User:Fverhart

Cześć wam

Hi there. My name is Frank and I live in the Netherlands.

Why

Hitchhiking is my favourite way of travelling, which I practice when I have time: during weekends and in holidays. It is a very interesting way to be in touch with people and also a more environmentally aware and economic way of travelling fast than going in your own vehicle or by public transport. Anyway as far as travelling is concerned I also enjoy to move myself on foot, on bike, on ice-skate, by public transport and only occasionally in a Citroen AX.

It can take a while before you know how to hitchhike fast and efficient and also experienced hitchhikers sometimes need patience. In my own country I rarely need more than twenty minutes to find a driver when I am in a good or reasonable hitchhiking environment. I started hitchhiking actively in spring 2003. Before that I hitchhiked on occasion, for example to go back to the starting point of a hiking trip or to get back to a camping. The first experience was in the summer of 1993, when my father in a moment decided to hitchhike with me when we were walking in the French Alps. That way we managed to get up very high on the mountain. Otherwise we would not have succeeded in doing that.

Rides of over 250 kms

1. Wroclaw, Poland to Monchengladbach, Germany, january 2007, 882 km.

2. Jilhava, Czech Republic to Siegburg, Germany, september 2007, 797 km.

3. Swiecko, Poland to Lierop, Netherlands, january 2006, 700 km.

4. Blegny, Belgium to Berlin, Germany, may 2007, 680 km (2 ppl).

5. Pomellen, Germany to Reinhardshain, Germany, september 2006, 660 km.

6. Bocholtz, Netherlands to Konigs Wusterhausen, Germany, june 2006, 640 km.

7. Michendorf, Germany to Vaals, Netherlands, may 2007, 599 km.

8. Frechen, Germany to Berlin, Germany, may 2008, 596 km (2 ppl).

9. Berlin, Germany to Remscheid, Germany, may 2008, 563 km (3 ppl).

10. Frechen, Germany to Michendorf, Germany, november 2003, 540 km.

11. Dresden, Germany to Piotrkow Trybunalski, Poland, september 2005 , 480 km.

12. Berlin, Germany to Hamm, Germany, june 2006, 470 km (2 ppl).

11. Hengelo, Netherlands to Michendorf, Germany, december 2006, 465 km.

12. Swiecko, Poland to Auetal, Germany, august 2008, 396 km.

13. Trzciel, Poland to Warsaw, Poland, december 2006, 390 km.

14. Handarpe, Germany to Michendorf, Germany, september 2007, 387 km (2 ppl).

15. Eisenach, Germany to Zgorzelec, Poland, december 2007, 370 km.

16. Herford, Germany to Michendorf, Germany, august 2008, 332 km.

17. Wroclaw, Poland to Lubien, Poland, december 2007, 313 km.

18. Manssworth, Austria to Suben, Austria, january 2008, 291 km.

19. Auetal, Germany to Michendorf, Germany, december 2005, 290 km.

20. Reinhardshain, Germany to Aachen, Germany, september 2005, 280 km.

21. Wurzburg, Germany to Siegburg, Germany, january 2008, 278 km.

22. Maastricht, Netherlands to Staphorst, Netherlands, july 2005, 265 km.

Shortest rides

My shortest lifts include several short rides of one kilometre, which were sometimes very helpful.

Longest total distances

The longest distance I hitched in one day was 1125 kilometers, which took about 24 hours and two times I did almost thousand kilometres, which once took about 13 hours and the other time 15 hours. I made twenty trips longer than 250 kilometers. My longest ride in the Netherlands was 265 kilometers, which was part of a trip of about 350 kilometers from Maastricht to Groningen; this is about the biggest distance one can do in the “small country” the Netherlands.

My statistics and hitchhiking website for the Netherlands

Here is the website that I edit: Hitchhiking (ad-hoc-carpooling) in the Netherlands: [1]

I keep detailed lists and statistics of my travels. For an extract, take a look here: [2]. The page holds a list of all trips, a table with numbers of rides, average waits and average ride lengths per country and a list of the motorway service areas which I have used during hitchhiking.

Let’s build this community! See you on the road!

Top speeds

Austria 170 kmh january 2008

Belgium unknown

France unknown

Czech Republic unknown

Germany 230 kmh november 2003, 2nd 210 kmh september 2007, 3rd 205 kmh (130 mph) january 2008

Lithuania unknown

Luxembourg unknown

the Netherlands 180 kmh november 2007

Poland 180 kmh january 2007

Slovakia 170 kmh

Ukraine unknown

Planned trips

September 2008 trip to Slovenia / Croatia (Istria) and Poland / Czechy December 2008 trip to central Europe

Trivia

The first ride served to me by a driver with nons was one from Tatra's to Kezmarok (SK), january 2008.

On December 23, 2007 I left Maastricht for the 50th time from the official hitchhiking spot.