Is it possible to be nomadic without a vehicle?

[thebarefootbadger]

Work hard enough, save up, line up a furnished room (traveling nurse websites can help here) and a job and get on a plane or train and go there and do the same thing?
- Errors or issues lining up things could leave me unemployed or homeless (or both!)
- Must budget like crayzayyy
- I may end up in an uncomfortable living environment (especially if they are dishonest about the room)
- Other issues i'm not thinking about

I fell into this situation due to someone I knew, and I don't know if it would work for you, but it might be almost perfect, logistically. This was 15 years ago and I'm sure things have changed, but perhaps similar opportunities still exist with the government.

I worked as an AD for the Forest Service, as a wildland fire dispatcher. Basically, they train you from scratch. They pay for your transport to the location of the disaster, which could be anywhere in the country or occasionally even overseas, like when Australia was having such terrible fires. They pay for your meals, they pay for your board, which is usually a reasonably nice hotel room - Holiday Inn level, I'd say. You work crazy hours during an assignment - often hectic 16 hour days for 14 days straight. Dispatch work is usually done in an office or hotel conference room, occasionally in a huge army tent onsite. Usually the host agencies are interested in showing off their forests or towns, so you get to experience new places. Then it's over and they send you home (or, in your case, you might choose to stay in the new place).

The job isn't glamorous or dangerous, you're sitting at a phone talking to command at the fire location, who are asking for things - more firefighters, additional chemical toilets, more type 2 engines and so on. The intensity is the pace and the juggling and recording of many calls in and out as you try to match requests and resources available.

The pay was decent, especially due to the long hours / overtime. As you are an AD (I still don't know what that stands for), not a full time employee, you can always decline an assignment. It's super intense and people-oriented for these brief bursts, but I made a living wage working maybe 10 assignments a year, and went all over the country for free.

 

[user 423]

I worked as an AD for the Forest Service, as a wildland fire dispatcher. stay in the new place). As you are an AD (I still don't know what that stands for), not a full time employee, you can always decline an assignment.

Add-on dispatcher?

 

[LargeMarge]

... I can't stand being in one place for too long.

I feel stimulated in new environments with new challenges... living in or close to wilderness... because of the homeless [disasters (aka 'bidenvilles') in civilization].

.
1970s.
Idaho.
Three mules, two dogs.
About ten months.
.
I did some time in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
My only human contact were folks at feed stores.
My intention was to avoid humans... I accomplished this through planning and observation -- if I saw indications of humanity, I went the other direction.
.
I still prefer working alone, some dogs to provide adequate supervision because I am prone to getting side-tracked.
.
.
Could something similar feed your needs?

 

[LargeMarge]

... on the Vehicle Nomad circuit...part of a roaming caravan [with the] essence of family.

.
re -- caravan chums
.
We are 'plank-holders' (founding members) of a vast revolving caravaner network.
About a half-century ago, we realized we have more fun -- than is legally authorized -- with our Companions Of Anti-Complacency (COAC, pronounced with a strong 'ack' by reaching the tongue toward the chin).
Accordingly, we set our intention to craft a bunch of folk we call 'our family'.
.
Tragically -- and the word is used here for its comedic effect -- a lot of our old chums are dying off.
Others are getting whittled on, parts evicted and replacements screwed in... the results merely prolonging the inevitable as the convolesence hours drag their spirits into a drooling stupor.
And that is always hilarious!
.
We honestly truly believe INTENTION is key.
For example:
* 2003, my Very Significant Other got sick.
We immediately scribbled our latest RequirementsStatement on a brown paper grocery-sack.
The irreverence was palpable.
.
.
What do you take serious?
Could that be the most valuable to ridicule, poke holes in and deflate?

 

[eDJ_]

There was a time when Grayhound Bus Co offered summer passes and other such deals to those who wanted to travel but did not own a vehicle. There would be cost involved but it would be less than owning &, operating, a rig. Think of it as a pay as you go. Check the Grayhound link below.

Grayhound Deals

 

[travelaround]

I remember reading about a man who spent a year traveling ... like on the train or bus, from one hotel to another? Can't remember the details but apparently he could afford it and saw a lot of the USA that way. He would stay at the hotels on a weekly or monthly rate apparently before moving on.

A man I knew was intentionally homeless at times. He lived on SSI and could stay in one place, but at times he would give up his dwelling and travel by bus to some far away city in the USA and stay in the homeless shelters there for a month before moving on to some other community that interested him. I remember him telling me he stayed in homeless shelters in Maine, Texas, Colorado, Florida, Washington State, Montana, etc..

So yes, it is possible to be nomadic without a vehicle. Choose your lifestyle!

 

[eDJ_]

In the bottom link (signatures) there is a RSS box that scrolls links t "Squat The Planet" forum. These people are traveling "noad's" without vehicles.

Squat the Planet Forum

 

[Morgana]

It's interesting how this whole network of homeless shelters, soup kitchens, panhandler-safe zones, etc., sometimes helps the truly desperate and sometimes finances people's personal pleasures (like travel, which I guess logically would be the example that shows up here most often).

Good to remember that those resources are funded by real people, including poor and working people (with their proverbial widows' and orphans' mites) -- including through taxes -- and that every day some people who badly need them get turned away. As long as we're clear on that, I can't see any point in spending the energy to judge. Life is complicated, for sure.

The older I get, the more careful I am about where I donate -- not just to panhandlers but to big snazzy organizations with a stirring mission statement. It's complicated out there! It's not that damn easy to do good even if you want to.

A million years ago I was driving around central Maine and drove past one of those hand-made car wash signs. I assumed it was some nonprofit fundraiser so I pulled in. Turned out to be this ruined-looking woman (probably 30s, looked 50s) and a small, angelic, happy little girl making a game of her surroundings. I was embarrassed to watch the woman wash my car so I walked down the street for coffee. The minute I paid her they raced out of there -- to buy breakfast, was my impression. She must have had her back so to the wall, and there she was scrambling for ways to help herself. Some people stick in your mind for a long time.

You just really never know what's going on in another person's life. I still give to panhandlers occasionally -- where else can you get a blessing for a dollar? -- but honestly, less so since hearing some of the stories here. OTOH the fat-cat NGOs? Super careful now. You can't just give to whoever makes you feel good with a pretty story. Do your research.

IMNSHO.

 

[RVTravel]

It is possible, yes.

 

[maki2]

I know a senior female relative of a friend who constantly traveled. She gave up having a permanent dwelling space as it was too much work for her. But instead of going into senior housing she just booked back to back cruise ship excursions. That meant no meals to cook, no housework, laundry services, lots of happy people to talk to. Places to go and things to see. No need to drive anywhere. Plus there was onboard medical assistance if she needed it. She just stayed in a hotel or visited her children if there was a lag time between cruises. She got a whole lot of discounts on the cruise prices as she was a regular passenger so it cost less than being in a nice quality assisted living senior housing.

She was not one who would ever willingly be warehoused into such a boring lifestyle as senior housing.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

OP hasn't been back since Sept 9, '22.

For others that are thinking about this one way to stay close to nature and a job is to work at a resort or National Park. They hire for busy season and some include housing.
Another is following seasonal work like harvests.

I've seen reports of retirees that live on cruise ships. Got to have some retirement savings; not sure if SS would cover the cost. And you have to like people; cruise ships are crowded and the cabins are small.

 

[RonDean]

I think we can be too judgemental about other people's choices in life. Yah, I get that maybe we shouldn't need to pay for those choices, but we always seem to do so in one form or another anyway. We pay to assist families with more children than they can afford, or we pay to try and get people off the streets, or we pay to help people with substance abuse problems. And it's easy to say that most of those people made their own choices. But we aren't cold hearted enough to just let them suffer anyway.

Life is not fair. It's not fair for the 1% that are born into wealth and think they are wealthy because of their own merit. And it's not fair for the vast majority of the poor that are just trying to get through the day without falling further into poverty. And it's certainly not fair that so many of us work(ed) hard and end up paying to support both ends of the wealth spectrum. But... if I could choose, I'd rather pay for someone at the lower end of the spectrum than the higher end. If they want to use that help to wander in their own way, I'm good with that.

 

[eDJ_]

^^^ Reminds me of these pieces I saw on Facebook.

 

[eDJ_]

I was just reading that Squat The Planet forum is going to be shutting down at the end of 2023. The RSS feed in my site recently shut off but there is a link (below the RSS box) to the thread where the owner of STP is stating his intentions.

This is the link:

Squat The Planet is closing at the end of 2023

I've followed them for a number of years to see how those without a vehicle travel as nomads.

 

[Morgana]

I've seen a couple of people recently on bicycles towing a tiny trailer ... I wonder if that might be an option for @Seajatt if he has to stay off his feet for awhile. (Not immediately of course Sj, /after/ rest and proper care!)

 

[Seajatt]

I've seen a couple of people recently on bicycles towing a tiny trailer ... I wonder if that might be an option for @Seajatt if he has to stay off his feet for awhile. (Not immediately of course Sj, /after/ rest and proper care!)

I may end up doing something like that. Right now, I'm chilling with homebums in downtown omaha waiting for the greyhound to get back to tampa

 

[Morgana]

Well can we have photos from the bus ride please?

 

[Seajatt]

Well can we have photos from the bus ride please?

Sure, wonder if I should make a new caption log. This is all new territory for me. Still beaming joy for getting outta stix n brix

 

[Seajatt]

Omaha

 

[Seajatt]

The picture sucks, but the Chicago skyline is really beautiful by night