Anyone here consider themselves a hippie/living a boho lifestyle?

[PortalFloyd]

Just curious if there's any BL here that live(d) that sort of lifestyle.

Thanks to anyone who responds.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

~~~> SO

o

 

[Aporia]

back in my late teen years I was a street kid, hitchin around, goin to gatherings or festies, sleeping in giant redwood trees and whatnot. Was fun for a bit... After that I spent some time earning a degree and then havin a kiddo. My first kiddo spent the first two years of her life traveling around in a van and hittin up as many music festies and shows as possible. More nomadic than boho (I'm assuming by boho you mean bohemian?) Now we're pretty stationary..as the kiddo grows (and us too) we want to do more international travel so plans are to save up and plan for future travels. Wanna give the kids some nice roots too. Roots to come home to are always a nice thing to have.

 

[laugh]

boho lifestyle is unacceptable in this day and age. not enough hours in the day, 40 hrs a week just wont cut it. i need to build my superannuation before the next gfc. the meaning of life is not to be happy and free it is too work for the man and make minimum wage. fuck, reproduce, work, fuck, alcohol, stupefy, repeat

someone needs to beat the fuck out of your free spirit and exercise your demons

 

[PortalFloyd]

back in my late teen years I was a street kid, hitchin around, goin to gatherings or festies, sleeping in giant redwood trees and whatnot.

Yeah I met with someone that like 6 months ago went like totally off the grid living in a trailer, not showering for a week, rolling frequently and going to festivals, way down the Into the Wild thing. I would love to get away for a while but have always wondered what it would be like to just to drop everything and go.

 

[Foreigner]

It can be done, especially if you have talent because you can make money along the way. But admittedly it's harder in this day and age.

I don't know how it is in Europe but hitchhiking is now illegal in most of North America. In many areas if you're caught on the side of the highway, the cops will drive you off at the nearest exit and give you a warning. If they catch you multiple times you could get a steep fine, which most people can't pay so they'll just hold you in custody for X amount of time. When I hitchhiked across Canada the main danger was dealing with cops who had a hate on for vagabonds.

The modern capitalist, consumerist world has generally been brainwashed to hate hippies and vagabonds, and an uncomfortable number of people now see them as interlopers or freeloaders. Not to mention, most people from the original hippie generation have grown up to become the very overlords spitting on young people now.

I'd prefer to become anti-establishment and live a very frugal, anti-material life for a while, but the cold climate in Canada makes it a real bitch. The period where I was homeless and hitching around, the weather was good and I was able to get odd jobs here and there to make some cash. The countryside is usually better for that especially during harvest season or fruit season. Cities are mostly wastelands...

 

[laugh]

Kerouac wrote memorably of the theme

 

[PortalFloyd]

Kerouac wrote memorably of the theme

I'll have to look into John Kerouac. Yeah just seeing this dude really made me believe there's really 24 year old "hippies" out there. Lived in a total hippie town, walked barefoot, long hair, etc. One of those people that's maybe done way too many rolls or something. The hippie's were the 60 & 70s, but now a days I guess you could consider it an off-the-grid rugged lifestyle of peace and love. The John Lennon attitude. Any actual "hippie" towns you know of?

 

[bunnymunro]

Nimbin, Australiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimbin,_New_South_Wales

 

[my3rdeye]

If I didn't have a job and bills to pay i would love hop freight trains across North America. Which is also harder in this day in age.

 

[beagleboy]

I fuckin hate hippies and transients/high functioning weasels.
Get in touch with a social worker and use the system...

 

[PortalFloyd]

someone needs to beat the fuck out of your free spirit and exercise your demons

I fuckin hate hippies and transients/high functioning weasels.
Get in touch with a social worker and use the system...

Wow...yeah I mean in society's view they're more or less worthless as far as contributing goes, but that's not what it's all about. I don't understand why you hate hippies?

 

[socko]

All the hippies are gone. What you see nowadays are nearly all Bobos and poseur Trust Fund Babies who dress up like hippies.

That said, at the end of the Summer, I'll be living in a cabin in the mountains/open range land. I'll be off the grid. For water, there is a spring. For electricity, I have a solar panel. For internet, I will have a satellite or cell phone tether powered by the solar panel. For income, I'll maintain a blog about it... and raise goats.

 

[PortalFloyd]

All the hippies are gone. What you see nowadays are nearly all Bobos and poseur Trust Fund Babies who dress up like hippies.

That said, at the end of the Summer, I'll be living in a cabin in the mountains/open range land. I'll be off the grid. For water, there is a spring. For electricity, I have a solar panel. For internet, I will have a satellite or cell phone tether powered by the solar panel. For income, I'll maintain a blog about it... and raise goats.

I admire that. Why are you doing this?

 

[socko]

I'm interested in some of the same ideals of the 1960s that some of the original but now mostly extinct hippies pursued: sustainable living, organic farming, a DIY (Do it Yourself) punk work ethic, independence, eliminating class barriers, not living the Rat Race, not participating in American style Consumer Culture, self-sufficiency in food, energy, water, waste, income - whether it is commercial or barter, Pacifism, and Buddhism.

I could go on and on about the beauty of the wilderness, communing with nature, living simply, my passion for astronomy, appreciating the meaningful things in life, designing electronic gadgets, and having time to work on art and writing projects.

Currently, I can't enjoy those things. I live in an urban environment. There are too many distractions. There is too much noise. There are many rules and restrictions on ones basic freedoms. And there's never enough time. At night, I can't see the stars on account of light pollution. There are so many people crowded together.

Too many here are inconsiderate, pushy, rude, grabby, nasty, and have this nauseating sense of entitlement. Many, complete strangers, will go up to you and say mean, hurtful things. I thought I could avoid nearly all of those things that by working at a research university (rather than the higher-paying corporate jobs that have been available to me at various times). I pictured a university full of students with their youthful optimism and high ideals. Sadly, that hasn't been my experience and wasn't what I found. The one good thing I got out of it was that I could study and perform research in whatever area I wanted.

So, I'm leaving it all behind. I'm selling, donating, and putting into storage most of my belongings. Except for my laptop, internet access(hopefully), and solar power source and some electronic gadgets, my environment will be very primitive. I don't even own a car. I'll write more about it when I start my blog.

 

[PortalFloyd]

I could go on and on about the beauty of the wilderness, communing with nature, living simply, my passion for astronomy, appreciating the meaningful things in life, designing electronic gadgets, and having time to work on art and writing projects.

Currently, I can't enjoy those things. I live in an urban environment. There are too many distractions. There is too much noise. There are many rules and restrictions on ones basic freedoms. And there's never enough time. At night, I can't see the stars on account of light pollution. There are so many people crowded together.

Why don't you just consider moving to a hippie town where it's more laid back and accepting like I want to do? And how old are you? I live in a suburban area too and it drives me nuts. I want to move to a small town in the middle of nowhere or just fucking backpack across Europe. I would definitely do that.

 

[socko]

Why don't you just consider moving to a hippie town where it's more laid back and accepting like I want to do? And how old are you? I live in a suburban area too and it drives me nuts. I want to move to a small town in the middle of nowhere or just fucking backpack across Europe. I would definitely do that.

I loath suburbs -- I can't even bear to visit suburbs. "Hippie" towns are much better than suburbs so I can see why you would like to live in one. I've tried living in hippie towns myself, and it is true that they are generally much more pleasant, greener, more laid back and accepting than suburbs. But they still have many of the same problems as I listed above. Just on the smaller scale.

Until I find one that is off the grid, has banned motorized vehicles, banned light-pollution, and planted green-ways where the streets used to be -- and most importantly, hasn't become gentrified to the point where it costs millions just to have a small house (e.g. Bolinas), I'm sticking to my plan of living in a mountain cabin. It's 35 miles from the nearest town, and there are no neighbors. You should see the view and hear the quiet. Then you would probably understand. It's peaceful.

 

[modern buddha]

For the past six years or so, I've come to detest the notion of modern society. It goes completely against our natures and has brought so much misery just for our conveniences. After student loan debts are cleared, I'm hoping to learn enough about living off the grid to do it myself. Unfortunately, I'd almost have to do it on my own as I have not yet met even one person to share this experience with. Life is so much more than electronics and convenience. I almost tear up imagining how far 90% of our people are from enjoying life to their highest potential.

 

[BlueHues]

I'm 36 and I've hitchhiked all over the US....There are a lort of trust fund hippies, but there's still a lot of travelers, particularly on the West Coast....You can't walk on the highway in most places but that's pointless anyway...The way you do it is stand on the on-ramp with a sign saying where you're going, you very rarely get harassed by the police...They may ask you what you're deal is, but they generally leave you alone....

It's not nearly as bad as you would think if you know what you're doing...you basically just need a small tent and enough clothes and blankets to keep warm....You can find food banks and homeless feeds in just about every medium size town....some places are worse than others for doing it....The West Coast is a hitchikers paradise and very easy to get rides, but you also get the sketchiest rides....The 101 is the hitchikers highway....

I would just set up camp wherever on the side of the highway in wooded areas....It's actually very easy...People would always pick me up and get me high or come up and just hand me beer....I can busk with my guitar, but carrying a guitar can be a huge pain in the ass....

I hitchhiked from here in Nebraska to Asheville NC just a year ago...and back...I didn't meet nearly as many fellow travelers in Asheville as I did 3 years ago...It was a town always known for travelers before...I even got an open container ticket, which sucks....I did meet up with some train hoppers and we hung out in the woods by the tracks getting drunk and stoned for about 3 days...A lot of the kids that do it have dogs...and if you're on the West Coast US, you'll definitely see these types of people everywhere...Although there are a lot of posers who cop the "trainhopper/traveler" style that don't actually do it...Anyway, the kid who was drunk ended up swinging on the cops and got charged with felonies....I ran into his girl the next day....

I had no trouble getting from Nebraska to NC and I stayed the night in a bunch of different towns on the way...Had a blast in Knoxville camping at a quarry and getting drunk with a bunch of locals....

I got stuck in Cherokee NC for 3 days though...that's the longest it's ever taken me to get a ride out of a place..EVER! It's a total tourist towns...and all the tourists seemed to be these super conservative type people with their kids...man! This Indian lady was the one who initially brought me there...she was a total MILF who I think was DTF...She was gonna take me to the Res, but when we got close to town she stopped at this apartment complex and started smoking crack with the people in there...they were all full blooded Cherokee...Although I've done every drug under the sun, I was just sketched out and wanted to find somewhere to relax and have a beer...I think she got offended and drove me into town and left me in "downtown" Cherokee, a completely dry town except for the casino! Man that sucked!

but yeah, people still do shit like that!....In September I'm gonna take a spontaneous trip but I have my station wagon now, so it's a lot easier!

 

[PortalFloyd]

For the past six years or so, I've come to detest the notion of modern society. It goes completely against our natures and has brought so much misery just for our conveniences. After student loan debts are cleared, I'm hoping to learn enough about living off the grid to do it myself. Unfortunately, I'd almost have to do it on my own as I have not yet met even one person to share this experience with. Life is so much more than electronics and convenience. I almost tear up imagining how far 90% of our people are from enjoying life to their highest potential.

So well said. So true about taking advantage of potential. I'd love to backpack through Europe, I just think I need to get away from where I'm at right now.