful that you will overnight change not only your route, but also your life.
Second way- go out onto the track and raise your hand. No preparation. But with hope and courage. The method works no worse than the first.
The first method is good when you lack self-confidence, information or good company. The second method is suitable for people who make decisions at lightning speed. Or those who find themselves in a hopeless situation.
For example, my sister and I got into a truck for the first time when the last train left Vladimir for Nizhny Novgorod. The trucker turned out to be so sweet and caring that we fell in love at first sight. Hitchhiking.
Hiking backpack - packing for hitchhiking
So, thoughts are collected and put in order, determination is seething above the 100-degree mark - all that remains is to pack your backpack. How to choose the right companion for your travels and what things to fill it with? It all depends on several factors:
- depending on the season;
- on travel distance;
- on the climate of the destination;
- on travel conditions (for example, where overnight stays are expected);
- on your personal preferences (how you spend your leisure time, etc.)
The size of the backpack depends rather on the purpose and distance of your trip. Personally, the usual school stuff has always been enough for me (I don’t travel with a tent and sleeping bag, I sleep in trucks or hostels).
Experienced travelers constantly traveling around the world prefer heavier backpacks with a volume of 25-35 liters, with many pockets and a belt at the waist. Some people are ready to carry all 40. At the same time, according to them, a long and narrow backpack is more convenient than a short and wide backpack.
As for the season, everything goes without saying. Well, just don’t forget to take spare warm socks and a pair of shoes on a long journey. By the way, this applies not only to winter.
If you are traveling nearby and for a short time and plan to reach your destination during daylight hours, then fill your backpack depending on the purpose of your visit. A camera, a fishing rod or a package for Aunt Masha.
A long journey involves a change in weather, an overnight stay and a sea of new impressions. Therefore, for safety, it’s a good idea to take a flashlight, clothes with reflective stripes (by the way, I’ve already been fined for not having them), mosquito repellent (and frostbite repellent in winter), medications if you use them, and a minimal first aid kit (at least a bandage, iodine, analgin and anti-poisoning agent).
For hygiene - a toothbrush, a change of underwear and wet wipes, and if your route involves spending the night in nature, then soap.
For comfort - a warm jacket, a raincoat, a hat (a knitted hat can be useful even in summer, because in the mountains or on the highway the wind sometimes literally knocks you off your feet), a sleeping bag and a camping mat (however, I haven’t used these things in 10 years of hitchhiking, but they can come in handy at any time).
If you are confident that you will survive the night in nature, feel free to pack your tent. Some consider it an indispensable hitchhiking attribute, without which you should not travel. Personally, I believe that in case of an unexpected overnight stay in nature, a tent can be replaced by a rug and a sleeping bag, so I don’t weigh down my backpack. By the way, after conducting a survey on the things needed for a trip, I received the following results:
- first aid kit and;
- knife, money and lantern;
- bottle of water;
- brains and documents;
- mat, sleeping bag, tent, change of shoes and clothes;
- gas-burner.
The latter was suggested by an acquaintance who has more than 60,000 km of all-season hitchhiking behind him. The burner actually came in handy for him.
Briefly about the documents. When planning a trip to Russia, take your passport and also grab a copy of it (by the way, oncoming traffic cops may ask about your documents and detain you if you do not have them).
To travel around the world, be sure to take a passport (if you are not planning a trip to a country where it is needed, you can take it just in case: no one knows which way you will return back). To avoid unnecessary questions, print out your hotel reservation (if you don’t plan to stay in hotels, cancel your reservation after printing). And, of course, don’t forget your phone, camera and chargers for them. And tourist SIM cards, if you use them.
I would add an ordinary ballpoint pen to the list of necessary things. Moreover, my simple phone does not have an organizer.
You can also think over your leisure time and stock up on books (or their electronic equivalents), chess (if they are not on your phone) and a fishing rod. Just think, will your patient backpack and resilient back withstand all this?
A fellow traveler is your comrade in arms
A faithful comrade can help you with what you cannot do yourself (put up a tent, cook canned soup with Chinese vermicelli, navigate the forest, entertain the driver, or speak the mumbo-jumbo language). If you are a girl, then you will be safer together. Finding travel companions is not an easy task, especially if you want your companion to share with you all the hardships of the trip, and not multiply them. So, let's take a look around!
It’s good if among your friends or acquaintances there is a person (or a company, but hitchhiking is better in pairs) who shares your views on hitchhiking. Ideally, a friend does not have a panicky fear of the unknown and strangers. Otherwise, you will have to drag the would-be dreamer with you mentally, and even physically. Therefore, if a friend suddenly appears, test his strength over short distances.
If among your friends no one dreams of distant horizons seen from the window of a random car, you will have to find a travel companion on the Internet. Tips for finding travel companions are given on various websites dedicated to hitchhiking.
For example, this sounds convincing in the VKontakte group Academy of Free Travels. There are also links to groups where you can “book” a friend for the trip.
I myself was looking for this page And in this, however, instead of a travel companion from Batumi to Trabzon, they found a host in Tbilisi, but that’s not bad either! You can also search for travel companions on Vinsky Forum.
When choosing the right companion, try to get to know each other better: communicate on social networks, find out preferences for the method of transportation (for example, my travel companion, with whom we almost ended up at a feast with the slaughter of a kid of a drunk horseman, tries not to travel at night, but I, on the contrary, I love it very much), cash expenditure (food or lodging - sooner or later you may face this choice), level of comfort (hostel, tent or hotel), etc. It would not be a bad idea to inquire about personal preferences.
How to hitchhike a car?
Of course, it is better if you are not alone. But this is how it will turn out. And so you stand on the side of the road and catch a car. It is important where to fish, how to fish and why to fish.
Location
So where? If you are in the center of a large city, then someone will probably stop you, but offer you a ride around the city (and it’s not a fact that it’s free). But those who, like you, are heading towards the sea or mountains, will pass by. Therefore, you will have to get to the exit and wait for your driver there. By the way, you can also get there by minibus. And that's even better.
When deciding on a location, think not only about your comfort, but also about the convenience of the driver. Of course, in the heat it’s more pleasant to stand under a spreading tree, but if it’s located near a bridge or a steep climb, don’t expect to be stopped.
Miracles, of course, happen (tested in my own skin), but it is more prudent to wait for the car of your dreams in an established or simply convenient place: at bus stops, near road pockets or on a wide side of the road, after a crossing or a turn.
It’s possible even at the traffic police post. Traffic cops, as a rule, do not favor our brother, but upon request they can stop a comfortable truck (ideally) in the desired direction. By the way, all the truckers with whom the traffic police introduced me turned out to be wonderful people and cheerful interlocutors. One even donated money for the trip. Truly, the world is not without good people!
Good people, ah!
Now let’s talk about how to properly “catch” these kindest people and instill in them the idea of giving you a free ride.
The classic gesture of Russian hitchhikers is an arm raised 90 degrees. In America, the thumb on this hand also sticks out as a sign that you are a really cool travel companion. We believe this even without a finger. But you shouldn’t give an SOS signal: even those who don’t have a seat in the car will stop you, and they are unlikely to be grateful to you for an incorrectly stated request.
Raise your hand - smile towards a favorable trip. Attract joy and good luck.
You can direct the driver with a sign indicating where you are going. This works, but, alas, not always. One day a truck driver admitted to me: “It was only because of the sign that I picked you up. But at first I mistook her for the wrong one.” That's why I always have a pen with me. And the cardboards are on the way.
Sometimes, however, a sign, especially if it contains a region code instead of a city name, misleads people. It turns out that not all drivers know these same codes and do not realize that the numbers on your piece of paper are the city, not the age.
The driver must inspire trust and sympathy in you - this is the key to a successful trip. If it’s difficult for you to form an impression in a second while the driver opens the windows and doors of his “swallow” in front of you, talk to him longer (not half an hour, of course) - no one will punish you for this.
As practice shows, there are places where hitchhiking is difficult. This does not have to be a city or an entire region - it can be just a kilometer section of road. If, after standing there for half an hour, you didn’t stop anyone, you can safely move on. At the same time, try to move along the highway in compliance with safety rules: at a distance of at least a meter from the lane and preferably towards the traffic.
What can I say, what can I say?
Find out the route and feel the mood of your interlocutor. Trust your intuition. If for some reason you don’t like the driver or make you worry, it’s better to refuse the trip.
What should you say to the driver to establish contact and communicate your intention to take you to the desired point for free?
First, say hello. Secondly, name your route (except for cases when you are driving from Moscow to Ulaanbaatar, and a tractor stops for you near the village of Gadyukino). It’s better not to say the cherished “no money”, but it is possible and necessary to make it clear that you are a budget traveler. For example, like this:
- Good afternoon! I'm going to China, can you give me a lift to Astana? (or: give me a ride wherever you can).
Young people can use expressions that shorten the distance:
- Father (brother), can you give me a lift to Kazan?
As a rule, newly-made relatives do not refuse.
Some drivers, especially in passenger cars, especially with a wife in the next seat, may still ask about the cost. In such cases, you should not mislead a person. If you are refused, do not be sad - your driver is driving behind you.
But it happens that a modest amount paid for transportation significantly changes your situation. It’s no secret that there are places where no one “bites.” Whether you pay the driver now or wait for his more generous colleague is up to you. You will get to China anyway - it's only a matter of time.
Cars
And briefly about cars. It is logical to assume that covering long distances is best (and more comfortable) in trucks with cozy sleeping bags. However, some stoppers prefer passenger cars, which travel closer but faster and, unlike truckers, more often pick up male travelers. Here, to each his own.
Once, not far from Tbilisi, I caught a passenger car to Saratov, but I had to get out of it, because the driver did not sleep the previous night and did not plan to sleep the next, and safety on the road is paramount.
If you are stopped by a grain truck, a milk truck or a postal van, be prepared that it will stop at different points all the way and will not take you far. The same applies to minibuses, which can also be negotiated for free, and tractors coupled with asphalt pavers.
Don’t forget to look at the region code, although there may be discrepancies here: the driver himself lives in Moscow, the license plates are Rostov, he drops you off in Georgia and goes to Novosibirsk.
The midnight outside is impenetrable - where to sleep?
During the conversation, time flew by, the driver arrived at the right place, and you found yourself face to face with the night. And silence. And the dead with scythes... But let's not talk about sad things.
To avoid this, let's figure out where you can spend the night during your hitchhiking adventures.
I would answer this question briefly - everywhere.
But first things first.
Let's divide the overnight stay into civilized and wild. I would classify as civilized hotels, hostels, registers and stops with good people who happened to come across them.
Everything else falls under the definition of a wild overnight stay: a tent in a field, airports, train stations, roadside cafes and other places that are, for lack of anything better.
Hostels and hotels
So, hotels and hostels. You can book them in advance, or you can check in unexpectedly. In any case, if you are traveling to an unfamiliar city, it is better to check the availability of such institutions in advance. By the way, if your booking says there are no vacancies in the hotel you like, know that this is not always the case. It’s just that hotels don’t include all available rooms in the booking. I am ready to vouch for this.
Whoever asked for an overnight stay will sooner understand the other
If spending the night for money is in no way included in your plans, try finding an overnight stay using couchsurfing. Most often, the same travelers as you are registered there, so there is a chance to find a warm place. As they say, “whoever asked for an overnight stay will sooner understand the other.”
You can use the site directly couchsurfing.com, or you can use VKontakte groups: COUCHsurfing and Travel And Couchsurfing, fellow travelers, travelers.
Some groups have lists of entries, for example, HERE, but the search is not very convenient, because the offers are not sorted by region and city. It’s more convenient to find a place in a group WUA, because here, from this point of view, everything is thought out.
Random luck
It also happens that people you meet by chance, having learned about your status as a budget traveler, invite you to visit them. They called me several times, but I never had to spend the night: either I understood that today it would be more expedient to move further along the path, or I, as a girl, was a little scared to stay. But, if these factors don’t bother you, why not?
Give me the dawn at the green tent
If you are moving forward with your tent, the lack of hospitable hosts should not bother you. Choose your overnight stays carefully. Experienced travelers prefer to spend the night away from populated areas, in a place hidden from view (for example, in a forest).
If night falls close to the village, you can leave at dawn so as not to attract unnecessary attention. Find yourself a place protected from strong winds, this will not only be warmer for you, but also better for your fire.
For reasons of hygiene, it is more convenient to camp near a water source. However, in the summer there are a lot of mosquitoes living near bodies of water, in tall grass and bushes - take this factor into account.
Train stations and airports
Obvious advantages of such a shelter:
- You will never oversleep the required departure time.
- As a rule, the establishment has a cafe.
- Not as scary as on the side of the highway (usually).
- You are unlikely to sleep at all, unless, of course, you have a dozen sleepless nights behind you.
- If you do fall asleep, you may be robbed. Stash all valuables in the inside pockets of your clothes.
- Train stations and, especially, airports are not available in all cities. Bus stations may close at night.
The soldier is sleeping - the truck is coming
Spending the night in a moving car is one of the most effective ways to reduce mileage and combine business with pleasure. Unless, of course, you are afraid that the driver will fall asleep at the wheel. If you are afraid, be so kind as to stock up on interesting stories for a few hours ahead. Sometimes the owner of the truck himself demands this, and he is right: you have to pay for pleasure.
Get some sleep in the morning in the next truck.
If the car is parked for the night, the driver will most likely find a warm place for you. But, if you are a girl, immediately set the boundaries of what is permitted.
Other interesting surprises
Over the course of 10 years of hitchhiking, I had to spend the night in trucks, at the airport, at the railway and bus stations, and even at a gas station. Of course, we didn’t sleep at the gas station, but danced all night to music from a nearby cafe (I still remember the Rostov gas station to the songs of “Chi-Li”). We went to this cafe for a snack, but didn’t find anything except tea and expensive chocolate. Perhaps something has changed for the better since 2007.
While creating this article, I asked friends, acquaintances and strangers, what was the most unusual place they spent the night. And I hasten to please you: the list of places that a person can choose for an overnight stay turned out to be extremely wide.
Experienced people spent the night in a mosque, on a bench in a park (this happened in Istanbul, and not only in the program “Heads and Tails”), in the shower and toilet of a store (Spain), in a cemetery (they didn’t notice it at night - cool, right?), in the middle of the horse path (and in the morning the horses came and woke me up).
Even the porch of a store can serve as a shelter: one respondent hid under its steps. So seek and you will find!
Bon Voyage!
Route.
It is useful to know which settlements will be on the way and whether there will be any at all. It is not always necessary to have a card with you, for example, if it is a Moscow-St. Petersburg stop. If you are going somewhere out in the wilderness, you can even buy a paper one, although I usually download offline maps to my Android. Calculate how long a typical trip along this route takes, add to this figure from an hour to infinity. Some people take 15 minutes to catch a car, others have to stand for several hours.
Equipment.
There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad equipment. First of all, you need to get dressed according to the weather and bright. Comfortable shoes and neat clothes add +100 to comfort. In the rain, of course, take a raincoat and spare socks with you. Shoe covers are also a theme, by the way. I don’t recommend girls wearing short dresses even in extreme heat, I had this experience and didn’t like it. No incidents, but they offered to make money.
Be sure to have a flashlight and spare batteries for it; the flashlight on your phone doesn’t count! It’s very convenient to ride with a power bank, there are even solar-powered ones, but this is no longer on the list of must-haves.
Sleeping bag/bed/tent. If the journey is long, at least the first two should be with you.
Backpack.
The most common mistake of beginners is to buy a backpack with a capacity of 70 liters and stretch it with things to 90. You don't need so many things! Just believe me, your back is more valuable. If the stop is summer, then even if you go very far, fifty liters is more than enough. Everything you need will appear when you need it.
Provisions.
Always take water with you when traveling. For food, take dried fruits and chocolate - that's what you need on the road. Eating before the road is a must! Often good drivers feed, but not everyone and not always.
How to start.
It is very difficult to catch a car within the city or on a bypass. Look for transport that takes you out of town to the highway, go out as far as possible, so you can catch a car faster. Smile, wave, thumbs up)
Where to stand.
Naturally, not on the bridge. And not before the turn. And not after. Make sure that you are clearly visible for a long time; the driver needs to have time to think and understand that he wants to pick you up. If it is already dark, stand under a lantern or illuminate yourself with a flashlight.
In car.
Be as friendly as possible, but not pushy. They are selected for completely different reasons. Some people find it boring to travel alone, they choose someone to talk to, some people like to teach reason, in which case you almost won’t have to talk, but only listen to how you should live. Someone was like that himself, he would sit you down, feed you, put you to sleep. In general, upgrade your insight. Don't sleep unless the driver himself suggests it to you! And even if he suggested it, it’s still better not to sleep.
I had never been on a hike or slept in a tent until I quit my job and went on my first hitchhiking trip. A story about how you can change your life, and whether it’s worth it - especially for “Samokatus”.
I was born and lived all my life in Moscow. I graduated from two institutes: like most people of my generation, I got into the first institute by accident - I became a programmer. I chose the second one consciously and received an MBA degree. I also almost received a law degree, but my son was born and I had to interrupt my studies.
All my life I worked according to a schedule invented by someone - from 8 to 17, from 9 to 18, endless hours, with a break for lunch. I started my career as a secretary and ended as the head of the human resources department. I vacationed often, three to five times a year: all my life I preferred to save on things and cafes in favor of traveling. At first I bought package tours, and later I started planning trips myself: I became so skilled at buying tickets, booking hotels and transfers that I began to be considered an advanced traveler among my friends, and was happy to advise everyone.
In February 2017, after working at Rospotrebnadzor, studying at the Plekhanov Institute and receiving a diploma in accounting, I decided to take a break from the office - and went to the Mosgortur company, which organizes vacations for privileged categories of families. The new job helped me reconsider my values: I left home for a long time, and after six months I realized that I wanted to go on a long journey, and hitchhiking.
Where? How? With whom? Hitchhiking means that you and your travel companion are never separated for a minute. You vote on the road, you spend the night together - in a tent, in a hostel, visiting couchsurfing hosts, you share food in half. I was lucky: I quickly found “my” person.
To search for travel companions, there are VKontakte groups and pages about travel - AVP, “Hitchhiking Community”, “Drachma Vagrants” and so on. Since I already had a visa to the USA and really wanted to visit New York again, I posted an advertisement looking for a travel companion to South America with a return trip through the USA. While waiting for responses, I looked through the ads of other users. One of them interested me in the timing of the proposed trip: a young man from St. Petersburg had already bought a ticket to Thailand and was looking for a travel companion to Southeast Asia on the same dates that I was looking for travel companions to America. I responded to S.’s announcement about hitchhiking in Thailand out of pure curiosity: I wanted to see what meeting future fellow travelers looks like, what questions they ask, what answers they receive. We met, and I definitely understood that I would not go anywhere with this person: at first I didn’t like him at all, neither in appearance nor in his demeanor. But after talking with S. for some time, I changed my mind: he inspired confidence, was neat, and calm. He could be trusted. I was inspired by the fact that he went through a similar path to mine: he quit a well-paid job, sold his car, and went traveling the day after his birthday.
It's good to break away when you're twenty. When you are forty, and have years of continuous work behind you, several higher educations, a settled life, a child, more or less clear and predictable plans - everything becomes unobvious. Losing your monthly income is scary. The established social circle calls for prudence - this will be especially active on the part of relatives. Before the trip, I agreed with my mother that my son would live with her - we transferred him to a school near her house, and I gave money monthly for his maintenance.
It’s not for nothing that a 65-liter backpack has been lying in my village house for more than ten years, no one knows how it got there - it’s time to pick it up, put things there and hit the road. I had to fit my entire philosophy in clothing, cosmetics and accessories into these 65 liters and no more than 10 kilograms. YouTube helped me: lists and essays on how to assemble a backpack for hitchhiking are usually of little use in real life.
My list came out as follows:
- Backpack (65 liters) + mini backpack + waist bag + backpack cover/rain cover;
- foam + sleeping bag;
- jeans + long-sleeved jacket;
- sneakers + sandals;
- three pairs of socks + wool socks + underwear, five items + swimsuit;
- two shorts + pants (sports);
- windbreaker + fleece + raincoat;
- two T-shirts + two T-shirts;
- towel + buff + keffiyeh or arafatka;
- sneakers + flip flops;
- knife + sunglasses + belt;
- medicines + cosmetics;
- food box;
- tongue brush + teeth brush + dental floss + washcloth + manicure set;
- wallet + bank cards + passport + license + other documents (photocopy of passports, two bank statements, insurance).
I met the given weight: at the beginning of the journey, my backpack weighed exactly 10 kilograms, but in the process I added various little things like soap, washing powder, pens, a selfie stick, a marker - I flew to Russia with a backpack weighing 17 kilograms.
Before, I didn’t understand that a person needs very little in life. Now I have come to the theory of minimalism in life: having dropped into Moscow between my trip to Southeast Asia and my trip across Russia to Vladivostok, I gave away two-thirds of my wardrobe.
My first step was to buy a one-way ticket to Bangkok. At first it was difficult for me to step on the plane without a return ticket, and then to go out on the highway for the first time. You leave the city, look for a suitable position where you can be clearly seen, stand “on show” - you’re done! You stand and look into the eyes of passing people, catch their gaze, they see your eyes - you are waiting for your driver. It was very difficult for me: to open my eyes and my soul to strangers. Another property of hitchhiking is complete uncertainty: no one knows where you will end up in an hour, and where you will have to spend the night. It was the complete opposite of my previous life. We could leave the hitchhiking point in five minutes and immediately get to the place we needed. Or they could get stuck in the vastness of a foreign country, in the mountains, and spend the night in a tent under the endless starry sky. It's a constant lottery, constant adrenaline.
Before I went on my trip, my salary was enough for exactly a month. All the money was spent on food, rent, and my son’s education. When I wasn’t working, I worked at the stock exchange and did odd jobs. And then it turned out that living while traveling was cheaper than in Moscow: on average, our expenses were 10-15 thousand rubles per person per month. With this money we could rent a hostel, rent a motorbike, buy a bunch of fruit, go to a museum, buy the necessary clothes.
The main thing you save on when hitchhiking is travel and accommodation. You can live in a tent, in hostels (very cheap in Southeast Asia - on average 250-300 rubles for a double room) and couchsurfing. It’s easy to use: you send requests to your travel destinations and wait for a response. Wherever we had to spend the night: from a room under the stairs of a young Muslim homosexual in one of the most dangerous provinces of Thailand - Pattani, to a fashionable hotel in the center of Beijing. But the most important thing is not where you sleep, but who you communicate with: you will never see or learn so many interesting things if you do not immerse yourself in the life of the locals.
For the first time, staying with hosts was difficult for me. It seemed that I owed them something, and they wanted something from me. But then I realized that people do this unselfishly, and this was in tune with what has always been in my soul: if you can help another, help.
During our trip to Southeast Asia, we visited four countries (Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam). We returned to Russia through China: we drove through it and crossed the border near Vladivostok. In total, we were in Asia for seven and a half months, although initially I planned to return much earlier. We spent the most time in Thailand: this country became our starting point, we returned there all the time - in addition, in Bangkok, thanks to couchsurfing, we made a close friend, and he was always happy to see us. Southeast Asia impressed me: it is a stunning region that has it all - stunning sights, mountains and seas, hospitable people, rich culture and advanced technology.
We visited both tourist places and areas where a person of European appearance aroused genuine interest among the entire village. We were in dangerous areas of Thailand, where an armed conflict is simmering with Muslim separatists from the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat: they are fighting for the creation of an independent Islamic state or the inclusion of the provinces in Malaysia. In the north of the country we lived in a Buddhist monastery, observing all its rules, meditating and working.
This trip gave me experiences that I would never have been able to get by traveling any other way and staying in expensive hotels. It was a concentration of all kinds of sensations, meetings, tests, overcoming oneself.
With my travels, I want to show everyone how you can be both self-sufficient and needed by others. Many people think that traveling allows them to avoid loneliness. But it's the opposite: it makes you even lonelier than you were before it started. You meet so many strangers that it is difficult not to become isolated on yourself, not to build a protective wall between yourself and others. I've met many other hitchhikers, and the vast majority have become closed systems, unable to accept anyone into their world or open up to anyone.
I could never imagine that it was possible to travel for free, hitchhike, communicate closely with the local population, and find friends in places I had never even planned to visit. I have always been independent, supported myself, but here I had to allow myself to depend on the uncontrollable situation on the road - for me this was overcoming. But this is an important experience - it makes you more open, teaches you to accept the situation as it is.
I was glad to return: thanks to the trip, I unexpectedly fell in love with my hometown. Everything that used to irritate or depress me has become insignificant and unimportant. I learned to love my compatriots in a new way, especially after traveling from Moscow to Vladivostok by car with my son. But the more you travel, the more blurred the concept of “home” becomes. I used to think that a house had walls, a roof, a ceiling. Comfort is furniture and soft pillows on the sofa. But home and comfort is the place where your heart wants to be, and the people with whom it wants to be. My home is inside me.
The movement of backpackers – people who prefer to travel independently, bypassing tour operators, and with a minimal budget – is growing all over the world. For them hitchhiking– this is a common thing, perhaps even the norm of life. This method of conquering space has a lot of advantages: in addition to being cheap, you get to know people, get to know countries in their authentic form and not dressed up like tourists. This is truly an adventurous journey in its original sense. The disadvantages of hitchhiking are that you are completely out of the familiar comfortable environment and all responsibility for life and health falls only on you; you are not guaranteed an overnight stay under a roof and dinner at the appointed hour. If the road beckons you, you should know the basics of this type of travel.
Basic rules for hitchhiking
Hitchhiking in Russia may seem banal to you, but it is better to learn in a familiar social environment. In our country there are several informal hitchhiking clubs. To join one of them, go, for example, to the village of Izhitsy, Valdai district, Novgorod region. Meetings, so-called elbs, are held there twice a year. So, what do you need to hitchhike? In addition to equipment - a tent, clothes and various little things useful on the road, it is worth knowing some rules.
1. You must have a goal
Hitchhiking without money is a purposeful movement. Otherwise, it turns into wandering without purpose or meaning. The M10 highway leads to the same village of Izhitsy. Buy a map of Russian roads, learn the names of key settlements, find places where you can spend the night and eat. Having mastered a simple route, you can, for example, hitchhike to Europe from Russia.
2. Consider traffic rules
Hitchhiking around the world will be more successful if you know the basics of traffic rules. It is almost impossible to catch a car on high-speed sections of highways, and stopping on bridges and overpasses is prohibited by traffic regulations. And if you are going on a hitchhiking trip around Europe and Russia, then you need to follow the rules for walking along highways.
3. Consider local customs
In Europe, the sign that you want to be picked up on the road is a raised hand with a clenched fist and a raised thumb. However, in some countries in Southeast Asia such a gesture is considered indecent and offensive. There it is better to have a cardboard with you with the name of the locality where you want to go.
4. Tramps are not loved anywhere
If you go hitchhiking in Russia, this does not mean that you can look like a dirty ragamuffin. Untidy tramps are treated poorly everywhere. Some people simply feel sorry for dirtying the interior of the car, while others begin to fear for their lives at the sight of them. So try to look civilized. To do this, have a thread and a needle, a piece of soap, and a comb with you.
5. Third wheel
The idea that traveling with a large group is more fun and safer is quite attractive and makes sense. But it will be much more difficult for you to find passing transport. The cabins of even long-haul trucks are designed for a maximum of three people. And purely subjectively, three people are already perceived as a threat. European drivers will 100% avoid a group of three young men. But in Thailand or, where the rules are taken more lightly, even five people can be put into the open back of a pickup truck without any problems. By the way, some people generally prefer and, on principle, do not take anyone with them.
6. The road will be mastered by the one who walks
When hitchhiking, you have no one to rely on but yourself. Be proactive in your search for transportation. Much more often they pay attention to those who walk and ask for a ride. Sitting in the shade means you don’t need to go anywhere. Standing at a pole - maybe you are a road worker. In any case, even walking slowly, you will be closer to your goal than if you stood all day waiting for a ride.
7. Calculate your strengths
8. Personal contact is the key to success
Try to establish contact with the driver from a distance. The language of facial expressions and gestures is international. If you manage to interest or attract the attention of someone, he will have fewer reasons to refuse further communication with you. In general, “share your smile...”. Do not climb into the cabin silently and with a sullen expression. First of all, it's rude. Secondly, by saying hello and assessing the situation, you can quickly decide whether you should join such a company. It’s better to refuse at the slightest doubt than to get caught up in a story. But even in this case, apologize.
9. There are a lot of interesting things around
The benefits of hitchhiking are multiple. One of them is the opportunity to see something that is not in any tourist brochure, or which is not mentioned on any website. Even if you are hopelessly (seemingly) stuck in the little-known village of Kukuevo, this does not mean that there is nothing interesting there from the word “at all”. The ruins of a manorial estate, churches, a museum at a rural school, an unexpectedly beautiful view of the surrounding area, monuments of military glory - all these living witnesses will tell you much more about the Motherland than official pompous publications.
10. Be optimistic
A trip of this format is closest to its original meaning. This is truly a gamble. Difficulties and even minor troubles can await you at every step. Be persistent and take everything that happens with humor. After all, this is exactly why you set out on your journey. A wide smile and a positive attitude will help you solve most problems.
After gaining experience on short routes, even hitchhiking around the world will not seem impossible to you. Unexplored paths and paths await you. Go for it!
Here I decided to tell you what I know and think about this activity. The confusion of opinions and theories is such that one can insert one more such opinion without causing a serious commotion in society. The theoretical debate has not yet died down, and I will throw another log into this fire. There is no reason for this fire to go out; there are not many theoretical disputes left in the modern world.
DEFINITION. Scientific thinking begins with definitions. So. In a narrow sense, hitchhiking is free movement of vehicles. In a broad sense, it means traveling without the help of civil means of transport. Sometimes they say - free travel on non-routine transport. In my opinion, the clarification “non-routing” is unnecessary. It turns out that taking a taxi for free is not hitchhiking, but when this taxi finishes work and picks you up on the way home, it is already hitchhiking. In my opinion, it doesn't matter what you ride, what matters is the method you use. That is, a method of paying for travel or a method of using one’s own head. The AVP came closer to the truth by coining the expression: “travel using scientific methods.” All these difficulties arose as a result of the transfer of a European phenomenon to Asian soil - that is, if in the West you can get anywhere by car, then in the East you have to combine a car with a locomotive or something else, for example, with a camel. Therefore, for a European, hitchhiking is a simple concept. But for us it is somewhat more complicated.
(The definition was unclear, but some Internet resources have already begun to quote it, so we’ll have to leave it as it is.)
Strictly speaking, hitchhiking does not exist at all. He's gone. And at the same time, it follows from here that it cannot but exist. It seems like nonsense, but it's true.
For clarity, I will not go into definitions, but will move on to the description.
Hitch-hiking - in the broadest sense of the word, this is when you can do more than your money and social position allow. When you are not limited by the choice of route, range and final goal. You ride whatever you want to carry, and you eat whatever you can’t refuse. Hence the problem, which someday will be a separate exam card in the “Hitchhiking Theory” exam:
The problem of money in hitchhiking. This problem is epic - on any hitchhiking forum its discussion causes a powerful stream of comments. It seems to me that it is in this issue that some important logical lines intersect, since people react so emotionally.
There are approximately two opinions here. First: money is essentially not a necessary condition; it is quite possible to do without it. Second: Why not have them for the sake of decency, because not having money is indecent? ( Both opinions have radical versions: 1) Money only gets in the way; 2) Only losers and second-class people travel without money.)
At one time, M. Gumenik described the first method as ". ..travel with minimal financial expenses. At the same time, in addition to hitchhiking, they also widely use “hare” rides, overnight stays at registrations, food from garbage dumps begged at bazaars and markets and at registrations. Some people, of which I am not one, sometimes refer to "free travel" as "hitchhiking."“In general, Gumenik is a practical person in life, but here for some reason he veered into snobbery and was completely in vain to mention garbage dumps. Indeed, some spend the night at the registers and eat what is presented at the markets, but this is not yet a reason for sidelong glances. Lovers of five-star hotels hotels are just as squeamish about three-star hotels. It’s worth being simpler. (Gumenik has already read this article and - judging by the lectures - has really become simpler.)
If you get rid of snobbery in yourself and look at this life closely, you can see two paths. Only two. You can solve problems either by external means (money) or in some other way, for example, with your head. (There is a third, but we are not discussing it here.) And the lack of money does not lead to homelessness. Quite the opposite. Do you get the idea?
I'll explain in more detail. Only a very decent and wealthy person, or a person with a similar consciousness, can slip into homelessness. Someone who is used to solving problems through external means. For example, he was invited to work in Lisbon, but was deceived there and left without money or documents. What to do? The hitchhiker would shrug his shoulders and slowly walk home. Taking a detour to Rome to see the Colosseum. A normal person will feel the end of everything, go sell things, start begging for money on the streets, spend the night in garbage dumps and degrade in every possible way. This is exactly what is happening now. Story:
A wealthy, business-minded and very self-confident man went as a tourist to Poland. In Warsaw, he was completely robbed by his compatriots. The man gathered his strength and walked home to Kyiv. I don't know how he crossed the border. In any case, he reached a tavern on the Gomel bypass, the owner of which told me this story.
So a person has found a problem where there is none. From Warsaw to Kyiv two days by road. You won't even have time to get hungry. But he didn't know that.
A civilized person, a homeless person and, say, a village gopnik are essentially one thing. They live by the same rules, in the same hierarchical system. They can buy a thing, they can steal a thing, but in both cases they don’t care about the owner and none of them will think of getting the same thing without paying money or deceiving anyone.
In 2002, when I was traveling to Turkey, a Kamaz driver near Bryansk asked me: what would I do if I suddenly ran out of money for the return journey and for a return Georgian visa. I replied that I didn’t know, but I’d think of something on the spot. The driver decided that this was not a serious answer. He believed that money is the only tool for interaction with the world, and when it runs out, interaction ends. Then it happened - I had neither money nor a visa, but I still got out of Turkey by ship and nothing happened to me. What is the moral in this? I don't know which one, but there is definitely some.
Ultimately I'm not against money. If you have them, you can use them. But just in case, learn to do without them. Just make sure it's possible. Or make sure for you this is impossible. You will know the limits of your power, and this is very useful. I don't know what is more useful than this. Is it the absence of these limits?
WHY I DON'T LIKE TRAVELING WITH MONEY. Sometimes it is rightly noted that if you live in a hotel-bus setting, you can save time and see more of everything. I had to read descriptions of such trips - people really saw and described a lot of things, they didn’t lose a single day anywhere... It’s really interesting to read. But there was something that I didn’t like about all this - for a long time I could not understand what it was. Everything is fine, but I don’t feel like it. Why? One day an insight came to me: in these travels there is no events. Descriptions only. A person comes to one place, studies it carefully, moves to another... Many descriptions, many sketches. The story boils down to a photo album with captions for the pictures. But there are no events! And there is no plot. And life is made up of events, pictures only decorate its individual places, like illustrations in books. In general, a trip without money is reminiscent of rock climbing without insurance - there is a risk, and it’s not worth promoting it, but sometimes... how to put it... the soul asks.
AND MORE ABOUT MONEY. An important achievement of hitchhiking science is the discovery of the fact that hundreds and thousands of dollars are not needed for long journeys. In 2000, Igor Fateev traveled from Moscow to Senegal without any money at all, although this was more of an experiment than a guide to action. 05/28/03 Grigory Kubatyan left for a trip around the world with 200 dollars. In 2001, I traveled to Istanbul and back with 40 dollars, of which only 25 were inevitable expenses. The level of expenses varies depending on the country of destination, but ranges somewhere between 10-20 dollars per month. We are not currently considering trips that are completely cash-free.
But doesn't matter,whether you have money or whether you don’t have money, you will still get where you need to go. The question is - why?
HITCHHIKING AS A PHILOSOPHY. You don't have to be a consumer, that's the main thing. You should not consume the world around you like sausages and ketchup. We need to rebuild the world, forming a new universe, and this process begins with yourself. Why are you being taken? Because first of all you are just a good person. You must be. This is already a lot, by the way. You are a bright part of this world, you do not bargain with it, but do what can be useful now. You are a good person and should extend your influence to others, to the driver in the first place.
What if they don’t want to take you? There is such a common question - he doesn’t want to, what should he do? Persuade or leave alone? In this case, the main thing is to get into the car. The fact is that the driver most likely wants to take you, but doesn’t know about it yet. When he gets into your essence, he will take you and give you something else. This has happened a couple of times in my life.
The world plays with a person, but plays honestly. There are no hopeless situations. The world gives you troubles or tests, but always gives you a chance. As long as you treat him well. If you really need it, he will help. So if you don't have money, he will give it to you. If you have extra money, he will take it away. Therefore, you need to think not about what is around you, but about what is inside you.
All this may seem like an abstract idea, but in fact it is purely practical observations. For example, there is such a pattern: if a certain amount of money was stolen from you in one place, then in another they will give you the same amount, even in parts. In 2002 (on a trip to Turkey) this is what happened to me: they stole $23, then at different times they gave me $25. In 2003 (a trip to China) I lost $40, and then in China they gave me about 45 of them.
____ This is the difference between our philosophy and classical philosophy - for us it is an exact science.
HITCHHIKING AS A SCIENCE. Some people go just like that - to lie on the seashore, eat grapes and return home. They are little different from those tourists who sit in Antalya for weeks and then don’t know how much bread costs in Turkey. Gentlemen! Know how to look and see. Otherwise, why are you going somewhere at all?
Smart people don't just drive, but collect information along the way and disseminate it whenever possible. This is how information was collected about methods of obtaining visas from certain countries, methods of entering certain countries, behavior in these countries, and so on. This is already science, and it has made some discoveries and identified some trends and patterns. Over the past 10 years, hitchhiking science has dispelled some myths: that hitchhiking may sometimes not exist, or that there are places where it does not exist, and many others.
HITCHHIKING AS A WORLD PERCEPTION.(Addition to philosophy) Human existence is a process of solving successively emerging problems. It's tiring, but it's inevitable. Ultimately, the person begins to believe that problems always exist. But this is not entirely true. When you move through the world in the way described here, problems remain only in your mind. It is important to understand that they do not exist. There are only events. If something is stolen from you or taken somewhere, this is only an event. Famous wisdom: “If you don’t care where you are, then you’re not lost.”
In moments of nervous tension, it is common for a person to think about what will happen if something suddenly happens - money runs out, documents are stolen, the necessary ship is not available, etc. You need to get rid of such thoughts in yourself. Nothing happens "suddenly". There are no troubles, only the disappearance of one of the alternatives.
This point is much more significant than some people think. 80% of success is your nerves. There were cases when people, having foreseen everything, turned away halfway due to loss of spirit. The WUA showed some wisdom in organizing self-propelled hikes. Not everyone understands why you need to stomp 50 kilometers on asphalt. But for this very thing.
SPORTS HITCHHIKING. It often takes the form of races. This means who can get to Tosno and back faster. For some reason racing has taken root especially in St. Petersburg. I apologize for the irony, I'm just not a fan. I was always more concerned about the final goal - for example, getting to the Pacific Ocean or the Persian Gulf. I generally don’t like driving fast and far. That is, driving 500 kilometers in one car is not interesting to me. I'll even try to go somewhere in the middle if the weather permits. In general, I think driving fast is like singing loudly. Of course, there must be a voice... It would be nice to have a strong one... But this is not an end in itself.
There has long been a tendency towards stratification among the traveling public: some gravitate towards scientific hitchhiking, others towards sports. That is, some identify progressive methods of catching cars, choosing a position, equipment, etc., others are more focused on studying countries and regions - getting there and surviving there. But how to drive and on something is no longer so important.
CLASSIFICATION. You can ride in different ways. I usually classify all trips into four categories. Roughly like this:
1) Walks : usually on a weekly scale. For example, to Moscow, Kazan, Kyiv, Helsinki, Minsk, Volgograd. (3000-4000 kilometers.)
2) Trips : within a month. For example, to the Crimea, the Caucasus, the Carpathians, Romania, Turkey, Poland, Sweden, Transcaucasia, Altai. (6000-10000 kilometers)
3) Expeditions : from a month to six months. For example, to Vladivostok, Sakhalin, Spain, Jordan, Iran, China. (from 15,000 kilometers.)
4) Great Expeditions : there are not many of them. These include the AVP's trip to India (1998) and Africa (2000), Kubatyan's to Australia (2002) and some others.
Around the world trips stand out separately; there have been two of them so far, the third in the project. (If we consider a thieves' hitchhiking trip around the world - for it is conventionally called such.) Here, of course, cynics will smile condescendingly at such a classification, but it is not cynics who drive science, I assure you.
WESTERNS AND ORIENTALS: There is such a division among people who travel, and it’s surprisingly clear. Some people like Western civilization, others don't like it. For example, the Moscow Hitchhiking School specializes in Europe, the Academy of Free Travel - in Asia. But private individuals are usually divided into these two categories. One Westerner was delighted with Hungary because “there was a Renaissance” there. For some reason this Renaissance became for him the main criterion for assessing the country. He also visited Turkey, but he did not like it. Probably because there was no Renaissance there.
Hence an important corollary: before going to the West or the East, figure out whether you are a Westerner or an Easterner. Otherwise you will be bored in Tehran without a strip bar or in Dublin without a teahouse.
DEVELOPMENT TRENDS. Nowadays there are arguments in the spirit of Fukuyama - the development of hitchhiking is coming to an end. And the world has been studied, and the theory has developed. But the world is not developing in a straight line. Another three years will pass and a lot will change. Some countries will open, others will close. New states will appear, and some will disappear. The hydraulic stop will change somehow. A tunnel will be built from Russia to Japan. The Bering Strait will dry up eventually.
But even now there are still many unresolved questions. I haven't really visited Iraq. Burma. Japan. Indonesia has been poorly studied. China is almost not described. No one ever made it to Iceland. Africa and South America are still waiting for their Homer. Fiji and the Solomon Islands are still white spots.
Finally, works on the theory have not yet been translated into many languages. When hitchhiking clubs start up in China, Iran, India, Somalia, Bolivia, Vietnam and Trinidad and Tobago, then we can talk about development problems. But it should be noted that for some reason the science of geography has not yet been abolished, although there is really nothing left to study.
That is, hitchhiking as a phenomenon will remain. It’s more difficult with traveling in general. Their essence is rapidly changing and the prospects for these changes are pessimistic.
This side of the question was once voiced by Krotov. “We are the last generation of travelers,” he once said. And I'm afraid I was right. The world - as we knew it - is dying. For the first time in human history, national cultures are being replaced by transnational designers. McDonald's is replacing teahouses. Oriental bazaars are being bulldozed to make way for Metro supermarkets. The Internet and Snickers are penetrating the remote areas of the Sahara. Russia is little affected by this process, so we have little idea of its scale. The world is rapidly unifying. He only has 10-15 years left to live. Unless something unexpected happens.
This idea was put on the main page of the website of the Academy of Free Travels, which caused and continues to cause a lot of controversy. Moreover, supporters of the indestructibility of the world are usually those who travel short distances, and supporters of the destruction of the world are those who travel further and observe the process live. That is, this is most often a dispute between theorists and practitioners.