The Zen of Full Timing - Living Comfortably
The Buddha taught that Attachment was suffering. Attachment having to do with, on one level, the amount of stuff one has. Well if preparing to be full-timers doesnt bring you face to face with the ...
Forum Discussion
4X4Dodger wrote:
This is completely off the topic of this post. It was supposed to be about the things you take with you that makes it more like home and life more civilized while roughing it, not a mine-is-bigger-than-yours argument.
I just re-read your original post and my apology is in order and tendered. I plead guilty to complicity in meandering far afield of your intent. I still maintain that I was on the "mine is smaller than yours" side. But I digress :)
To respond appropriately, I'll have to say that even after 14 years, our day to day way of living hasn't changed much from when we were in the sticks and bricks. It's just always in different places :)We want for very little. We don't eat or drink from plastic, nor do we sup from Waterford or Delft. We didn't then either. Wine is one area that comes to mind that has changed. In the S&B we had an 80 bottle cellar. Only rarely have we had a really good red since we got on the road given that I'm loath to subject a $100 or more bottle to the vagaries of travel.
We probably carry more good cookware than most. Cooking has always been a passion (I've owned 2 restaurants and managed another) and we never even considered compromising, despite the weight and space requirements. We might go to a restaurant 4 times a year (usually a disappointing experience). The other 361 days, I cook and we eat VERY well. And because we walk an average of 3 miles/day plus other exercising we are in great shape compared to some folks our age. (59 & 63)
In 19 years my DW has only complained about 1 meal I have served her. It involved snails. Enough said? It was incredibly delicious. To me anyway. :) Compared to the other 6859 meals I've prepared since we got on the road, she admits that it didn't suck that badly. :B
Bottom line? One does not have to sacrifice much of anything out here on the road. If the idea of experiencing things in (for most folks) a vastly different environment which can change literally daily and still keep your creature comforts doesn't appeal to you, stay home.
