Beyond Bugging Out, by Scipio

OK you’ve got your bugout bag prepared, you checked your bugout vehicle to make sure it is mechanically sound, or what public transportation may be available, and you are watching the horizon for any signal to bug out.

You have already thought of the parameters that would trigger your bugging out. Those considerations are unique to you, where you live, your circumstances, your capabilities and any support you may have. At this point you have already made the decision you will bugout depending on whatever is threatening you because it would not be solved by hunkering down.  You must go!

You have planned for a general time frame you would have to be safely away before you could safely return “home” That may be three days, thirty days, or six months, etc. What are your extended plans beyond this time frame?

First, Congratulations on the planning and preparation that you have done. But what if?  What if you have under estimated how long you will be gone? What is the next step when returning is not an option?

Unfortunately, you are looking at two extremely difficult and long-term solutions. Regardless of which option you choose, this will probably mean never returning to what you once knew, not even to a “new normal”.

This decision is not some theoretical exercise. There are hundreds of thousands of people across the world presently making this decision who are either fleeing from war, persecution, poverty or living in a failed state https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/mayhem-unfolds-oakland-soros-backed-da-fails-enforce-law-and-order . When you come face to face with that reality and it’s not a cerebral exercise but an existential threat, what is your plan?

What are your options? Your options are: migration or immigration. Both require you to pack up and start a new life somewhere else geographically. This is not temporary “remote living”.

Either option will almost assuredly involve increased expenses compared to shelter in place. (BTW if you can shelter in place, make sure have purchased Jack Lawson’s two volume book “Civil Defense Manual” and have at least started implementing its contents.  It’s the best $100 you will ever spend!).  Think of the expenses involved when going on an extended trip or vacation; transportation, food, tolls, private camp sites, government parks, entrance fees, as well as accommodations. These costs will have to be considered if you flee permanently.

Migration is the most likely and the most affordable option of the two.  It means moving inside a country, not to another country.  There are plenty of areas that might fill your basic need; a true “safe place”.  Perhaps it’s as simple as vacating a threatened urban area to the “country”.  Perhaps its moving to a blue state or a blue area within a state. Perhaps it is moving to an area populated by like-minded and like-prepared people who are secure from whatever threats you are escaping. Perhaps you know someone who lives where you are trying to get to who would at least welcome you and give you some type of aid. It might be good to stay in touch with those people. The term migrate means to move from one place to another.  For example, birds migrate for seasonal reasons.

To emigrate, in contrast, generally means to leave a country for another.  When you get to your destination you will have immigrated and become an immigrant.  You may or may not be seeking asylum for political reasons. In other words, “an emigrate is someone who moves away, while an immigrant is someone who moves in.”

Besides the normal travel expenses mentioned above, just the process of emigration can be expensive.  Passports are one example.  When ten members of my family went to Italy for my daughter’s wedding in September 2020, our passports with fees were over $2,000.  It also took eleven days before we got our passports. Visas would have been cost another cost and additional time delay if Italy required them for Americans.  A US Passport will allow you to travel to 107 countries without needing a Visa.  It ranks 24^th among all other international passports in choices. Italy is 5^th best, by the way, allowing you to travel to 191 countries Visa free.  The good news is that a US Passport gives you lots of destination options.

Keep in mind a Visa not only allows you to enter a country, it also limits how long you can stay in a country, so select the country and type of Visa that allows you the most time there.  Gaining citizenship can be costly, time consuming, or worse, forbidden. If you have lots of money, $25,000 or more for example, you can “buy citizenship” in a few countries, mostly in Central and South America. Buying property by foreigners may be forbidden in some countries as it is in Thailand.  Unlike America, you just can’t walk across the border and be mobbed by people wanting to help you establish permanent residency.  America is the only insane nation in the world when it comes to emigration.  Some countries are down right hustle to you by your just visiting there.

Another cost will be currency exchange fees.  Don’t expect your dollars to be accepted in other countries, unless you are dealing with “off the record” financial transactions which could land you in hot water with local authorities. You will need to exchange your US Dollars for the local currency by the time you arrive in your new country.  For example, as of this writing, $100 would be worth 89 Euros.  You will also be charged for the currency transaction, and airports generally have the most expensive fees, so do it before hand through your local bank if you can. When you estimate the costs of things in a new country, do the estimation in local currencies.  Depending on what country you go to, you can come out ahead or behind in a currency transaction. A weak dollar at your time of departure will cost you, literally.

As you can see emigrating involves more than grabbing your bugout bag and taking off to an airport or seaport.  It requires preparation, time, and extra money.  In addition, you need to have done some recon on what country you deem is best for you.  Have at least three country options. When the time comes to go countries, whose doors are open to Americans now, may not be in the future.  Americans are slowly becoming persona non grata in some places, so don’t be surprised if you encounter this attitude while abroad.

To really be ahead of the loop, try to acquire the language of your intended destination.  Even rudimentary knowledge will help and be respected by your host country.  If several members of your family are in on the plan, as is mine, have different members learn a different language in case your top choices will not be available.  The good news is English is the most prevalent language in the world, and you should be able find someone who speaks it in metropolitan areas.  If you can’t find English speakers, you may find someone who speaks another language which just may be what one of your family members speaks and you can translate through their second language!

Just as having cash on hand in an emergency is important. It is even more so having foreign currency of your targeted country(s).  My two banks take three to seven days respectively to convert my dollars into whatever currency I desire.  A drawback to local banks is they have limited foreign currency options outside of major tourist destinations. It may take longer to get currencies from less popular countries.  I have small sums of travel money between three currencies of my three target countries stashed at home. If I, and my family, need to run strait to an airport, jump on a plane and get out of Dodge, I will have everything I need. Besides, there will be more empty seats on the plane at that time then latter.

Another part of my plan when I get over “there” is to have a place to have friends and family to join in the future. In the beginning of the 19^th century, a handful of Japanese citizens, desperate for work in the floundering Japanese economy, relocated to Chile because of booming mining opportunities there. Emigrants from Europe were also pouring in to work the mines.  However, the Japanese came to serve the miners, not to mine. One family brought its talent for a traditional Japanese fish ice cream, Taiyaki.  It was served in a hot fish shaped ice cream cone. https://taiyakinyc.com/ Fish is a stable for Chileans, and the combo was a smashing hit.  That family brought the rest of its family over, and it is now a prosperous fifth generation business in Chile.  You may be familiar with mochi ice cream.  It is an American adaptation to the traditional Japanese mochi desert.  Your decision could be designed in such a way to affect future family generations, not an ending but a new generational beginning!

Just to be clear; the expense, needed documents, time for researching a country(s), thinking through a plan, and preparation for emigration will unfortunately make emigrating out of reach for many people.  If you were “thinking” about it as a last resort, “thinking” about it is just a false hope.  It’s not an option you can exercise at the last moment. Instead of entertaining the thought, expend your mental energy on what are your time horizons for your bugout plans, and recognize their underlying assumptions.