Christopher McCandless

it seems like most of us are afraid to leave the conventional 9-5 lifestyle and explore our true purpose on earth... has anyone done anything like Chris or embarked on an adventure??

For my part, no but I want to do this experiment, Because society makes me suffer a lot And being far from it and living an adventure, like Chris, would be a cure fo me. But I will not choose the north, but the desert and more specifically the Sahara.

sounds cool man, hope God blesses you with many great opportunieis!

Thank you!

Hey, I am 18 and have lived the last 2 years of my life as a leather tramp hitching around Australia. Living a nomadic lifestyle has always exited me and I can think of no worse fate than having a secure future... I want to strongly encourage you to undertake this life, for each day a new and different sun. You will not regret it! Find yourself and escape this soul-draining, conformist society and there is no place like the road to find like-minded people. You will find that as you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness... Do not try escape the inevitable any longer, just do it man. Who cares what 'the suits' think

I was expected to join the military as an officer, but at 19 i left the UK for a holiday in the US (1991) and just left everything and everybody behind. I traveled for about 5 years, as global as possible. The vast majority of time very very much alone. Biking around the US, not speaking to a soul for weeks is an enlightening process. I travelled without a map for most of my time in the US, with a notional idea of where to go. From Florida to California, sleeping on the roads, eating next to nothing and thinking I could eventually get to Alaska........however the bike broke down, and after 6 months and now totally pennyless, it was time to find work and rejoin the rat race

I'm 16 years old, nearly 17 and i don't think i could ever bring myself to ever do the things Chris Mccandless decided to do. i'm an independant person, but i could never be like that one my own. i need my family, and i need my friends. and i'm not a nature person, so i wouldnt know how to do anything out there. to survive, Chris needed to kill animals, there is no way i could ever bring myself to kill an animal, i love animals way too much. but i guess he was desperate for food, and he did regret killing the moose after he realized he took it's life and then couldn't even do anything with the meat because it began to rot. i feel like people in our generation would be too worried to be without their computer, or their cell phone, or their xbox, or fast food to be able to leave society to live life in the wilderness.

Hello,
I know i'm young, 18years old actually and chris is such an inspiration to me and not many people i know have seen this film and i would love to do something like travelling on the road making it my home.
Firstly, i want to go on the camino, the camino de santiago but only i want to start from the top of france and then walk all the way to the end of spain, no hitch hiking though. Then after that i'm going to walk/ hitch hike some of europe, living as a 'supertramp' like chris. From there i want to go to america and walk/ hitchhike that (thats if i make it)
However, i'm saving money to help fulfil my dream because england isnt an easy place to get out of. After i have done this i hope to then write a book.
Is anyone interested in knowing more? Maybe joining me in about 4 years?
Just let me know if your interested,
Thanks,
Yours, jenny

I'm an 18 years old girl.
All my life I've felt like I'm not living life propertly. I've been living by the "norm": have a good family, friends and good grades in school. But somehow I find no happiness in anything. It's like I SHOULD be happy, but I'm not. I always feel society is in my way, and I can't find no excitement living the life the way it is supposed to be lived. I've always felt the need to get away. Experience. For real.

Until I saw the movie "Into the Wild", I thought there wasn't anything like 'living in the wild' for real. And after reading about the movie and the story about the real Christopher McCandless, I felt like that is my destiny. I have to live like that. That is what I've been missing all along. Absolute freedom.
My plan right now is to finish high school with decent grades, and then I want to go. I'm not sure where, and I really don't have a plan but I just know I am determined to leave society. Live cheap. Walk. Experience. See. Find the true purpose of my existence.

jenny-intothewild wrote:Hello,
I know i'm young, 18years old actually and chris is such an inspiration to me and not many people i know have seen this film and i would love to do something like travelling on the road making it my home.
Firstly, i want to go on the camino, the camino de santiago but only i want to start from the top of france and then walk all the way to the end of spain, no hitch hiking though. Then after that i'm going to walk/ hitch hike some of europe, living as a 'supertramp' like chris. From there i want to go to america and walk/ hitchhike that (thats if i make it)
However, i'm saving money to help fulfil my dream because england isnt an easy place to get out of. After i have done this i hope to then write a book.
Is anyone interested in knowing more? Maybe joining me in about 4 years?
Just let me know if your interested,
Thanks,
Yours, jenny

I like your plan! And I find it intersting that we are the same age + girls + has the inspiration/interest in Chris McCandless. I'd like to know more about your plan if you would like to tell me. Im curious! And I have no one else to talk about with this kind of thing with. Anyway, my email is: liveillusions@hotmail.com

I left the 9 to 5 job over a year ago. I can never go back into "the world" like I was in. I just saw this movie last night. I rented it on Amazon. I had the cable shut off a few years ago. So no TV only movies I can choose to watch when I want to. I have often thought about disappearing from society and actually had a legal name change hoping it would help me forget the past but it didn't. I'm 55 now, raised 3 kids and now babysit my granddaughter during the week. She lives in NH and me in CT. Neither place is my home. I design jewelry or some sort of artistic thing to give my mind rest. I have battled PTSD for years and am currently in therapy but have spent a great deal of my life there. Recently started EMDR therapy. I hide well when I'm around people. Most don't see me that way.

Getting back to the movie, this hit me pretty hard. The movie portrays Christopher as a young man that would be easy to like/love but I guess he must have felt torchured to want to disappear altogether. I have thought about doing the same except not to Alaska but disappear from the world where people don't know me. Christopher seemed to make friends along the way but kept a safe distance from emotional ties. A part of me feels it was such a waste for this man to die but then a part of me thinks he did what he wanted or needed to do to have some relief from society. I still find myself asking why? Enough said for now. RIP Christopher...