hoboing
Wandering without home
Hoboing is traveling or living as a hobo—moving from place to place, typically by freight train, and taking odd jobs along the way.
The term evokes early 20th-century American transient life: He spent a summer hoboing across the Midwest.
It can also describe any rootless wandering or unconventional traveling.
Wandering homeless person
- vagrantHomeless itinerant person
- drifterAimless, rootless traveler
- transientTemporary, soon departing
- wayfarerTraveler, especially walking
nomad · wanderer · vagabond · bo · rubberneck · floater · migrant worker · seasonal labor
Seeking handouts resourcefully
- foragingSeeking wild food sources
- makeshiftTemporary, improvised substitute
- resourcefulnessAbility to solve problems creatively
- scavengingGathering discarded or dead material
bindle · mulligan stew · jungle camp · panhandling · dumpster diving · squatting · sleeping rough · bedroll
Enclosed rail freight carrier
- freightGoods being transported
- trainhoppingIllegally boarding cargo trains
- gondolaSuspended transport cabin
- flatcarSideless railroad freight carrier
railyard · jungle · switchyard · hotshot · manifest · reefer · piggyback · grainer
Flight from captivity
- unconventionalDeparting from standard practice
- nonconformityRejection of prevailing norms
- independenceFreedom from external control
- countercultureRejection of mainstream values
off-the-grid · alternative · unfettered · unbound · footloose · carefree · open road · wanderlust
tramp
Wandering homeless person
wayfarer · nomad · wanderer · vagabond · bo · rubberneck · floater · migrant worker · seasonal labor · itinerant
scrounging
Seeking handouts resourcefully
- foragingSeeking wild food sources
- makeshiftTemporary, improvised substitute
- resourcefulnessAbility to solve problems creatively
scavenging · bindle · mulligan stew · jungle camp · panhandling · dumpster diving · squatting · sleeping rough · bedroll · rationing
boxcar
Enclosed rail freight carrier
- freightGoods being transported
- trainhoppingIllegally boarding cargo trains
- gondolaSuspended transport cabin
flatcar · railyard · jungle · switchyard · hotshot · manifest · reefer · piggyback · grainer · intermodal
escape
Flight from captivity
- unconventionalDeparting from standard practice
- nonconformityRejection of prevailing norms
- independenceFreedom from external control
counterculture · off-the-grid · alternative · unfettered · unbound · footloose · carefree · open road · wanderlust · restlessness
- Depression survivalbread lines, soup kitchens, Hoovervilles, making do, scrimping
- survival tacticspanhandling, dumpster diving, scavenging, squatting, rough sleeping
hoboingsettling down
Becoming stable and rooted
staying put · nesting · homeownership · domesticity · anchoring
hoboingconforming
Meeting accepted standards
respectability · suburban life · keeping up with the Joneses