# My first experience on the road



## fuck capitalist scum (Nov 6, 2016)

I was sick of staying at my parents and I knew that I couldn't go on forever like that, since every work experience I had left me absolutely miserable I decided to look for alternatives, so I bought all the cheapest lightest material I needed after researching and put myself on the road on foot in rural areas for a month to see if it's an interesting lifestyle. This is my 5th say and the experience hasn't been good at all.

First and foremost I'm always tired, how can I enjoy when I'm either walking or resting from exhaustion. As someone in very bad shape when I started this I set my expectations of KM per day accordingly day but it seems I got it wrong. Walking 15 or 20 KM a day seems ok in theory but I never fully recovered from my first day when I walked the most and ended up with pain everywhere. 

Second, FUCK WASPS, just go extinct already, curse them all, burn them all! I waited till November so I would avoid fire season (and this year there were many many fires in Portugal) and the sun which makes me uncomfortable and insects. I have a phobia of wasps, it has improved since I was a kid it's still there (and still never got stung!) and every damn village was full of wasps, the few old people living there don't seem to care but I do. 
.
Third, it's been lonely, at home I didn't talk to people but I had internet to socialize, here my internet is very limited,( opened an exception for this post since I'm bored) most people are old, I'm not really good at making conversation, I thought I'd improve as the days go by but it doesn't seem like it. I have no interest in talking to people but then I complain about being lonely :S I also prefer to connect on an intellectual level than personal most if the time.

On the first day I walked almost all day, at 4pm I was really tired in the middle of nowhere on a road in an hunting zone (hadn't seen a mammal since 1pm), had no more water and decides to rest right there on my tent, which I did and then had to wait till night time because 2 or 3 wasps surrounded my tent so I couldn't leave, good thing night came early due to time zone, not even 6pm and it was pitch black. I got on the move and quickly tired myself again because the terrain was upwards but had to bear it. I remember thinking that if I was a few years young I'd die of fear in the middle of nothing surrounded by trees in an hunting zone without any natural light (I had headlamp), but now there was surprisingly no fear, just because its dark doesn't mean there's more danger and I trust the animal life in my country, very few dangerous animals, no bears, no dangerous snakes or spiders etc, I still avoided looking left and right out of paranoia, I didn't want to see the eyes of an animal staring at me. Interestingly only after leaving the hunting zone around 7pm I heard a noise on my right and when I looked I saw the first mammal since 1pm, a wild boar. I checked Wikipedia afterward and it says they can get quite heavy, so either the one I saw wasn't an adult or they have strong mass but smallish bodies, it didn't really intimidate me but I went on my way, 5 minutes after and I reached a village, at first it was really empty, heard no noise and saw no people, really weird considering there was champions league games that day, by as I walked I finally found humans, the first in many hours at the cafe, it was empty but as the game was about to start people started gathering, I bought water and rested there for a while. I ended up sleeping at the back of a school that didn't have students for over 20 years, such a waste. Slept badly because of mosquitoes (not really mosquito, its another annoying buzzing night time bug that I don't recall it's name in english and don't want to use more internet to look for it), every few minutes I'd hear the buzz and used my hand to make it go away, I tought that maybe after I gave some blood itd go away but I just couldn't allow it, as soon as I heard it id scare it off , every few minutes for over 4 hours getting some rest but not REM sleep. At 4 am I gave up, stood up and did nothing till 7 am where I bought supplies and went on my way to near a river with the intent to bathe, but after reaching it I wasnt sure of the idea, it was empty and cold, but fortunately there was grass there also I set up my tent and slept 2 or 3 hours which felt very good, finally fully rested, a very big wasp camped outside my tent , otherwise id sleep more but the buzzing was distracting. This time I couldn't wait till night for it to go away, so I just left the tent when it seemed to go away for a while and quickly packed and went on my way , for me only then ended the first miserable day. 

I don't want to type every single day detailed now despite some interesting and dangerous stuff happening (maybe ill type another day if you want) ill just say that I was and am always tired, yesterday I stayed at the same place for a day ( and still here today) but I'm still tired! My feet start hurting after walking a little bit even without the backpack (I leave it somewhere safe ), I do wonder if I overworked myself and am actually weaker now instead of stronger or if I need even more rest. 

Im demotivated, not enjoying at all, at least I'm not alienated from what I do, what I do here has impact on me and I'm in control, on a job you do what you're told and that's it.
Don't know if I can go on for a month like this , but I also can't live at my parents forever and really don't want to work for anyone ( no matter what job I don't want any boss), if only I found a way to make a living for myself, I found one once but after making 2k in 2 or 3 months they limited my account, apparently you're only allowed to lose, fucking capitalism makes me sick. And now I don't know what to do


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## A New Name (Nov 6, 2016)

Join a commune. Bussana Vechia is nice, I hear.


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## jojoofu (Nov 6, 2016)

It's rough out on the road. A lot of people have this rose tinted view of life on the road as absolute freedom and a non stop party. In reality it's very rough.

At least now you have a taste of what it's like. This should give you an idea if you want to continue or go back to civilization and look for work.


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## Mankini (Nov 6, 2016)

fuck capitalist scum said:


> I was sick of staying at my parents and I knew that I couldn't go on forever like that, since every work experience I had left me absolutely miserable I decided to look for alternatives, so I bought all the cheapest lightest material I needed after researching and put myself on the road on foot in rural areas for a month to see if it's an interesting lifestyle. This is my 5th say and the experience hasn't been good at all.
> 
> First and foremost I'm always tired, how can I enjoy when I'm either walking or resting from exhaustion. As someone in very bad shape when I started this I set my expectations of KM per day accordingly day but it seems I got it wrong. Walking 15 or 20 KM a day seems ok in theory but I never fully recovered from my first day when I walked the most and ended up with pain everywhere.
> 
> ...




There is a vast difference between being on the road in a shitty area and doing it in a nice area. Sounds like you are in Europe and if so I'd move up to the Swiss Alps; Carpathians; or Scandinavia. Lowlands of any sort, in any region, suck.

Also you need music and a PHONE. Wifi is not always available but a cheap phone with unlimited data is good. Find Food not Bombs in Europe those muthaz will hook you right up.


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## landpirate (Nov 6, 2016)

Gets some ear plugs and all those annoying noises that keep you awake soon vanish.

I also find I get some weird satisfaction when the madness of isolation sets in. I often go days without any human interaction and it's hard but at the same time I feel kind of invincible, I don't really know how to explain it but it's sometimes interesting to take yourself to the extremes of what you can cope with. you can learn a lot about yourself.

Good luck though. I'm sure you'll hit your stride and feel better about everything.


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## fuck capitalist scum (Nov 8, 2016)

I hear music when walking but nit when trying to sleep.

Anyway i just gave up, I lost my air mattress and didn't even noticed falling of the backpack and without insulation it would be harder, I know I could get some cardboard but that wont do any miracles. Really cold night, tought my sleeping bag would take it and while I wasn't at risk of hypothermia I was still very cold and uncomfortable, wont take this for longer. Had some luck, made the decision to quit few hours ago and checked up for ways to go home and found a bus leaves here for my place in an hour, it was a quick decision .

Yesterday, i walked from 11 am till 6pm and then from 23:30 till 2:30 and everyplace except this one I'm at now which is a bigger place (2000 habitants!) had no grocery stores or coffee shop, all mostly empty old villages, what a shithole and i kinda enjoyed rural areas in my mind minus the wasps . It's demotivating.


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## creature (Nov 11, 2016)

you sound like one brave son of a bitch, to me...

where were the empty villages??


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## fuck capitalist scum (Nov 12, 2016)

By empty I mean with few inhabitants (fewer than a hundred, and I know some places have literally 0 but I haven't gone to those, they are further North), mostly old people and basically nothing there. I asked an old woman once how do they get stuff and she said a bus comes to take them to a close-by town so they can do their shopping.
It pisses me off that there were many unused houses, really a lot, but the open ones were rotten and falling to pieces, forcing entry would be illegal and while in theory I don't mind breaking the law, in practice it makes noise and I wasn't prepared for it, had no tools.

Portugal has a population problem in the interior, most people moved to the cities by the sea, according to wikipedia the biggest villages I went to had around 5000 people in the 50's and 60's and in 2011 they had 400-600, probably even less now. (for example https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Souto_(Abrantes) )
can't find population info on the smaller villages, no pages on the internet, it's like it doesn't even exist.


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