Penny for your thoughts | Squat the Planet

Penny for your thoughts

dramamine

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Hello! My name's Penny (for now). I'm 18 and from Minnesota.

I'm gonna head out this month, it's going to be my first time running and not being brought back. (I've run away a few times, but who hasn't??)
Don't have anywhere to go or come back to - so I'm kind of anxious. Or excited, I don't know which it is.
My family sucks and didn't let me go to school, they were the end times rapture type. They won't let me leave, so the only way out is literal homelessness right now.

But that's alright; I love sleeping under stars. I like listening to people drive to their stupid little jobs in their stupid little cars. Kidding, we need them to drive us places.
I don't want to work a 9 to 5 office job for the rest of my life, or even a day in my life. I'd rather shit in the woods or whatever. Yes, my parents are very proud.
I'm going to work odd jobs instead, maybe make a deal with satan or something, who knows.

I don't have connections or friends, even online, so I sneak online at night now and I found you guys.
Parental controls make it hard, but I'll try to be online late at night.
I know I'm naive, so I've been reading up a lot on this, I've hitchhiked and slept in corn fields before.
Whether my training is complete or not, I'm just going to do it for real now.

But other than circumstance, I love art and music! In the past, my backpack was stuffed with art supplies and sheet music.
Did I have an instrument? NO! Why did I bring sheet music? Um.

I hope this was a fair overview of who I am. I hope I introductioned myself introducely.
Thanks for reading, and now I'd like to know: how are you all doing right now? How are the roads?
Hopefully, I can make some friends, maybe some travel buds?
 

TheUndeadPhoenix

The Necromancer King
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Be safe out there. I became street homeless myself shortly before I turned 19 and I learned one of the biggest things about homelessness is that you can't go it alone or you're going to be in for a bad time. You're going to need people to give you advice and learn from other people's' past experiences, good and bad. If you're really dead set on getting out of where you are, get to the nearest major city to you with a population >100,000 people. You'll be able to find travelers there, best bet is to ask homebums "Where do the gutter punks hang out", if they don't know what a gutter punk is tell them the hobo kids with face tats. Be careful who you associate with though, you may run into some bad eggs out there. Try to stay away from drugs and alcohol too, it's just going to lead to a downward spiral that's not going to be a good time at all.

If you ever make it to NYC, this is by far the easiest place I've been homeless and there's a really good drop in center here that can help you with your daily needs, plus the panhandling is pretty good money. LA, SF, Portland OR and Seattle are also touted as homeless meccas but they're getting overrun something fierce. Most travelers don't stay in NYC over the winter due to the harsh heavy, freezing winters.
 

Matt Derrick

Retired Wanderer
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post any questions you have here and we'll do our best to help, but like @TheUndeadPhoenix said, finding others is going to be your best resource for surviving on the road. we also have a discord server if that interests you.
 

JackSquat

I'm a d-bag and got banned.
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Hi, Penny! You asked, how are the roads, what do you mean exactly? Have you any supplies you can take with you? There are lists here of what people recommend to bring with you.

Good Luck and Safe Travels!
 

The Toecutter

The Patron Saint of Filth
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While you've been advised that going it alone will lead to a bad time(and that is good advice), do also be aware that other people will also be the source of practically all of your problems while homeless. Anything that you don't want stolen, it must be kept on your person at all times. I know people who attempted to hide personal items they couldn't carry to job interviews or into shelters behind dumpsters, in abandoned buildings, or in other places, only for it to get stolen anyway. That means you'll probably be travelling light.

Sorry to hear that your family put you into this position. I hope you thrive. The choice you are making is not an easy one to follow through with, especially if you have no money.
 
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croc

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Playing off what everyone else has been saying... Everyone's different in what works best for them, if you're comfortable alone don't feel like u need someone to travel with. Just traveling with the first experienced ppl u meet bc they know more than u isn't a great idea. Don't settle bc if they're a shit show then you're just gonna get in to trouble with them or end up drinking a bunch bc it's always around etc.

I'm not saying don't kick it but I recommend being choosy with who u travel with.

I'll say because of ur age especially that older travelers and home bums are gonna try to act like they know everything sometimes. If someone tells u something that sounds wrong or doesn't sit right with u or seems sketchy, listen to ur gut.

Stay safe and good luck, Penny. Feel free to message me if u wanna talk about how to get by n shit. Been traveling almost constantly for the last 4 years.
 

Johny

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My advice for you (especially as a female) is trust your gut .
You feel weird vibes or any sort of bad feeling...leave .
Idc what the ppl you're around say or how they feel .... Trust your gut.
It is entirely to easy for a female these days to end up raped or dead or both.
Trust your gut
 

Wermi901

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Yo penny! Im 18 as well, and rather shit in the woods than ever working in a cubicle as well. That family situation sounds tough though, did you ever get to traveling? If you wanna chat my messages are OPEN. Anyways hope you're warm out there.
 

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