Rough Sleeping (2 Viewers)

... since we had the subject at another thread and some people were asking:
HERE are some of the places we slept on our hichhiking-tours.

The said sleeping places on England-Tour 1993 (and maybe others after 1990) may take some time, since they're only on dia-positives by now, not paper-prints and I can't scan those.

So how about YOUR rough-sleeping experiences?
 
Respect! I had a look at the pictures and those places were pretty rough for a night's rest. Did you wear knifes or anything for self defense? I mean, you look very young on those pictures...fresh meat for monsters...
 
On a Reggae tour of Tunisia we slept in a five star hotel in Tunis for three or four days, but once we left the city, we often spent the next month or so sleeping on cold ground (with rock stone as a pillow, as Bob Marley said). What a great fucking trip that was.

On the punk rock tours we slept often in the van, and on a couple occasions, on the very gob and duct tape covered stages we played on a few hours earlier. I think that qualifies as rough, even though we had a roof over our heads.
 
In the evasion portion of survival training I slept amidst some 3 ft ( 1 meter) bushes at the foot of some giant cedars trees in the forest of Washington state. I still find the thought of that very relaxing.
In 1970 while coming down from acid I tried to sleep with rocks for pillows, I wasn't a real Reggae guy so, No sleep.
 
yeah. those experiences sure "qualify" as 'rough'. And I love to hear about it and will love to see pics!
They sure belong here.
But:
[I'm not sure now anymore though, but] I thought there is a term (or idiom) called 'rough sleeping' which doesn't necessarily mean, that the experience itself was 'rough'. (In cases of our hichhiking-tours it seldom was, as it was self-chosen and you could 'go home' any time and most of the times you find a nice place anyway.)

I thought 'rough sleeping' as a term meant:
Looking for a free place to sleep - somewhere - basically. Mostly this wouldbe outdoors but not necessarily. You know, like any bum in a city looks out for the best place to lay his head.

For example, this doesn't necessarily include the lack of a roof. On the contrary: the very first night of our very first tour in August 1986 we slept just 'somewhere', which meant, the other morning everything was wet of dew. That lead us to thinking: What if it had rained? We'd spend two days at one place trying to dry our whole belongings. So right after that we decided to never again sleep without a roof above (or at least: in sight).

That's what I meant with 'pro' in the other thread: have you ever seen a bum, who still had all his senses together, sleeping in danger of getting wet?


So, sleeping on a stage or in a prison sure appeares to be 'ROUGH' - Hell yeah! - but is it 'rough sleeping'? or did I get that term just wrong?


Whatsoever: please feel encouraged to post ANY 'unusual' sleeping-experience! This will be fun!
 
We did have knifes - to slice our bread.

Well, there were certain places, we slept - none of them in these pics - where we put these knifes right to our sides. But to be honest: A weapon only helps if you really know how to handle it - so this was more for our own well-feeling than for the purpose of self-defense.

Usually the places to sleep were either very public (as Gare-du-Nord) where you could've been robbed if you were careless, but surely not murdered - or they were very hidden in solitude and shadows, where you'd barely be seen by a passer-by.

What we always Did have right next to us, was a torch. (and a routine to be able to open our sleeping-bags FAST - that's what counts.)
Usually a person (no matter what he/she intended) wouldn't suspect you to be awake and suddenly react, so the simple act of turning up and lighting a torch into someone's face could give you the deciding advantage. At least that's what we thought. At a place like Gare-du-Nord, of course, you don't need a torch. What you needed there was the sense to hide your important belongings in a locker through the night.
 
But to be honest: A weapon only helps if you really know how to handle it - so this was more for our own well-feeling than for the purpose of self-defense.
Indeed. And sometimes when you're face to face with a danger, fear just petrifies you so much that there's nothing to it, whether you have a weapon or not, whether you can handle it or not.

Usually the places to sleep were either very public (as Gare-du-Nord) where you could've been robbed if you were careless, but surely not murdered -
Times have unfortunately changed.

I only distinguish young men on the photos. Was it a typically masculine way of travelling ?
 
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roni,
regarding "rough sleeping", i don't think that term is used here in america. i do understand what you're saying though. i thought the thread was about sleeping in rough places! yea, either way it seems this thread is the right place...
 
... "rough sleeping", i don't think that term is used here in america.
i do understand what you're saying ...

it's good you understand.

I seem to remember, I've heared that term first, somewhere in the late 80s in Great Britain, re hich-hiking through Europe different ways (depending on budget), one of which was 'rough sleeping'.

So, this might be a term in 'British English'?
What have hs or Blessed O to say about that?

... Was it a typically masculine way of travelling ?

I wouldn't say so.
Well, yes, hitchhiking seemed to be a man's way-of-travelling then. Let's say, I've met about 10% female hichhikers on the road. But I have met them! They were there!

In the 80s it was quite common to travel cheap by train through Europe: there was a special ticket-offer for that, named 'Inter-Rail', so a great lot of girls was travelling Europe then too. (since the danger of hitchhiking wasn't there)

As I said before, the huge amount of train-travelling-kids in Europe during the late 80s was a benefit for us hichhikers too. Times have changed a lot in the 90s. A Lot.
We never were sure, whether that came from us getting older or the times changing. But definitely you don't see any 'train-travellers' at the stations anymore.
 
Sleeping rough is certainly a British English term for sleeping outside.
 
I thought 'rough sleeping' meant...looking for a place to sleep...outdoors
Yes, that's what it means.

But "post a picture of yourself from 1987" also means post a picture from that very year, so I thought we were blurring the lines everywhere around here... ;)
 
yes. That's what I said in post #7.
I only wanted to reassure myself, that I, as non native-speaker, got the term right.
 
I have insomnia and can just never sleep. Simple as. Haha. Though a particular rough sleeping experience that comes to mind is when I was a kid... I was about 6 and my grandparents on my father's side took me on vacation miles away from home for about a week and wouldn't let me call my mother or anything. They got so aggrivated with my crying that they locked me in our hotel room for I don't know how long. I didn't sleep well on that trip. And didn't speak to them for a while after that.
 
Nice pics, Roni! You seem to be an experienced Inter-Rail'er. The only rough sleeping I've done was a night in jail. Nowadays, I consider everything below a three-star hotel being rough sleeping...:D
 
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I can't wait to go camping tomorrow at St. Pete beach. Electricity. Gas grills. And mattresses that blow up (see electricity).

It makes me pine for the days when I used to go to "Golden Pond." Where they filmed, "On Golden Pond." Squam Lakes. Henry Fonda's last performance. Damn fine, if I may.

I love New Hampshire, and hope to one day live there. Which may mean %#$@ to everyone here.

Live free or die.

BTW: Not far from where Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Throreau lived; nice.

Pax
 
[...] Roni! You seem to be an experienced Inter-Rail'er. [...]

Hey Bukfan!
This is an affront!
;-))
As I said, we were Hitchhiking, Not interrailing !

To all you youngsters or foreigners:
'INTERRAIL' used to be a cheap ticket for people up to 26 to travel BY TRAIN inside Europe, back in the 80s.

It's true, that these kids made it possible to us, to sleep at certain stations. But still, it's a way different way of travelling.


So now, I'm really really mad at you for this insult!
You'll Never again get some 'regular' (hehe) blowjob from me!
(noooo, baby! - justajoke!
- but I HAD to make this clear...)
 
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Boo-hoo, I'm so sorry Roni! I should've said hitchhiker. Of course, you're not one of those luxury animals who used Interrail. You're the real deal, the good old fashioned hitchhiker.
Can I get my regular blow jobs back now? :p
 
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I couldn't agree more, Lolita! A well done blow job is the hallmark of a true lady. :)
 
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I was just explaining how Mick Jagger was a bisexual and Andy Warhol gave him a hard-on and they used it for a limited-edition album cover :p:
 
My first experience sleeping rough was when I was about 13/14. I got drunk and I was scared that my parents would find out so me and a mate made a fire and slept on a school field. It was January, icy and bloody cold but we felt like true survivors. It almost became a routine for a while...the sleeping in school fields to avoid our parents 11pm curfew until the excitement wore off (2/3 times later!) Really pathetic thinking back.

Anyway the last time was last year when I slept in/on a bush in Hoek Van Holland. I got there at 11pm and had 10 hrs till morning & the arrival of the ferry to Harwich. Everywhere was shut and I was on my own at the time and I was shattered so I thought I may aswell crawl into a bush and try and sleep. It was a damn fine bush and I actually got a decent amount of sleep considering my lack of sleeping equipment (a towel for a duvet/backback for cushion) It was also funny seeing peoples faces when I emerged with twigs stuck in my hair & covered in mud!

Prior to that there were a few more rough nights when travelling arounf Europe. We kinda thought we could book on arrival everywhere we went, but being peak season that often didn't work out.

My hat goes off to people who do it every night.
 
[...] (1)when I was about 13/14. [...] It was January, icy and bloody cold but we felt like true survivors [...] Really pathetic thinking back.
[...]
(2) It was a damn fine bush and I actually got a decent amount of sleep
[...]
(3) my lack of sleeping equipment (a towel [...]

1)
It IS pathetic. But at that age, that's an adventure.

2)
I know that feeling. ("Oh, yeah, behind that museum with a roof all around, that was a damn fine corner to sleep in.")

3)
You knew where your towel was, that's all that counts!
I mean - do you know 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' by Douglas Adams?
It's a little weird, but a funny - AND even serious - read if you like the homour of Monty Python and the likes.

(btw. Adams had the initial idea for the radio-script, later to become a novel, later to become a cult, later to become 5 novels, while lying drunk in a field in Innsbruck (Austria) while travelling around.)
 
^Haha nice didn't know that. My brother had the book and I borrowed it off of him when I was at school. Really funny, I should re read it again. I haven't heard the radio show but I have seen the recent film adaptation which was okay-ish.
 
Anyway the last time was last year when I slept in/on a bush in Hoek Van Holland. I got there at 11pm and had 10 hrs till morning & the arrival of the ferry to Harwich. Everywhere was shut and I was on my own at the time and I was shattered so I thought I may aswell crawl into a bush and try and sleep. It was a damn fine bush and I actually got a decent amount of sleep considering my lack of sleeping equipment (a towel for a duvet/backback for cushion) It was also funny seeing peoples faces when I emerged with twigs stuck in my hair & covered in mud!
You can always rely on Holland when you're after decent bush ;)
 
rough sleep humm.
In 69, I was sleeping on a reserve in Salmon Arm, hitchiking.
The evening started in the local bar with my travelling friend. We ended staying in the chief's house. He slept with a rifle under his pillow to let us know that we would be safe :eek:
 
back (way) when I was a teen, I lived "in the streets" and spent at least a couple of years, (summers) sleeping rough. under bridges, all night gas stations, laundrymats, parks, ect. to have a bed or roof was unusual. don't really know why I did it, just cuz I guess....
 
how did you get money? what did you eat? When I was travelling around Europe. I kinda ran out of money near the end. I still had my ticket home, but a train fine on the last leg of the trip rinsed most of my cash so I had too live very basically for the end of the trip. It's amazing how easy it was to eat for ridiculously cheap. Bread...beans. Cheap n' filling.

Man a couple of years is quite a while. I think I could do it for a while but I think two years would be too much. I like to think that I am pretty adaptable but the cold I cannot bear! I can sleep in most places...hygiene I'm not so fussed...but when you feel the cold right down to your bones, it's just depressing. After the brief cold patch this winter I saw a lot of homeless guys cocooned up in their sleeping bags under doorways around London. Man, I respect their drive just to keep going. I mean there must be something in life that makes them want go on regardless of how little they have got and how shitty their life can be. Maybe, that's why...being stripped of all the material belongings & everyday traps of life they can salvage an aspect of life that so many people miss. I don't know maybe not, but I often wonder how many of the homeless guys to it out of choice or just because of drugs, booze or other issues.
 

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