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Anybody ever made a life of being on the road?

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mar

Remember this one?
Joined
Nov 27, 2001
Posts
1,929
Ok. Look. I admit it. I'm a freakshow.

But I'm wondering if anyone has made a life (a complete lifestyle) of being on the road constantly.

I mean: No house. No car. No wife. No kids.

No life.

Except, The Road.

More than ever, thanks to the internet, now a person can lead a virtual "life". You can bank on the internet; communicate with friends/family/work on the internet; even, um, 'socialize' on the internet.

Ok, I'm not talking about working constantly for 30 days. I'm talking about working your normal schedule but spending your "days off" somewhere different every month.

Spend your days off visiting friends that you haven't seen for years. Spend your days off visiting family that you haven't seen for years. Spend your days off visiting countries you've always wanted to see. You would be able to spend your days off *exactly* as *you* wanted to.

You wouldn't be saddled with home improvement projects or "honey do" lists, or visiting in-laws you detest or anything else you didn't want to do.

It's almost perfect.

And yet, so freakin' weird--almost dysfunctional.

Have you ever done it? Known anyone that has done it? Would you choose it for yourself if you could? Or is it symptomatic of something else that's totally wrong and defective in one's character.

Be honest.
 
mar,

Haven't tried it myself, but I've known a couple of guys whose wives would've been glad to see 'em take a stab at it.

Sounds like a young man's game plan. Makes me sorta tired to think about it. So, I'll go lie down on the couch now.
 
Don't forget your Towel

Mar,

I have thought about it. Currently living in a sad little town, near a sad airport, and not flying anywhere near enough.

I like being on the road. New towns, new hotels, and meeting new people. This flying gig can be bad, but it is meeting the new people that make it worth while.

Couch surfing and exploring bookstores and coffee shops and the occasional pub all over the world sure beats raking leaves and dealing with mid-american strip malls and suburbia.

I guess it helps that I am sans wife and crumbcrushers. Dysfunctional? Could very well be. Is not dysfunction, the bedrock for a interesting flying career?

I guess I would most miss my books.

Let us know how it goes.
 
Mar,

I've never done what you asked but, to me at least, it doesn't sound very promising. I think we humans need some sort of grounding; ie house, apartment, some sort of "ops base".

I guess when it's all said and done, and when your lying on your deathbed, do you want to say "I lived out of a suitcase for my entire life with nothing to show for it?"

At the end of "Fate is the Hunter", Ernie talks about a fellow aviator who retired after spending a lifetime on the road. His retirement was short-lived and circumstances dictated he return to his only profession - flying, as an F/O for Ernie. The final paragraph states this pilot lived alone on a boat in Honolulu Harbor. He was rowing his dinghy ashore to do an errand - the dinghy was found but he wasn't. Did he die because of outside circumstances? Or did lonliness drive him to take his own life?

As a side note, I'm with Bafanguy. It's a young person's gig these days. Having said that, I'll take my morning nap now. :D

Peace

SF
 
SF,

Would that be all you could say for your life? "I lived out of a suitcase."

Or something along the lines of ..."I drank espresso in Paris, saw the sun rise over the pyramids, and walked the Great Wall of China"

I guess it is all in how you look at it. After a lifetime of work would you want to say, " I lived in this apt. since Ike was in office"

I don't know the answer...just throwing things out there.
 
If there is ressucitation, in my next life I won't marry and live free of responsability (house, wife, kids, bills, etc), move from town to town, work odd jobs, meet lots of different people (but never create bonds). A true vagabond of sorts. The kind of life you would reach the end and say...."I've seen it all".

But would I really? Nah, I'm happy as I am, dumb n' lazy! :D
 
Mar,

It's not dysfunctional; it's as you said...a way of life.

I've spent much of mine living out of airplanes, hangars, on the road, getting off one flying job to do another on my days off, then another...

Good or bad, I don't know, but certainly a way of life. You have no need to apologize for your life.
 
Denizen said:
SF,

Would that be all you could say for your life? "I lived out of a suitcase."

Or something along the lines of ..."I drank espresso in Paris, saw the sun rise over the pyramids, and walked the Great Wall of China"

I guess it is all in how you look at it. After a lifetime of work would you want to say, " I lived in this apt. since Ike was in office"

I don't know the answer...just throwing things out there.

Denizen,

You're absolutely correct. I should've indicated my post was from my own perspective. I couldn't live a life where I didn't have some sort of grounding or home.

The beautiful aspect of life is different strokes for different folks. Our diversity is what makes the world go-round.

Mar,

Were you talking about yourself? Or in generalities?

Peace

SF
 
How about Christopher McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp. Graduated forom an Ivy League school, broke contact with his family, abandoned his wordly possesions, burned the cash in his wallet, and roamed the country for a year, hitchhiking, occasionally working odd jobs. Ultimate goal was to live in solitude in Alaska, he walked into the forest in the spring and never came back. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385486804/ Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, a pretty fascinating read.
 

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