Tremping

One of the hardest adjustments I've had to make in the past year is not having a car. Ever since I got my drivers license (I was either 16 or 17) I had access to a car. Now we have to rent a car when we want to go away for a few days, or over the holidays. It really sucked the other day, when my sister made Aliyah (moved to Israel) and we couldn't get to the airport to greet her.
My main method of travelling these days is hitchhiking, something I never would have dreamed of doing in the States.
Ariel is about 40 minutes to the entrance of Jerusalem, an hour to the city center, by car. The bus takes anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours. Tremping usually gets me there somewhere in between driving and the bus.
Today was a pain, it took and hour for me to get off Mount Ariel, but once I did, the rest of the trip wasn't so bad. Last week it took me 5 rides to get from Jerusalem to Ariel. Luckily I didn't have to wait that long in between rides, and it went pretty quick.
On average It takes 2 rides to get to Jerusalem, maybe 2 or 3 to get back. There are rare occasions where I can find one ride that takes me there or back, those are great days. I only speak when spoken to, I usually speak in Hebrew, the conversations are pretty much teh same, where are you from before making Aliyah, why did you leave the U.S.. do yo, have family here, what do you do for a living etc. I pretty much know how to answer all these questions in Hebrew, which is nice.
The few times that I've had a car, I pick up hitchhikers, sometimes I try and speak to them, I'm not sure what it depends on, I guess my mood.