I absolutely LOVE hitchhiking with other people. I’ve done it before in groups of three and even four. You meet some really great people and possibilities for adventure open up when you don’t know what’s coming next. I’ve only hitchhiked by myself once and it was a great experience. A really nice trucker bought me some food and another guy showed me around some beautiful beaches on the California coast. And it worked out well because as the day was coming to a close and I was getting a little nervous about reaching my destination, I ran into some other travelers on the road who let me hitch with them for a while and they became good friends. But I generally try to avoid hitching by myself because of the whole female thing. If there’s another option that I can afford, then I’ll take that one. Unless I become a master at karate, I figure I should probably either seek safety in numbers or find another mode of transportation. But if hitching alone is my only option, I’ll relish the experience.

Advice: Destination signs can be helpful, but if you’re worried about possibly turning down a ride that you don’t feel comfortable with (which you should!), ditch the sign and ask the driver where he/she is headed before you tell them where you’re going. That gives you more control over the situation and you could always politely turn down a ride by saying that you really wanted to go further or that you’re actually headed somewhere else.

If you do get into a sticky situation, tell the driver (one of my friends had to pull this card) that you texted his (or her, you never know) license plate number to your friend. It’s not a bad idea to actually do it too, but I never have just because I always forget in the rush to get in the car. But even the threat (so long as you make it convincing and at least pull out your phone and act like your texting someone) would generally be enough to dissuade someone from doing something too bad. Most people don’t leave their homes planning to rape and kill a hitchhiker that day, so with the right demeanor and confidence you can generally talk people out of a decision that they’re in the process of making.

Enjoy the ride!

For the record, Stine does speak english, as her father is half Scottish, it was Spanish she didn’t speak – at all;)
Personally I never tried hitchiking other than in the town where i live, but my mother hitchhiked through southern and eastern europe with her boyfriend in the early 70′s, and she told me that it was sometimes really scary, even though she wasn’t alone, and at some point they had to flash their knives just to scare off some bad guys.
As to the idea of single women hitchiking and couch surfing i don’t see why it should be any different from men doing so, except from the fact that especially women ought to be aware of the norms and sex roles in the country they’re travelling in.
I guess both men and women can come into serious trouble if they don’t know anything about their destinations. One need to stay “aware” and say NO if they have a bad feeling about the situation. Oh, and always have a plan B!
When that is said i’m definately going do try it out when i go to NZ and Australia in a couple of years, especially couch surfing, i think you get to know stuff about the locals that you would never get in touch with while driving your own car or sleeping at a hostel.
Anyway i think Create our world is a great idea, keep up the good work:)