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'''Petrol station [[hitchhiking]]''', as well as hitchhiking on [[service station]]s in general, is a great way to travel for free in countries where hitchhiking on highways is forbidden. It generally works best if the number of petrol stations on a highway is around 1-2 per 100-150 km ''(?)''. On most gas petrol stations you can easily find cars going your direction, although you have to be aware of highway splits, too.
[[Germany]] is especially good for this. In [[France]] it works slightly worse (even though still good enough) because of the higher number of gas petrol stations per given distance, thus relatively less cars per gas petrol station.
[[Image:Autohof.png|thumb|200px|right|In general, avoid so called ''Autohof''s when in [[Germany]] - these are truck stops located further from highways, and you can lose quite some time while waiting for a ride there.]]
When in Germany, it is generally recommended to avoid the so called ''Autohofs'' which usually are not great for hitching a ride mostly because they are not located directly on highways and it is hard to get a ride from there in exact direction of where you are heading to.
Sometimes it can be useful to get in touch with people who work on a gas petrol station. Asking drivers directly instead of waiting for the car at the area's exit is a good way to catch a ride. It is recommended that female-hitchhikers first ask the male driver(s) where he (they) is (are) going to, instead of revealing one's own destination in a question to the driver, so that during the conversation it would become clear if it is safe or not to go with that driver, and if it feels risky, one can pretend not going the same direction.
[[Image:Masaru.jpg|thumb|left|Masaru hitchhiking at a gas petrol station]]
Starting a conversation will give drivers more chances to look at you as a person. It is less likely then that their answer will be negative if the direction of yours and the driver's destinations matches.
In [[Italy]] you have to be careful: it is illegal to hitchhike on so called ''autostrada'', although it is a bit unclear if it is illegal to do that on ''autostrada'' gas petrol stations as well.
[[Category:Practical info]]
