Just foraging supplies & knowledge

[MarsOrScars]

Hello all,

For the longest time I've been wanting to head out, let go and see a lot of the world... I'm full of this wanderlust and curiosity to see what would happen, who I would meet, who will I become and so on. The journey I want to take is as much conscious as it is just being a tourist. I know right away that I'm going to receive a lot of judgement from my peers when I officially divorce myself from this mainstream, consumerist life style I care less and less for as I age. That's to be expected, and I'd love to hear stories of how more seasoned travelers have dealt with disapproval from family. To give or not to give a fuck?

My dream right now is to be a van nomad so I'm shopping around and seeing what could work or what I could modify and over-engineer. Preferably, I find a van that requires some TLC & modifications and I get to share the stories involved with that. I'm a very hands-on geeky person when it comes to building shit. I need to learn how to weld though... anyone need an apprentice? Let's build a hydrogen powered camper bus, bonus points if it can recharge electrolytic hydrogen cells using solar panels and bio-fuel.

In the mean time, I'm just going to work as my plan continues to take shape. I'll offer advice where I can and perhaps hang with anyone who happens to pass through my area. ::drinkingbuddy::

 

[Chaseur]

Wants to be an alternative fuel rubbertramp...that's beautiful
I'm heading out this spring, hitching around and such. If you wanna hang out sometime previous to that I'm game.

 

[MarsOrScars]

Wants to be an alternative fuel rubbertramp...that's beautiful

It'd be a costly challenge to say the least. More along the lines of modifying an existing vehicle instead of building from scratch. One can always dream though. I seem to have a fetish for VW Wasserboxer engines right now due to their robust design. So I've been shopping around for 87-91 VW Vanagons.

 

[Whereamiwhatdoido]

Way to go. Just get out there. I'll try and post a picture to show you how I deal with my family.
If it works, I made a diagram of how exciting my life is at home vs. travelling and my mother could't argue that I was wrong.

 

[MarsOrScars]

Way to go. Just get out there. I'll try and post a picture to show you how I deal with my family.
If it works, I made a diagram of how exciting my life is at home vs. travelling and my mother could't argue that I was wrong.

Is it drawn to chronological scale? That's awesome

 

[Whereamiwhatdoido]

I was just aiming to show immediate future, you know, what I can expect from the next month or so.

Hell, if that was chronological I'd have quite a rollorcoast of a life. Maybe that's what travelling is like.

 

[Chillawhile]

Disapproval from friends and family comes sometime after the initial exodus from mainstream life. At least from my personal experience people were open to my want (or need rather) for something different. It wasn't until after returning for my first visit "home" (2 years after leaving) that people started judging negatively. Up until then I guess they thought it was a phase or something I would "get out of my system" before returning to the machine that is conventional society.

That is when I first had the struggle of attempting to convince people that this was not just a phase but my new chosen lifestyle. After some time, I came to the conclusion that explaining this choice was simply out of the realm of understanding for most people. The questions never stopped, the attempts to bring me back to their world are still ever present. I've all but given up trying to explain my lifestyle to friends and family in words, and instead just keep on doing what I want and love. At some point I realized that 'understanding' may never come for these people, but acceptance will. But even if it doesn't, who cares?

There comes a time when you have to make a decision who you want to live your life for. Live in a way that makes those around you happy, (or comfortable) or live in a way that makes YOU happy. I choose the latter, regardless of what other people think about it.

So, I say live your own regardless of what others think. They may never understand and that's okay, hopefully they will at least accept. But if not that's okay too, trust me when I say if they aren't accepting of your choices your better off without them in your life.

Happy travels, be safe and enjoy the world that awaits.

 

[MarsOrScars]

Disapproval from friends and family comes sometime after the initial exodus from mainstream life. At least from my personal experience people were open to my want (or need rather) for something different. It wasn't until after returning for my first visit "home" (2 years after leaving) that people started judging negatively. Up until then I guess they thought it was a phase or something I would "get out of my system" before returning to the machine that is conventional society.

Exactly, I don't really want it to be a phase. I want this to be a large dynamic chapter of my life. Should I decide to settle later on I wouldn't mind doing something in tune with what I've always wanted. i.e. being a part of a self-sufficient commune or even establishing my own.

 

[Whereamiwhatdoido]

Should I decide to settle later on I wouldn't mind doing something in tune with what I've always wanted. i.e. being a part of a self-sufficient commune or even establishing my own.

I'd say yes. The reason that this question can be simply answered is this. If you decide to settle with not doing it right now. The next time you might also not do it. As if you do it now, you'll know what the alternative is if you do choose to settle down.

Living on the brinck of mainstrean society isn't for those who are comfortable in the mainstream society. Because mainstrean society doesn't ask much questions, they work, feed their families, and dies with a satisfied life.

Where the lot like some of us ask a lot of questions, to everything, about everything lives withe excitetement of thinking that there ought to be more to life. Some make this a reality, bringing more things into life. They don't wait till their dead bed to find satisfaction in life.

 

[MarsOrScars]

Where the lot like some of us ask a lot of questions, to everything, about everything lives withe excitetement of thinking that there ought to be more to life. Some make this a reality, bringing more things into life. They don't wait till their dead bed to find satisfaction in life.

Amen to that. This is the one life I know, I'm better off living it according to whatever the hell I want to make of it and not just some cog.