Where would you wish to wake up tomorrow?
I'd like to wake up in a very clean hotel room bed with crisp, white sheets. The room is high, a top floor or nearly so. The location is a big city somewhere in the world. One wall of the hotel room is just a huge window and I can see outside. It is a clear day, a few clouds and maybe a chance for rain.
When I get out of bed I look down on the street below. Everything is tiny, a miniature city spread out with a lake or ocean and far, far away I can see the beginning of the suburban areas and maybe even the green of some rural places.
I debate ordering room service or getting dressed to go to the big farmer's market which is just a block away from the hotel and has fabulous coffee and loads of fresh fruit and vegetables. The room service wins, only because I want to stay in longer so I can enjoy the great new shower soap, shampoo and conditioner I brought with me. So I order an amazing breakfast and ask them to bring it in half an hour.
Stepping in the shower, making sure the huge thick towel is set out, I take my time in a steamy hot shower looking forward to eggs, bacon, coffee on fancy china with cloth napkins and all the luxurious extras.
Historically, vagabonds were pretty tough, anti-establishment characters who lived as homeless drifters by choice. Modern vagabonds tend to be people who live off the grid or those who travel the world from out of a backpack.
Traditionally a vagabond is a person who wanders from one place to another, with no real home of their own. In modern culture this could be a homeless person or a street person. However, vagabonds aren't the same as people who stay in a city (or any one place) and live there without having a typical home. Vagabonds are a subculture of their own making.
Some offbeat world travellers call themselves vagabonds. They travel the world, they travel as cheaply as they can (in order to keep travelling , they work here and there... but they do have a home to plan to return to once they finish travelling. The vagabond tourist is about seeing the world and stretching their resources for as long and as well as they can along the journey. Historically, vagabonds were more rebellious and travel was their way of avoiding putting down roots or really belonging or being found anywhere.
Vagabonds (tramps, hobos, or drifters) during the Great Depression lived a homeless lifestyle by choice. Often they were fugitives from the law or just avoided the law after having a few run ins with the police and/ or jail. My Grandfather was a drifter for awhile. He told me about some of his adventures. He said the tramps were dangerous and he learned to avoid them. Those men could be brutal and were living by taking what they could get.
After living that way awhile some of them adapted the lifestyle as their own subculture. They created rules and guidelines for who they were and created a culture out of their vagabond lifestyle.
There's a romantic ideal of the vagabond (the little hobo with patches on their clothes and a pack slung on the end of a stick), but that's not based on the facts so much as the idea of travelling and seeing the world, meeting new people and enjoying different cultures. The modern is about adventure.
Could You be a Vagabond?
- You really need a change, like a jump start for your life or your spirits.
- You haven't figured out your career path or all your jobs seem to be dead ends.
- You don't have a lot of obligations, personal (family and kids) or financial (mortgage on a house).
- You feel burnt out or you've lost (or never really had) your sense of who you are.
- You've never really travelled, never left your own country, or even your own home town.
Other Words for Vagabond
- vagrant
- tramp
- drifter
- hobo
- wanderer
- nomad
- landloper
- train hoppers
The Downside of the Vagabond Lifestyle
- Living out of a backpack, suitcase, luggage of whatever sort.
- Always looking for travel arrangements and destinations.
- Finding temporary work on the road, year round.
- Not having a place of your own where you can put down roots and keep your stuff.
- Living under someone's (couch sitting, hostels, etc.) roof with their rules and ways.
- Meeting and getting to know people but always moving on and not having any real relationships with anyone.
- No routine, having to adapt and make plans every day.
- Packing and repacking everything into one bag and then hauling it all around.
- Eating on the fly - sometimes not eating when the money is low.
- Living on a tight budget and having to be thrifty.
Vagabond Lifestyle
Vagabond as a Traveller
Articles About Being a Vagabond
Get started as an urban explorer with a great backpack. Mine is not as cool at this one from National Geographic, but I can dream (or think of it as a goal for the future). What sort of explorer wouldn't be tempted by something called an Earth Explorer Backpack designed by National Geographic (those explorers/ documenters of the world.
You don't need a lot of gear to be an urban explorer. The basics: digital camera, map, decent footwear, flashlight and something sensible, somewhat waterproof and light to carry them in. Some explorers bring a lot of safety gear, extra gadgets and electronic accessories. If you are exploring risky areas like drains, tunnels and industrial areas it is a good idea to come prepared for danger from gases, chemicals and whatever else might be lingering around.
You could bring water, exploring is thirsty work. I prefer to go for coffee somewhere after I've taken all the photos I want. Of course, it does depend on how mucky I end up being. Not many coffee shops are going to be happy with you if you track in a lot of mud and possibly worse smelling stuff (depending on where you explored that day).
Urban exploring (usually wandering around without permission) is taking a risk. You could be charged with trespassing. However, if you don't have a lot of gear and equipment (beyond your camera) you won't look like someone who has planned to cause trouble, steal or damage anything. I've never had any trouble. People ask what I am doing and I explain that I enjoy old buildings and like to have a look and take some photographs.
Another thing for explorers to know is the 'rule' of urban explorers. Take only photographs; leave only footprints. This means you don't take souvenirs, or remove anything from the property (other than your own garbage).
Don't confuse urban exploring with dare devil stunts. Urban explorers love history, old places and things. It isn't about taking risks or breaking laws. Urban exploring is about documenting history and using photography to share what we find with family, friends and others you can trust not to vandalize or break the rule; take only photographs; leave only footsteps.
There is something about carrying your gear, gadgets, camera and assorted stuff in a backpack from National Geographic. You can pick from smaller backpacks and take a look at the camera strap (below) too.
I love my plug in percolator coffee maker because I can take it almost anywhere and I don't need anything extra (other than ground coffee beans, a mug and coffee cream) to have a cup of coffee. As long as I can plug in the electric percolator I can have coffee as I travel around or visit family.
My percolator pot is actually a Melitta JavaPerk pot. I found it at a second hand store, it had never even been used. Likely someone bought it but didn't understand how it worked or was nervous about the way it works, something like that I would guess.
A percolator pot is different from other pots. Each type of coffee maker brews the coffee in their own way. A drip pot runs heated water through the grounds to drip into a pot below. A French press (my other favourite coffee maker) steeps the boiled water in with the grounds and then the press comes down to push the grounds to the bottom and press the freshly brewed coffee to the top. The percolator heats the water and then uses force to shoot the water through the coffee grounds which are in a basket inside the machine. You can see the water shooting to the top of the machine because percolators usually have a see through tip on the lid. It's kind of fun to watch it while you wait for your coffee. The water that shoots up to the top becomes darker and darker as the coffee brews.
My percolator sits on a stand which has the electric pad (and plug) so they call it cordless. This means it does not need to sit on the stove to heat the water. This feature makes is great for travelling. I don't need to boil the water in a second cordless pot or find a stovetop to brew the coffee on. The percolator is the most all in one solution I have found yet. Plus, it's quick! I was surprised at how short the wait was once I set up the coffee maker and let it run.
If you travel and love your coffee, I suggest you pick up an electric percolator coffee maker. They are quite durable and you can keep all the parts inside the machine when you pack it up. Keep it clean though - old coffee never tastes good mixed with fresh brewed coffee.
Using the percolator coffee maker is easy. They generally work the same no matter which brand of pot you use. The main difference is whether your pot is an electric pot or needs to be on the stove to heat the water.
Expat Women - Helping women living overseas.
Would you move to another country, another part of the world with a different culture, maybe a different language from your own even? Some women do. Some women in fiction travel even farther. How would it be to live in the fairy realm, another planet, or some civilization built around our own but hidden from the ordinary human eye? I think women in this situation would have the same kind situations and difficulties as women expatriates.