For the third time more than a hundred hitchhikers are set to take part in The Third European Hitchhiking Week. After Paris (2008) and Odesa (2009) hitchhikers from all corners of Europe are to meet in Portugal (in Sines) August 6th 2010.

The goal of the meeting is to promote hitchhiking. In Western Europe many people think hitchhiking passed away, but this is far from reality for the participants: it is common for many travelers as an adventurous way of traveling and as a personal challenge. It is also seen as a great way to connect with strangers and build trust.

Another goal of this gathering is to unite the community of hitchhikers and to share skills and knowledge about traveling and hitchhiking. Quite some participants travel extensively with lots of road experience while others come hitchhiking for the first time. We see this as a opportunity to exchange our best practices.

By gathering in Portugal, participants will travel through Spain, where it is generally harder to hitchhike, contrary to countries such as Latvia, Germany and Belgium. The hitchhikers made it a mission to change this attitude towards hitchhiking in Spain and will also have a special pre-gathering in Barcelona on the 1st of August.

This year is the first time that this gathering not only takes place in Europe, but also in North-America. Hitchhikers are set to meet on the 21th of August in Colorado.

A new breed of festival where the most interesting part is "getting there".

Journalist are free to contact us to receive more information, or to follow some of the hitchhikers while being on the road.

• Contact: http://hitchgathering.org/contact
• Press-page: http://hitchathering.org/press
• Website: http://hitchgathering.org
• Article: Portugal On The Run! (which sums up pretty much who, what, why)
• Videos: http://hitchgathering.org/hitchgathering-videos

Media Below is Free to Use

Full Resolution | Artwork Credit: Sandra Sunshine. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike.

Full resolution | Artwork Credit: Heather. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike.

Full resolution | Photo Credit: Valentina Catena. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike. | Caption: 789: The Road Is Mine. Hitchhikers gather in Odesa, Ukraine in August 2009 for the second European HItchhikers Gathering.

Full resolution | Photo Credit: By Robino Robokow. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike. | Caption: Hundreds of hitchhikers gathered for the first European Hitchhiking Week in Paris at August 8, 2008.

RADIO PODCAST with an interview with Rocio Mendez about the hitchgathering in spanish. Hit the minute 20 in the podcast.

41st Nomadasintopico at Contrabanda radio. Another radio interview, this one almost 30 minutes long in the beginning of the podcast, about Hitchgathering but also about travel communities, nomads, magazines, festivals and all this things we do. By Tau Mendez ;)