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Hitchhiker from the An [[UKEngland|English]], hitchhiker living on the in [[Isle of ManManchester]]. Wishes he could unicycle.
''Adventure #1I first hitchhiked in 2004 but started doing it often in 2006.Here are my recent trips:'' '''The Gent Escape''', August 2004
''Adventure #8<span style="color:red">'' '''Israel by thumbPlease check [[User:Tmoon/log|my log]] for an overview of all my adventures.''', January-February 2008</span>
Yes, some trips are plannedNone. But I donif you't have any planned right nowre around Manchester, let me know.Why not come to the '''[[Isle of Man]]''' and I'll race you around the [[TT course]]?
no edit summary
[[Image:Dhoonglen.jpg|thumb|right|300px|My favourite type of hitchhiking - narrow countryside roads. The [[Isle of Man]] is perfect for this.]]
==The stats==
''Adventure #268:'' '''Home to Home to HomeEscape from Svalbard''', June 20064km, March 2018
''Adventure #369:'' '''"Jedzie Pan do Wrocławia?" "Tak! :)"Back to the McCrorys''', June 20062km, April 2018
''Adventure #470:'' '''AWOL in EuropeEscaping the saddle''', July-September 2006201km, June 2018
''Adventure #571:'' '''Bummit to BelgradeFaroe Islands''', March-April 2007450km, June 2019
''Adventure #672:'' '''Final taste of freedom?Ska vi snacka Järva Discgolfpark''', August-September 20076km, July 2019
''Adventure #7:73'' '''The TT courseToo wet for Agneash''', January 200815km, September 2019
''Adventure #9Distance travelled:'' '''The shortest hitchhike ever?28666km''': 9855km alone, 13937km with one other hitchhiker, 4025km in a group of three, 831km in a group of four, 2km in a group of five, never in a group of six, and 16km in a group of seven; hitched road vehicles for 28075km (including 9km by bus, 39km by coach, 90km by taxi, <1km by golf cart, and one Eurotunnel journey), trains for 590km, trams for 1km, April 2008and not hitched by sea or air... yet
''Adventure #10Longest lift:'' '''Keeping it local589km''', May 2008from [[Povegliano Est]] ([[A22 (Italy)|A22]] services near [[Verona]], Italy), to [[Feucht]] ([[A9 (Germany)|A9]] services near [[Nürnberg]], Germany), in September 2009. The driver was going from [[Bologna]] to [[Szczecin]], and took four hitchhikers in a five-seater car at the same time
''Adventure #11Furthest distance in 24 hours:'' '''Home from the Berlin Beach Camp1042km''', May 2008from [[Rome]], Italy, to [[Lausanne]], Switzerland, in August 2006
''Adventure #Furthest distance in 12hours:'' '''TT festival1033km''', June 2008from [[Bisenzio Est]] ([[A1 (Italy)|A1]] services near [[Firenze]], Italy), to [[Frankfurt am Main]], Germany, in September 2009
''Adventure #13Countries hitchhiked (earliest first):'' '''To the Promised Land'''[[Belgium]], [[Germany]], [[Netherlands]], [[Poland]], [[Lithuania]], [[Latvia]], [[Estonia]], [[Sweden]], [[Denmark]], [[Switzerland]], [[Italy]], [[Austria]], [[United Kingdom]], [[France]], [[Czech Republic]], [[Slovakia]], [[Ireland]], [[Isle of Man]], [[Israel]], [[Monaco]], [[Slovenia]], [[Iceland]], [[Spain]], [[Andorra]], [[Portugal]], [[Norway]] ([[Svalbard]]), June 2008[[Faroe Islands]]
''Adventure #14Most useful lift:'' Gabor the Hungarian, who picked us up at [[Pforzheim Nord]] ([[A8 (Germany)|A8]] services near [[Pforzheim]], Germany) and didn't care where he was going - he wanted to be a personal taxi service. So we got him to take us to a mate''Around The Island In Eight Hours'''s house in [[Kelkheim]], 177km away. Although neither of us trusted him, and he tried to abduct my travelling partner, July 2008it was one hell of a useful lift
''Adventure #15Least useful lift:'' '''Home from Singapore'''the Slovakian white van man who took us to the wrong side of [[Bratislava]], on the wrong motorway and facing in the wrong direction, July 2008making us fail the Bummit to Belgrade challenge
''Adventure #16Most fun lift:'' two Israeli soldiers found me north of [[Tiberias]], and took me with them for a great day out throwing snowballs, avoiding minefields and exploring abandoned military outposts in the [[Golan Heights]], before tasty ostrich steak and a cross-country drive just to drop me back in [[Haifa]]. Also, drinking syrupy hot chocolate with a French white van man and his two young children as we travelled through the Italian Alps was fun. And I won'''Wet summer''', July 2008t forget the three Danish students on the start of their roadtrip
''Adventure #17Best hitchhiking spot used:'' '''Maughold'''[[Brunautal West]] ([[A7 (Germany)|A7]] services near [[Hamburg]], Germany), where those three Danish students dropped me off in front of around 200 hard rock fans going home from the Wacken festival. I could pick and choose from so many offered rides, August 2008going all over Europe... the only way the situation could have been better would be if I was among a crowd of hippies
''Adventure #18Worst hitchhiking spot used:'' '''Home a McDonalds restaurant in [[Meerane]] (near [[Zwickau]], Germany), a couple of kilometres away from Barcelona'''an empty motorway junction. All hope seemed lost. Whilst I was thankful to the previous driver for going 50km off his route, November 2008he did it so as to drop me off in the most useless place he could find
''Adventure #19Most unexpected lift:'' '''Home from Berlin'''[[Keele]] to [[Knutsford]] [[M6 (GB)|M6]] services in the UK, from a coach full of old-age tourists from [[Warrington]], January 2009who were travelling back from a package holiday in the southwest. We won over their sympathy and played them some old classic tunes on the ukulele
''Adventure #20Best scenery:'' waking up at a service station in the mountains east of [[Aosta]], then travelling through the town, and north on the [[E27]] across the Swiss border towards [[Lausanne]] - this was unforgettable and was well worth the overnight hitchhike from [[Rome]]. In Germany, I had the opportunity to hitchhike to [[Traben-Trarbach]] through the hills and vineyards. I've hitchhiked through some beautiful Israeli scenery, especially Route 40 south of [[Be'er Sheva]], and the mountain roads around [[Galilee]] and the [[Golan Heights]]. Most of the Isle of Man (especially the A18 'Ab in den Süden''mountain road') is breathtaking. [[Svalbard]] was also beautiful to hitch, January 2009but I did so in the dark
''Scariest lift:'' any of the old-age drivers with terrible eyesight who pick you up on the [[Isle of Man]], and drive way too fast. The Isle of Man has no national speed limit. Also, in June 2009 we suffered a rear wheel suspension failure while doing a high speed on a German autobahn near [[Koblenz]]. No big accident but we considered ourselves very, very lucky. Also, hitchhiked through a polar bear danger zone in Svalbard.
''Distance travelledShortest time waiting:'' no time at all. On many lucky occasions it's taken under five seconds to thumb a lift. It''11742km''' of which 6605km hitchhiking alone, 3211km with one other hitchhiker, and 1926km hitchhiking in s a group of three; done 11162km by road, 580km by rail, and not hitchhiked by sea or air... yetbig relief
''Longest lifttime waiting:'' I think it's '''352km''', through Germany from [[Inntal Ost]] ([[A93_Germany|A93]] services) to [[Pforzheim Nord]] ([[A8_Germany|A8]] services), September 2006 - and by the goodest good golly gosh were we grateful for it ''Furthest distance a spot in 24 hours:'' '''1042km''', from [[Rome]], Italy, to [[Lausanne]], Switzerland, August 2006 ''Countries hitchhiked (earliest first):'' [[Belgium]], [[Germany]], [[Netherlands]], [[Poland]], central [[LithuaniaCologne]], [[Latvia]], [[Estonia]], [[Sweden]], [[Denmark]], [[Switzerland]], [[Italy]], [[Austria]], [[United Kingdom]], [[France]], [[Czech Republic]], [[Slovakia]], [[Ireland]], [[Isle of Man]], [[Israel]] ''Most useful lift:'' Gabor the Hungarian, who picked us up at Pforzheim Nord and didn't care where he was going - he wanted to be a personal taxi serviceeast. So we got him to take us to a mate's house in [[Kelkheim]], 177km away. Although neither of us trusted him, and he tried to abduct my travelling partner, it was one hell of a useful lift ''Least useful lift:'I' d used the Slovakian white van man who took us to spot the wrong side of [[Bratislava]], on the wrong motorway and facing in the wrong direction, making us fail the Bummit to Belgrade competition ''Most fun lift:'' two Israeli soldiers found me north of [[Tiberias]], year before and it took me with them 2 hours for a great day out throwing snowballs, avoiding minefields and exploring abandoned military outposts in the [[Golan Heights]], before tasty ostrich steak and a cross-country drive just lift to drop me back in [[Haifa]]arrive. Also, drinking syrupy hot chocolate with a French white van man and his two young children as This time we travelled through the Italian Alps was fun. And I wonweren't forget the three Danish students on the start of their roadtrip ''Best hitchhiking spot used:'' [[Brunautal West]] ([[A7_Germany|A7]] services) in Germany, where those three Danish students dropped me off in front of around 200 hard rock fans going home from the Wacken festival. I could pick and choose from so many offered rides, going all over Europe... the only way the situation could have been better would be if I was among a crowd of hippies ''Worst hitchhiking spot used:'' an empty motorway junction outside [[Meerane]] (near [[Zwickau]]), Germany. All hope seemed lost. Whilst I was thankful to the previous driver lucky; after waiting for going 50km off his route, he did it so as to drop me off in the most useless place he could find ''Best scenery:'' waking up at a service station in the mountains east of [[Aosta]], then travelling through the town, and north on the [[E27]] across the Swiss border towards [[Lausanne]] - this was unforgettable and was well worth the overnight hitchhike from [[Rome]]. In Germanyeight hours, I had the opportunity to hitchhike to [[Traben-Trarbach]] through the hills and vineyards. I've hitchhiked through some beautiful Israeli scenery, especially Route 40 south of [[Be'er Sheva]], and the mountain roads around [[Galilee]] and the [[Golan Heights]]. Most of the Isle of Man (especially the A18 'mountain road') is breathtaking ''Scariest lift:'' any of the old-age drivers with terrible eyesight who pick you up on the [[Isle of Man]], and drive way too fast. The Isle of Man has no national speed limit ''Shortest time waiting:'' two seconds, at [[Antwerp]], Belgium. A driver pulled up just as we'd picked cut our spot, losses and took us towards the Netherlands. My travelling partners both fancied the pants off himhitchhiked a train
''Longest time waitingMost ride offers turned down:'' a spot I turned down many, many ride offers in central the direction of Munich while on the German-Austrian border at [[Inntal Ost]] ([[CologneA93 (Germany)|A93]], going eastservices) during a seven-hour wait. I'd used the spot the year before and it took 2 hours for was trying to get to Vienna - there was a lift to arrive. This time we weren't so lucky; after waiting for eight hoursfair bit of traffic going in my direction, we cut our losses and hitchhiked a trainbut no-one was interested in helping
''Biggest moment of genius:'' none. In this era, your average hitchhiker has a few screws loose
''Biggest moment of stupidity:'' spilling freshly squeezed orange juice onto my rucksack and sleeping bag whilst trying to thumb down a VW camper van outside [[Jönköping]], Sweden on a hot, sticky afternoon. The van didn't stop and I had to grudgingly trudge back to Jönköping centre, wash out my equipment and catch a bus
''Best lap time of [[Monaco]]'s [[Circuit de Monaco|street circuit]]:'' about 9 minutes - I forgot to time it accurately, but I'll be back
''My definition of 'hitchhike':'' a journey madewhich is
*for ''free'' (if on public transport, then a free ride where you'd normally have to pay),
*''optional'',
*arranged ''at the moment the journey starts''
*with the ''explicit consent'' of the vehicle driver,
*who is otherwise a ''complete stranger'' to you, and*you have the option of declining the ride.
(i.e. no car-pooling schemes or similar, public transport drivers must agree to let you travel without paying, lifts from friends-of friends, work colleagues etc don't count, and neither do enforced rides in police vehicles)
==Planned hitchhiking trips==
[[Image:Sheffieldbedroomwall.jpg|thumb|right|300px|A collection of [[signs]] used in 2006. 2009 2019 collection under construction...]]
==You want some more More info! Yes you do ;)==*[http://tommoonwww.fotopicbewelcome.net Tom's webpageorg/members/tmoon BeWelcome]*[http://www.couchsurfing.com/people/tmoon Tom's CouchSurfing profile]*[http://secure.hospitalityclub.org/hc/travel.php?cid=tmoon Tom's Hospitality Club profile]
[[Category:Hitchhikers]]
[[Category:Hitchhikers in the Isle of ManEngland]]{{CanHostIn|Manchester|United Kingdom}}
