I lived a pretty high life in Los Angeles for 15 years, and when the time came for me to move to Europe (I'm Australian), I had two weeks where I was basically homeless before the flight home - lease expired on the apartment, circumstances with couch-surfing were not ideal - so I tried two weeks living hard, to see what it was like, as I was also going to have a 6 month hiatus before Europe, back home in the Australian outback, which is a different definition of rough - so I thought, what the heck, why not see what its like. I'd lived in a bubble in LA for so long, the bubble had burst, so why not just try it for a couple of weeks and see how far I got .. I kitted myself out with a sleeping bag and a tent and all the rudimentary camping basics, and headed out of my cushy Los Feliz neighborhood, onto the streets.

It was the hardest thing I'd ever done to myself. My gear was stolen within days, I got beat up and nearly stuck with dirty heroin needles at least 3 times, almost arrested twice, and yeah .. it just generally sucked. I was not prepared for the hardship.

6 months in the Australian desert after that experience definitely made me appreciate the Australian desert a lot more than I had previously, and I will never, ever try this experiment in an American city again.

Its not the street that'll get to you. Its the street life. If I were the only homeless bum in the area, I would've done better I think - but it was all too easy to filter out to skid row after having been chased out of pretty much every 'sanctity' spot I could find, under bridges and in the Griffith Park area - whether by cops or by other homeless people. It was pretty stupid of me, in hindsight. I really didn't need to do it, I was just trying to push my boundaries before heading into the Kimberley region to eat snakes and lizards. That was, by comparison, a far better experience than the reptiles of LA. Would not recommend.

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noelwelsh 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Where were you living in the Kimberley? I've only ever been to Broome in that region, but eating lizards definitely seemed optional.

	▲	aa-jv 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		Broome for a few days with family, then into the deep desert with Aborigine family members for a few months of walkabout and general western-society detox. I was very lucky to have been invited to see things most whiteys have absolutely no clue about. There are parts of the Kimberley/Pilbarra that are, quite simply, among the most spiritually rewarding places on the planet. I would spend my days in serious anticipation of the night sky, a glorious spectacle which majesty is yet to be matched by any human thing I've seen since then. It was awesome and something I do hope to do again before I perish. Probably the most impactful event in my life was waking up on a dry creek bed surrounded by camels, who had come in the night to sleep at my side, sharing the warm creek stone bed. Catching snakes for tucker was fun too. ;)

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dyauspitr 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Being homeless in a city doesn’t sound like fun at all. Being homeless in a rural buffer outside cities seems much more pleasant.

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3 days ago | parent | next [-]

[deleted]

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aa-jv 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

It was. The distinct contrast between the hell of street life in LA and the wild, uninhabited, yet entirely less hostile, wild outback, definitely gave me context for a life lived, since then, in awe of the folly of humanity.

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throwaway173738 3 days ago | parent [-]

Nature can be cruel, unrewarding, and ambivalent but she is never spiteful and nothing she does is ever personal.

	▲	aa-jv 14 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Very true. And in the Australian outback, it can be absolutely beautiful too. I found it quite rewarding, personally. Stripping all the material world of 15 years of life in California took me just a few days, semi-naked, thirsty and hungry, walking barefoot among the spinifex and wattles. Definitely a life-changing experience I would do again and again.