User talk:Looking for Stu

I've reverted your addition to the article for Poland. I'm sorry if you have had a bad experience, but after years of hitchhiking all around Poland, I can tell you that you must have been doing something very wrong (e.g. inappropriate personal appearance). This is a country that has an excellent reputation for hitchhiking, and where for the great majority of hitchhikers rides come after only a few minutes of waiting. Your addition would only mislead and scare away others. CRCulver (talk) 00:05, 12 November 2012 (CET)

I could not agree more with the above! I've been crossing Poland regularly since 2000 and although I've had a few longer than average waits, my average waiting time is just a few seconds longer than in Germany, and in Poland it's actually possible to hitch at night, and be picked up, while standing at the side of the road! Prino (talk) 00:56, 12 November 2012 (CET)

I wasn't inappropriate at all. I was wearing my charity hitchhike gear, professional sign and I'm experienced. Nobody picked me up. I waited overnight for seven freezing hours by the side of a road in what should normally have been a good spot. It's surely about sharing your experiences and not 'reverting' additions just in case it puts people off. Where is my freedom of speech? What happens if other people have bad experiences? Are you going to silence them too? Hitchhiking isn't all sweetness and light and people deserve to know (and make educated judgements) about all facets of the form of travel, in any country. It took me 22 hours to get from Olomouc to Krakow. Poland might be wonderful for hitchhiking but people deserve to know the good and the bad so they can form their own opinions.--Looking for Stu (talk) 22:45, 21 November 2012 (CET)

The simple fact that nobody picked you up is unfortunate, but when you choose to hitchhike, you should be prepared for the possibility, but you should not let this one fluke end up in a general info section. If you really feel strongly about something like this, add a note about your experiences in the Personal Experiences section of the page (or create one if there isn't one). Clothes, signs and experience have little to do with waiting times, they may help you, but just as with light bulbs, a small fraction of them will, for whatever reason, die well before they're supposed to do so. Shit happens, just learn to live with it, and my advice for the next time? Just walk away from the road, roll out your sleeping bag, get a bit of sleep and try again the next morning, believe me, in the 31 years that I've been hitchhiking I've had my fair share of times where nobody wanted to pick me up, even on perfect spots, also known as petrol stations and German Raststättes... The next morning I'm usually away in a flash. Prino (talk) 00:03, 22 November 2012 (CET)