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[[Image:Dhoonglen.jpg|thumb|right|300px|My favourite type of hitchhiking - narrow countryside roads. The [[Isle of Man]] is perfect for this.]]
An [[England|English]] hitchhiker living on the in [[Isle of ManManchester]]. Wishes he could unicycle.
==The stats==
''Adventure #268:'' '''Home to Home to HomeEscape from Svalbard''', 858km4km, June 2006March 2018
''Adventure #369:'' '''"Jedzie Pan do Wrocławia?" "Tak! :)"Back to the McCrorys''', 1522km2km, June 2006April 2018
''Adventure #470:'' '''AWOL in EuropeEscaping the saddle''', 4657km201km, July-September 2006June 2018
''Adventure #571:'' '''Bummit to BelgradeFaroe Islands''', 1815km450km, March-April 2007June 2019
''Adventure #672:'' '''Final taste of freedom?Ska vi snacka Järva Discgolfpark''', 1170km6km, August-September 2007July 2019
''Adventure #7:73'' '''The TT courseToo wet for Agneash''', 59km15km, January 2008September 2019
''Adventure #9Distance travelled:'' '''The shortest hitchhike ever?28666km''': 9855km alone, 13937km with one other hitchhiker, 4025km in a group of three, 831km in a group of four, 2km in a group of five, never in a group of six, and 16km in a group of seven; hitched road vehicles for 28075km (including 9km by bus, 39km by coach, 90km by taxi, <1km by golf cart, and one Eurotunnel journey), trains for 590km, less than trams for 1km, April 2008and not hitched by sea or air... yet
''Furthest distance in 24 hours:'' '''1042km''', from [[Rome]], Italy, to [[Lausanne]], Switzerland, in August 2006
''Furthest distance in 12 hours:'' '''1033km''', from [[Bisenzio Est]] ([[A1 (Italy)|A1]] services near [[Firenze]], Italy), to [[Frankfurt am Main]], Germany, in September 2009
''Countries hitchhiked (earliest first):'' [[Belgium]], [[Germany]], [[Netherlands]], [[Poland]], [[Lithuania]], [[Latvia]], [[Estonia]], [[Sweden]], [[Denmark]], [[Switzerland]], [[Italy]], [[Austria]], [[United Kingdom]], [[France]], [[Czech Republic]], [[Slovakia]], [[Ireland]], [[Isle of Man]], [[Israel]], [[Monaco]], [[Slovenia]], [[Iceland]], [[Spain]], [[Andorra]], [[Portugal]], [[Norway]] ([[Svalbard]]), [[Faroe Islands]]
''Most useful lift:'' Gabor the Hungarian, who picked us up at [[Pforzheim Nord]] ([[A8 (Germany)|A8]] services near [[Pforzheim]], Germany) and didn't care where he was going - he wanted to be a personal taxi service. So we got him to take us to a mate's house in [[Kelkheim]], 177km away. Although neither of us trusted him, and he tried to abduct my travelling partner, it was one hell of a useful lift
''Most unexpected lift:'' from [[Keele]] to [[Knutsford]] [[M6 (GB)|M6]] services in the UK, from a coach full of old-age tourists from [[Warrington]], who were travelling back from a package holiday in the southwest. We won over their sympathy and played them some old classic tunes on the ukulele
''Best scenery:'' waking up at a service station in the mountains east of [[Aosta]], then travelling through the town, and north on the [[E27]] across the Swiss border towards [[Lausanne]] - this was unforgettable and was well worth the overnight hitchhike from [[Rome]]. In Germany, I had the opportunity to hitchhike to [[Traben-Trarbach]] through the hills and vineyards. I've hitchhiked through some beautiful Israeli scenery, especially Route 40 south of [[Be'er Sheva]], and the mountain roads around [[Galilee]] and the [[Golan Heights]]. Most of the Isle of Man (especially the A18 'mountain road') is breathtaking. [[Svalbard]] was also beautiful to hitch, but I did so in the dark
''Scariest lift:'' any of the old-age drivers with terrible eyesight who pick you up on the [[Isle of Man]], and drive way too fast. The Isle of Man has no national speed limit. Also, in June 2009 we suffered a rear wheel suspension failure while doing a high speed on a German autobahn near [[Koblenz]]. No big accident but we considered ourselves very, very lucky. Also, hitchhiked through a polar bear danger zone in Svalbard.
''Shortest time waiting:'' no time at all. On many lucky occasions it's taken under five seconds to thumb a lift. It's a big relief
''My definition of 'hitchhike':'' a journey madewhich is
*for ''free'' (if on public transport, then a free ride where you'd normally have to pay),
*''optional'',
*arranged ''at the moment the journey starts''
*with the ''explicit consent'' of the vehicle driver,
*who is otherwise a ''complete stranger'' to you, and*you have the option of declining the ride.
(i.e. no car-pooling schemes or similar, public transport drivers must agree to let you travel without paying, lifts from friends-of friends, work colleagues etc don't count, and neither do enforced rides in police vehicles)
==Planned hitchhiking trips==
[[Image:Sheffieldbedroomwall.jpg|thumb|right|300px|A collection of [[signs]] used in 2006. 2011 2019 collection under construction...]]
==More info==
*[http://tommoonwww.fotopicbewelcome.net Tom's webpageorg/members/tmoon BeWelcome]*[http://www.couchsurfing.com/people/tmoon Tom's CouchSurfing profile]*[http://secure.hospitalityclub.org/hc/travel.php?cid=tmoon Tom's Hospitality Club profile]
[[Category:Hitchhikers]]
[[Category:Hitchhikers in the Isle of ManEngland]]{{CanHostIn|DouglasManchester|Isle of ManUnited Kingdom}}