One sceptic + one hitchhike= Success!

So last Friday I had my first experience of hitchhiking from Southampton to Bournemouth. I have to say I was a bit nervous the week leading up to the hitchhike. The whole idea was a bit scary as you don’t know who you might get in a car with. The only reason I agreed to take part was because it was with someone else. Not only was it the fear that put me off but also I didn’t think people nowadays would be likely to pull over, so the idea of spending hours on a roadside just waiting for someone to pull over didn’t really appeal to me. 
However, I have to say after actually getting out there and doing it my opinion of hitchhiking has changed. I met with my boyfriend’s friend who I was doing it with and we made our way to the A33 where we decided to go from. We stopped on the side of the road and wrote our sign for Bournemouth and were just getting the camera out to film our first thoughts, when a man pulled up and offered us a lift. There went my preconceptions that I’d be standing round for ages on the side of the road. I was so surprised. I honestly didn’t think that nowadays people would stop. That journey took us to the edge of Bournemouth where we considered getting a bus, but the man in the car urged us to hitchhike. So he dropped us off and we made another sign for out final destination Lansdowne. Within 5minutes we were sat in our second lift. The lady was really nice and said that she’d take us to where we were going. 
So that was it, an hour after having set off in Southampton we were at our final destination in Bournemouth. And so after having hitchhiked myself, my attitude has changed.
It was much easier than I thought, both of our drivers were really lovely and they both said they had hitchhiked when they were younger. The thing is, at the end of the day there will always be someone going the same place you are and so why pay for public transport when we can just share lifts. I saved £7 on the train and it didn’t even take that much longer. I wouldn’t do it on my own and obviously its important to make sure your safe, but I would definitely do it again if I had a guy to do it with. When I told my brother how well it went he even suggested that we do it together sometime. So overall I would definitely urge people to give it a try.

posted by AMBER GARLAND