Let's assume for a moment that for whatever strange and twisted reasons you want to leave your current way of living behind to try something completely different.

Let's also assume the path you've chosen for change is quite extreme and that you do not seek to do something as simple as just switching careers or trying a new hobby.

Let's assume you want to turn your back on 'the world'/society and that you seek a life of solitude for the peace of your own mind or maybe just to see if you could actually pull it off successfully.

In short:
You have decided to sell all your stuff, to abandon your home, friends and family and to go outside to live the free life of the rover without any responsibility other than that for keeping your own physical shell healthy and your mind happy.

To get the thought experiment started, assume the current situation is..

..situation A0:
You have sold most of your stuff already, you have around 1000 Euro available/left to spend on whatever last equipment you want to acquire from the real world before wandering off into the unknown (let's assume for a moment that living outside in the wilderness is legal or that you don't give a f* if it's not).

..situation B0:
You have literally nothing left, except for the clothes you're currently wearing or you have to leave quickly and you can't keep/take anything other than that.

(sidenote: While I'm theorizing about this stuff, I can't stop thinking what a great beginning for a story or a game this would be.)

..situation C0:
You haven't sold anything yet, you could still go on for almost a year continuing your current life from your savings.

Pick one of the situations above and describe your next steps:
What do you do to prepare yourself for your new life?
What equipment do you acquire?
How/what(if anything at all) do you tell friends and family?
Where do you go (assuming you could go anywhere in the world (albeit slowly by foot/bicycle))?

There are many possibilities here and lots of stuff could happen next, so to keep it all neatly arranged, format your post like this:
from situation <insert previous situation id, e.g. C0>:
<describe your actions here>
to situation <insert a follow up situation id, e.g. C1>:
<describe new situation here>

You can also at any time branch out on a situation already described by someone else and continue that but make sure to use a unique new situation id which hasn't been used before in that case. You may also make fun of the whole thing by describing ridiculous actions and whatever weird situations those might cause. You can also of course just comment on what someone else would have done and why you think that was or was not a good idea in the given situation.

I'll start (you can post multiple scenarios/continuations if you want to)...

from situation C0:
Make a thread on allegro.cc, inviting smart people to participate in a thought experiment about your vague 'plans' (of which you actually think you're probably not going to ever make them real but still think it would be fun to dream and theorize about it).
to situation C1:
You're sitting in front of your machine, hoping for a rewarding and interesting discussion and for many different stories and alternate reality paths to develop from the combined creativity of the community.

from situation A0:
Make a thread (just like in C).
Form a vague list of equipment which might come in handy (folding shovel, hatchet, sturdy tent, bedroll, backpack, rain clothes, compass, maps, knife, keep in mind to not get more equipment than you could carry) in your mind.
Plan to keep an eye out for any useful literature on the topic of surviving outdoors (without begging and stealing).
Plan to start training your body to be able to carry more equipment and to increase endurance.
Plan to cancel any subscriptions/insurances and whatnot (bank account/phone&internet/gas/power/rented room) and to pay off any last debts (you don't want to leave any unfinished business behind).
Plan to not tell anyone(friends/family) to avoid the inevitable 'are you crazy?' shitstorm and to just leave when the time comes, maybe leaving a letter though, telling them not to worry and that you'll write soon.
Wait for external input on the matter.
to situation A1:
Like A0 but with a vague plan of some things which would be essential before stepping out of the door.

Are you going through a mid-life crisis?

I was thinking more like depression.

I'm in debt and don't have enough assets to pay it off even if I sold everything I own. I'm not gonna do something like this until my total economic balance is positive.

Even when I'm practically broke (that's what happens when you spend too many hours in front of your computer making videogames) that makes me want even more do something like what Dennis just said.

I'll chose just option A0. The A0 option, known by the "game over / apocalypse" option.

So I have 1.000€ which is nothing. First of all I'll need to live in a warm environment. Pretty difficult to find such thing here in Europe. So what I would do in my case if immediately buy a ticket to the "Islas Canarias" (a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. Courtesy of Wikipedia).

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A really warm and beautiful islands with a subtropical climate, with long warm summers and moderately warm winters... Ohh yhea... So that way I know I'm not going to become an ice cube eventually. Let's say that the ticket costed me 200€ so I have now 800€. Since the climate is not so difficult I guess I don't need to worry to much about where I'm going to live. I'll need to find a place like a cave to live while I build my own mansion in the Atlantic ocean.

I guess I will need to learn how to fish or I'll die. I think these are instincts that should "flourish" in my adventure to the "Islas Canarias". So with the rest of my money I buy an used solar panel four about 400€ and an used laptop with the rest of the money. Or I could just don't sell mine... So yhea the unique thing I'm missing is internet connection and women. If you make me choose, I would choose internet connection ahahahaha .

Moving to Tibet would be awesome.

This is a good idea for a thread. I tend to think about things like this alot, although not usually so extreme.

Personally, I'd take A0. That leaves more options than B0 or C0. I'd buy some used equipment, like a backpack, tent, a bicycle, plus lots of water. Then I'd hitchhike/bike/walk my way to the West coast. Then somehow bum/stowaway(or buy a ticket) a ride to the Orient on a boat. Hopefully make it to Japan somehow and become a fisherman in some remote village where I can't be found for deportation.

Been there done that, was fucking great.

I've thought about this before, and my conclusion was that I want to wear this guy's shoes for awhile:

My real motivation is that I want to travel extensively and work from home. Home being wherever I park my van.

I feel like I thrive in disorder and chaos. I have no desire to cut grass.

I'm actually working towards doing this someday. When I do it, I wont be saying goodbye to my family forever or anything. It'll be "See you guys in a few months! I'm driving to Brazil to see how many clients I can find along the way."

I've considered that, on occasion. Less so these days than a few years ago, mind you.

I think the only way I'd approach it would be to completely liquidate my assets and possessions down to absolute essentials + travel amenities (some clothes, a suitcase, etc), migrate to a distant land, then begin anew. Perhaps purchase a small plot of land somewhere vaguely scenic, fill it with livestock, then investigate the wonderful world of animal husbandry.

I don't think I'd choose to give it all up. But I would like to be able to handle such a situation. Where shit goes tits up, and you're stuck fending for yourself. I'd like to be able to be self sufficient enough to survive long term.

Only way I would leave it all behind would be if I became a government assassin that had to disappear. Otherwise I'm to outspoken to just slip away (may whine a little before I stop caring and disappear into obscurity though).

Wardriving sucks.

'Nuff said!

I'm just exploring the possibility of living a free life in solitude away from society and without other people, depending only on my own ability to find food (think hunting/fishing/gathering plants and fruit). The goal is to have a good theoretical idea of how and especially where(anywhere in the world where this would be possible) to pull that off.

I find pleasure in thinking about these things and should it come to that worst/best (depending on your point of view) case scenario, I'd be prepared and could just follow a plan instead of having to think about all this stuff under the immediate pressure of sudden changes descending upon me.

It would be much better/easier to make a well planned transition (C0 actually is the most accurate assessment of the situation atm) than to suddenly find yourself thrown out into the cold (B0 which could be a follow up to C0 if I simply wait too long without taking any action of any sort (most obvious thing to do would be to seek a job and go back to the boring/annoying 40 hour a week wage slavery thing)).

For some reason, seeking a life in the wilderness feels more down to earth and realistic to me than hoping to live from making games/art.

Yes which is why I would want to pay off any (financial) debts before leaving. Social debts/responsibilities are the bigger headscratcher: probably just have to be egotistical and walk away from them.

Well, in my plan, the main point is 'solitude' so I would not miss internet or people and I have no use for a laptop in the wilderness so I could spend those 400 Euro on more useful stuff or use them as pocket money while making use of civilizations means of transport until I reach my destination.

Nah, their climate does not seem beneficial to living under the sky. Long dry periods and still not very warm.

Just to nitpick, C0 would leave the most options as both A0 and B0 could be future scenarios developed from C0.

Yes, fishing would sound like the easiest way to get food though I'd prefer if it was away from humans so villages no matter how remote would not be an option for me. Still a nice idea. (Living together with other humans in a different country would also require learning their language and there is no guarantee they would even accept you as a member of their community.)

Got any stories to share?

My main momotivations that I don't want to have to work at all (at least not for a wage, just for survival and I would not consider that to be 'work', I'd do all that stuff simply because my survival would depend on it).

I think I'd be more the hunter/gatherer type than the guy to settle down and do any real work. ^^ 'Owning' land would also mean to still have some sort of attachment to society and taking care of all those animals would probably result in much longer work days than what I could have in real life. In my dreamlike imagination I would instead spend just minimal amounts of time each day to acquire just enough food and then just be lazy the rest of the day, listening to the birds (the ones I didn't eat yet), letting the sun shine on my belly while monitoring the growth of the grass.

Exactly.

That which I associate with wardriving does not match the topic at all. Is there another meaning to it?

...back to more practical theory...

In addition to equipment already listed in the OP, I think a hunting bow might be useful and knowledge about building traps too.
Depending on where I'd choose to 'settle down' I'd need to also know how to defend against predators (preferably preventing them from even coming near me) and I should probably avoid areas with poisonous insects and snakes.

I'm heavily leaning towards living near a lake for freshwater and fish. That would largely solve the food problem though I can imagine I'd have some problems with killing animals myself at first so the hope is that if the hunger grows big enough the rabbits will just miraculously stop being cute.

You expect us to give up internet? Or use one of those horribly overpriced 3G plans?

Indeed:

I don't see how this whole life of solitude could work while still being connected.

What? Contemplate the clouds whenever you manage to offload the worry of where your next meal is coming from? BOOORRR-innnggg!

About 15 years ago I decided to just take off and leave. I'd been living out of a school bag for a year, moving from one couch to the next, so didn't have much to my name anyway. I told my family I was going on the road for a while, but didn't tell anyone else.

Before I left, I called in a few favours and debts owed to me and procured about two ounces of weed and a few dozen LSD tabs and then hit the road and hitch-hiked north to the top of the island. I spent roughly a year and half in the area, moving from one town to the next doing odd jobs, mostly working at orchards and vineyards. Occasionally if I had nothing lined up, I'd head off to a secluded beach or to the hills for a few days to a week, depending on how long it took me to get really hungry and how much LSD I had at the time.

Some of those experiences were quite surreal. The climate in the area was quite warm (in winter it would only drop to about 10 degrees Celsius at night), so the only protection from the elements I bothered with were plastic ponchos that I discovered at one camping store. They were just one over-sized piece of plastic with a hood attached. They went down to around my ankles and I probably could have fit another person or two inside them. I spent several days in a forest in the rain with the bottom folded up under me and was perfectly dry the whole time. But yeah, I'd basically sit in the middle of nowhere for a few days, fasting and tripping and thinking about whatever occurred to me at the time.

Eventually I decided I'd been on the road long enough and moved back to the city and got a job.

My girlfriend and I are in another similar sort of situation now, as after the Christchurch earthquakes we had to abandon our apartment and both ended up unemployed. And since the entire industry we worked in had been pretty much wiped out, sticking around didn't seem like too attractive an option. We sold what we could salvage and moved to Melbourne, Australia. That was just over a year ago, and we are now renting a $600/week apartment and have just finished off paying for a new bedroom, lounge and dining suite. We also managed to save up enough money for a 10 day trip to Thailand.

I'm used to Chicago winters so its nothing too bad I'd bet. But no I'm staying in Hawaii, probably moving to Maui sometime within a few years.

I can relate with this ideal, but it is hard to escape the allmighty dollar. Living off the land is quite difficult.

That was a good read and adds realism to this idea. It sounds like you had a great experience... up until that whole tectonic plate business.

Are you kidding? It sounds incredibly earth shaking! Possibly Earth Shattering! It was such a great experience the earth literally moved.

kekekeke

The first thing I would do is come back here and read the original post to see if Dennis said anything interesting.

The thought of living an isolated life, entirely off the land is very attractive to me, at least in theory. I think the reality is that the land that can support you and is free to live on is dwindling due to overpopulation, consumption, and pollution. In addition, I think that the skills necessarily are foreign to most, and the people with the skills to train you are few. More so, I think that it takes years to develop these skills sufficiently to survive indefinitely on them.

from sitatuation C0:

I research wilderness survival training programs and enroll in the one that seems most promising within my budget. I specifically targeted something focusing on living off of the land indefinitely, not just surviving long enough to be rescued, as most such programs are oriented today.

I learn to start fires without tools.

I learn how to craft rudimentary cutting implements, spears, and bows and arrows from the land^[1]. I learn to hunt and fish using these tools, just as North American natives did hundreds of years earlier. I learn to make traps for small game and fish.

I learn to understand the insect and plant species that are known to be nutritious and plentiful, and how to properly prepare them for consumption. I learn how to butcher and clean animals and fish, and skin them for their hides and furs. I learn to preserve perishable items in cold streams, underground, and in the ice.

I learn how to make clothing from animal hides and furs. I learn to construct shelters from timber and animal hides and furs. I learn to build canoes and sleds with only the rudimentary tools and materials available to the lifestyle.

I learn to survive in the coldest of cold, and how to find food when the land looks cold and barren.

I learn to navigate with the Sun and other stars.

I learn to manage a pack of sled dogs. How to care for them, provide for them, command their respect, and rear them.

to situation C2:

Knowing now how to survive on the land, I sell off my remaining assets, except for the tools acquired during my studies, and the finances needed to journey to my destination. I plan a journey somewhere North, where there are no people, stopping along the way to purchase a small pack of sled dogs from a respected musher. I travel with the dogs, setting up camp every day and foraging for enough food and water to keep us going. Eventually, I reach my destination and scout the land for a good place to set up a permanent camp. As the light fades, I lay around a fire, surrounded by my dogs, content with the new life that awaits me. I fall asleep. I am eaten by a grue while my dogs sleep.

Append:

It's a lovely fantasy, but I don't think it's very feasible of a goal for somebody that doesn't already have the skills needed. I imagine it takes the better part of a lifetime to actually acquire these skills. Such a life would not be easy, but it would likely be devoid of the time to reflect on one's self. I don't think I'd actually enjoy the reality.

Hmmm....that would be an interesting thing. A fun thing (competition or something) where the entry is a game representation of this thread. A game representation of if you could leave it all behind. I'll go back under my rock by the box now . Don't know why I repeated that twice .

The earth moves all the time:
1600 km/hr in the rotation at the equator.
107,000 km/hr around the sun.
70,000 km/hr around the center of the galaxy.

http://www.astrosociety.org/education/publications/tnl/71/howfast.html

Earthquakes are nothing!

The earth does slow in all of its motions because of quantum effects that generate "friction" between matter and space (basically enough to generate heat equivalent to heating a cup fo coffee constantly, or maybe once a year, can't remember the exact details of the calculations). I read this somewhere in a book, maybe Hawkings, definitely modern cosmology written for the masses. Its related to frame dragging in G.R.

This is true. What I meant was there are more immediate options; i.e. you just pick up and go.

少し　話します。　学校　に　日本語　を　勉強します。
(I've been wanting to show off for a while now... I can't guarantee anything on my grammar though.)

That said, I have read many times that Japanese people can be reluctant to include foreigners(外人) in anything.

A more realistic version of this whole idea would be to just go out into the middle of nowhere, find a nice plot of land that no one is (apparently) using, and start a farm or something. It's easier to grow plants than it is to hunt all day. Of course you'd need a source of food until the plants were mature, but from that point on it would be more about storing food for winter and building a shelter than anything else.

Also known as situation D0: the squater farm.

I'd buy an AWP & go sniping noobs. IRL

AWPs are for n00bs. A real man would use a scout. Or a Glock.

If you're going to leave it all behind, you have to use bows and arrows or spears that you made from the materials at hand.

I already said that.

Dennis;

I actually did it, almost exactly as described in the opening paragraphs of your post, 17 years ago. It has been interesting, can't complain.

One great option for solitude is go live in a monastery. Your every tasks would be agriculture and maintaining the monastery, and you can also choose monasteries that don't have any occupants at the current time.

Some of these monasteries are in Greece. They are pretty secluded.

Thanks for sharing that story. I would not take any drugs with me in my case though as tripping isn't one of my goals. I wonder though if it wouldn't all become quite boring soon without much stimulation for the mind (in whatever form of entertainment). If the goal is long term self sustainment in the wilderness without going back to a normal life, drugs, alcohol and whatnot would not be an option because it's probably impossible to create these things yourself without the required knowledge about the necessary plants and where to find them (and you probably also need tools for that which can't be easily crafted from wood and rocks).

It is also illegal pretty much everywhere in the world because the land already belongs to someone and here in Germany even if you own some land it would still be illegal to hunt animals on it unless you are a licensed hunter (and for that you'd have to undergo several years of training and even then you would not be allowed to hunt with crude weapons like spears and bows because that would count as animal cruelty (you're supposed to kill them as quick and painless as possible and that's only possible with modern weapons)).

It is also illegal to chop down a tree (even breaking off a branch or cutting of some skin is). Walking around with a knife: also illegal for most knife types which could count as a weapon.

The only legal thing would be to eat worms, insects, plants and fruits (still technically illegal because as all land already belongs to someone, eating their plants and insects would be stealing). Would have to eat them raw though because making fire is also illegal unless it is a small campfire and you make it on your own land and while taking safety precautions.

It's difficult to write interesting stuff when slowly but steadily your interest in everything is fading away.

Yes, preparations are definitely necessary. Thanks for the detailed description of your plan, many good pointers in there.

Yeah, like I already wrote in the opening post, all this stuff would make a great setting for a game.

I'm not so sure about that. From what I hear, being a farmer is pretty much a full time job with very long hours and little to no freetime. Fishing on the other hand is always depicted as something that basically handles itself, you just need to be quiet and patient. ^^

I completely agree but for the first few weeks/months while you learn/teach yourself all that stuff about making tools from rocks/wood/plants/etc. it would be ok to bring some tools from civilization with you so you won't fail right away. You'd have to bring sturdy long lasting clothes too because it's quite unrealistic to expect being able to craft clothes right away (or ever). If you're lucky you die from poison or some sickness before your initial clothes start to fall apart so you would not even run into the situation where you'd be forced to make your own.

Well... seems you failed though because you're here. :\
What equipment did you take with you when you left? Where did you go? What did you eat? How many years have you spent in the wilderness and why did you come back?

I could not fake interest in any religion sufficiently well enough to be able to live in a monastery. I would also feel bad for pretending to the others that I'm one of them.

...

Meanwhile, I looked at some backpacks, did some reading about edible plants and insects (all of which should be cooked or fried and never be eaten raw for health reasons).
I'm not going to rush things and will start with something easy: take a day off of the internet and not use any electronic devices, so next Monday I'll start the day staring blankly out of the window until I'm bored enough to do something else

I've met a man who is considered a hermit here. He has a very small piece of land, lives in a shed in somebody's back-yard, and lives of gifts for the rest. He is doing it in a religious (christian) context. Don't know whether you'd consider a monastery an option.
This also is a small fantasy of mine. Actually finding some wilderness would be the first challenge. I think I'd acquire a water filter, and a military type sleeping-bag. The only way I know of for getting food is: go tho shop. And of course there's some not so exotic fruit I would recognise. Might be handy to be able to identify edible mushrooms (so study first).
The B0 scenario is interesting. But only given you couldn't rely on family or friends either. I'd probably die, or resort to petty crimes and get caught ;P Or just become the average hobo. -_-

That's LSD for ya. >_>

Where do I obtain a year's worth of LSD?

And you still live there

No, my aim was not to live in the wilderness or become a neo-hunter/gatherer of sorts. My apologies if your "hypothesis" was really that specific, which would make my impulsive emigration non-applicable. I was a bit tired when I first read your post, and I mistook it as accepting alternate cases of a complete and sudden break in trajectory.

Notwithstanding, however, I did live for six months in the cloud forests on the western slopes of the Andes, in a wooden cabin on stilts next to a river, in a completely out of the way "settlement" (if it could even be referred to as that, then) called Mindo. That was when I first moved away from England. It is not like it was, anymore.

To tell you the truth, that time was enough to recollect my thoughts after the gloomy despondency that had clouded into my mind in England. I knew which way things were going there. It had not been good, but it WAS beginning to look a little better for the future. Still, I had had enough already. So I left, just like that, and arrived in Ecuador with a little over 60 dollars of equivalent currency, after all the expenditures of the trip. Things were not any easier for a good while, but I am still in Ecuador, and I am glad I did it.

So yes, getting away from everything you once knew has its merits. Believe me, a cultural change is as big a challenge as what you propose. I am not really going into any details; it is your thread, and my story has not really got a place on it. Suffice to say the following, whatever you are thinking of or considering: Perhaps it is better to get this far knowing what you would have been, rather than to exist in a sort of limbo wondering what you might have been. In the end, however, you cannot get away from yourself.

And that has already been too many words from me.

Nah, thanks a lot for sharing your story.

While actions like cutting down trees are also illegal here in Canada (AFAIK, eating bugs/wild vegetation/animals is not), it would easily overlooked. Here we have massive stretches of land that are unoccupied. We are the second largest land mass, but we're not even in the top 200 for population density. I know of many places I could camp without being bothered.

Aside from that, Canada also has a "free man of the land" provision allowed by some specific wording in our constitution. It is a special classification of individual that allows them to live off the land and disregard a wide array of legislation -- although they are not allowed to hold jobs or participate in any social welfare programs. They have their own communities.

[edit]
It's been a long time since I looked at that free man of the land stuff. It was a very interesting thing to me when I found it years ago, but now it seems like a sort of cult. Not that I don't agree with a great deal of what they say and what they stand for, but some of that CBC stuff they have on their homepage is pretty nuts.

I've finished my program that assessed many scenarios and the first successful run came up with this :

Buy a gorilla outfit and find a troop of gorillas to join.

Hope that helps

But then you'd have to eat leaves and bamboo, and engage in gorilla warfare!

Since the thread seems to be going down the toilet now it's credit time: credits go to everyone who posted at least one useful on topic comment with practical tip/theoretical input on the matter. No cookies for trolls and off topic comments.

append: Forgot to give credit to Tomasu.

Uh, bullshit. You can cut down whatever you like on your own property, so long as you haven't agreed to some stupid stuff with your community association or something. Or your city has some retarded bylaws. But if you have an acreage or farm? do as you please.

No prob

HA! take that Matthew! for being trolling your own forum!

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I think he just forgot a few people when handing out cookies.

I think you're romanticising the idea. In practice, spending most of every day gathering food is not fun.

Changing your career and trying new hobbies sounds a lot less "simple" than becoming a bum.

I've read that hunter/gatherers spend less time doing that than industrialized people spend on the job. OTOH, a drought can make 100% search time insufficient. That's why grain farming caught on, to put aside some reserves.

Since the scenario involves selling off everything you own, it can be safely assumed that it isn't your own property.

You could have permission. Also I think there are cases where you can just sit on some land for a while, and it becomes yours

Not so much, really.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatting

I said trolls AND off topic comments (which means not everyone who did not get a cookie is considered to be a troll, just not fully on topic ).
I was not sure what to make of Matthew's comment and after reading it a few times I decided it did not contribute anything meaningful to the idea of leaving everything behind and living off the land. I'm not even sure what that comment was meant to say at all . I mean if I was myself why would I come back here and check if I said anything interesting .

Also that. I'm too lazy to read the whole thread carefully again now to find every useful on topic comment. If anyone feels left out and thinks he deserves credit... sorry, too late now.

I've heard something about two to three hours each day. Admittedly though, they know what they're doing and have been brought up living like that so the have generations of valuable knowledge available to them and are highly experienced in that way of life unlike a lazy software developer who never knew hunger in his life, always had a roof over his head and a warm place to sleep. ^^

So yeah, it's not much more than a dream.

I'm not sure about that. Being a bum is probably very hard, even harder than living off the land (if you know how to) because as a bum you'd have to rely on begging and stealing to get by and you're exposed to many hostile people in the streets whereas if you're all alone out in the woods... I think that would hold a lot more dignity.

Now, changing careers and new hobbies is probably also easier than begging/stealing.

Dennis, how come AWPing noobs IRL doesn't contribute anything?
You'd sure leave it all behind after AWPing some noobs on the streets around you.. !

If negatively affecting, even ending the lives of others was one of my goals (it is not) I would acquire and use one of the weapons I was trained to use (I doubt those are available for civilians (HK P8, HK G3, HK G36, MG3 (a variant of the MG42 which is used in popular anime Jin Roh)) though I probably don't remember the details as that was eleven, almost twelve years ago.

So I didn't get a cookie cos' you wasn't trained with AWP?

You don't need training with the AWP! That's the point!

Seriously?

Randomly killing off other people is not going to help at all with "leaving it all behind" and "finding peace of mind".

Quite the opposite would be the case as it would likely lead to eternal imprisonment and then you're not going anywhere, certainly not leaving off to someplace else and I doubt one could find happiness in their mind knowing they've ended someones life.

Well if you look at it, there is no need to randomly kill people yourself. Other people and groups are doing that already. Though, killing randomly will eventually kill everyone so in the end one person will 'leave it all behind' as they will be the last one living (if you look at it from a post apocalyptic angle).

No.

That's an interesting story LennyLen.

Every couple of years, I find myself in a C0-like situation and end up travelling for a bit. However, I often wonder what an A0 or B0 situation would be like. One re-occurring fantasy thought-experiment that I have would be to head off to somewhere utterly desolate in the middle of nowhere (eg. the desert of Kazakhstan) without anything and somehow work my way to somewhere more lush like the Austrian Alps, but I'd be working along the way to feed myself and my ticket to the next place in a Westerly direction.

One idea in an A0-like situation is to make a serious attempt to build your own house using natural means, but you'd probably need a lot more than €1000, and having a few friends help out would speed things up considerably. I've been to two such workshops, and would have been helping out in someone else's ecobuilding project, but it fell through in the end. In fact, they also sometimes run survival worksops, so you can spend some time at one of their ecobuilding courses and find out if the lifestyle is for you.

If you just want to live off the land, it's better to find a place with lush vegetation and a low enough population density so you won't get caught if such a thing is illegal. The low population density would rule out pretty much most all of Europe. Not sure how you'd cope with tropical diseases, but if you wouldn't, the tropics would be ruled out as well. The only two places I can think of off the top of my head are the Pacific North West and Southern Chile (but not the far south of Chile). You might also be able to get away with North-West Spain or Northern Portugal if you're good at not getting caught (you're less likely to be caught in mountainous terrain). Whenever I've visited North America, I've always found it much more remote than anywhere else I've been to, so I'd pick Canada (or maybe the USA) if I were to do such a thing. To get an idea, go to Google Maps, explore Europe at a zoom level of about the centre of the zoom-slider, and then explore western USA/Canada with the same zoom-level (for even more extreme wilderness, try northern Canada).

Apart from what others mentioned, this is what I'd bring:

• Swiss army Knife (you may not need all the blades, but I have a thing for multi-functional gadgets - especially if they're Turing-Complete).

• Walking-stick that doubles as a camera-monopod (see above). Walking with a walking-stick lets you use your upper-body to take the strain from your legs. Eg. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002DOUXSA/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00 (you might also want to get a second walking-stick for your other hand)

• Binoculars.

• Disinfectant for wounds. Personally, I use aftershave with an alcoholic content - once again, multi-purpose thingies rock!)

• And of course a pair of combat-trousers with lots of pockets. Optionally, you can unzip the trouser-legs to transform them into shorts (a process which I call a Trousers-Transformation). One such pair of trousers I own has been christened my "Save the Universe Trousers".

If you don't consider electronic gadgets cheating, I'd add the following:

• Solar-powered USB charger with a USB-port that doesn't easily snap off.

• Solar-powered digital watch with Compass and Altimeter (eg. Casio Pro-Trek PRW-2000T-7ER http://www.casio-europe.com/euro/watch/sports/prw-2000t-7er/ ). Just be careful you don't let it get eaten by a parrot.

• Camera with a powerful zoom (can substitute for binoculars if it has a good quality LCD).

• Smartphone to hook up to t3h internetz (or laptop even), and a knowledge of the free WiFi hotspots.

• A GPS device (either in the smartphone or camera).

In the meantime, this guy has made a serious attempt at living off the land for the past 10 years.

This is why I'd take a smartphone and solar panel. If I get bored, I can get some stimulation through t3h intertoobz. However, that would defeat the purpose of trying to live completely cut off from civilization. Perhaps if I spend long enough without a .net connection, (and for that matter, without reading material, social interaction, or any other means to become overstimulated), I'd learn how to survive in mind-space as well as physical space.

AE.

Building basic shelter should be the least of all problems (we did that all the time when we were kids playing outside in the woods... of course that was also illegal back then but kids are non-accountable (and we were aware of that which lead to all kinds of mischief but that's another story)).

I think the main problem would really be the acquisition of food and drink. You'd need to know which plants you can eat, how to make fire and cook them, where to find plants, insects and worms and how to clean and prepare them without risking your health.

Electronic gadgets would be cheating yes, also a smartphone to hook up to the internet would require one to keep a root behind in civilization for the contract with the provider and a bank account with enough money to keep the monthly fee covered from here to eternity.

A laptop and a solar panel however... this would be an interesting idea to overcome the prospected boredom after the daily food search. If you leave with all the tools, compilers and documentation already installed, imagine how much work you could get done out in the wild without all the distraction from the world wide web.

I think food wouldn't be the only health risk. Instead of your daily shower you get just bacteria-infested lake water. Also depending on the scenario, you'll run out of soap and tooth paste and so on rather quickly. And once you do get sick, no doctors to go to for medicine.

In the end you'd not be off much better than stone age people, who had an average life expectancy of like 30.