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Indefinite Backpack Travel

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Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel

#381

Post by tyrust »

Ferret7446 wrote: post #285
delichon wrote: post #10

I lived out of a backpack for two months on a Pacific Crest Trail hike. I got comfortable with it and told myself that I had overcome my materialism, and could henceforth live happily without a lot of stuff and conveniences. Not so much. Now a couple of decades later, I've got a house and garage crammed with stuff. Yesterday I had a plumber here working on a leak, and this morning I have no running water, and here I…

You couldn't survive with just a backpack if other people "overcame their materialism" and didn't own all of the capital that allowed you to survive, like providing you your equipment, food, knowledge, and emergency rescue if it came to it. Criticizing "hedonism" is its own kind of hedonism, or in common parlance, a first world problem. It is a luxury that cannot be indulged by poor societies.

Poor societies are perfectly capable of criticizing hedonism. I don't see what's luxurious about criticizing the many examples of absurd resource waste through luxury good consumption.

Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel

#382

Post by porphyra »

doix wrote: post #303
porphyra wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're constantly making and throwing away relationships. Yeah, this lifestyle basically only works as a single young adult. Once you have a significant other, it's very, very hard. Once you have a kid, it's impossible.

> Yeah, this lifestyle basically only works as a single young adult. Once you have a significant other, it's very, very hard. I've been doing it with my significant other for 5ish years now. I would say it's _much_ harder to do it solo and I would've settled down long ago if it wasn't for her.

> I would've settled down long ago if it wasn't for her.

Maybe it's much harder for her then, since you're the one who wants to settle down but she has to drag you around with only a backpack!

Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel

#383

Post by csomar »

> DJI Mini 4 Pro. I love flying DJI drones. Never traveled with one due to size. This solves that.

And here is that. As someone on an indefinite backpack + small luggage travel for 4 years, I am suspicious of anyone claiming to only own the small backpack of the OP. It's not impossible but either 1. you go for a large backpack. the ones backpackers carry. or 2. the OP has somewhere where they can store stuff.

The reality I've come to as I kept downsizing is: 1. either

Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel

#384

Post by csomar »

driverdan wrote: post #239

I did this for a bit. The approach is very useful to learn. Traveling light is so, so much better. I never check bags unless there's a very good reason. It does have some downsides. You're constantly making and throwing away relationships. I found this the hardest part. Your lifestyle is subsidized by society. You depend on other people and services to make it work. You either have to eat out all the time or make man…

Say you own your own house and you fill it with, uhm, all kind of stuff. You still rely on society for electricy, water, sewage, internet, roads, the same stuff you are storing, etc..

So no, his life style is much subsidized by society as someone with his own home. The subsidy is probably relative to your footprint. So maybe less?

> You're constantly making and throwing away relationships. I found this the hardest part.

I've been thinking about it too. I've made a few relationships but as soon as they break (or I break) off the trail, the relationship goes with it.

I don't think this is avoidable. You are seeing way more people than a sedentary life allows. You are probably not going to make these relationships in a small 300K city.

> There are opportunity costs. If OP had bought real estate in 2015 they would be better off financially. It's one of the reasons I stopped living in a bus and bought a house. Had I bought the last two times I "moved" in 2011 or 2016 I'd have almost enough money to retire and live OP's lifestyle permanently.

I bought crypto, so it paid off way better than any real estate market in the world and all that money is liquid and ready to buy you a rental anywhere in the world.

Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel

#385

Post by xp84 »

lmm wrote: post #257
xp84 wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could make a decent case for an iPad with cellular being the "correct" device for this for an Apple user, since you should be able to just treat it as "your phone" with some kind of VoIP workaround, but also as "your computer."

IMO that's the worst of both worlds - too big to comfortably make calls on but also doesn't have a keyboard to write on. You can carry an external keyboard but that actually ends up being fiddlier to pack than a conventional laptop.

You're not wrong. I can't imagine not having a real computer personally, and the iPad + keyboard solutions are basically a construction kit for a terrible laptop which costs 1.2x what a good laptop costs.

I don't think I'd be annoyed making calls with a tablet though. I'd just use bluetooth. For me the challenge would be that having no phone would mean I'd have to carry something bulkier everywhere. So, in conclusion, I have no great ideas and I'd be forced to do phone + light laptop.

Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel

#386

Post by bapak »

danpalmer wrote: post #281
bapak wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My house is filled with pictures My friends know I take no material things and all I need is a picture on my phone. The occasional tiny gift is only saved until I visit my parents' home and dump it there.

Again, that's not something for others to aspire to, even if it works for you personally. The fact that you're "dumping" gifts at your parents' home suggests a few things. It hints at a callousness regarding relationships, particularly with that choice of words, although that may be reading too far into it. It also suggests that you do intend to return to the gifts eventually. That you see the nomadism as temporary,…

Your comment touched on a lot of notes and I'm having trouble writing my thoughts down.

Everything expires, the stuff/mementos I saved in my teens is now gone. My situation only speeds this process up due to practical reasons. If gifts reach my dumping ground I do care about them, I'm just very liberal with words.

I have no intention of returning even just to my home country, nor of collecting my stuff from there. Nomadism taught me to be minimal and even if "I settle" it doesn't mean I will start hoarding stuff.

Given how long I've been at it, I disagree that it's not sustainable. The only "end" I see to my situation is that I find someone who convinces my heart to do it. But I'm too picky to settle, both with places and with people. Now that's the issue.

> it's worth recognising the privileged position you're in

Absolutely, but my point was only that people do not need a lot of stuff, and that applies to unprivileged people even more so than it does to me.

Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel

#387

Post by Damogran6 »

delichon wrote: post #259
dolebirchwood wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, but as someone who's done a 4-month backpacking stint, I was over it after 1 month, so I think even just that amount of time is enough to make an impact psychologically. By month 3, I was acclimated to it, but still eager to be done with it. (As an aside, the experience actually made me less enthusiastic about nature and gave me a deeper appreciation of civilization. Never in my life did I have such deep grati…

After several weeks I got to a campsite that had a picnic table. It was such a pleasure to have a place to sit upright and prepare my dinner. I'll never take one for granted again. After getting used to doing everything on the ground a table and a bench are a luxury experience.

We're in a mode where we're 'camping' with a 5th wheel trailer. It has COMPLETELY altered my travelling experience in ways I never expected. Being in Nature, with a clean bathroom and warm shower and cold beer makes the experience amazing.

More in line with this thread: Our house is full of stuff. It's a long story that ends up being: four adults living in the space that holds two comfortably.

Having the trailer lets us spend time in a relatively uncluttered environment. IT's a reset that lets me not get quite so worked up about the time I spend not-camping.

None of this is, in any way, cheap.

Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel

#388

Post by elevation »

bloggie wrote: post #340
rhubarbtree wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I travelled the world with a backpack. The good news is, it took me nearly 20 years before I started taking hot showers for granted again. It really did make me very grateful for a lot of things. But I’ve also had similar thoughts to you. I watch a lot of hiking videos of the PCT etc as one day I’d like to walk it. When I watch those videos, and when I see people on social media telling folks to “drop out of the syst…

This perspective reminds me that when people ask, oh you grow your own food and have food animals, it's like living off grid? their perspective is that farms get their input from the ground and sky, but this hasn't been true in centuries. there are many high-tech inputs for all types of modern farming, such as chemicals (even if they are organic chemicals), fuel, machinery, seeds, infrastructure, knowledge, financial…

> in order to live off-grid, first you must invent the universe...

Nobody is reinventing the universe, they just want a buffer.

A buffer is a well made item that you can repair yourself, so you're not forced to purchase a replacement.

A buffer is a shoebox with a lifetime supply of your favorite shaving razor.

A buffer is a garden, a pantry of canned goods, a few hens to lay eggs for you.

Each of these buffers insulates the bearer from the effects of supply chain disruption or even unemployment. Walmart could be out of eggs and razors -- but you'll be fine for quite some time, even if you didn't incubate your own chicks or make the razors by hand.

> farms get their input from the ground and sky, but this hasn't been true in centuries

Yes, industrial scales require industrial inputs, but a few hens will happily yield you a few eggs a day while living off your garden scraps and the insects they scratch up. And their waste returns nutrients to the soil -- a boone for a garden.

Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel

#389

Post by delichon »

shelled wrote: post #380
delichon wrote: post #10

I lived out of a backpack for two months on a Pacific Crest Trail hike. I got comfortable with it and told myself that I had overcome my materialism, and could henceforth live happily without a lot of stuff and conveniences. Not so much. Now a couple of decades later, I've got a house and garage crammed with stuff. Yesterday I had a plumber here working on a leak, and this morning I have no running water, and here I…

Did you really do one-bag? There are things I can't think of my days/weeks without. So for > In 2015 I got rid of everything I owned that didn’t fit in a laptop backpack There go my badminton rackets, cricket bat, and cycle. I couldn't care less about everything else :) (To be fair, the rackets may possibly fit into my Osprey 45L. Never tried.) On a more serious note : How much does health-care certainty factor into…

Yes, this was a long distance hike, it isn't practical to carry multiple bags. The backpack also included tarp, sleeping bag, food, fuel, water, stove. Roughly 5 days between resupply stops. The supply stops are often quite remote, far away from healthcare, so you would rely on the kindness of strangers for transport.

Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel

#390

Post by bapak »

bapak wrote: post #386
danpalmer wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, that's not something for others to aspire to, even if it works for you personally. The fact that you're "dumping" gifts at your parents' home suggests a few things. It hints at a callousness regarding relationships, particularly with that choice of words, although that may be reading too far into it. It also suggests that you do intend to return to the gifts eventually. That you see the nomadism as temporary,…

Your comment touched on a lot of notes and I'm having trouble writing my thoughts down. Everything expires, the stuff/mementos I saved in my teens is now gone. My situation only speeds this process up due to practical reasons. If gifts reach my dumping ground I do care about them, I'm just very liberal with words. I have no intention of returning even just to my home country, nor of collecting my stuff from there. No…

Oh by the way I suggest watching George Carlin's "stuff" bit. I think about his "smaller version of your stuff" every time I go on a side trip.
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