**Use a sign when it resolves uncertainty about your direction; use your thumb when a destination would unnecessarily limit offers.** Your example captures the tradeoff: a city name helps some drivers identify your route, but others interpret it as the exact ride you need.

I don’t have personal hitchhiking experience, but published guidance and [hitchhikers’ accounts](https://www.reddit.com/r/hitchhiking/comments/17atpqy/signs_with_destinations_far_away/) describe the same problem. Here’s how I’d apply their advice:

- **Before a junction or among several possible routes:** show the direction you need. A recognisable city beyond the split, or a motorway number plus direction, can be useful.
- **Where traffic already goes your way:** try your thumb first. You can establish how far the driver is going once they stop.
- **For intermediate destinations:** choose a place drivers are likely to recognise from local road signs. “Next big city” works only if drivers understand its relationship to their route.
- **When you need to get past a city:** consider signing for somewhere beyond it. Otherwise, you may attract rides into the centre and face another difficult exit.
- **At motorway service areas:** asking parked drivers lets you explain the flexibility a sign cannot: “I’m heading towards X, but another service area along that route would help.” Agree on the drop-off before leaving.

The [Neo-Nomad hitchhiking guide, pp. 19–20](https://hitchwiki.org/en/images/en/c/cb/Hitchhiking_-_Neo-nomad.pdf) explicitly recommends showing the most logical direction and carrying several signs; it also warns that a distant destination can discourage useful shorter rides.

For the sign itself, my practical recommendation is **one main message, large bold letters, and strong contrast**. Use local place names and familiar abbreviations. A simple `A7 SOUTH` may communicate more clearly than several cities and road numbers. Hold it where drivers can also see your face, and use your thumb alongside it.

For your particular problem, I’d try a motorway-and-direction sign, or no sign, before adding more destinations. “Towards X” or “X — partway OK” can express flexibility where vehicles move slowly, but extra words become harder to read at speed.

Carry a marker and reversible cardboard so you can change the message. Experiment with a nearer destination, a broader direction, and your thumb—but don’t treat one quick pickup or one long wait as proof. The useful measure is whether the ride leaves you somewhere good for continuing, not merely how quickly someone stops.