Thanks for bringing this up, as I really enjoy discussing this topic. On my travels I have met quite a few people who claimed, in one way or another, that they were not precisely homeless, they just preferred not to go home. Hahaha! And sure, why not? So in a sense, I could relate to them much better, since, after all, the same thing applied to me at that moment.
As far as receiving judgement, one thing that I'm still quite surprised about: When hitching (or even just hiking along a highway), it didn't matter that how clean shaven I was or that I was wearing a nice and new jacket. I was generally looked down on as some sort of bum. However, riding my bicycle, it didn't matter how scruffy and dirty I happened to be, complete with torn clothes, caked in dust and sweat, the same judgemental folks treated me like a high-performance athlete. Funny and ironic.
Every time this topic of homelessness, or let's call it nomadism, comes up, I like to mention that this is one thing lacking in our society: A place for us to live on the move, for however long we wish. By this I mean physical infrastructure on one end, that is frequent centers where water is provided, for drinking, showering, and washing your stuff, as well as a place to put yourself for night with the most basic necessities of safety from the elements. Two examples I like to use as inspiration (though not necessarily copying it 1:1) are mosques, where they want the believer to enter, but require them to be clean when doing so, so the water facilities are provided. The other are hiker-biker sites at many parks in the US. They charge $5 per site, which are big enough to accommodate a number of travelers who want to share them. Though even here I think this could be entirely free, and not only in forests but all throughout cities and towns. But that leads right into the other aspect of creating space for nomads in our cultural mindset. Once this happens, we can discuss all the potential benefits people on the move could bring to a town of otherwise sedentary inhabitants.
Like language exchange, food / local dishes and fresh perspective.
Yes, all of that. Plus possible skills, knowledge, experience, and possible alternative solutions to prevailing problems. Then there are all the social aspects of having someone from far away around. And we're just scratching the surface here...
What a great reply, I completely agree. If you want clean visitors, then they need a place to clean up! It's very simple.
What you told about how they look at you on a bike is hilarious 😂 I suppose that to most people in this modern world just riding a bike is a monumental display of fitness
Well, thanks to you for offering such a great opportunity to reply!
As for the mosque, generally I am not a fan of religions, but the mere fact that they offer water is enough to make me a believer! Though I have never traveled in Muslim countries , so all this remains hypothetical at this point.
As for bicycling, riding it all day every day does require a decent level of fitness (which you will also develop on the road, by the way), however, the same thing is true about walking all day every day. I enjoy both quite a lot, but for some reason walking doesn't generate the same respect in this modern world as riding a bike. Now I'm curious about what the case would be for traveling by canoe or on horseback...