Hey /travel/
>I am 19 years old
>I am 5'3 and live in Connecticut
>have a really shitty car and like 1,000 bucks plus 1,000 in computer and other crap
I have been family trips around america but never really lefted my home town, I have a really shitty part time job and still live with my mother I have been really depressed and have been really thinking about killing myself lately I think its maybe because I never lefted my shelter of my home town and my chronic addiction to using the internet and just being a hermit/antisocial in general but I feel like getting out of here would be a good idea.
Does anyone good idea's where I can go? what I should do?
I have a really nice backpack and a lot of bush-craft experience and I would have no problem driving my car until it breaks and walk just need some kind of plan before hand or would it be better to just wing the whole adventure?
Hey anon if you can make it to quebec or ontario ill go camping with you.
>>1096758
Going threw Canada would be great
this is my bag up
>>1096750
1) it would be pretty fucking retarded to kill yourself. If shit is really THAT bad then sell everything and start hitchhiking around, doing odd jobs, making friends on the road. Maybe buy a ticket to SEA and bum around there living with next to nothing for a while. What's the worst that could happen? You die? You were already going to kill yourself so mission accomplished.
2) I'd recommend you look into the Shikoku 88 pilgrimage. I did it a few years ago in the summer, brutal, but life changing. It's about 800-1000 miles depending on the route you take and you visit 88 main Buddhist temples on the island of Shikoku, Japan. Locals sometimes give you food, money, shelter, etc as a way of participating in your pilgrimage. Read up on it or I could give you more info if you're interested.
>>1096800
>Shikoku 88
Thank you anon. I needed this.
>>1096801
No problem, just make sure to respect the tradition. If you go you'll be participating in a 1000 year old tradition. If you complete it on foot you'll get crazy respect from anyone who knows what it is. Go slow and steady if you need to, get good socks, and don't bring anything electronic with you other than some basic things like a flashlight. Books and a blank journal to write in are also good ideas. If you go in the summer, bring 2-3 heavy duty black garbage bags to wrap everything up in inside your backpack because it will rain, hard, and that rain will get absolutely everywhere.
Lastly, I know these look gayer than a man lovingly spitting cum into another man's mouth, but these Keen hiking sandals seriously saved my life over there.
>>1096800
i'm not the depressing op, but i'd like more info on the pilgrimage. planning on hiking the PCT in 2 years and looking to add more thru hike type things to my list.
>>1096808
Ok, but first off don't think of the Henro Michi (Shikoku 88) as just a hike, it's a pilgrimage with a whole set of rules and traditions you have to follow as you go. You have to dress in an outfit that resembles burial garb so, as the tradition says, if you die on the pilgrimage you can be buried quickly and easily and also it's a reminder of mortality. You also must have a walking stick with you with a bell attached, the bell rings with every step, so you can't escape into your own head and space out. It forces you to be present on the moment (which has some very cool lasting effects once the pilgrimage is over). This also means no iphone, no music or anything in your ears to take you out of the present while you walk.
The climates range from urban concrete jungles to flat, sunny beaches to misty jagged mountains to thick, dark forests. There are pit vipers on the island but they're moderately rare, I only say about 5 or so in my 2 months on the pilgrimage, and you can just push them out of the way with your walking stick if you see them. There's also these giant black hornets that are scary as fuck in real life. Apparently their sting can be compared to that of a bullet ant.
There's a secret list of shelters provided to pilgrims. The list is passed from one pilgrim to another, its not online anywhere, so you have to go and talk to other pilgrims to find it. It will tell you where you can stay for free along the way. Henro houses are fewer and fewer these days as people die and their children don't continue the tradition of hosting pilgrims, so be prepared to spend a few nights under the stars or on a bench in a bus stop or otherwise making due with rough sleeping.
You have to pray at each temple and I recommend you buy a booklet for the monks to stamp and sign. It's really an amazing thing to have once you're finished. It usually costs Y500 per temple stamp, so Y500 x 88 = Y44,000, just under $400. Expensive, but priceless once completed.
>>1096815
He can't swing it for just $1000 though, yeah? Vietnam or some shit might be possible for a month or so, but not Japan.
I think you should test yourself in North America before you head out into the wide world, OP.
Talk to /out/ about learning a little bushcraft, then pick a random goal to serve as a Macguffin -- The Grand Canyon, Mt Ranier, Okeefanokee...Adventure's just a step away.
>>1096940
Yeah he can. I think I only spend $500 on my pilgrimage.
Like I said, local people give you food, money, and shelter. When you have to buy your own food, it's not that expensive depending on where you go. You can easily eat for just $10 per day. It took me 54 days to finish it, so if I was eating without local help for that entire time it would probably only be $600-700.
You don't pay for accommodation, you either sleep inside for free or sleep outside under the stars. The police don't disturb you if you're dressed like a pilgrim because they know that's part of it.
You're not paying for transportation other than a plane ticket to Japan and $200 for an overnight bus to Shikoku from Tokyo ($100 each way). You walk everywhere else.
are you mexican OP
>>1096750
Fuck it man. Travelling really helps. Try to save 1000$ + Plane Tickets. Get a fucking backpack. Travel Solo to southeast asia. Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam etc. You can live for a month, maybe more. It really helps you socialize and relax. It definitely helped me.
>>1097197
There's a book that looks like this that is sold at every temple along the way for about $20. It details every inch of the route, where every bus stop is, where every stop sign is, it shows you absolutely everything because it was made by pilgrims who walked the whole path, probably more than once. It even shows you alternative paths should you choose to visit the extra temples (called "bangai" temples). In my opinion, the extra temples are so worth it, thats where you really feel like the monks are sincere and really in service of something bigger than them. The monks at big temples have sports cars and shit, they're usually uncharitable for pilgrims.
I was alright, fitness wise. If you can walk 10 miles in a day, you can do the pilgrimage. It's not a race. It doesn't matter if you have to slow down and stop all the time. What matters is you go, no iphone or anything in your ears to distract you, just you in the moment in that place, every day, for 1000 miles.
My average pace was about 18 miles per day, I think. Sometimes I did more than 20, sometimes I couldn't even do 10 because of a typhoon or rough mountainous terrain or something like that.
You just gotta put one foot in front of the other and keep going, that's it.
>>1097197
Also the route is marked in a number of ways, the most common is the same stick figure symbol that's on the book. There's also an American Buddhist priest who went around and tagged the whole route with spray-paint and a stencil of a double dorje so you extra won't get lost.
