How practical is it to travel with a large amount of people?

[Disco]

I've looked online and haven't seen many instances of it being done ever...
Thousands of years ago that's how most of us loved but I'm wondering as far as traveller history goes has anyone tried getting a large group of people together for long term travel?

As far as logistics goes id think it would be somewhat practical but I don't really know.
Hoping to hear from a few knowledgable folks

 

[wildboy860]

it depends on a lot of things! how experienced the crew is, what mode of travel you plan on using ect. you might wanna specify that 1st before looking for any kind of responses.

 

[Disco]

It's more than anything a general question. It would be mostly devotees though.
So people who were devoted to the present moment and being as close to that as they possibly could.
If that helps lol.

A mix of no experience to moderately experienced is the most likely though.

 

[Disco]

Travel would be on foot.

 

[Desperado Deluxe]

that would be cool like a critical mass for walkers? i bet u wouldnt need much experince tho

 

[Matt Derrick]

a bunch of my friends walked from boston to nyc protesting the dnc and rnc in 2004. i guess it really depends on where you want to go. i've traveled 12 people deep in a boxcar before, but we were only going to philly from baltimore.

 

[enocifer]

I think four people max is about all I'm comfortable with. I dislike large groups. People in large groups tend to be dumb, and do things they wouldn't do alone.

 

[Disco]

Yeah fox, more people= more safety more resources and less need for experience.
Although many personal things come into play and that needs to be handled in the way most focused on love

 

[Hylyx]

(Disclaimer: I travel alone a vast majority of the time.)
I think the biggest hurdle with travelling in a big group is how to deal with being stationary and sleeping. Even the most welcoming squat/punk house will be daunted at the prospect of a dozen or two people rolling up to crash there. Emotions aside, there is just the physical logistics of bathroom/kitchen/floor space. Likewise, trying to hide a large group of people in a park or even "distant" woods can be hard. I've slept plenty of places where having another human would have been a blessing, but another 3 humans would have made that spot unworkable. So I'd think about that first, see where you could reasonably stay and maybe use google maps to find secluded-looking areas in the town.
Good luck!

 

[Disco]

Thanks brother

 

[Deleted member 125]

by freight i wouldnt want more then 2 people and myself max, same with hitch hiking, its hard enough to get picked up just being a male who looks strange. shit, ide even be concerned about food. feeding yerself and 1 other person isnt that hard especially if you are close and willing to share what you have, but rolling into town 10 deep and all finding a corner to stand on would be a pain in the ass, not to mention youd attract alot of attention and all it takes is one person who didnt get their morning beer and decides to steal a tall can and now yer all grouped in with that person. on a more personal note i dont think i could name 5 people that i know who i would want to travel with long term at al.

 

[johnnymarie]

somehow every so often i find myself in bigger groups of kids and i just kind of wonder to myself, "WHY?".
it's like herding cats. it's a mess. it never ends well.

riding trains with more than three people is fkn dumb, even if you're all cool and know what you're doing it's still just too many heads. if you don't get caught, someone's gonna get left behind, someone's gonna throw a fit about the direction you're headed, someone is gonna talk to every homebum/dumb kid you meet and invite them along, someone is gonna harrass people for change, someone is gonna get arrested. add a few half gals to the mix and you're literally in hell. NO THANK YOU.

i find i make the most miles hitching by myself or with another chick. if i'm with a dude, eh. if i'm with more than one dude, just fuck it get on a train.

that being said, i just want everyone to know that this opinion comes from years and years of hating every single person who ever existed. so.

 

[Matt Derrick]

i gotta say that some of the best times i ever had was traveling with a huge group of people. i also agree with everything everyone else has said so far. it's really fucking hard and frustrating as hell, but i kinda thrive off that chaos so it was pretty fun for me (i'm thinking of the time we hopped from baltimore to philly with 12 people).

now that i think about it, i wrote a story about it here:

http://squattheplanet.com/old/journal/chapterone/06-01-02/06-01-02.htm

 

[Arapala]

I think itd be rad to travel in a group. Especially rubber tramping would be the best i think. Imagine a crew of 5 or 6, everyone goes out and busks/spanges/gas juggs seperately and then meets back up and thows it into the pot. Would be able to cover more ground and safety in numbers. Plus who wants to wonder around all lonely?? I want to share the.good times. Sometimes it's not about the location it's about the homies!

 

[Deleted member 20]

I once tryed to form a nomadic bus tribe with members all owning the bus or busses. Like a mobile commune. I do like the idea of having #s if it was on a large vehicle say a bus or rv.

Riding trains with groups is just a shit show. Most times its a training mission for noobs, who are scared to do anything alone. They need liquid courage & handholding to go anywhere.I do believe that these groups are blowing up hopouts & communities around yards. Some places arent used to waves of drunkin dirty kids (each with there customary pitbull); or the hoardes have already fucked it up for others to come.

Why cant we as a whole preserve our own culture without alienating the citizens that tolrrate & assist us?

 

[johnnymarie]

wellllll, it's kinda hard to preserve the culture and keep it alive if nobody is learning how to get on trains the right way. i agree that especially when in large groups, a lot of kids are shitty and think they have to put on a supertramp traincore show and harass locals and have too fkn many dogs (WHY) but if nobody is teaching kids how to hop out without dying/losing a limb, there would be very few new kids and a lot of people would get hurt. i dunno HOW i would have caught my first ride if some other more experiencd kids wouldnt have shown up, i had been in the yard two days too scared to do anything.. they were a godsend.

however, it's hard to teach anybody anything in big groups, and especially hard to remain stealthy with a bunch of fucking idiots following you hollerin and wavin around half gals and trippin over leashes and tracks.. but as someone who only been on the road a few years i feel for the new guys (the ones who arent dbags aka 20% of them), and i'm usually somewhat honored to hold noobs hands and show em the ropes cause it wasn't so long ago that i was brand new.

THAT being said, in addition to teachin em the ins and outs of navigating the yard/getting on and off the right way/etc, i always do what i can (without sounding like an asshole) to ingrain into their heads how to be a RESPECTFUL dirty kid and how to go about doing shit without blowing everything up and ruining things for the next kid to pass through.

 

[Deleted member 20]

I feel that with packs comes pack mentality. Where as normal stealthy ninjas alone tend to act up & not give a fuck with the false sense of security in groups.

I do like groups hanging around in large cities. It tends to keep homebums & gangbangers away. Im not a hermit or a monk & like to hang out but think 3 is max including myself in any train hopping. Solo hitchhiking is also my preference but at times unavoidable.

Im not really an ageist but it seems like todays youngens tend to lack solo self confidence. No one wants to do anything or go anywhere alone. This includes researching by reading books, stories & forum posts. Forget about sitting in a yard & figuring things out or god forbid getting lost. Kids want & "need" exact cc, departure time & door to door service or a guide. I was once young but always just went & did everything i wanted, most times alone.

Im also not gonna let clueless kids wander around yards aimlessly. Most cant trace cars, determine basic direction or even know how to get where they are going, EVEN WITH THERE TRUSTY CCG!

Sometimes company & chaos is just what the doctor ordered, other times its disableing.

 

[Deleted member 2626]

Well said highwayman what is it with peoples fear of being alone. I have only.ever traveled alone or with other person not including my dog.

 

[6bummin6it6]

just like everyone is saying, its all a matter of what your looking for, if you want to walk and thats it, bring 600 people, who cares? but hitching is a solo mission, sometimes a two man operation but rarely. as for freight hopping, i would three or four max (including yourself) anymore than that is just ridiculous. but when i come back to my hometown every now and again, i usually run with a gang of about 5 or 6, we all set out in separate directions, we all try to get some different prize, one person in charge of drugs, one for beer/whiskey, one for tobacco, one for pizza, one for soda/drinks, and one for other snacks. we all bring some instruments and stay up all night eating, drinking, playing, screaming, its a party.

 

[Deleted member 2626]

Only ever hitched and rode and traveled alone or with one other person. And my dog.