Are you a backpacker who has hitchhiked America's highways?
Posted on: Thu, 2007-03-15 04:13
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Are you a backpacker who has hitchhiked America's highways?
Are you a backpacker who has hitchhiked America's highways?
How common is it for travellers (specifically, backpackers) to hitchhike along America's highways?
I am a backpacker. I'm planning a land-based tour of the East Coast. I'm in Miami beach right now. I'd like to work my way up Florida, through coastal routes in Georgia, the Carolinas, Virgina, Washington D.C, and up to the big cities of the Northeast (including smaller, remote places in Maine and Connineticut).
My question is can this be done by hitchhiking alone? I ask because I don't have a lot of money to spend on Greyhound or Amtrak, unless I have to. If there are routes that hitchhikers use along the East Coast, I'd like to use them too.
Thanks
p.s.
If you'd like to recommend a town, region or national park along this route, please do so here. I will research it, and If I like it, I will add as one of my stops. Of course, the route is Miami, up through Florida, Georgia, the Carolina's, Virgina's, and the coastal Northeast (including New England).
Do Americans pick up backpackers by the side of the highway (with backpack n all). I know of the dangers, but I'm a dangerous person, so it's a risk I'm willing to take. I just want to know if it's doable?
I wouldn't do a trip like this. I can't imagine why a bus ticket would be too expensive but I wouldn't want to be dropped off in some places.
Imagine you alone at night in some town. You are clearly recognizable as a travler (backpack). Who would miss you right away? A perfect victim for robbery or worse. Somehow this brings back memories of this Police Chase I witnessed in Baltimore.
I found Washington DC to be very beautiful. Don't miss it, but I am pretty sure its on your route already. Also once you made it to Maine, you might want to see Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower (if you are into history).
Either way, I found people in the east not to be amongst the most friendly, but then again I only visited once. I wouldn't travel this distance by hitchhiking though.
Andre
USA East Photos
I have been backpacking around the world for many years, and it has been a long time since I met anyone who had successfully hitchhiked anywhere. Even in New Zealand, where it used to be common, hitchhiking is rare.
The main issue is safety. Not only do you have to worry about the person offering a ride, the driver has to worry about you. Most countries have had well-publicized horror stories of innocent looking young backpackers murdering the people who offered them rides. So no one stops any more. Since the advent of cell phones, people are not even likely to stop for a broken down car or a minor accident. They just call it in to the police.
I do a road trip in the US every year, driving from Florida to Massachusetts. I also did a cross-country trip a few years ago. I don't remember seeing a single hitchhiker.
The less people try to get rides, the more likely those offering them are likely to think something odd is up. If nothing else, they may take you for a prostitute, male or female.
Oh, and hitching is illegal in lots of places. It is definitely illegal on the interstate highways and on or near exit and entrance ramps.