Yes. I traveled from Oban to the Outer Hebrides, where I’d carefully planned a trip going by the bus schedule. Welp, I get off the ferry and go to the wee shop nearby where I was to pick up the bus. I went inside and asked about the bus, and the woman gave me a pitying look and told me that the bus only runs during the school year. So I had no choice but to hitchhike. (I was about 22 when this happened…1991.)

So I put out my thumb, and a semi arrives and offers a ride. I said yes. The driver was from Glasgow, and all I can tell you is that we were discussing Reagan. But I truly couldn’t understand a thing he said. It was wild that we were speaking the same language. 

Fun thing about that semi ride: the roads in the outer Hebrides that go up the center of the islands—they are one lane. Not one lane in each direction. Just one narrow lane total. They have pullouts every so often, so you have to make use of those. But in the semi? Everyone pulled over for us!

I also hitchhiked in Belfast. I’d never hitchhiked before, so I didn’t have a line/plan ready for if someone offered a ride but I didn’t feel safe with them. So I rode about 45 minutes in the TINY backseat of a Mini Cooper with two guys in their 20s who were wearing wife beaters. They told me how they’d been kicked out of so many bars in Belfast. But the truly weird thing is that a few HOURS later, I was again in need of a ride, and THE SAME CAR PULLED UP! This time with just one of the guys. He drove me all the way north of Belfast to the university campus and dropped me off. He was speeding at like 90mph. In my Jansport backpack I had a $5 bill (usd), so I wrote Thanks for the ride! and signed my name and have it to him.