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Andriy Zoryk‘s thumb gets him around. Courtesy photo Andriy Zoryk can’t pay, so he thumbs rides to destination

Has the high cost of travel combined with the low value of the hryvnia forced you to cancel a trip? No need, if you’re a hardy hitchhiker like Andriy Zoryk. With a train trip from Kyiv to western Ukraine now costing Hr 250 per person, Zoryk and other hitchhikers get to their destinations by bumming rides from passing cars.

Zoryk, a 23-year old student at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, has been hitchhiking for so long -- since 2003 – that it’s part of his lifestyle. “My friends were always talking about their great adventures while hitchhiking in Europe, so I decided to keep up with them,” Zoryk said.

His first experience five years ago, in Krakow, Poland, ended unhappily. He traveled less than 30 kilometers in two days and also got robbed. “First me and my friend managed to travel, but soon the night came,” Zoryk recalled. “So we had to stay just right where we were. But the worst happened when some locals came to our tent demanding money. Since we had little money, we were forced to give our mobile phones to them. After such an experience, very few would continue hitchhiking.”

But Zoryk did and continued to get better at it. His longest hitchhiking trip lasted almost five months. “With only $300 in my pocket, I managed to travel for free through Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand and Laos,” Zoryk said.

Hitchhiking in Ukraine differs significantly from other nations, Zoryk said.

“In Turkey, where petrol is the most expensive in the world, and costs some $15 per liter, drivers even fed me and then gave some money for the bus,” Zoryk said. “While Ukrainian drivers usually first take a hitchhiker. Then they start hinting for you to pay them at least something because of how poor they are, how expensive the petrol is and how many children they have. The only way to avoid some misunderstandings with Ukrainian drivers is to tell them at the very beginning, you travel with no money at all.”

Zoryk has some tricks for getting drivers to stop. They include placing a huge backpack in front of him. “Many drivers told me they stopped because my huge backpack looked formidable on the road and they felt sympathy and wanted to help me,” Zoryk said.

Dressing carefully also helps. He said many drivers won’t stop for a “rich dude,” but also don’t like the slovenly look. “The clothes may be old, but not sweaty because no driver would like to smell your sweat all the way or have you soil their car,” Zoryk said.

Also, a big and funny sign announcing your destination helps draw attention. “Once in Poland, I saw two hitchhikers with a sign ‘to Tokyo.’ That made drivers smile and stop for such funny guys so as not to be bored,” Zoryk said.

In fact, relief of boredom is the main reason why drivers take in hitchhikers.

“I have never taken money from hitchhikers in my life because I think they do a very responsible job: stop me from falling asleep on my way,” said Oleksandr Urenskiy, a 58-year-old long-distance truck driver. He has been hauling for more than 30 years and thinks Ukrainians are the best fellow travelers. “They can get me smiling very easily, unlike Europeans who prefer keeping silent as if they are afraid of me,” Urenskiy said.

Zoryk also chooses his topics of conversation carefully. It’s usually always popular to strike up conversations about places of interest and “bad cops” for instance. Other topics might get you kicked out of the car. “Politics and religion are on the blacklist of sad-experience topics I would never advise to raise with any driver in any country,” Zoryk said.

Couples also seem to have an easier time getting picked up. “The best variant is a couple, because 99 percent of drivers would stop seeing a girl on a road and a boy may protect her,” Zoryk said.

He said, if traveling with a crowd, it’s best to split up.

And the sooner you can put the driver’s fears to rest, the better. Said trucker Urenskiy: “First I was afraid to take some strangers in. But in time I understood that, though people are afraid to trust each other, all of them have something good in their nature, have the same problems and like the same jokes, so there is always much in common to discuss during the trip.”