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== Food and drink ==Drinking tap water is safe all over the country. You can usually get inexpensive but good food at Italian and Turkish takeaways, On the latter ones have ''Döner'' or ''Kebap'' written on them. Typical German fast food shops are marked with ''Imbiss'' signs and sell cheap sausages and French fries. Keep in mind that most shops including some supermarkets close at 20website:00 and on Sundays, although many supermarkets might be open until 22:00 during weekdayswww. Petrol stations, 24autobahnatlas-h shops and kiosks have a very limited food choice and are more expensiveonline. As a free alternative you can try dumpster diving. More information on this can be found in the [http://trashwiki.org/en/Germany trashwiki article on Germany]. In nearly every town there are alternative centres where people cook for everybody. The price for a warm dish is between zero and 2 Euro. Have a look at the [http://deu.anarchopedia.org/VoK%C3%BC list here]. (German) === Eating on the Autobahn ===Try to avoid eating on autobahn [[rest area|service stations]] if you want to save money and if have a good taste of food. These restaurants are notoriously expensive and the food quality is quite low. If you're lucky de you can find thrown away [http://hitchwiki.org/en/Image:Sanifair_voucher.jpg Sanifair vouchers] detailed listings of the toilet system. You get a cumulative 0.50 euro rebate for them in the shop. == Getting Clothes ==In Germany there are shops where you can bring unused clothes in a good state and/or take new clothes home. It does not cost anything. A list all Autobahnen, with all drive-ups, interchanges, all types of these shops is available [http://www.umsonstladen.de/ here]. (German) == Hygiene ==Most toilets on the service stations are maintained by [[Sanifair]] rest stops, tunnels, and are clean. You get a 0.50 euro coupon as part of the 0bridges along their ways, with exact kilometer allegations.70 euro service fee, which you can redeem This comes along handy when buying things at the petrol hopping from station shop or in the restaurant. [[User:Pathofdhamma|Pathofdhamma]] suggest to seize the moment and jump the barrier if there are no people or cameras around. The turnstyle is only blocked for the inwards directionstation. With some luck and smooth moves, you can sneak in. Turn it towards you, walk one step; turn it again, walk another step: you are in!
There are showers in most ''Raststätte'' and ''Autohof'' service stations on and near the autobahn. Prices are between 2 euro and 5 euro. == Telephone and Internet == === Telephone === {| style = "float:right" | [[File:Station multimedia Allemagne 2006.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Public surf terminal with telephone]]|}{| style = "float:right" | [[File:TelefonzelleFrankfurt060422.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Different kinds of phone booths]]|}Phone booths that accept coins are still available all over Germany. The older ones are yellow, the newer ones are mostly glass and display On a pink T. They are more expensive than using a prepaid card for your cell phone. A nice feature is that you can send SMS, faxes and e-mails even longer journey with the oldest types. Input is a bit cumbersome, however. A cheaper option is to buy a German prepaid SIM card. They are readily available from mobile shops like ''e-plus'', ''Vodafone'' and ''T-mobile''. A lot of supermarket chains like ''Aldi'', ''Netto'' and ''Lidl'' also have their own brands that use the network of the bigger providers. Check beforehand how to register the SIM card. Sometimes the seller wants to see an ID. If you prefer not to give out your real data you might for example buy a SIM card at ''Aldi'', which you can register via Internet with fake data. If you want to make calls abroad there are some stores offering international phone booths in bigger cities. They are usually located in migration areas and often include an internet café. === Internet === ==== Without laptop or smartphone ==== There are still some Internet cafés in the bigger cities. Rates are around 2 euro per hour. In most cities you will find pay per use surf terminals like in the image to the right. They offer internet and telephone services. ==== By laptop or smartphone ==== There are almost no unsecured Wifi access points in Germany because people might be made responsible for illegal actions done through their internet access. Most German prepaid cards also have a data option if you own a smartphone or a surfstick for your laptopseveral route options, which also can be bought for about 30 euro. It's often better to buy a single day flatrate for two to five euros instead of using the data tariff. Details depend on your provider. Some ''Burger King'' restaurants offer free Wifi without any registration. At ''McDonalds'' you get free Wifi for one hour per day without consuming anything. Sometimes the restaurants are located on service stations, you can look them up [httphttps://www.mcdonaldsdiercke.de/metanavigationcontent/mcfinder/mcfinder.cfm heredeutschland-stra%C3%9Fenverkehr-978-3-14-100800-5-64-1-1 this map]. Enter a location in showing the search mask and make sure to check traffic volume of the option ''WLAN'', the German abbreviation for Wifi. Once there, connect, type in any address and different highways might help you will be asked for a valid German mobile number, through deciding which you will receive your access code. Take care: in both cases the connection is not encrypted so anything you send in clear text, e.g. when using a browser or e-mail tool without SSL, can could be easily recorded by others nearbyfaster due to more traffic.
[[wikipedia:Germany]]
[[trash:Germany]]
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|pop = 82,314,900
|currency = Euro (€)
|hitch = <rating country='de' /good>
|BW = DE
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'''Germany''' is a member state of the [[European Union]] as well as the [[Schengen Agreement]]. It is a great country for [[hitchhiking]], both on motorways (via [[on-ramp]]s, [[rest area|service stations]], more seldom - parking lots) and local roads. Germans are a little bit suspicious, but nice if you get to know them. Thumbing makes it easier for them to say "no", because they do not even have to look at you. Those who will stop are often people who hitchhiked themselves when they were younger. Many of them have families, jobs and fast cars now.
Because of the absence of speed limits on many motorways it's a good country to hitchhike long distances in short time.
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== Road types ==
To hitchhike efficiently in Germany it is good to know the three different kinds of roads between cities and towns. By descending speed these are:
* motorways or expressways called ''Autobahn'' with no general speed limit(there can still be signs with speed limits)
* federal roads called ''Bundesstraße''
* country roads called ''Landstraße''
==== Getting onto the autobahn ====
[[File:Zeichen 330.svg|thumb|right|100px|The on-ramp sign of an autobahn]]
==== Service stations and rest areas ====
You have various possibilities for being dropped off along the autobahn to look for your next ride. As petrol station hitchhiking is faster, try to avoid being dropped at on-ramps where you have to thumb. On the autobahn, it is preferable to be dropped off at a service station instead of a rest area as rest areas have much less cars stopping.
Their general speed limit is 100 km/h and they usually have no emergency lane so they are difficult to thumb. To get a ride either try petrol stations or choose a place where have a lot of space to see you and stop or where they are going slower, e.g. town exits. Police might consider it illegal to thumb in sites where cars cannot stop without putting the traffic in danger.
[[File:Zeichen 331.1 - Kraftfahrstraße, StVO 2013.svg|thumb|right|150px|A fraffic sign indicating the beginning of a ''Kraftfahrstraße'']]To make it more complicated some of the ''Bundesstraßen'' are a so called ''Kraftfahrstraße''. For them most of the ''Autobahn''-rules apply (e.g. no pedestrians and bikes allowed). You can recognise a ''Kraftfahrstraße'' by the sign of a white car in front of a blue backround.
=== Smaller federal ''Landstraße'' roads ===
== Legal stuff ==
Hitchhiking in general is legal in Germany. It is only forbidden to hitchhike on the Autobahn itself, meaning you standing on the autobahn or its emergency lane. It is also forbidden to walk on a ''Kraftfahrstraße''. You are perfectly fine stopping at service stations and asking the people but keep in mind that service stations are private property / leases. It occasionally happened that owners try to get rid of hichthikers at "their" service station. If that happens, just move to the parking space and hitchhike there.
If you want to start hitching at the on-ramps, make sure you stand before the rectangular blue sign indicating the start of the autobahn.
Just like other people, police may or may not be friendly towards hitchhikers. It is said that police controls are more frequent in the southern states of [[Bavaria]] and [[Baden-Württemberg]]. As a foreigner you have to carry your passport at all times; a national ID card is sufficient if you are from another EU country. If you are being checked, be friendly, show it to them and they will leave you alone.
=== Crossing the border Car registration/number plates ===Germany has signed the [[Schengen Agreement]] which means that borders with other Schengen countries You can determine where a car is registered by its number plates. While tehre are opencertain plates on rented cars. Since 2009(Europcar has „HH“ (Hamburg), all neighbouring countries are Schengen members as wellAvis – „EU“ (Euskirchen), Sixt – „M“ (Munich), Hertz „DN-H“ (Düren)), so there other plates are no fixed border controls anymoreassociated with areas [https://de.wikipedia. At timesorg/wiki/Liste_der_Kfz-Kennzeichen_in_Deutschland - DE], there are mobile checks by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Germany EN]. The first letter is usually the police or customs, especially in border regions or on the autobahndistrict where it is registered. At the Swiss borderIn addition, there are still custom controlsis a little patch beside the number which tells you what state that number plate belongs to, but that will probably only affect you which is useful if you are on a truckdo not know the district letters.
== License plates ==
There are between one and three letters on a license plate which show the city or region where the car is registered. For example, look for license plates starting with '''B''' if you're hitching to [[Berlin]]. Have a look at the articles on Wikipedia for more information: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_car_number_plates German car number plates] (in English) and [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Kfz-Kennzeichen_in_Deutschland Liste der Kfz-Kennzeichen in Deutschland] (in German).
Note that it is no longer required to change plates if you move, so a HH (Hamburg) car may very well belong to someone living in München (M). At the moment this is not yet a big problem, but in due course it may lead to the situation that license plates become as useless as those in many other countries for determining the direction a car might be going...
== Maps ==
For more information look here: [http://www.tank.rast.de/standorte/servicenetz/index.php tank.rast.de]. For a good map to print out and bring with you that has all the service stations on it have a look here: [http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/684/rastekarte.jpg/ Rastekarte]. This is the same one you will find at the service stations as big overview maps, more often than not those can be nicked very easily as well.
== Language ==
When asking your drivers for help it pays off to know that the German word ''Straße'' for street contains the weird letter ''ß'' which looks a bit like a B. If you pronounce it like an ''s'' Germans will understand you. Contrary to popular belief the diacritics on Ä, ä, Ö, ö, Ü and ü are not metal umlauts and thus they do affect pronunciation. If in doubt try to pronounce the word as if the diacritics didn't exist. For instance, if you pronounce the city ''Würzburg'' as ''Wurzburg'' you will probably be understood.
== Other possibilities of transportation Useful links =={{nomadwiki}}Other cheap possibilities include [[carpooling]] and special offers of the German railways [[Deutsche Bahn]]. === Carpooling ===* [httphttps://www.mitfahrgelegenheitwarmroads.de mitfahrgelegenheit.de] and [http://www.mitfahrzentrale.de mitfahrzentrale.de] are popular commercial websites for carpooling. However, since they started charging a certain percentage for each ride they mediate, there are new pages starting to be used more and more. Some of them are: bessermitfahren.de; blablacar.de. === Railways ===The country has an expensive railway network. As an alternative to the standard fare, you may also check offers and sales, for example regional or seasonal tickets. [http://www.bahn.com/i/view/DEU/en/priceshitchhiking-in-17-germany/index.shtmlComprehensive guide about hitchhiking in Germany] See also by [[Deutsche BahnUser:Korn|Korn]]on https://warmroads. == Practical links ==de
* [http://deu.anarchopedia.org/index.php/Deutschland:Trampstellen Hitchhiking spots in Germany], in German, on a GFDL wiki
* [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Autobahn_1-999.png Overview of autobahns in Germany]
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