Greetings from Florida, here to introduce myself!

[Darby]

Hello!My name is Darby. I am currently loosely planning a trip across the United States, set to take place in a couple of years.
I have come to the StP forums to introduce myself, make connections, and learn as much as I can before then.
I am 16 years old, currently a sophmore in high school. I am set to enroll in a collegiate high school next year, and can earn enough college credits there to have an A.A degree by the time I graduate 12th grade.
Education through school isn't the only thing I want out of life though. I am a very enthuastic photographer and have been becoming more and more interested in photojournalism. As you may have gathered by now, I'm at least slightly intelligent, writing comes naturally to me and that in combo with my interest in photography makes for decent photjournalism.
Anyway, when I shared my idea of wanting to travel after I finish highschool so I can take pictures and explore, I found a lot of my friends wanted to as well.
Already about 10 of us are interested and I came to introduce myself, and my idea. Feel free to talk to me, and any tips/advice you have are welcome!

You can find more information about my plan here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/373392179442221/
This is a facebook group I created for friends of mine who are interested.

 

[dprogram]

Welcome! Hope your travels are awesome!

 

[Matt Derrick]

Awesome! It's really great to see such an intelligent and level headed person getting on their way into this style of travel. Let me know if you have any questions, and I like what you are doing with the Facebook group!

 

[Darby]

Thank you guys
And Matt I will definitely contact you if I have any questions, thanks for the encouragement!

 

[eske silver]

Hey there ladyface! You are Awesome!
You do seem to have a good head on your shoulders.
It's smart of you to keep on with school.
Even if you end up living the nomad life for the rest of your years,
good education will get you far when you Do have to work the system.
And for whatever reason this life isn't for you,
you won't be stuck helpless in a world of degree-holding people,
competing for the jobs you want.

The FB group is interesting an approach, too.
It's great see that you have so much support from your friends and even your older sister!
I saw that you listed the dangers and cons of traveling this way on there.
That's really good. You seem to have a pretty good idea of what you'll be up against.
And knowing what you'll need is important, too - you seem to e on the right track.
There's a few key things that you left out, though

I have in the past and am now helping a few friends start their life on the road.
Having a full list of of pros and cons is good but also a worst case scenario 'guide'.
One of the main things is a Minimum Gear List, though.
Having a vehicle involves a whole other minimum gear list, too.
I wouldn't mind at all helping you out in any I can.
Let's keep in touch. I'd love to see how your adventure progresses!
I don't know where I'll be by the time you head out, but we should definitely go out on a photo adventure day!
PM me for contact info

 

[Charlie]

Ohhh yeaaa, you're going to have so much fun and so much drama at the same time, more fun than drama. I requested to join your group because I noticed the post about "what do I tell my parents" I've been there, and there are some things that you'll want to say that your parents don't want to hear, and then there's things you SHOULD say that will make your parents feel better.

Here's some tips so you can get some experience and level up before you even hit the road.
1. Weekend adventures are going to become your best friend to prep, walk around a town all day (like 12 hours) with what you would pack, then do it again the next day. If your back is sore, pack less. If your feet are sore, buy walking shoes. If you sweat too much, wear a bandana. If your head hurts, drink water and eat something spicy. If you get sick, eat lots of fruit and vegies, lots of citrus fruit (oranges, lemons, limes), fresh squeeze lemonade, and of course hot sauce. If you don't feel like you have the energy to start this journey, do it anyways, lack of exercise and sunshine will drain your energy until you get out there and do something.
2. Walking/running shoes will save your feet. Forget trendy skate shoes or chuck taylors, think new balance, nike, good shoes. don't wear water proof hiking boots either, they don't let sweat out and will give you boot rot.
3. Volunteer on a farm on the weekends. Camp out with your friends. You'll learn to like getting dirty and not mind working work hard. Also, it'll teach you about agriculture and give you good head start if you want to WWOOF.
4. Go hiking, hike 10 miles in a day just so you know if you can.
5. Pick up a hobby that you can use to make money on the road. There's 10 of you? psh! awesome! Start a traveling band AND a side show. Musicians and performers is an awesome combination. If you do this, you can easily make enough money to support a caravan/bus. However, all of you being young, I doubt all 10 of you will go traveling, So pick something you can do on your own (juggling, hoolah hooping, playing guitar/ukulele/bass/djembe and singing).
6. Learn a method of fast travel. Skateboards and bicycles rock when you get stuck in downtown anywhere. It's almost impossible to hitch out of a downtown area, so getting to the other side of a big city is your only option (if you're hitchhiking). If you don't know how to skateboard, now's a great time to learn, same for bicycling.
7. Learn about vagrant culture and laws. There are many laws put into effect to discourage vagrancy and let's face it, if you're going to travel like bums, you're gonna be vagrants.
8. Get your parents involved. It'll bring them back to the days when they were your age and if you get them involved, they'll support you and trust you in your travels. Considering they know you better than anybody else, they can even come up with some advice that you might not have thought of. They're your biggest fans, encourage that.
9. Keep in contact with this post and update us on your progress, tell us what you learn, ask us your questions. We've been where you're at right now and a lot of us had to learn it on our own.
10. DON'T LET ANYBODY DISCOURAGE YOU!!!!! everybody knows that you should follow your dreams, if you want to travel across country, people might call you nuts, but they're nuts for calling you nuts. If you want to do something, you won't be satisfied until you do it. Once you do it, it'll build you up and you will level up from the experience.
11. Acquire a taste for hot sauce, if you don't like spicy stuff, tough it out. Once you get into hotter hot sauces, it's better than drugs. It makes your mouth water, it gets you giggly, you start to sweat out toxins, burn up cold bugs, gets your adrenaline and endorphins going and makes you feel like you jumped off a bridge into a river.
12. Learn to combat triggers for depressed moods. This will save you a lot of drama on the road.

If you master these steps the way I have, then in two years, you'll have the time of your life.