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Nomadic Lifestyle

wanderer03

wanderer03

Well-Known Member
I've always seen myself as a nomad, never meant to stay in one place for too long. I'm obsessed with actually trying this out as a lifestyle. Imagine the experience of going place to place with either a pickup truck and trailer or an suv and a big tent.

The whole notion of the American dream isn't for me. I've owned a house and was driven mad with the tasks associated. I feel like the walls off my apartment close in on me. I just want to light out for better horizons, take photos, write, etc.
 
While living in apartments off and on for years, I've never lived in one place longer than four years. But as a kid growing up in a military family, I never lived much of anywhere more than a few years.

Yet I really loathe all the unpleasantness of moving. Just another contradiction...<sigh>
 
I have too many possessions that are important to me to want to take to the road.I have a 53 foot freight trailer full of antique and performance car parts as just one example of how extreme my moves become. Anyone looking for a new old stock General Motors replacement parts fender for their 1958 Corvette? :p

The gypsy life sounds romantic,but it would require me losing most of what I love and a place to enjoy my toys and hobbies. I like where I live now and intend to live here until my demise ;)
 
At times I think many of us would like to have done this.


Gonna get me a Mardi Gras Queen! :eek:

 
Some days I cherish all that I own. Other days I wish I had none of it...free to go anywhere unencumbered by personal possessions.
 
Interestingly enough, I see economic times changing. People need to be more mobile to get to where work is. Given my work history, I think I do best with contracts and knowing when a job will end. I really want fewer encumberances.
 
Being nomadic would cut down on the irritations of property taxes or outrageous rent prices. Given that you could find an affordable camp ground or something to park at often.

I'd rather travel with have a home base to come back to. I get pretty attached to certain trees and land features.
 
Many RV parks an order of magnitude less expensive because it is essentially a ground lease. I'd like to buy either a fifth wheel or traditional trailer. Many RV parks are also all inclusive
 
I've never really known comfort in a home, only stress and criticism. My impression of home is that it should be a place of safety, security, and acceptance. Not having had experienced this, I don't even know what home is. Perhaps that's why making all of America my home is appealing. Perhaps one day I'll tire of this, but for now, it's very interesting!
 
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I have had similar experiences with home ownership, Wanderer. As soon as I get enough equity in my house to do a little better than break even, I'm outta there. Not sure what kind of situation I'll look for, but I've had some alternative living arrangements before.

For several years I lived in my studio space. It wasn't legal, but the buildings motto was "the city's best kept secret". There were over 100 studio spaces, cheap rent, and probably half the tenants lived there on and off. You just had to keep a low profile, and be prepared to make things look uninhabited when the fire inspections were due. During this time I traveled a lot, spending weeks and months at a time rambling around, usually by bicycle and train, or spending time at our family cabin.

But the closest I have come to true nomadic life was the winter I spent in Hawaii. I bought a VW van there and drove it around the islands of Oahu and the Big Island, I shipped it from one to the other, sleeping in it wherever I could find a quiet place to park. It could get a bit rough at times, some places frowned on "camping" but being near the ocean every day wiped it all away, and I met a lot of incredible people who taught me so much. For a solitude loving Aspie, that's saying a lot.

Trouble with this, though, is that I have a tendency to get a bit feral, which probably accounts for me being drawn to this sort of thing.

Good luck with the endeavor, if you have no strings attaching you, it's worth a try.
 
Thanks for your reply, On The Inside. That's quite an adventure and I must say I'm somewhat jealous. You've been truly free
 
I have a friend that sold everything but his small car and the essentials he could fit in there. Then he went to California to a live in a cob house community. He seems pretty happy.
 
I am profoundly conflicted on this issue. Part of me loves my home, the other is sick and tired of traveling the same streets, over and over again. There are times I really want to leave everything behind I live a life with no attachments, simply living for the moment and taking in the world. But I am also very risk averse, so this prospect terrifies me. Not to mention, "solitary nomad" is just an other word for "hobo" or "drifter." I fear I could lose my way completely and get trapped in a life of marginalization and destitution. But there is so much I want to see and do and I can't do it here.

If there were jobs waiting for me along the road I suppose it would be tolerable. Perhaps when I get my liscence I can get an RV and become a traveling musician. On can dream.
 
I like travelling, and when I was younger I used to enjoy visisting new places and wandering around. As I've got older I've found that it's become harder to do - I get tired faster, and some sensory issues are worse.

There are a lot of people on sites like Couchsurfers who have adopted that kind of lifestyle, for a while at least. It's good for students or people on a budget who want to see more of the world, but some do it not because they are lacking in financial resourses but also because they enjoy the experience. Couchsurfing may not appeal to all people on the spectrum because of the social aspect, but it might appeal to those interested in cultures, languages, etc. Some couchsurfers can be quite eccentric, and interesting people, if you like that kind of thing.
 
Datura said:
I am profoundly conflicted on this issue. Part of me loves my home, the other is sick and tired of traveling the same streets, over and over again. There are times I really want to leave everything behind I live a life with no attachments, simply living for the moment and taking in the world. But I am also very risk averse, so this prospect terrifies me. Not to mention, "solitary nomad" is just an other word for "hobo" or "drifter." I fear I could lose my way completely and get trapped in a life of marginalization and destitution. But there is so much I want to see and do and I can't do it here.

If there were jobs waiting for me along the road I suppose it would be tolerable. Perhaps when I get my liscence I can get an RV and become a traveling musician. On can dream.
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There is a big difference between a nomad and a drifter/hobo. Often a hobo is unkempt, unskilled, and unemployed whereas a nomad has a clear destination for work. A nomad simply takes his or her home with them when moving. A hobo has no home to speak of, being more akin to a street person or begger of which I certainly hope never to be. Being totally homeless is a frightening prospect.

I know of a few people that work seasonally in Maine and Florida. They go south for the winter and migrate with the tourist season. I'd like to try something similar and document it as a published book. It's a fantastic sub-culture of America because it eschews the traditional consumerist goals.
 
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