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Germany
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|pop = 82,314,900
|currency = Euro (€)
|hitch = <rating country='de' /good>
|BW = DE
}}
'''Germany''' is a member state of the [[European Union]] as well as the [[Schengen Agreement]]. It is a great country for [[hitchhiking]], both on motorways (via [[on-ramp]]s, [[rest area|service stations]], more seldom - parking lots) and local roads. Germans are a little bit suspicious, but nice if you get to know them. Thumbing makes it easier for them to say "no", because they do not even have to look at you. Those who will stop are often people who hitchhiked themselves when they were younger. Many of them have families, jobs and fast cars now.
Because of the absence of speed limits on many motorways it's a good country to hitchhike long distances in short time.
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== Road types ==
To hitchhike efficiently in Germany it is good to know the three different kinds of roads between cities and towns. By descending speed these are:
* motorways or expressways called ''Autobahn'' with no general speed limit(there can still be signs with speed limits)
* federal roads called ''Bundesstraße''
* country roads called ''Landstraße''
==== Getting onto the autobahn ====
[[File:Zeichen 330.svg|thumb|right|100px|The on-ramp sign of an autobahn]]
==== Service stations and rest areas ====
You have various possibilities for being dropped off along the autobahn to look for your next ride. As petrol station hitchhiking is faster, try to avoid being dropped at on-ramps where you have to thumb. On the autobahn, it is preferable to be dropped off at a service station instead of a rest area as rest areas have much less cars stopping.
Their general speed limit is 100 km/h and they usually have no emergency lane so they are difficult to thumb. To get a ride either try petrol stations or choose a place where have a lot of space to see you and stop or where they are going slower, e.g. town exits. Police might consider it illegal to thumb in sites where cars cannot stop without putting the traffic in danger.
[[File:Zeichen 331.1 - Kraftfahrstraße, StVO 2013.svg|thumb|right|150px|A fraffic sign indicating the beginning of a ''Kraftfahrstraße'']]To make it more complicated some of the ''Bundesstraßen'' are a so called ''Kraftfahrstraße''. For them most of the ''Autobahn''-rules apply (e.g. no pedestrians and bikes allowed). You can recognise a ''Kraftfahrstraße'' by the sign of a white car in front of a blue backround.
=== Smaller federal ''Landstraße'' roads ===
These roads are not numbered on traffic signs and usually connect minor towns. As most of them have lower speed limits thumbing is likely to work. As they might not have a lot of traffic coming through they should only be used for getting from and to you final destination.
== The Ruhr area warning ==
When hitch hiking towards and from Belgium, be carreful passing the Ruhr area (Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg). Once you get in, it's difficult to get out. Raststättes are rare and passing traffic avoids this region. We tried on several places and had to take the train to pass this area (lost 5 hours). There are sufficient work arounds to avoid this area. See also the hitchwiki page of the [[Ruhr Area]].
== Legal stuff ==
Hitchhiking in general is legal in Germany. It is only forbidden to hitchhike on the Autobahn itself, meaning you standing on the autobahn or its emergency lane. It is also forbidden to walk on a ''Kraftfahrstraße''. You are perfectly fine stopping at service stations and asking the people but keep in mind that service stations are private property / leases. It occasionally happened that owners try to get rid of hichthikers at "their" service station. If that happens, just move to the parking space and hitchhike there.
If you want to start hitching at the on-ramps, make sure you stand before the rectangular blue sign indicating the start of the autobahn.
Just like other people, police may or may not be friendly towards hitchhikers. It is said that police controls are more frequent in the southern states of [[Bavaria]] and [[Baden-Württemberg]]. As a foreigner you have to carry your passport at all times; a national ID card is sufficient if you are from another EU country. If you are being checked, be friendly, show it to them and they will leave you alone.
=== Crossing the border Car registration/number plates ===Germany has signed the [[Schengen Agreement]] which means that borders with other Schengen countries You can determine where a car is registered by its number plates. While tehre are opencertain plates on rented cars. Since 2009(Europcar has „HH“ (Hamburg), all neighbouring countries are Schengen members as wellAvis – „EU“ (Euskirchen), Sixt – „M“ (Munich), Hertz „DN-H“ (Düren)), so there other plates are no fixed border controls anymoreassociated with areas [https://de.wikipedia. At timesorg/wiki/Liste_der_Kfz-Kennzeichen_in_Deutschland - DE], there are mobile checks by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Germany EN]. The first letter is usually the police or customs, especially in border regions or on the autobahndistrict where it is registered. At the Swiss borderIn addition, there are still custom controlsis a little patch beside the number which tells you what state that number plate belongs to, but that will probably only affect you which is useful if you are on a truckdo not know the district letters.
== License plates ==
There are between one and three letters on a license plate which show the city or region where the car is registered. For example, look for license plates starting with '''B''' if you're hitching to [[Berlin]]. Have a look at the articles on Wikipedia for more information: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_car_number_plates German car number plates] (in English) and [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Kfz-Kennzeichen_in_Deutschland Liste der Kfz-Kennzeichen in Deutschland] (in German).
Note that it is no longer required to change plates if you move, so a HH (Hamburg) car may very well belong to someone living in München (M). At the moment this is not yet a big problem, but in due course it may lead to the situation that license plates become as useless as those in many other countries for determining the direction a car might be going...
== Maps ==
For more information look here: [http://www.tank.rast.de/standorte/servicenetz/index.php tank.rast.de]. For a good map to print out and bring with you that has all the service stations on it have a look here: [http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/684/rastekarte.jpg/ Rastekarte]. This is the same one you will find at the service stations as big overview maps, more often than not those can be nicked very easily as well.
== Language ==
When asking your drivers for help it pays off to know that the German word ''Straße'' for street contains the weird letter ''ß'' which looks a bit like a B. If you pronounce it like an ''s'' Germans will understand you. Contrary to popular belief the diacritics on Ä, ä, Ö, ö, Ü and ü are not metal umlauts and thus they do affect pronunciation. If in doubt try to pronounce the word as if the diacritics didn't exist. For instance, if you pronounce the city ''Würzburg'' as ''Wurzburg'' you will probably be understood.
== Other possibilities of transportation Useful links ==
==Trashwiki & Nomadwiki = Carpooling ===[http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de mitfahrgelegenheit.de] and [http://www.mitfahrzentrale.de mitfahrzentrale.de] are popular commercial websites for carpooling. However, since they started charging a certain percentage for each ride they mediate, there are new pages starting to be used more and more. Some of them are: bessermitfahren.de; blablacar.de.
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