I might speculate that the people who say you "YOU MUST LEAVE THE CITY AT ALL COSTS" don't live in the city to begin with. They are not accustomed to the city and therefore don't like it.

Country folks such as myself are not equipped to survive in the city. Our finely honed instincts are all wrong for the city.

Ferinstance, on my last ill-advised trip into NY City, I was trying to drive from Manhattan to Long Island ("Longuiland" in the local dialect) without a detailed local map. I looked up at the sun to orient myself and took the nearest street West until I got near the Hudson River. Then I headed South to the tip of Manhattan where it joins the East River and continued to follow the coastline as it curves East. From this point I could SEE Long Island and a number of Bridges. However, the entrances to the bridges are several blocks in from the shoreline amongst a maze of one-way streets and dead-ends. Eventually I got of there, but I'll take a loincloth and knife in the middle of the woods to a pocketfull of subway tokens in the city any day.

Just as we post articles here about the stupid hiker from the city who got lost on a well marked trail, had no gear and died a quarter mile from an interstate highway, I'll probably end up being the subject of a report on a hungry, dehydrated guy who was rescued after being lost in a subway station for three days. City forum members will post comments like "...the idiot didn't even have and iPod!"