# Scared of simplicity



## beginnavagabond (Nov 14, 2016)

I've been thinking of travelling to many different places recently and I've this "idea" in my head of a perfect trip to specific places but the more I think about it, it's so much more likely for things to go wrong in a planned trip. I hear people with just travelling for the sake of it having the most fun rather than those who travel to get somewhere. I want to be like that. I guess I've been in a perfectionist mindset for so long living in regular civilisation. I'm not sure of my preferred method of travel but I do want to go west and I would like to visit Slab City.
I guess I'm mostly afraid of not having something I might need. The more I think about it, it sounds ridiculous, but whenever I start packing I just pack way too much. My other main fear is being homesick. I spent a whole month in PA which I am very familiar with growing up there, and I was going to start travelling after I left there but I got freaked out and got a plane ticket home. I'm bored as fuck right now and I really don't have any reason to stay here.
One more thing, I know people say you'll never have enough money on the road but what would you say is a good amount of money to start out with as a beginner?
Thank you all


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## creature (Nov 14, 2016)

ok.. yer 20..

that's young enough that people are gonna say "ha! he's a kid!" & give you a hand, just because they know that by the time yer 30, if they *don't* help, you'll be week old cream cheese spilled in a texas parking lot.

the other thing is that yer probably healthy enough to run away from crazies... this is a very usefull skill (hitching or otherwise)... it also means you can probably live through minor periods of deprivation & discomfort & still survive..

that being said... you might be able to get away with as little as 0 dollars..

dunno.. different world than when i was 20, mebbee..

people who travel don't just have 'fun'..

think about what it would be like to have just your one set of clothes & have to deal with mountain cold or desert heat, possibly within 24 hours of each other..

the only thing romantic about traveling, at its most basic level, is that you are constantly trying to prevail in a situation where the only limits on your autonomy are the current circumstances as they relate to your physical needs. 

if you are *lucky*, there is fun..
& beauty
& kindness
& camaraderie..
maybe even a little comfort, now & then..

traveling, alone, in a minimalist fashion, is perhaps a lot like soldiering, at least in as much that one you are doing it, you either fucking do it or you wash out..

the real part that makes you hardcore is that if you *do* continue, & you are able to share whatever meager resources you have with others who are committed to that same autonomy (or whom are simply in need) to the best of your judgment & extent.

you will find a basic satisfaction with your sense of self that anything you scream at the sky will essentially be a valid rant...

i do not mean it makes anything valid, but it does help you keep from being a *complete* asshole (i hope), if only in that by finding you are able to share when you have absolutely nothing, you have demanded of yourself a certain objectivity that cannot be acquired without the basic discipline of compassion and resistance to fundamental compromise... 

it will not last forever, because if you think you are scared of shit *now*, just wait a little while..

a day.. a month.. 4 or 5 years..

wait until you have too much shit to throw away..

& *then* look at yourself..

there are lots of simple ways to travel.

at 20 you can get a bicycle & leave with $100 or less..


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## creature (Nov 14, 2016)

PS.. don't mean to be a prick, b ut when you seriously start asking questions like these, you are honestly asking questions of basic existential life or death.

sorry if i sound like one..


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## beginnavagabond (Nov 14, 2016)

creature said:


> PS.. don't mean to be a prick, b ut when you seriously start asking questions like these, you are honestly asking questions of basic existential life or death.
> 
> sorry if i sound like one..


Yeah I know it's not something to be romanticised but it is something I would find more fulfilling than my current lifestyle. The only time I truly feel happy is when I'm on the move.

Yeah I thought it was a bit simple I guess I just have a lot of doubt which is why I ask about stuff like this. Thank you for your advice.


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## creature (Nov 14, 2016)

You know.. in a way (all apologies to Glorious Leader) i'm kind of glad StP wasn't around when i was younger.. i like it so fucking much, i might have used it as an excuse to stay home.. ; )


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## creature (Nov 14, 2016)

In any case.. i forget who, but the made a couple of solid comments..

& it sucks..

yer caucasian, on top of it all.. very little chance of stop & frisk, etc., & if you have no criminal background, & don't give the cops too hard a time, you'll be able to go from A to B without much trouble..

& that's fine.. in a way, cops have their place, *especially* when they keep travelers safe, instead of busting on them.. that's the main source of enmity, i think, between travelers & them, is not that they do their job, but that they do their job with the *intent* to prosecute, rather than verify the absence of threat.

i really don't mind being questioned, so long as i don't have to be afraid of guilt.
that fear places me in a position where i have to be guarded & distrustfull, at the very least..

also, i dunno (though there may be strong disagreement with this) if traveling is a 'lifestyle', so much as it is a philosophical choice..

Don't deny yourself the confidence of jumping off the rock..
you may belly flop, but.. hell, man, you are probably as lucky as i was, & have family you can rely on..
strictly from the perspective of relativeness, a lot of folks on here have nothing like what we do, and are the most hard core & holy of us all, even if they are dirty, filthy fucks.. ; )

if you are happy on the move, get it out of your system.. it may take a few years to find how it balances for you, but shit.. you *have* to have the courage to try to find it, if movement is what gives you peace..

you might die taking my advice, & i might weep over it, so all i will tell you is **work to find a method that you are comfortable with, but obligates you as little as possible to anything other than your essential self**

that may sound pie in the sky, but when you are 50ish & no longer have the powers of immortality & eternal youth, you are going to wind up one of four ways:

-- "goddamned i am glad i never hit the road.. i never would have been this comfortable, if i did"

-- "goddamned i am a sorry ass, because i got locked down & now i know i am just too fucking soft.."

-- or "meh"

-- or, & this is as good as any trip you will ever take "i know i stayed more or less stationary, but i kept my promises to those who loved me & depended on me.."

the 4th one is not one a traveler chooses, unless the culture is nomadic, or unless they can provide for the family's nomadism..
be carefull, & if you are heterosexual, be very carefull where you put your dick.

it takes exactly one fucking orgasm to change your life forever.

so search for a way to provide for yourself, first..
be a dishwasher, if you can do it well & find satisfaction with the employer..
be a journalist, or a busker, or a draftsperson or a potter or a wireworker or an artist or an engineer or a machinist or a driver or whatever it is that you can do that keeps you able to do what gives you peace.

be prudent enough to work hard enough to find what you enjoy enough that you will be able to tolerate it, in case you fall in love & need to answer that love with a commitment whose satisfaction resides in the single principle of being able to keep a promise absolutely.

i would recommend, despite much of the dickheaded ill-advice you may hear about about fucking on the road, that you remain celibate or get your nuts cut, because the very, very, very last thing you are going to want is to have your love for freedom be transformed into a more or less ever-present ball & chain of goddamned fucking *guilt*..


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## creature (Nov 14, 2016)

you know.. at the bottom, "similar threads", this popped up..

https://squattheplanet.com/threads/hello-new-and-a-little-scared.7676/

first time ive realized mr. H has been on here that long...


& great advice on the follow-ups!!


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## beginnavagabond (Nov 15, 2016)

creature said:


> In any case.. i forget who, but the made a couple of solid comments..
> 
> & it sucks..
> 
> ...



Yeah like you said I'm young and Caucasian so it shouldn't be too hard (as far as other people bothering me) so that's one thing I shouldn't be so worried about.

I definitely don't want to think back and say I'm glad I never hit the road. Too much regret. You make starting sound like jumping into cold water, if you just do it, it will hurt a bit at first, but then you start to enjoy it.

Yeah I'm not working a great job now so I know I should look for work that I can tolerate while I'm out. Even then it's only temporary.

I don't plan on fucking on the road as well, it's just not in my interest especially right now. I don't want anything to slow me down.

Thank you for all of this advice.


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## Jone (Nov 20, 2016)

I like I h $200 and a car n started traveling. Gear and tools are important, but you really need very little, the less the better. You will be suprised. Letting go and cleaning clutter takes effort and is difficult. I travel with way too much shit. You don't need hardly anything. Often I'll go to town with almost nothing and by the end of the day I'll have a back pack, new outfits, food, so on...


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