Änni’s rules for hitchhiking in Iceland

“Do I need to be on Twitter?” – a question I am often confronted with and to which I like to answer “No, if you don’t enjoy it, then don’t do it”. I enjoy Twitter. First and foremost, because there is a colorful bunch of interesting, entertaining people there. One of my Twitter acquaintances is Änni. I like their “bland” tweets with a penchant for sarcasm. I think we’re on the same page. Änni is currently on the road in Iceland and conquers the hearts of Icelanders with Swiss chocolate. I am very happy that – thanks to rainy weather – she has found time somewhere lounging around on a guesthouse sofa to pass on her previous findings about the unplanned Iceland hitchhiking trip with me. You can read more about her trip to Iceland here: Änni on Tour.

Actually, it wasn’t planned that we would hitch cars in Iceland. According to the plan, with our “Full Circle” bus pass from Sterna Travel, the entire trip around the whole island would have been covered, i.e. paid for, and the only real challenge would have been to wait for hours for the buses, which often only run once a day. It would have been, should have been – on site it quickly became apparent that we could confidently wrap large parts of our plans in the subjunctive and dispose of them. So it happened that after our first overnight stay near the Jökulsarlon, the mystical glacier lagoon, we made signs out of cardboard for the first time to try our luck at hitchhiking. It shouldn’t be the last time, and that’s why I’m generously passing on our accumulated knowledge about hitchhiking in Iceland at this point: Here they are, the collected 10 basic rules for hitchhiking in Iceland.

© Änni on Tour

Pay attention to the location: On a straight stretch of the ring road, where cars travel at 90 km/h or more, hardly anyone will stop to give you a lift. It’s stupid if you can’t really choose the location like we did, because you should be able to get on from there – in which case walk to the next junction, to the next rest area or to another place where a car can stop without any problems. Also helpful: A sign that says where you want to go.

If you’re a woman: Take off your hat, especially if you’re wearing a short haircut. Yes, sexism and stuff, but you want to be taken along… Take off your hat so that you are clearly identifiable as a woman, especially if you are traveling with a man. A group of two that looks like a straight couple is more likely to be taken along than two men.

If you’re a man and you’re traveling with a woman, ask your companion to take off your hat for the reasons mentioned above, and expect her to give you a gentle, feminine slap on the back of the head right away with this suggestion.

If you are a man and you are traveling with a woman: The blow to the back of your head will be much stronger if you ask your companion at some point, after hours of unsuccessful standing around the street, to free herself up to the bra so that she becomes even more clearly identifiable as a woman.

Be patient and practice serenity. It’s after 11 p.m.? Are you standing with your travel buddy at an abandoned junction in the middle of the pampas, far away from the next town? It’s drizzling, far and wide only grass and bushes, and you don’t have a tent with you? Only 4 cars passed by in the last hour? Think about it carefully: You can get enormously upset now, about your companion, about the situation, about the weather, about the drivers, about the whole of Iceland or the entire universe. Excitement, however, burns a lot of calories that you may need urgently, after all, you hardly have any provisions with you. Bad mood is also contagious, and besides, it will hardly change the situation, on the contrary: if your bad mood hangs over your head like a thundercloud of negative energies, even fewer drivers will be willing to give you a lift.

© Änni on Tour

Think in advance about how you can thank any motorists who give you a lift. Giving thanks not only with sincere gratitude, but also with a material trifle not only boosts the economy, but also your karma. For example, we always have two cardboard signs with us: one with the town where we want to go, one with the inscription “We pay with Swiss Chocolate!” In fact, we give away mini-Toblerons when someone takes us with them.

Drivers who are satisfied with what they have done in the end are much more likely to pick up car plugs than drivers who are annoyed at the end. Therefore, let your empathy prevail and try to gauge whether the driver wants to chat with you – or not. Most hitchhikers want some entertainment (where are you from, how long are you in Iceland, how do you like it, how do you like the weather, etc.), but there are also people who are tired or just taciturn and prefer to just be silent. The same principle applies to more “sensitive” topics of conversation: Be diplomatic. If someone gives you a lift in their car, you don’t have to take this opportunity to convert them to veganism, to criticize their ilgious lifestyle, to tell them how many pollutants their car absorbs.

Not all drivers who pick up hitchhikers are sympathetic. A sad realization, actually, but be that as it may: See above. Be diplomatic, be generous, be grateful, give them chocolate and a smile, and maybe your kindness, openness and tolerance will subconsciously rub off on them – or they will just remain idiots.

A small rule of thumb: the more expensive, bigger, and cleaner the car that roars up, the less likely it is to stop. In Iceland you can see a lot of larger off-road vehicles, most of them are rental cars for tourists. You can kind of forget that one of them stops. It is much more likely that an old, moderately clean, small car of an Icelander (or, as usual, two young, dressed-up Icelandic women) will stop, in which the two of you with two huge and two normal backpacks including shopping bags with the chocolate supplies will hardly fit.

#10

Have fun! Hitchhiking will give you experiences and encounters that you would otherwise hardly have. The relief and joy when someone picks you up in the middle of the night, the careful drive over a snow-covered pass and finally the village sparkling like a diamond in the night distance, the certainty of having finally reached the destination, the encounter with the elderly gentleman from the Faroe Islands, with whom you have conversed mainly with hands and feet due to the lack of a common language – no, I wouldn’t want to miss any of that.