# Lessons from 5 years ago.



## goggles (Jan 21, 2010)

About five or six years ago i tried running away at the age of 12. I had managed to get used to transit in the city, by riding it solo. I had been doing that since i was 9. Now that was the year i realized that, a) I was fed up with all the bs at school and being the punch line to all the jokes, and the literal punching bag. b)Teachers do absolutely JACK when you tell them anything. So on a cold Halloween day instead of going to school, I broke open my piggy bank took all the money out. Which was about $150 and went right to the bus station. But before i left home i wrote a note saying that I've left town on a Greyhound and gone east. Yea i wasn't very subtle, but i got a ticket to Edmonton at the bus station and they didn't actually question me. I gave them the excuse that i was visiting family. 90 minutes later i was on a bus headed east. But 12 hours later at about 8 pm on the BC-Alberta border i was woken up at the sight of police officers. In my tiredness i went with them, thinking it was a dream. But an hour later just before I was flown back to Vancouver in the back of a cruiser, in handcuffs did i realize that it wasn't a dream and maybe it was a bad idea leaving a note. five years later i think I'm ready to try it again. This time; I'm NOT leaving a note, I will NOT take the BUS or plane and I WILL bring the hard drive and router with me. Lets see how long it takes them to find me now...

-Goggles

PS: I'm going to make a post the closer it gets to the month i plan on leaving, if anyone wants to head east and teach a kid the ropes of riding trains send me a PM.


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## kai (Jan 22, 2010)

better wait till your 18 there son, can't think of too many people that are gonna be willing to take a underage runaway on the rails to show 'em the ropes. If you wanna learn something I recommend going down to port coquitlam and hanging out there downtown watching the yard...there's a good spot right on mary's hill bypass where you can watch eastbounds leave the yard and also watch westbounds come into vancouver. this way you'll at least know how fast they move around in yards, what they look like, pop quiz yourself on what's what etc. Stay out of the yard...on the side of the road there is a perfect spot to watch and safe so is POCO station.

oh if you look it up there's a few good threads on vancouver specifically related to hopping trains.

do you hang out on the drive at all?? check the posters for capture the flag that are wheat pasted everywhere could be fun. Also there's an ice cream dumpster at the gelato place near clark and venables and doughnuts near the old canadian tire on hastings. Why leave somewhere that has an ice cream dumpster??


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## goggles (Jan 22, 2010)

Actually I turn 18 in Mid-July. I've been watching the trains in the new west yard since i was really young. Plus my rides home actually include poco or more specifically the west coast express. I have gone past that yard so many times. It ain't often that i hang out on the drive, but only to go from north to south and check out the downtown yard. I never realized about the ice cream dumpster. But I've seen the posters on capture the flag. I've never actually ventured out at the old abandoned Canadian tire. 

But yea the major thing i ULTIMATELY intend on doing is finishing off the last few months of high school. Then ADIOS RAINCOUVER!! 

-Goggles


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## oldmanLee (Jan 22, 2010)

Kid,you've got the idea.I took shit(and delt some of it back,too)all the way through school,but stayed long enough to get the paper.It's a tool,just like any other,and as sad as it may seem,a useful one.The one thing to remember is that your real education is what YOU are willing to learn and to treasure.I wish for you the best,and just hang on if nothing else.If you make it down this way into the States,drop by.Will get you fed and want to find out how you found the world when you got out into it.But wait until you are 18.One of my kids finished school early,and he decided to hit the road for a while.The amount of shit he went thru from cops trying to bust him as a runaway was amazing,and he even would have them call me to find out if I knew what he was doing!


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## goggles (Jan 22, 2010)

oldmanLee said:


> Kid,you've got the idea.I took shit(and delt some of it back,too)all the way through school,but stayed long enough to get the paper.It's a tool,just like any other,and as sad as it may seem,a useful one.The one thing to remember is that your real education is what YOU are willing to learn and to treasure.I wish for you the best,and just hang on if nothing else.If you make it down this way into the States,drop by.Will get you fed and want to find out how you found the world when you got out into it.But wait until you are 18.One of my kids finished school early,and he decided to hit the road for a while.The amount of shit he went thru from cops trying to bust him as a runaway was amazing,and he even would have them call me to find out if I knew what he was doing!



Thanks for the advice. But yea that's my intentions, to get though high school in the next 4 months. Then when i turn 18 in July of this year., i start learning and practicing before heading east. I least I'm hoping. Knowing my luck, I'll either somehow manage to wake up in the US or north. But yea we'll have to see how the next few months go.

-Goggles


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## goggles (Feb 25, 2010)

Ok i feel like its time to post in the same thread I created. In the span of about a month things have gone from Normal to just-get-the-fuck-out to Oh-fuck-i'm-stuck. The reason why I say this is that, not only has family life got me at wanting to just get the fuck out, but also the fact that my so-called "friends" have set me up on a date with someone I've been flirting with for the last week. Which means that I'm stuck in this shit-hole, for a while. I've changed my mind about leaving in the summer to leaving in the fall... now this is a bit of a warning for me.

For good reason, usually when my mind changes about leaving a second time - it means that i'm not leaving any time soon. Now with the fact that there's a chance that i'll have emotional baggage to deal with, and cops searching my browsing history after I leave is not the greatest feeling. So here's a question, do i stick around and let life take its course or leave in September 2 months after my 18th birthday. Which by the way is on July 18th. 

-Goggles


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## earlthepearl (Jun 19, 2010)

I vote that you should take off, explore the world.

youre not in a commited relationship with this girl your friends are setting you up with, dont get attached, it makes it hard to do what you please anytime you want to.
i assume youve just recently graduated... youre about to be 18. its summer. no better time than now to start your travels my man.
best of luck.


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## goggles (Jun 19, 2010)

Yep, its what I plan on doing come august. Thread is right here: http://squattheplanet.com/where/destinations/11366-summer-trip-ideas

- Goggles


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