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pasdellacle
There are some essential things you should remember when you are going hitchhiking. [[Hitchwiki]] suggests you keep these in mind when starting your career as an enthusiastic thumber:
* The ''Shell Euroatlas'' is good for [[Europe]], however, it's difficult to find.
* The ''Falk LänderkarteLänderkarte'' series (in German, but can be understood by everyone) is brilliant for individual European countries, with a useful, clever and compact fold-out page system. It is easy to find but only inside of [[Germany]] and neighbouring countries.
* The maps by ''Marco Polo'' are excellent for Europe. The 1:800,000 ratio version is the best (the name of this map changes in different countries). It is printed in [[Germany]] but is available across the continent.
* In Scandinavia (especially Finland) - the ''Esso'' country maps are great, and free from any Esso petrol station in [[Finland]]
Although this may seem to be a small matter, types and colour of clothing are very important. Try to wear light, even bright and colorful clothes, and have your non-thumbing hand visible since light coloured clothes inspire more trust than darker clothes. Also, if the weather permits it, try to keep your forearms visible. If people can see your hands and arms, they'll be less likely to see you as a threat, or as someone trying to conceal something. A fun and colorful clothes/hat is a great way to inspire people to pick you up!
If you can, don’t donât wear your old clothes or clothes that might frighten a driver (such as a T-shirt with a skull). Conservative people only take well shaved guys with proper clothes. Liberal-minded people always take you, but even conservative (or old) people can be very helpful on your trip.
Avoid wearing black. Even having a smart black shirt could keep you stuck in one place for a long time. Some have found that caps and black or blue woolly hats are awful too. If the weather permits, wear light coloured shorts and a bright colourful t-shirt or a smart short sleeved shirt. Although you may have no choice on whether you have luggage, some hold that hitching without luggage is quicker as the driver knows you're not concealing anything. But some drivers think that carrying a backpack makes you more of a traveler and will only pick up people with backpacks (e.g. [[User:Guaka|Guaka]] and [[amylin]] experienced this in [[New Zealand]]).
Remember the sign has to be read from a distance. At 100km/hr, a vehicle is covering approx 30 metres/second. The average reaction time when driving is 1.5 to 2.5 seconds, so 45 to 75 metres has gone before they start to stop. If you want them to stop, then you not only have to place yourself in the rignt location so they can see that you are a traveller and not just cagging a lift (this is what the sign does), you also have to have a sign that is readable. The more space between each letter the better to be read from a distance. (This is called Kernel, eg see road signs specifications.)
If space dosen´t dosen´t permit a long city name shorten it to something everyone will understand. For example [[Amsterdam]] could be A'DAM and [[Hamburg]] could be HH.
Signs don't just have to list a place - Much success can be had (in the proper setting) with more off-the-wall signs like "We're Awesome!", "Free Cookies!", "Runaway Bride", etc.
