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'''Poland''' is a member state of the [[European Union]] as well as the [[Schengen Agreement]]. It is sometimes being regarded as a bad pretty good country for hitchhiking, but it can also be a great pleasure to hitchhike there. Most Many drivers generally believe that others do not stop and that hitchhiking days are over in '''Poland''', which however does not prevent hundreds of them from stopping. A positive factor Since 1958 till the beginning of 90's hitchhiking in '''Poland''' is that some 20 to 40 years ago it was the most common an official way of travel for the majority traveling organized by National Tourist Board, when hitchhikers had their ID with insurance included and drivers could win prizes every year. Thousands of young people were hitchhiking through all these years – and most of them have cars today, so very often do they repay the debt.

The Quite common way to [[hitchhike]] in Poland is to stand on the side of the road with your hand extended and/or thumb pointing upwards. Most Some hikers also wave their hands up and down, which is widely understood as ''"I only need a short ride"''. Unlike in [[Western Europe]], hitchhikers in Poland This way of hitchhiking is popular between villagers and high school students who look for a lift for a short distance. They very rarely do write their destination on a [[sign|sheet of paper]] or some piece of cardboard. Waving is usually enough to make a driver stop. In the past in some regions of Poland elderly people were also giving small tips to the drivers, which is usually uncommon nowadays. Travellers who look for a longer ride usually make a sign with a name of a city they go to or through. Some drivers prefer to take travellers and tourists. Because of that it is a good idea to place your backpack in front of you and make a sign which makes you look like a <i>professional hitchhiker</i>.

There are two main groups of hitchhikers in Poland[[Image:Krakow_to_ukraine. One is typical tourists (usually youngsters), and the other is the villagers, usually elderly people, who commute from their village to the nearest town or back. It is customary that the villagers leave some small tip to the driver (usually some 10% of the bus ticket price). However, tourists are not expected to pay anything for the ride, unlike JPG|left|thumb|250px|Hitchhiker in other countries like e.g. [[RomaniaKraków]]]]. There is also a category of drivers who never stop by the ''villagers'', but very often do accept tourists. Because of that it is a good idea to place your backpack in front of you and make a sign which makes you look like a professional hitchhiker.

When entering '''Poland''' at the border from [[LithuaniaCB radio]] (and possibly from other countries too) it is quite popular in Poland not only among truck drivers, which might help in getting a good idea to get a long long ride if it's getting dark. Often there are miles and miles of trucks and itIf you's better re lucky they can ask other drivers to try to get a ride straight to where take you're heading then further. You might even ask them gently to get stuck somewhere that, especially in the middle of the bad weather conditions or by night.If you are stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere and it Hitching by night is already possible in the middle of the night, prepare yourself for a long waitingtimePoland but not easy. On national roads try to find bright spot where drivers can see you. But after a couple of hours somebody will eventually stopUse bright clothes. Generally it's better to hitchhike on The best options are petrol stations where you can speak with the roads rather than in the filling stations, but after dark drivers while they fill up the latter option is more plausibletank.During hitchhiking it might be possible that drivers use === Borders ===As mentioned above Poland joined [[CB radio]]s to ask other drivers to take you. [[CB radioSchengen Agreement]] which means there is quite popular in '''Poland''' not only among truck driversno more passport control on the borders with Lithuania, Slovakia, which might help in getting a rideCzech Republic and Germany.Roads In most places there are often in a bad condition, though still speed limits on some parts of the motorway from [[Kraków]] to [[Berlin]] it's possible (although illegal) to drive at 200 km/hborders, there are also parking lots, toilets and currency exchange offices, which makes these places pretty good spots for hitchhiking. On new roads built however there are no speed limits anymore.

Even though the Polish road network has improved gigantically over the last two decades, by Western European standards, '''Poland''' has a poorly developed infrastructure of roads (''droga'', plural ''drogi'') and expressways motorways (''autostrada'', plural ''autostrady''). The vast majority of roads that form an extensive net covering all of the country are single lane. There are very few main expresswaysmotorways, and some express roads expressways with lower speed limits than motorways but with many of their features.However there is lots of investments at the moment as Poland will be hosting European Football Championship final tournament in 2012.Except for the few expresswaysmotorways, it is generally accepted to hitchhike on the side of the road in almost any suitable place. Unlike many European states, the police are generally friendly towards hitchhikers as long as they behave properly. Some of the newly-refurbished national roads have "no pedestrians" signs near major towns, but it's still uncommon. On motorways and expressways the best place to hike hitchhike is either an exit a sliproad or, preferably, one of the filling petrol stations.