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When I was in my teens and 20s, hitchhiking was a main form of long-distance transport. The kindness or curiosity of strangers _____1____ me all over Europe, North America, Asia and southern Africa. Some of the life-givers became friends, many provided hospitality _____2_____ the road. No only did you find out much more about a country than _____3_____ traveling by train or plane, but1 there was that element of excitement about where you would finish up that night. Hitchhiking featured importantly in Western culture. It has books and songs about it. So what has happened to ______4_____? A few years ago, I asked the same question about hitching in a column on a newspaper. ____5_____ of people from all over the world responded with their view on the state of hitchhiking. If there is a hitchhikers ____6_____it must be Iran, came one reply. Rural Ireland was recommended as a friendly place for hitching, ____7_____ was Quebec, Canadaif you dont mind being berated for not speaking French. But while hitchhiking was clearly still alive and well in many parts of the world, the _____8____ feeling was that throughout much of the west it was doomed . With so much news about crime in the media, people assumed that anyone on the open road without the money for even a bus ticket must present a danger. But do we ____9____ to be so wary both to hitch and to give a lift? | 
