Becoming a Refugee (Worst Case Scenario Exercise)

[Davey]

Okay, I figured out a new exercise as a counterpoint to a lot of "Zombopocalypse Preparation" fantasy worst-case scenario exercises, I'll try to run over it as best I can... Here are the rules. We are going to assume that you are fleeing a doomsday scenario, either plague, war, government tyranny, Reavers, you name it, we'll leave all that vague.

TL;DR Version
You have three hours to pack two suitcases and flee the country to a randomly selected destination that may or may not be a complete shithole, with only what you can carry in them and nothing else. You don't speak the language and won't have any past credit for whatever you did or got before.

Detailed Version
You have:
a) One set of common-quality clothes and shoes. We will gloss over the details and assume these are clothes of your choosing. You must actually own them.

b) Two suitcases which are not to exceed 20 gallons (roughly 75 litres) in capacity per person. There is no formally defined weight limit, however each person in your family must be able to carry everything they are taking with them a minimum of 5 kilometres up a 5% grade starting at sea level without assistance. We will assume that knives or any edged tools of any description, firearms, seeds, live plants, monetary agents (including traveller's cheques or silver or gold bars) totalling more than $2000CAD (or equivalent) per person, tobacco, samples of soil, water, food, meat, tissue samples, firestarting materials, compressed gases, batteries that contain lithium, live animals including family pets, and medications that are not prescribed will be confiscated at the airport or at the border of your destination (assume you are carrying everything onboard the plane).

C) Three hours at your home to pack and prepare before your flight, not counting the time you will have to take to get to the airport. You may freely travel, by car or by foot during this time (we'll assume the Infected/Zombies/Jack-Booted Thugs/Reavers/Teenaged Pop Fangirl Squads haven't gotten to your area yet)

d) One economy airline ticket per person, to a randomly selected country that has infrastructure and a relatively stable government (ie: not Somalia), and open borders (ie: not New Zealand, Switzerland, or Norway). We will assume this country has a much lower standard of living than your home, but has several features:
i) a relatively stable government, where a stable government is one that has not had an attempted coup, revolution, or open rebellion within the last two years;
ii) sustainable infrastructure;
iii) telecommunications that may be relied on at least nine of ten times.



We will also assume:
a) You have no offshore accounts, no offshore money, and no assets such as stock, IOUs, government savings bonds, etc. Any bullion (such as gold and silver bullion, silver bars) will be considered monetary agents and confiscated at the border. Uncut gems or diamonds will be confiscated at the border (you may or may not be charged with diamond smuggling, depending on where you go). Finished goods, such as luxury watches, cameras, or valuable consumer electronics are OK.

b) Your country's entire financial industry and system has collapsed. You may not exchange currencies while in your home country, and any hard cash currency you take with you is now worthless and will not be honoured as fiat currency (although it might make passable toilet paper)

c) You have no relatives, friends, work associates, or 'pen pals' in your new country.

d) Your first language is not an official language in the country.

e) Any previous work experience and education or certifications (including motorized vehicle licenses) that you have will not be considered or honoured in your destination country, regardless of its nature or any associations you may belong to.

f) You know in advance which country you are destined for, for approximately three hours before you have to go to the airport.

g) You are not to return home, ever. Home is gone, there is no going back, not in twenty years, not in a hundred. You, or your children's children's children will never see home again. About one hour after you check through the immigration desk after you touch down, the Republic of the United Provinces of Torontonia or wherever you called home will immediately collapse and become overrun with anarchy, tribalism, fascism, Mike Harris' Christmas Party, etc. I leave that up to your imagination.

h) Your passports will be valid for one time entry only, after which you are on your own.

i) You are taking any dependents with you, and may take along one common-law spouse, or one close friend. In keeping with the 'worst case scenario' spirit of the exercise, we will not include provisions for persons who may be disabled/wheelchair bound, elderly, require long term care, or suffer chronic illnesses.

j) You don't have citizenship (or anything similar, such as permanent resident's status) in any other country.



The exercise will end when the following conditions are met:
a) You are able to accommodate your immediate family in a permanent shelter. We will count this as any building you may foreseeably remain in for up to a year that is adequately insulated from the weather and has a door that can be locked and may not be readily broken into, and follows (or is grandfathered under) all building codes of your new country.

b) You are able to receive your first taxable paycheque and are able to hold a job stably for a minimum period of six months that will pay the bills. Jobs off the book or jobs that pay cash don't count.

Additional considerations:
You will be considered to have failed if any member of your family, including yourself, is incarcerated, extradited, deported or arrested by the authorities, you or any of your family members starve or die. (The exception to this rule is if any of your family members are killed by local conflicts, such as war, crime, carjacking, industrial accidents, natural disasters or on-the job hazards). Whether or not you are in the country legally, I have not defined to increase the scope of the exercise.




In the past, many of our ancestors did similar things in real life, only, I wonder how much things have changed in this day and age. Discuss?

[Broomstick]

My paternal grandparents did more or less that when they came over. The maternal side had the Irish do that when they came over. Don't know about grandpa Rausch, he never did discuss why he left Germany.

Anyhow - my ancestors were able to smuggle some gems/coins/small valuables out of their respective countries which were immensely useful once they hit the US. One major difference these days is that it's a lot harder to get shit through customs that way these days.