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It often helps if you write the sign in the same language as the drivers you're trying to attract. If you can show some affinity to the drivers' country, it usually increases your chances of a lift. If you want to make a sign in a language that you don't know, try asking drivers or [[File:Please.jpg|thumbpetrol station hitchhiking|left|200px|A sign saying "Por favor" ("please" in spanish)petrol station]]A thumb or hand gesture will work fine staff for help. In countries where hitchhiking (depending on the region)is a very common thing to do by locals, e.g. But Romania, it could be advisable to make it clear that you're in some cases, the use of fact not a local; be it your sign displaying your destination or general direction will increase your oddswell-displayed huge backpacks.[[File:Signs.JPG|thumb|300px|Keep the signs bold and simple!]]

A To make the sign just saying '''PLEASE''' , use cardboard or similar with a thick black (chalk) marker (e.g. Edding 4090) or India ink (works well with cotton buds). Write neatly in local languagebig, block letters the name of a city or the name of a road, or both. Write a big capital letter and then lower case characters (the varying forms of lower-case letters make at-once reading easier). The more space between each letter the better to be read from a distance (this is called Kernel, e.g. see road signs specifications) can help sometimes. [[File:DSC00176Img_l_1306483.JPGjpg|thumb|left180px|200pxright|[[User:MayaCova|True or NotMayaCova]] was using a white board with considerable success.]]For long hitchhiking trips, an erasable white board is useful for making big, people will laugh clear and pick you up!]reusable signs. The [http://www.bicworld.com/en/products/details/124/velleda-whiteboard Velleda]30x44cm is the ideal size and very lightweight, albeit not very sturdy. Buy a wide chisel tip dry erase marker such as the Velleda 1781 or the Legamaster TZ150 to write thick lines.

Making people laugh with funny signs is a great way to lift your mood, have fun with passing cars and get rides.  When you're hitchhiking on a road that goes to plenty of destinations: The driver will be more likely to stop if he knows that you're going the same way he does. When the traffic is too heavy: The driver will be less likely to say "Somebody else is going to stop" if he sees that you want to go exactly his way. If you're going from [[Barcelona]] to [[Amsterdam]], consider writing "[[Paris]]", or just [[Perpignan]], on your sign, when you start in Barcelona. Few people will be going to Amsterdam or even Paris, directly. There's a dilemma, though, because if the destination you write is too close, you won't make good time, and if it's too far, nobody will be heading all the way there and so won't feel confident in stopping for you. A good solution to this is to simply use your direction of travel, e.g. "East" or maybe "France". It often helps if you write the sign in the same language as the drivers you're trying to attract. If you can show some affinity to the drivers' country, it usually increases your chances of a lift. If you want to make a sign in a language that you don't know (whether you need it now or in the future), try asking drivers or [[petrol station hitchhiking|petrol station]] staff for help. Note: In countries where hitchhiking is a very common thing to do by locals, e.g. Romania, it could be advisable to make it clear that you're in fact not a local; be it your sign or well-displayed huge backpacks. To make the sign, it's better to use cardboard or similar with a thick black marker or India ink (works well with cotton buds), if possible − other pens/pencils will do as well, but require more work. Write neatly in big, block letters the name of a city or the name of a road, or both. Make it easy to read for the drivers: Write a big capital letter and then lower case characters (the varying forms of lower-case letters, especially ascenders 'd','k','l'.. and descenders 'p','g' etc. make at-once reading easier). [[File:Img_l_1306483.jpg|thumb|180px|right|[[User:MayaCova|MayaCova]] was using a white board with considerable success.]]If you have a chance to plan a long hitchhiking trip in advance, some find using an erasable white board as a sign to be very useful for making big, clear and reusable signs.You can also make a reusable white-board whiteboard simply out of a paper map and an adhesive tape. Simply apply Apply adhesive tape on the white side of the map, and/or on the good one ( you can show your route to driver, and plan your trip by painting on it). If you don't need all space of the map, and/or to make it more firm for easier holding in wind You can simply use binder clips [http://getsimplifized.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/binder-clip.jpg Binder clip]. Mine is 80cm x 60cm when spreaded and 20cm x 10xm when folded.

Remember the sign has to be read from If space doesn't permit a distance. At 100km/hr, a vehicle is covering approx 30 meters/second. The average reaction time when driving is 1.5 long city name shorten it to 2something everyone will understand.5 seconds, so 45 to 75 meters has gone before they start to stopFor example [[Amsterdam]] could be '''A'dam''' and [[Hamburg]] could be '''HH'''. If you want them to stop, then you not only have to place yourself in the right location so they can see that you are Have a traveler and not just cagging a lift (this is what look at the sign does)country's license plates, you also have to have a sign that is readable. The more space between each letter the better to short forms featured there will probably be read from a distance. (This is called Kernel, e.g. see road signs specificationsknown in the population.)

If space doesn't permit a long city name shorten it to something everyone will understand. For example [[Amsterdam]] could be '''A'dam''' File:DSC00176.JPG|thumb|left|200px|True or Not, people will laugh and [[Hamburgpick you up!]] could be '''HH'''. Have a look at the country's license plates, the short forms featured there will probably be known in the population.

While living in a small village near a larger town my housemates and I found that using a sign decreased waiting times from 20-40 minutes average to about 10-20 minutes even though there were no other villages on the way[[File:Please. When I put this to my drivers some of them said that the jpg|thumb|left|200px|A sign made me look like a proper hitch-hiker.saying "Por favor" ("please" in spanish)]]

If you have the chance, adding "Please" onto your signs could be a great idea. As well as being polite, writing "Please" in a certain language can indicate that you are a good speaker of that language, and this can be used to attract certain groups of driver drivers who were ignoring you before. However, your main message is the destination/road number/compass direction. "Please" is an extra word for the driver to read, and trying to read that word can become a big distraction from the main message. Also, as you're clearly in a desperate position it's already accepted that you are being grateful for any assistance; once a driver stops, you can say "Please" as much as you like. Experiment with "Please" for yourself, and see what happens.{|style="margin: 0 auto;"|style="text-align: center; vertical-align: top;"|[[File:Carl_Nai_Maroc.jpg|thumb|327px|In the [[UK]], road names work well.]]|style="text-align: center; vertical-align: top;"|[[File:Signs.JPG|thumb|300px|Keep the signs bold and simple!]]|}