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[FuuRe]

So I was just watching a show called "Buying Alaska" on Discovery World, which is pretty much like all those "upgrade-my-house" clones out there, the family (couple with 5 kids) outgrew their small cabin and wanted a bigger and better place to live.

They were offered beautiful cabins in the middle of the forest, the dad (who digs hunting) was in awe of all the possibilities of the place, the mom (concerned about functionality) cared more about logical shit like space of the rooms and whatnot.

But to my shock no one cared about that the fucking house was in the middle of the fucking woods, away from everything.

I mean, I just went out to buy bread, there's a bakery five houses from where i live so I just put some shoes and went, 2 minutes after i was enjoying my fresh bread, yummy.

Take that very same situation to that alaskian dystopia of accessibility, you would have to get in the car (which in the show would be in a HEATED garage, enough to create another thread about misuse of resources but I won't), drive thru snow and woods for who knows how fucking long, and back.

Replace the bread with, dunno... medicines, a medical emergency, bear attacks, or normal everyday stuff.

Also how would you live there... I've seen enough movies about creepy shit in the woods (Say Alien abduction, Mama... whatever) to spark my irrational fear, plus the more rational fear like burglars and bears, hell, you can't pay me enough to live there.

But before seeing this show, I was already aware that it seems to be mostly an american thing, take the pic from the beginning of this post, if you can't remember the house or can't identify the blonde dude it's a house from the movie "Marley and me", again, in the middle of nowhere. Remember another dog movie named "Fluke"? also featured a house in the middle of the woods.

I clearly get they are spacious, beautiful, heated, private, and a step up from the stressful city life... but man, maybe I was a bee in my previous life but I couldn't fathom to live in a place where my screams won't be heard.

Could you? Did you? will you? are you?

 

[Zakalwe]

I could, it actually sounds very idyllic and would probably be super productive and healthy living like that...

I'm a masochist though. I secretly enjoy living in large, polluted cities in cramped overpriced little rooms, commuting in sardine cans and avoiding puddles of puke on a Friday night.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Did you ever go camping?

 

[Lkr]

Living on a large plot of land with nowhere near you is the American dream

 

[cr0w]

I have and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I prefer it, because I like my own space, don't want to be inconvenienced by other peoples' quirks and don't want to inconvenience others with mine. The best time I ever had was growing up in a house with no neighbors for two miles. I had room, I could explore, I could breathe. It was literally like the whole world was mine. When you're 8, that is an amazing thing. I don't feel like it would ever stop being one.

 

[Talonz]

Neighbor's are usually annoying as hell.

 

[Uncle_Classy]

A lot of people are misanthropes and/or glorify rugged individualism. They seem to be the types who want to "get away from it all."

 

[AxeMan]

I hate neighbours.
I want about 2000 square metre blocks as a minimum to be content with neighbours

 

[Dishwalla]

Peace and quiet are good things.

I mean city life is good for convenience, but the country is just great. Wide open spaces, no hustle and bustle, no city lights at night instead relying on the stars and the moon, the sounds of nature rather than the sounds of traffic and work equipment.

 

[cr0w]

A lot of people are misanthropes and/or glorify rugged individualism. They seem to be the types who want to "get away from it all."

Yes, this is 100% the case. It's not at all possible that some people simply like peace and quiet.

 

[FuuRe]

But hospitals! groceries!

If i had a Kennel MAYBE I could

 

[truestatic]

Cars become more important when you live somewhere remote, but you gain privacy, peace, access to nature and outdoors activities. You also probably have cheaper land and can afford more space for food storage, so you'll make bigger, planned shopping trips and fewer spontaneous ones.

There are trade offs, but it's hardly all bad.

 

[CarpeDeezNutz]

It's not as big as that, but my parents own the lots between their house plus my aunt owns a house next to one of the lots so I grew up with my neighbors not living close. Every time I drive around I am always like damn must be rough living so close to your neighbors.

 

[Codeblue]

There is a half acre between me and my neighbor and he is still finding ways to piss me off. I can understand the desire to be secluded even if I'd rather live in a city.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

I've always had a desire to live in a apartment with a great skyline. Those crazy studio apartments in New York where you can see the entire city with a balcony. Thats a view you will never get tired of. But the prices of those things- No matter the city is insane. It will never be something I'll achieve.


But a house. Is affordable. And the more in the middle of nowhere it is, the cheaper it can be. My biggest problem with those isolated houses is lack of internet. That's becoming more and more of a deal breaker in this world. I'd imagine if I did live in a secluded place, I'd have lots of pets.


4 dogs; Corgi, Shiba, French Hotdog, Husky
a couple of cats
Otter
domesticated fox
And a few other animals. I'd just run my own petting zoo. I'd have chickens. I eat 10 eggs a day, so it makes sense to go about it that way.

Having a house is actually awesome. Working in the garden is actually really fun. Spent a lot of the time in the garden with my mom when my grandma passed. There is some real therapeutic element to working in a garden. You build something from nature, your growing herbs and fruits, and you use them in the kitchen, and it just feels more personal for some reason. I wasn't a hippy or a farm boy growing up, but I see the appeal.



The whole problem for me is that I am so pessimistic and concerned about the housing market. No matter where you are in the first world, all of the "good" cities you'd want to move too are just exploding in costs. If you don't want to take a 40+ year morgage you better be rich or you are fucked. And it's propelled to become worse. I love big city life, but I don't know. Rents go up, price of living goes up, wages are stagnate. The projections I've seen suggests that it's going to be a lot worse in the next 10 years. Nothing shows a breaking of this inequality curve. Apartments will continue to be scarce.

And I just don't feel like pissing 2/3 of my income away on a basic apartment. I feel you get so little. Buying a house out in nowhere is a lot more propable for me than it used to be. I'm considering it.
One of my friends lives in a hut in forest in sweden. There are 2 hours of driving to the nearest town. If something happens to him, he is fucked. No internet, no phone. He is secluded and a loner so he likes it. But swedish forests are no joke. You are seriously fucked if you get lost.

 

[Dishwalla]

But hospitals! groceries!

If i had a Kennel MAYBE I could

There are many places in this country(the U.S.) where you can live like 20 minutes from a decent sized town/city but still in the middle of nowhere. Not everywhere is like New York City.

 

[CarpeDeezNutz]

There are many places in this country(the U.S.) where you can live like 20 minutes from a decent sized town/city but still in the middle of nowhere. Not everywhere is like New York City.

Yeah, my old man has a 20 acre ranch out in the sticks but not too far from civilization.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

I've lived where my neighbors were about 1 km away in either direction. It was the best. One day I will hopefully live somewhere like that again. Being away from everything and everyone is the best feeling ever. Preferably with a mate. But wven then I'd rather be alone in the middle of nowhere rather than alone and surrounded by people.

 

[FUBAR McDangles]

If I could live in a place where I could go days without seeing anybody but my family, I would.

Living in a city sucks. You can't do anything fun.

 

[Cipher Peon]

I can't imagine being a second away from civilization.

Anything less than New York City is a ghost town, as far as I'm concerned. And not the spooky fun ones where you can imagine they're haunted or serial killers are running about. The ones where it's sooooo boooooring. I need people in my life, I need human contact, and I'd like to have everything in convenient walking distance.

Cities 4 lyf

 

[KevinCow]

I hardly interact with my neighbors as is.

And I don't live five houses away from a bakery. It's all houses in these suburbs. So I have to get in my car and drive to get groceries or anything, anyway.

The things I'd be most worried about are internet and cell reception, but if those were fine and I wasn't TOO far away from society, I wouldn't mind living far away from people.

 

[HyperCubed4]

When your next door neighbours do construction at 7 in the morning on the weekend, destroy a wall of their garage which proceeds to collapse into your backyard, hire construction workers whom then bring a large truck that knocks down your cable wires for 3 days, living far apart from your neighbours seems pretty good sometimes.

...I hate my neighbours, christ almighty

 

[Aquavelvaman]

I grew up on a big piece of land a couple kilometers away from anyone else. It was great. I hated it as a kid, before I could drive, because I couldn't go anywhere to buy something without my mom driving me there. And it took like 30 minutes to get to school. But after living in really dense areas in apartments I have come to really miss the feeling of having a big open patch of land where nobody else is.

If I am be able to afford it when I retire, I'd like to live in a small house a bit out outside of a small town in Wyoming or something like that.

 

[Dalek]

I hate my neighbors. I want peace and quiet.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

Horror movie serial killers will love y'all.

 

[Hellwarden]

Do people even talk to their neighbors anymore?

I never talk to my neighbors. They've never tried to talk to me. We live in a cozy suburb, and see each other at least every other day, but we never talk.

 

[nailbombxx]

I am from a rural area where it takes 15+ minutes of driving to get anything and I can honestly say, despite all of the conveniences, I would hate to live in a city. Every time I visit a metropolitan area I get more and more tired of all of the traffic and hoards of shitty people everywhere. Fuck that.

 

[entremet]

I'm a city mouse as well. Living in the woods like that sounds like a nightmare.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

Couldn't care less about neighbors, but I also have no interest living in middle of nowhere. Right now I'm sort of squatting in a home my dad owns (that we lived in before he remarried) and it's in a rural area and can't really stand it. Just staying here because I just started a new job and looking to buy my own place in town.

 

[teruterubozu]

De Tocqueviile wondered the same thing when he visited America.

 

[spliced]

I've noticed this before and I've come to the conclusion that it's just people love to complain and have a grass is greener fantasy. You put most people out in the middle of nowhere and they'd be wanting out sooner or later.

 

[Rizific]

its not for everybody and it doesnt surprise me that people dig living like that. but that shit is definitely not for me.

 

[Jest Chillin]

Would love to live in a home with a bit of land separating me from neighbors. Most cities and suburbs have living spaces packed in way too tight. Give me the space where I could have a fire pit going, some music playing and some friends over where we can hang out and BS without it disturbing the neighbors. And where the neighbors could do what they want without disturbing me.

I don't mind a 10 or 15 minute drive up the highway to get into town for supplies or groceries in exchange for privacy.