Disappearing and leaving your life behind?

[Kye]

Have any of you just picked up and disappeared without telling anyone with no intention of returning? Did you end up returning to your old life?

Right now I'm really wondering whether or not I should just drop off the face of the planet... I'm absolutely miserable, and I feel like I'll never be free to be free while I'm in contact with the people in my life. I'm in my early 20s and have been searching left and right for my place for the past several years now, and even now I feel this constant pressure to be a specific kind of person because of the people around me. I honestly don't have the desire to be around the vast majority of people these days, and while some people might miss me, I feel like there isn't any one I'd miss if I packed my ruck, drove into the city, and got on a train, just leaving it all behind.

I'm not going to make a decision right away, and I hope that I could stick with whatever decision I make, but I'd appreciate your input. Besides, I owe a few people some money, and all else aside it doesn't sit right with my code of conduct to leave a debt unpaid...

 

[exscientiavera]

Thats what I did. It rocks.

 

[Kye]

Do you have any contact with anyone for your former life or do they have no idea where you are? Part of me thinks the way to do it would be to settle in to full time traveling, and then at least let my family know so that they could stop worrying that I'm dead. I know that if I were to tell them beforehand it would be an absolute mess.

 

[landpirate]

If you are questioning whether to stay in contact with your family then you probably should. Call your mum/Dad every now and again. They'll get used to you being gone. Unless your family are full on evil and you are literally running away from them then I think they deserve to know you're not dead. They'll more likely leave you alone that way. I am talking from experience here, my mum chills right out if I phone her or send her a text every couple of weeks.

 

[Kye]

My family are good folks, so I probably will keep them up to date at least a little bit. Nothing that I've tried in recent years has made me happy let alone content so I feel like I need to radically change my lifestyle. It might be smart to wait until late May/early June though. I have a potential job coming through that will have a contract through then and will be paying pretty good money (14.50 day/15.50 night). I figure it wouldn't hurt to fill up the bank account.

 

[exscientiavera]

Eh, I call from time to time to make sure I'm not missing anything big, and I keep my Facebook updated pretty regularly, but I didn't mention anything to anyone until the couple hours before I left.

 

[GonzoLizard211]

In march, I contacted some marine woman who posted a rideshare ad on Craigslist and traded her my PS3 for a ride out to Venice beach. I rode with her, some shady dude from Kelso, and a drunk ex-dominatrix with a dog. The plan was to leave there and then and go my own way, but she was packing and wanted to drop me off with someone.
Things got weird and went south from there and two months later, I was back at my old house with my family.
Just know that it is possible and if you have money with you and you can meet some cool people, it's probably something you wouldn't regret.

 

[EphemeralStick]

That's what I did. I left home without a word of warning and dropped off the map for a bit. Something I learned though was that it didn't matter how I left or where I went. The problems that I was disappearing from followed me wherever I went.

Do what you need to do, just remember to do it in a way that is healthy for you.

 

[Backswash]

Make sure you are prepared. Do a lot of research on what you need.
Whether you are going into the woods most of the time, or squatting buildings.
A suggestion for squatting buildings, get a lockpick set. I have one myself and it is simple and effective. (Also useful for other things.)

Most importantly: Stay Positive
It changes everything.

Good luck!

 

[Toasty Tramp]

I'm the guy who stayed in contact with everybody, but cut it off later.
This is one of those things that only the road can solve. You can deliberate about it for 4 years like I did, and then you can have it all torn to shreds on the first day of your adventure...like I did. I thought that I'd want to stay in contact, but I quickly found that the road filled me with so much freedom and joy that I just kinda sorta managed to not hit anybody up for a couple of months.

 

[Brother X]

My first time out, I dropped off the face of the planet to everyone from my past for 10 years. Those that could hang with that remained my friends when I finally returned.

 

[Deleted member 13433]

these kinds of posts interest me greatly, because once it is just me - no more loved ones..... I'm totally vanishing without a trace, never to be seen again.

I'm a lot older than most here - so I'm really looking at things very differently.

This is what I want to rid myself of when the time comes:
I want no pension, no social security, no car, no mailing address, no means of communication, nothing which can be traced back to me or I am obligated to pay for.

This is all I'm looking to keep or own:
An extra heavy duty expedition canoe with a trailer, and enough camping and survival gear along with some primative hunting/fishing gear.

When the time comes, I will pay someone - a person who does transport for a living but someone who will not know anything about me - a ton of cash to drive me as far north as possible.

Then, I will be truly free, and the trailer will then be left behind / given away.

But you see, I'm in a different position - I'm at the end of the line, there's no family after me - so there's no one who'll be looking for me once I drop outta sight.

As far as taxes go, as long as I have zero income or nothing which could be taxed, I drop off their radar as well.

I have about 10 years to prepare for what will be the greatest journey in my life, and even if I only last a few months, it will have been worth it for I will have died a free man

Definately do it - but make sure you are prepared.

 

[callmeG]

I kind of feel like this thought crosses the mind of every living person at least once in their life.

 

[Rob Nothing]

Done it a few times. The first time I was 21, left my phone and everything behind.. Homelessness was the plan and I expected it to go worse but it really didn't, and I found that I enjoyed it at least as much as I thought I would. I landed a job within a few months. I refused to contact or answer emails from family and friends for over a year, but eventually my concern for my mother in what she was experiencing in her life then grew too great and I have since kept consistent contact with both my parents, if nobody else.
The feeling is addictive and I have always, since adolescence had a bad habit of disappearing without notice. I've done it with a few jobs I've held, and to close friends..

More recently though I attempted to do the same to this married couple I worked for in New Mexico this last winter. There is almost never a distinguishable deciding factor in the thing that anyone besides people like us could truly comprehend, but there were a few other reasons here that I kept well quiet about. Anyway the guys wife was leaving for work in weather conditions I assumed she would not, and caught me there in the road, in the act, trying to ditch them. It was a strange feeling being caught.. Like being caught fucking, or stealing. Only I don't steal, but when he came driving down that road himself and told me that I was stealing his time and the good faith effort he'd put into teaching me what he did... I've seen this habit of mine a bit differently since then.

It is a beautiful thing to at least know should,the need arise and the urge turn too great, that I am fully capable of making myself my number one priority, over and above anything and anyone and I don't believe there is any shame in admitting that.

 

[MrSirLanceAlot]

I'm kind of in the same boat.

I just posted a thread or whatever, but I'm pretty sure mid next year, if not sooner, I'll be gone. Most likely never to return.

I'm currently buying camping gear for long term and taking weekend camping trips to test out gear and to figure out what I will or won't need. Everyone thinks I'm on some nature kick, but what they don't know is that I'm secretly planning my escape from "reality" and going to disappear. Only 2 maybe 3 people have a good hint as to what I'm doing. But very soon, after tax season, I'm gone.

 

[MrSirLanceAlot]

My family are good folks, so I probably will keep them up to date at least a little bit. Nothing that I've tried in recent years has made me happy let alone content so I feel like I need to radically change my lifestyle. It might be smart to wait until late May/early June though. I have a potential job coming through that will have a contract through then and will be paying pretty good money (14.50 day/15.50 night). I figure it wouldn't hurt to fill up the bank account.

Ha I know how you feel. I currently make $16.68 an hour, 40-48 hours a week. The paychecks make me want to never leave, but I know I must do what I feel I have to do. And as soon as tax season is over I will leave.