Talk:Norway
Ok, as said on the main page, "Norway is a good country to hitch in", but not easy to hitch in. My experience there was not as easy as what I read in other feedbacks.
I hitchhiked From Oslo to Langoya (Narvik), in March 2010. I gave up to make it further, because it hasn't been that much fun to hitch in this country ...
First, I would point the fact that Norwegian people are not that much tourist-friendly, as some other "rich" countries. I know what I'm talking about, I'm from France. Even if the whole population do understand/speak English, a lot of drivers were distant, even sometimes rude with me. I had the same experience hitchhiking in Florida. Having your best smile and starting to ask a question to somebody who avoid your presence/voice/eye contact, is definitely not the funniest experience. A lot of Norwegians people didn't want me to talk to them and rushed to their car before I even finished to said what I was looking for.
I heard a lot about this famous highway E6, going all the away up North, like a dream road for hitchhikers. It's mostly a bad 2 lanes mountain road, dotted of wealthy villages that you absolutely need to avoid if you don't want to spend your day counting the huge amount of BMW and Mercedes driving toward you and frowning at your sign. Worst of all: Grong, 1day 1/2 to get a ride ... for 7km. Even if people living there (note that I do not say 'Norwegians'. See below) are used to drive on those icy roads, it takes some time to cross some portions of the road. If be any luck your stuck in a light snow storm, I hope you enjoy the company of you driver, which is actually most likely because of the point that I absolutely want to talk about now:
95% of people who offered me a ride were FOREIGNERS I type it big enough because this fact just made me feel like this beautiful country of Norway is absolutely not hitchhikers-friendly. Germany, Polona, Sudan, Colombia, Latvia, Belgium, Afghanistan, and I'm sure I forgot some others. Hitchhike Norway and you will travel the world. First, I've been really surprised to see that most (all) of the people offering me a ride where actually not from Norway. But it finally make sens when you figure out that you're not truly welcome in this country, as most of the foreigners-workers I met there, as native Samis as well.
Anyway, I don't want to talk about that at all, but I want to point the fact that hitchhiking in Norway is not as easy as it's said. Or maybe I am the only one how had such a bad experience there? I open the discussion, so please let's share your own experience!
I did hitchhike in Asia, Caribbean, North America and Europe. So far I would say that Norway is the worst place I hitchhiked, just after Florida. My advice: go there with a Norwegian flag tattooed on your forehead, that might do the job.
