Yes, that is another interesting situation.

When there is a queue at the border it can be a lot faster to leave the vehicle once it reaches the queue, walk by the queue, cross the border and hitch on.

Did that twice.

Coming back from Lithuania I got back on the main road during a hike through forests and over frozen lakes about two kilometre before the border. Traffic passing by at 70-90 kmh, snow on the road. Tried to hitch a lift for a minute or so, then walked the 2 km to the border to Poland. There was a little queue and I walked by all the cars that had passed me. So as you see, walking can be really a fast way of travelling, and it is healthy and more natural.

Going to Ukraine from Poland, thus leaving Fortress EUrope, over the smallest official crossing near Ustryki Dolne I thumbed at a road with cars driving 80-90 kmh and the first one stopped. I went along with them till the start of the queue at the border. They advised me to get out, as it would safe me several hours of waiting. So I hiked along the one kilometre queue. Couple of hundreds of meters before the border there was a first barrier and a Polish border guardian asked the first driver in the queue if “a Dutch friend” could go along with them. Apparently it was not allowed to cross the border on foot. Behind the first barrier there was a line of some tens of cars and the driver told me it would be better to get off again (although this was probably not allowed between the first barrier and the border). So I did and got in again with perhaps the second car before the actual border crossing. Then some questions of a non-English, non-German speaking Ukrainian border guardian, signing “immigration card” to Ukraine. Just behind this border the driver offered to take me for 3 dollars about 20 kilometre further on. I preferred hiking in Ukraine. So I went, and after one kilometre an internal border appeared (where every tourist was supposed to get a Ukrainian travel insurance up to the post-communisms orange revolution took place in 2004). So border guardians took me into their office and they found an English speaking colleague, who posed some questions (Why do you come to Ukraine? What do you do? What kind of work do you do? Which countries have you been in? Where are you going to stay? Can you tell us something about the Netherlands?). Lots of Ukrainian flags on the walls, the Ukrainian constitution in big letters and photos of the President and some other high ranked officials. After a quarter of an hour they let me saying “and now you are free!!”.

Then hiking along the road in Ukraine two cars stopped to give me a lift on the way, although I was not at all requesting a ride. Got the impression that ten percent of the Ukrainians hitchhike… Finally I went on in a little bus which they call “marsrutni taksi” and an old woman told me to get in and sit down, and I did not have to pay because I told to the driver in Polish that I had only Polish Zloties.

Crossing the border on the way back is perhaps also worth noting. 10 km from the border there was a little petrol station. A UA border guardian was hitching there and I took my place 100 meter behind him. He was picked up quite soon, and I also got away quick. He was a businessman trading between UA and PL regularly and at the border he drove by the whole queue, showed some papers to the border guardian and a photo of him having just shot a Brown bear in Ukraine or Russia, then we could go on. Perhaps he had really specific papers, perhaps there was some bribery involved, I did not find out.

Oh, last 29 December I hitched on the Polish-Slovak border in Tatras, crossing named Lysa Polana, very well after dark. Border control had just been stopped as both countries were going to enter Schengen in a couple of days (the checking stopped about 20 December so that Christmas travellers were not bothered anymore). Nice and good place, really easy to get away, even hours after darkness, as such borders are usually very well lit.