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'''Sweden''' is a member state of the [[European Union]] as well as the [[Schengen Agreement]]. Many say that hitching in Sweden sucks. But it can work very well! Moreover almost everyone speaks English which will increase your chances of learning from the meetings along the way. As anywhere in Western [[Europe]], the motorways are the holy temples of car driving religion and someone standing on them is committing blasphemy. But you can hitch on the motorway ramps as well as on local roads. Better bring a good map, though, so that you won't end up in an unexpected place. If you travel along the biggest motorway, E4, you will make faster time, but not see that much of Sweden's beautiful landscapes. If your primary aim is to explore the country, you should stay away from E4. Especially in northern Sweden there are only a few main roads, which means that you might have a shorter time waiting and longer lifts. Be careful to stand somewhere where there is some sign of civilization. As especially in the north the roads are no real motorways and accessible for pedestrians, you can stop all the traffic, especially if you stand on something like a bus stop. When on large motorways you have to take care a little on which petrol station you end up on, as there are too many of them, with sometimes only little traffic on each of them, and as most of the petrol stations are one or two kilometers away from the motorway. [[UserYou can find a map of some of the bigger service stations (Rasta) online: http:Perilisk|Anick-Marie]] had no chance at all hitching rides on Öland in May 2005//www.rasta. [[User:EggDestroyer|Aurélien]] hadn't either from Copehnagen to Stockholm in August 2011nu/english. On the other handhtmFurthermore, [[User:Somewhatofftheway|Ben]] had good experiences in 2010, going most some of the way across service stations are only built on one side of the country up lane, and drivers tend to Finlandremain on "their" side. In If you do have the summer choice, you should therefore try and avoid crossing over to the other side, as only around 1/4 of 2011 Harry Tattersall Smith and Viljami Laurmaa had an incredible time hitchhiking through the north drivers there will continue in your direction.Trafikverket distributes a map of service stations (rastplatser) in Sweden. Any memories of The map shows where the delays have all service stations are and what services are offered (usually toilets but been eclipsed by sometimes food, petrol or playgrounds as well. The more services offered, the fantastic charcaters and experiences we had along busier the wayservice station is). Their adventures have been documented You can download it [http://glasgowguardianwww.cotrafikverket.uk/culture/lifestyle/hitchhiking-through-scandanaviase/ rastplatser here] In October 2013 six students at Uppsala University had or get a hitch-hiking race to Oslo paper copy from Uppsala. Splitting into three teams of two, two of the teams had a really straight forward journey arriving into Oslo after seven hours and three lifts along the E18tourist information centres. The final team took two days, staying overnight half-way thanks to the kindness of a local, but nonetheless they made it!

== Landscapes Landscape ==

 * [[Dalarna]]* [[Härjedalen]]* [[Lappland]] == Crossing the border ==Sweden is in the [[Schengen Agreement|Schengen treaty]]. This treaty is rather well respected at the Finnish and Norwegian borders but has stricter regulations at the terminals where ferries from [[Denmark]] port, or at the bridge uniting [[Copenhagen]] with [[Malmö]]. Stricter control and special attention is usually applied to those who look like "being of another race". If you are unlucky, you might be made to strip during their search. Keep in mind, though, that the personality check is not applied to everyone but only to some at random order so you have more chances to quickly cross the border than get stuck explaining to the officials that you are neither a paperless immigrant nor a smuggler.

== Camping == In Sweden, the wonderful Allemansrätt has existed for many centuries only as a customary law, but since 1994 it is part of the Swedish constitution. As in other Nordic countries, the Swedish right to roam comes with an equal emphasis being placed upon the responsibility to look after the countryside; the maxim is "'''Do not disturb, do not destroy'''".  The Allemansrätt gives a person the right to access, walk, cycle, ride, ski, and camp on any land - with the exception of private gardens, the immediate vicinity of a dwelling house and land under cultivation, and with restrictions for nature reserves and other protected areas. This means that you could put up a tent for free almost anywhere as long as it doesn't disturb anybody. Make sure to '''not leave any garbage''' in the nature – we should really take the responsibility for those future generations will have the same democratic right to the nature as we have, and of course have any nature at all.. Very welcome to enjoy the Swedish nature! == Useful things info == You have good chances of finding quite nice '''food''' in the dumpsters of petrol stations along the smaller roads (the E4 is ''not'' a good bet for this). Supermarkets are hard to dumpsterdive in Sweden.

'''Internet''' you can normally get at the public or university libraries for free. Sometimes you have to ask for a guest account. There's a quite useful '''[[maps|map]]''' ("vägkarta") which you can get at ''OKQ8'' petrol stations for 15 swedish crowns. It's for whole Sweden and has all ''OKQ8'' petrol stations on it, which can be quite handy when hitchhiking and looking for a good place to be dropped off. [http://publikationswebbutik.vv.se/shopping/ShowItem____4483.aspx Here's another map] that you can apparently order for free. {Link is dead - can someone who knows what this was renew/correct it?}At ''Statoil'' gas stations you get a free map with statoil gas stations. The OKQ8 one might actually also be free now?

* [http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5889849780facebookgroup] - facebookgroup for for Swedish hitchhikers* [http://www.okq8.se/Pa-stationen/Bensinstationer map with the petrol stations of Q8/OK]* [https://www.trafikverket.se/trafikinformation/vag/ trafikverket.se] - online map with up to date information on accidents, closed roads and road works == Personal Experiences == Pls add info == Nomadwiki & Trashwiki == {{nomadwiki}}