When you live in a van, you never need to pack up! You literally bring your house with you wherever you go. Like a turtle. This is especially true if you know how to build out your van for nomadic living.
Living freely as a nomad has held a romantic allure for countless free-spirited people since the first polis rose from the landscape. For some, this allure has never been stronger. Modern society and its trappings offer a unique set of difficulties and the nomadic lifestyle offers a reprieve from many of them. While this era is the most convenient, it is simultaneously the most restrictive in terms of moving and living freely.
It’s harder than ever to live without loads of money and a steady job. There is almost no land that isn’t either privately owned or a public park. Rent is sky-high and tiny homes are being chased out of town because of outdated zoning and building classification standards. Camping fees rack up pretty quickly too. This doesn’t leave much room for people to escape the modern trappings of low-wages and excessive consumerism.
It’s like camping except you never need to pack up
Camping is one of the best experiences a human can have. Spending time outside, cooking on an open fire, cuddling up in your sleeping bag. But inevitably, you need to wake up early the next day and pack up. That means rolling up your sleeping bag, packing the tent, stomping out the fire, and general clean-up. All while the sun is threatening to make the whole ordeal scorchingly hot if you tally for more than a moment.
When you live in a van, you never need to pack up! You literally bring your house with you wherever you go. Like a turtle. This is especially true if you know how to build out your van for nomadic living. The adventurer couple that designed Gnomad Home has provided a useful guide to give you an idea of what you’ll need. You don’t want to be 3 days into your new life only to realize you could have had a sink in your van if you had only known.
But using a van for your nomadic lifestyle isn’t the same as camping, it’s better. That’s because living in a van has a lot of advantages that both camping and conventional living can’t compete with.
There are lots of advantages to van life:
- A dry, comfortable, and secure place to sleep
- Enough storage for essentials
- All the benefits of camping without the disadvantages
- Mobility and the potential for exploration
- Greatly reduced expenses
- Maintainable long term compared to camping
- Freedom to go and do what you want
Cheap living leads to meaningful splurges
Being a nomad in the modern era isn’t easy, but it is more convenient if you have a steady income stream. Even if you don’t, more affordable living provides a lot more bang for your buck. The majority of our life is dedicated to making enough money to meet rent, bills, and food. Without the heavy hitters(rent and the big bills), life really isn’t all that expensive. With a little help with planning, you can save big time by becoming a van-based nomad.
Image source: pexels.com
When we cut out all the major expenses, and even co-op travel as our living arrangement, an online writing job or English teaching job is more than enough to keep fuel in your tank and food in your stomach. You might struggle to find a toilet in a pinch, but you’ll more than likely have enough money to take a break.
This all means that you don’t need to live in your van 24/7, 365 days a year. You can take breaks! You can commute to a family residence, drive up to a cheap cabin in the middle of nowhere, or simply stay at a hotel. With the money you save, you should be able to go to Disneyland or buy the equipment you need for your hobby. You’ll actually be able to save and invest in your own future, whichever way you choose to do it.
It’s more about freedom than travel
Living in a van or other mobile vehicle allows you to travel the continent more freely than ever before. You can just decide to get up and go at a moment’s notice. And all van living nomads will undoubtedly travel to many locations during their time on the road. But van life isn’t just about travel. It’s about the freedom that comes with it.
Freedom not only to travel at will but also freedom from unnecessary expenses, freedom from a 20-year mortgage(prison sentence depending on how you look at it), freedom from the tired and ingrained trajectory of school-work-die that has led so many to ruin in the modern world.
Choosing a van as your domicile has some specific advantages that other forms of travel homes don’t have. That’s because vans blend in with normal civilian vehicles. Unlike a tiny home, vans can park just about anywhere for a night or two without arousing suspicion. RVs, campers, and tiny homes are almost always confined to RV and public parks. In the event that your van breaks down, it’s much easier to move than a tiny home or RV. And much cheaper to repair too.
Van life is happy life
It should be clear now that Van Life has lots of advantages. This kind of life builds character, helps you save money, and has the possibility to enrich your world with a lifetime of memories and experiences.
Main photo by Taryn Elliott from Pexels
