Would you hitch hike if you had to?

When I lived in Russia, hitch hiking was the way to go unless you wanted to walk (in our village, there was no transportation and we didn’t have a car)...it was societally accepted…here, after many years, I realize I’d never do it…don’t know why

Probably in an emergency. Depends where I was…if I saw a sign nearby for the Bates Hotel, then no way.

I’m a 5’1” DD cup girl. I don’t even want to think what would happen to me if I were to do that.

I would definitely do it. I’ve done it in the past, and picked some up as well. In fact, I will probably have to do it in the near future while hiking segments of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Have you seen what happens to hitch hikers in the movies?!

Are you serious? I wish it was legal. The amount of times I’ve been drunk, tired, and had to walk home in the freezing cold…

I used to, but not anymore!

We did it all the time in the 80’s

Yes.

To get to a friend or loved one in need? Yes.

It would have to be some sort of unique situation, and I would be afraid to take a ride from a man, but women probably would be afraid to stop for me. I have taken a couple of rides.

Once when I was in elementary school, I had missed my bus and started walking home, which was far. I was terrified. Son of Sam was in the news, I lived in NY at the time, and I was kind of crying as I was walking. Two men saw me as I passed by the tennis courts, they were playing tennis, and drove me home. I was terrified to go with them, and terrified to walk home. I don’t think I have ever told my mother how I got home that day now that I think about it. I was not allowed to walk alone and I was not allowed to go with strangers.

One other time my battery had died in my car and a guy drove me to Sears and helped me with my battery, I won’t bother you with the whole story. I felt it against my better judgement to get in the car with him, but he was enormously helpful.

I have never really stuck my thumb out for a ride though.

My dad did once, when he broke down on the way to work. He hitch hiked to work and left his car by the side of the road for the day. I remember being stunned that he did that.

Wow alot of you are braver than me I guess I’m just a scaredy cat :)

I slipped off the curb outside a 7–11 one night and fell on my face. I broke my glasses and ripped a good part of my face open. I was leaning over and blood was dripping out of my face.

I lady in a SUV pulled up and came over to me. She helped bandage me up and got super glue to fix my glasses. She offered to drive my home. So we got my bike in her SUV and she drove me home.

I still have a scar.

No, I wouldn’t. Scares the crap out of me in both directions. If you’re the driver, you don’t know if the hitchhiker is a weirdo and if you’re the hitchhiker, you don’t know if the driver is a weirdo. Ever since I heard of that story of the woman who hitchhiked in Tehama County, California and then got kidnapped by the driver and his wife and imprisoned in their house and turned into a sex slave for several years and then began to develop Stockholm syndrome (no, this wasn’t a horror movie, it was a true story), I’ve decided I will never hitchhike unless it’s a very dire emergency.

It seems like the only time people ever need to hitchhike is when they’re already in a desolate rural area like one in northern California where no one will you scream…

(I’m a horror writer, btw).

@JLeslie who is “Son of Sam”

If there was some kind of emergency and I literally had no other choice, I would do it. Otherwise, no, never.

Given the right circumstances I would definitely hitchhike if that was my only option. In general, I don’t think it’s the best idea for a solo woman to hitchhike, so I would rely heavily on my gut instinct on this one.

I have picked up hitchhikers before, but that was a long time ago when a friend and I were in MT headed to Yellowstone. We picked up 3 or 4 college students holding a “Yellowstone or bust” sign.

Nowadays, I would be very cautious in picking up a hitchhiker especially since I live in an area with several max security prisons, that is also known to have a high transient population.

@Sweetie26 a famous serial killer, here is the wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berkowitz there is a movie made about him also.

@JLeslie thanks i will check that out.
Holy crap he’s scary well no wonder why you couldnt walk alone after that.

Not by myself. And even then, it’d be utterly unsafe.

If I had to why wouldn’t I?

Been there done that, but not in the past 25 years or so. But if trapped in the middle of nowhere sure. What’s the worst that could happen?

I’ve done it before, and I’d do it again if the need arose. I also pick people up as long as I’m not already running late for something. (Apparently I have little to no sense of self-preservation.)

yes, i am all for hitch hiking. there is nothing wrong with it at all and i for one think it should be encouraged. just because you are ’‘in the creeps car’’ does not really put you in any more danger than say walking down the street or even just being at work. maniacs need to eat too, a lot of them work. do you really want to be on the night shift alone, with someone you dont really know.

the same goes for the internet. we are not all maniacs and psychos. as the saying goes… ’‘its just us’’ its nothing to be afraid of.

hitch hiking is a great way of meeting interesting people, helping people that need a hand, it helps reduce the environmental problems we have, and most importantly, it gets us in the habit of caring for one another and being more trusting and decent as a species and introduce different people with different views to one another. if someone is hitch hiking you can bet they have an interesting story to tell to be in that situation in the first place, so pick them up. and hey, if the guy in the car is a creep or something, you can always jam your thumb in his eye socket, pull on the hand brake or do something about it. im 6ft 6in tall and have experience in martial arts, and i would not like to have to try and drive a car while some young girl scratches at my face and kicks and punches and screams.

just think about it for a moment, if you was a loon and looking for a victim, would you get in a car (specially with todays gas prices) and go driving round with your fingers crossed that you will some how find a hitch hiker you can strangle. and maybe you dont want to strangle an old backpacking guy, maybe you like to strangle read headed girls that have a foreign accent, maybe you like to strangle blind people who knows, are you really going to hope you just bump in to one. you would probably actually just go out some night and look for some drunk person leaving a club that fits in with your particular madness.

and if something bad happens, it was just unlucky. it could have happened at any time any place to anyone.

i think with so many crazy people out there, there is no point in trying to second guess just what is going to happen to you in life.

EDIT: as for a matter of pride, i dont see anything wrong with it at all. ’‘human in need’’ is what that thumb means. i think it hurts the pride more to just drive past.

Sure. and it helps to have a girl =P

@poisonedantidote

The difference between hitchhiking, work, the internet, and walking down the street is that only one of those confines to a small moving space that you cannot easily get out of in case something dangerous did happen. Guess which one.

I like the idea of hitchhiking. I’ve done it outside of the US with positive results (in China, Burma, Mexico, Taiwan). Never tried it in the US. I think like many things in the US, it looks more dangerous than it really is.

i’d love to. i think it would be fun. well, it would kind of be a last resort type thing, but i wouldn’t mind. as long as i wasn’t alone. being a girl and young i think that could be ehhh. but still, i’d like to someday.

I say don’t attempt it without The Guide: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy

Yes most likely.