How Van Life Is Now Part Of My Life

The events that lead us to this lifestyle of ultimate freedom

In The Beginning

Growing up, I was never an outdoorsy girl. I enjoyed swinging, soccer, and playing with friends, but that was the extent of my outdoor knowledge. Backyard adventures were few and we didn’t grow up by any kids, so imagination was scarce. Oh, there was also one very large problem – I was deathly afraid of bees for no reason at all (my husband says I still overreact, but believe me, I’m about 10x better than I used to be) so I would stay inside at all costs once the yellow jackets showed up, and they always showed up.

I remember looking out the window and wishing I could just find solitude playing in our yard, but I always had a wish down deep that I could explore newer places. I turned to TV at an early age like a lot of us do for entertainment. Later on, books found their way into my hands. But the search for more adventure was always in the back of my mind.

In high school, soccer was switched by cross-country and track, and I found a love for running outside. But running on roads can only take you so far, but at least I was getting outside more for enjoyment. My senior year, I have a distinct memory from when I received my first laptop. I was sitting in our family room, pulled up a blank document and decided to write a bucketlist of things I wanted to do in my life. ‘Travel’ was the one thing I really remember off that list (and unfortunately, the list was lost or deleted at some point after that). Only ever keeping to the West Coast as a child, traveling beyond that seemed so inviting, even enchanting if you will. I didn’t know how to do it, nor did I know why I so longed to see other places and cultures, but it was a goal I knew needed to happen to fulfill a deep desire I had sometime in my life.

Where It All Started

Cue Andrew, my travel bug. Opposite of me in many things, travel was something he grew up with, traveling to different states and countries throughout his childhood. He was the one who opened my eyes to the possibilities traveling gave you. It was a chance to learn about other cultures, but it was also a chance to learn about your own. We started with a road trip three months after we started dating, which include 3,000 miles camping in a small Lexus IS 300. We packed that thing to the brim with a bunch of camping equipment that belonged to friends and family, and headed for National Parks, big cities, and in-the-middle-of-nowhere places, all in 10 days. It was a trip, I believe, that set us on the path we’ve moved forward on. Throughout our relationship, we traveled to different states and a couple countries like Belize and Mexico a few times, all the while Andrew kept whispering in my ear, “there has to be more than just leaving to experience a place for a week, only to come back home and resume life as planned”. Music to my ears, but how is it even possible?

All The Ideas: A Big Move, A School Bus and A Van

The last 4 years, the ideas of living in a different country, building a container home, buying and converting a bus, and ultimately choosing to live in a van, all surfaced thanks to the imagination and willpower Andrew had to experience something wild and new. I always loved the broad ideas, but was obviously super hesitant because I honestly didn’t know if it was something we could do. Not just financially and all that, but getting off the normal and beaten path of college, work, retire, travel. He would always come to me with the above said ideas after a ton of research and once I would get comfortable with one idea, the playing field would turn and we would be on track to the next, one that would ‘work better for us’ than the previous proposed notion. Now, I do have to say Andrew was good at pulling the rug out from underneath my feet, as I would get less nervous about one idea, say, living in a bus (you know, more space, more ability to customize, more room for things like an indoor shower and bathroom…) and then all of a sudden the bus idea was out (“too large to maneuver in most of the places we wanted to go, city and forrest places alike” says Andrew) and a van was in. I can still remember that comment, and can still feel my walls rising and the cautious signals blaring in my head because who in their right mind would live in a sprinter van? *Abort alternative mission! I said ABORT ALTERNATIVE LIVING MISSION* (This is funny now after reading that Andrew thought I took it all very cooly… Read about Andrew’s point of view on all this here)

We Were Going For It

Fast forward, and obviously I warmed up to the idea of living in 60 square feet with my husband and 60 pound pup, but it took a ton of YouTube videos I was ‘forced’ to watch once I walked in the door after a long day at work (‘forced’ may be a bit harsh here…. how about I would walk into the house to a video/channel all cued up on the TV and was asked to watch once I put all my bags down). After a few (by this I may mean 100) videos, I started warming up to the plan and deep down I started to want this idea to actually work out.

Our Tipping Point

We got married and decided ‘big’ was the only way we wanted to do a honeymoon, so Portugal, Italy, and Greece it was. This was my first time in Europe and I fell in love. In love with the culture, the architecture, and the ability of always experiencing something new at every turn. It was hard to come home, for the both of us, but the pup was waiting and so were our jobs. We both became confusingly depressed weeks after our arrival back in Oregon, as we had just spent two weeks in pure travel bliss, but then instantly started asking ourselves, ‘there has to be more to this life than working until we retire, with two week vacations allotted to us (or to me as I was the 9-5 worker bee), and traveling 40 years from now’.

And so vanlife became serious. It became the only goal Andrew and I had, and the only thing we talked about for three months until we bought the van. Six months after that, and a lot of hard work and ups and down, we sold all our belongings, rented out our home, and were ready to set off. Read about those fun times here

Looking Back and Looking Forward

Now that we’ve been on the road for a few months, and I see all the retirees surrounding us, I know we made the right decision. To travel, see, and experience now, while we are young and able and fresh and while we have no kids or nothing tying us down than just our own will. We’ve already seen and experienced so much in this time on the road, and we’ve already met and befriended likeminded travelers as well. We are constantly learning about life on the road, about living in 60 square feet, about using the outdoors as our playground (I will tell you my younger self would have never thought I would be spending 90% of my new life outdoors) but also life as a couple spending 24/7 together.

I would never trade this time with Andrew and this time adventuring for anything. This is my life, and sometimes I honestly can’t believe we’ve made the dream come true.

Sand Meets Summit Update

We crossed into Colorado at the beginning of the month, but the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta was calling our name. So we headed south to New Mexico and have been exploring Albuquerque and Santa Fe for the last week! We loved watching all the balloons, and highly recommend going if the chance ever passes you. One of our favorite parts had to be the Night Glow with all the Special Shapes balloons, where we walked through glowing balloons feeling like kids again. Andrew also really liked the night skydivers who put on a fireworks show from the air, while I loved the big fireworks show at the end of the night. We are on our way out of New Mexico to explore Colorado more, or until the cold kicks us south again.