Sometimes when life gets a bit tough, many of us find ourselves saying we want to sack everything off and head out on an adventure. You know, stick it to the man, hit the road and wanderlust the hell out of this world.
But then it dawns on us that doing so would actually involve a fair bit of effort, so we shrug it off and go back to watching Netflix in our pants.
However, one man chose to see it through - being so dedicated to the free-spirited way that he ended up losing his life, starving to death not long after mysteriously disappearing from society.
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Christopher McCandless - whose tragic story was written up into both an article and a novel by Jon Krakauer, before being adapted into a film, Into the Wild, in 2007 - was an American college graduate from El Segundo, California.
Disillusioned by the materialistic life that he had inherited from his well-off family, after graduating in 1990, McCandless donated most of his savings to Oxfam, before taking off to embark on a future as a vagabond.
Deserting his privileged life, he transformed himself into his liberated alter-ego, 'Alexander Supertramp', before canoeing his way down to Mexico.
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He then hitch-hiked his way north, working odd jobs along the way, and eventually reached his final destination in 1992: Alaska.
In a postcard to former employer Wayne Westerberg, McCandless wrote: "It might be a very long time before I return South. If this adventure proves fatal and you don't ever hear from me again, I want you to know you're a great man.
"I now walk into the wild."
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That correspondence did, indeed, prove to be his last - though McCandless was able to enjoy a few months of living off the land, with journal entries indicating that he'd been camping out in an abandoned bus parked up in an overgrown section of the trail near Denali National Park.
Eventually, the harsh Alaskan wilderness proved to be the ultimate match for the keen outdoorsman, and in September his dead, emaciated body was found in the bus by a hunter looking for shelter.
A note had been pinned to the door of the bus, which read: "Attention Possible Visitors. S.O.S. I need your help. I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out.
"I am all alone, this is no joke. In the name of God, please remain to save me."
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In a final diary entry he also wrote: "I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!"
Other diary excerpts indicate that McCandless probably died from starvation, having poisoned himself after eating wild potato seeds. The exact scenario in which he died, however, remains unclear.
Since his death, McCandless' story has polarised people. While some have praised him for his liberating approach to life, sympathising with him and his untimely death, others have said that he was an irresponsible, ill-prepared traveller and that his quest should not be romanticised.
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But Into The Wild author Jon Krakauer believes that a bittersweet photo taken by McCandless and developed post-humously reveals that the intrepid traveller was happy.
"He is smiling in the photo, and there is no mistaking the look in his eyes," Krakauer wrote in his 1993 Outside article.
"Chris McCandless was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God."
Featured Image Credit: ABC / 20/20Topics: TV and Film