Hitchhiking as a metaphor to self-development

Hi readers,
I would like to make my humble contribution to sustainable travelling, by sharing with you my experience from my hobbies of hitchhiking and hiking in nature.

I recorded this Idea on audio while eating blueberries in the forests of Dalsland Sweden in the middle of a 3-day hike which I walked alone. I reached there and back mostly by hitchhiking from a location 5 or 6 hours driving away on the east coast of southern Sweden. Since my arrival in Europe, I hitchhiked every year a few times. I used hitchhiking to reach Belgium, Prague, and back to Berlin from locations inside and outside of Germany.

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I believe that hitchhiking can bring you further in the realm of what is possible in society and expand your comfort zone. Hiking in nature will do the same just in a more physical manner.

Hitchhiking – What is it basically?

To summarize it in one sentence I would say: Hitchhiking is travelling between cities and trying not to spend any money on the journey by looking for nice people who will give you a lift.

My equipment includes usually a hitchhiking sign and a plan of possible routes using screenshots from a map application or information about cool hitchhiking locations from the website of HichWiki and the respective app. Needless to say, you want to take a bit of food and water for that too, though you are never away from society in the process. I usually take a tent, a matt and a sleeping bag, in case I will get stuck without a ride for a night somewhere.
I did take a pepper spray for safety one time but mostly managed to fuck myself up when it leaked a bit in my pocket, so seal it up somehow if you do take it.

What’s between hitchhiking and personal growth?

The comparison between hitchhiking and self-development is, of course, somewhat exaggerated as a one-to-one analogy, but pay attention to the following similarities when it comes to areas like Searching for a Flat/Job/life Partners and Lovers:

• There is a funny similarity between the two things in as far as trying something over and over again with the notion that you will inevitably fail more times than you succeed, but in the end, it will be worth it.
• Like in dating, finding a ride is easier for girls, but unfortunately much more dangerous 😦
• Most drivers will leave you by the side of the road and will keep you waiting. That ratio of failures to successes is higher than any area of your life, so taking those “failures” lightly should be your only attitude. For example, it took me some 5-10 Job interviews the get myself a job I like, but on some occasion waiting for a ride took several hours, which meant “rejection” by many hundreds of drivers.
  Most cars drivers are going to ignore you, some will give you a wave, a smile or a weirded-out look, but still not going to stop. Some assholes going to be teasing you by driving slowly or loudly accelerating or shouting some dull obscenities in your direction. Some other people might be nice and offer constructive criticism about where to stand or even give you food (when you hitchhike some people automatically assume you have no money). I always say that it’s not a good hitchhiking trip if you don´t regret it a couple of times along the way.
• Like in many of the struggles of life, hitchhiking is a massive exercise for your ability to remain positive. You can’t just stand there and look needy. Smiling, holding eye contact and even dancing a bit can certainly help. You need to hold the intrinsic believe that their ride with you, will be more valuable and interesting than the ride without you. And this believe you have to convey in your pasture, smile and general energy you project at the passing drivers.
• People generally take hitchhikers out of curiosity and in the hope to get a little bit fun out of it and to improve their otherwise dull and eventless ride.
• Luck is a decisive element in the process, much more than in any other walk of life.

Eventually, someone will take you according to most of my experiences and seemingly will restore your faith in humanity in an instant. Thus, your experience will have a very broad emotional range from near desperation while waiting, to bordering euphoria during the first minutes of a ride. If you lack a good dosage of gratitude, hitchhiking will provide you with the opportunity to feel plenty of it.
Even a short ride can help and lift your spirit. So in most cases, I prefer a short ride to no ride at all. This is, of course, wrong if you believe the next spot you will be dropped off is the worse shithole ever or a highly inconvenient place for drivers to stop.Thus, your experience will have a very broad emotional range from near desperation while waiting to the borders of euphoria during a ride. Eventually, someone will take you according to most of my experiences and seemingly will restore your faith in humanity in an instant. Thus, your experience will have very broad emotional range from near desparation while waiting to bordering uphoria during a ride. Even a short ride can help and lift your spirit. So in most cases, I prefer a short ride to no ride at all. This is, of course, wrong if you believe the next spot you will be dropped off is the worse shithole ever or a highly inconvenient place for drivers to stop.

Examples of some people I met in my last trip:

• A military survival trainer that still runs marathons at the age of 50
• An old truck driver that been everywhere a truck can go in Europe Asia and Africa
• A speeding maniac that drives twice faster than the legal speed

Generally I am not against using money for a bus or a train if you are stuck, and I did it a few times, but I probably wouldn’t be able to afford the trip in the first place if I only relied on paying to get around to all the places.

Another component you should have on your side is time. My rule of thumb is to see how long a certain ride takes on any given map application and take double that time as a hitchhiking-dedicated slot.

What about hiking?

The hiking part usually provides you with a physical challenge, an experience of being in the moment and in your body and relying only on yourself. That is without mentioning amazing views and experiences.
Now at this point, I certainly need to explain myself when it comes to hiking. Most people associate hiking with what I call day-trips in which you begin and end your day in a relatively civilized location with at least some form of running water and toilets. What I mean by hiking is walking for at least a couple of days and sleeping in a tent or a shelter, cooking your own meals and if you are lucky taking your showers in a lake.

I don´t specifically recommend hiking alone, but it has its own set of advantages and challenges. Though I´m not a doctor or a healing guru, being alone with your thoughts or even in a somewhat meditative state for a few days should be a good experience for your brain. Staying a night alone in the middle of nowhere is also an experience which I find highly challenging and yet it should be harmless in most cases in nature (unless your destination of hiking is infested with Zombies or with venomous creatures).

Final disclosure: Hitchhiking won’t do much to directly improve your survival skills in modern life, but it will provide you with some nice stories for you and for your future grandchildren.
If you don´t like outdoors or nature, or think hitchhiking is repulsive in a way, there is plenty other way´s to challenge yourself. Don´t force on yourself leaving in the jungle for a month just for the health benefit of it. Anyway if you don´t like nature you probably got no soul anyway, so go ahead and enjoy your exclusively urban existence :P.

For more practical tips on hitchhiking read articles like this (google is your friend):  http://www.artofmanliness.com/2012/06/04/travel-like-your-grandfather-how-to-hitchhike-around-the-usa/  
Or just ask me (I´m considering to write more tips) .
See you on the road,

Ilya