Hitchhiking in North America (via Zuphit's request),

-Don't look too shabby and everyone will pick you up. Watch out for cops, know y'er rights. Last rites..ho! Avoid the midwest if you can and middle east coast as there's a bunch of huge cities making it difficult to traverse. Don't worry about finding places to sleep, you'll get offered places almost all the time, just take a poncha, no stove. Food is everywhere. Everything you need will come to you. Even in the midwest (which is quite a hell hole, swallows you whole but is a fantastic experience nonetheless to get to know everything you want to avoid).
Avoid Kansas City, hitchhiking is illegal there in one county there but you can just cross to Missouri if necessary. As is Los Angeles (or at least you want to avoid it anyway..).
If you're on the west coast, take highway one all the way up (or down). Incredible landscapes, and now is the best time to be there, little tourists and the beginning of good weather.
The deep south will be freakydeaky with a bunch of crazy rides. Trust your instinct, you'll need it much more than out here.

Canada is incredible for hitchhiking, but the border can take a long time to cross. Try not to cross on an interstate highway as if you get dropped off at the border, it will be illegal to cross and go back..(ding ding ding, we got a winner!).
You can probably cross the whole of canada in a week of hardcore travel, Montreal to Vancouver. Vancouver island is an incredible place. Speak french in Québec. Incredible hospitality. Camp out in forests. Eat trail mixes for days. You can always find work if you ask around, even just odd jobs. You can collect money from fountains in big cities (all of it just goes to the mall managers anyway) that little kids throw in. Just be stealth and avoid the security guards.
Search for bears. Moose. You can see both on the east coast of the U.S too. Tie up your food up a tree when out there or in national parks.
Eat hole in the wall mexican food if you can afford it..it's fucking-a..even in nowhere towns in the midwest.

Perhaps others can comment on their experiences?

Comments

Zuphit's picture

Thanks y'all for the tips and

Thanks y'all for the tips and stories.
It should be fun.

Not sure yet where I'm going, but I was thinking about a bit of Canada too, so thanks for those tips Shaun.

Lots of people seem more stressed about hitching the US over other places, but people here appear to be more stressed in general and HHing is never really popular.

Sma's picture

mainly hitched trucks in the

mainly hitched trucks in the states..so didn`t have the offers of a place to sleep..but they go such a long way..and truck stops are everywhere. i guess it`s a trade off..after a while i get tired of trucks and want some other kinds of people to have variety. truckers have radios though and can search for other people to give you rides further on :)

the rockies are so pretty to drive through..colorado, utah..love it. highway 1 in california is amazing..goes all the way along the coast..

shaun-treehuggingfool's picture

if you plan to hitch in

if you plan to hitch in canada take time to visit places you pass through,as im sure you will since thats what traveling is about, plus it will take you a while to cross the country anyway unless you have a straight ride. remember it is the second largest country in the world and is bigger then europe. just driving vancouver to toronto takes 3 1/2 days if you never stop driving to sleep and that is only half way across. i hitched vancouver island to toronto trying to go fast and it took me 8 days, but i slept at night. in b.c you never have to wait long for rides but once you are across the rockies and leaving calgary the hitching gets a lot slower. though its different every time and for different people, it took me a whole day to get a ride out of calgary, the ritch cowboys didn't want to pick me up. saskachewan is boring but short, try not to fall asleep, from rigina most people will be driving to winnipeg in manitoba so you probably will get there without getting stuck out in nowhere land.
also northern ontario can be hell for hitchhickers and its not hard to get stuck in the middle of nowhere waiting a very long time for a ride so be prepared and don't give up, your ride will come eventually. don't get dropped off in wawa! from there it gets easier as you go south and east. quebec is very fun and easy to hitch as is new brunswick, and nova scotia, and newfoundland is just as easy as vancouver island but you will have trouble understanding what people are saying even though it's english.
in my experience hitching east to west is twice as fast as hitching west to east.
you shouldn't have much trouble hitching in the northern territories either and in summer you can go all night because it doesn't really get dark
in the cities the safest places to sleep are skate parks, even police will recommend it. if you cant find one, sleeping in cemeteries is safe too, or churches.
good luck!