When we told our friends and family that we wanted to do van life, it often went like this:
“You want to do what?”
“Live, work, and travel from a van. You know, #vanlife”
Let’s rewind.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been the type of person that craved adventure. I’d dream that maybe someday I’d move to New Zealand, or go teach english abroad in Asia. Perhaps I’d backpack through Europe (check!) or have a job that would pay me to travel around the world.
When my husband Travis and I moved to Northern Virginia in February 2020, we were so excited about the possibilities of living here. Washington, DC was in our backyard and we had so much to explore and see. We dreamed about going to book talks at the Library of Congress and hiking in Shenandoah; exploring different museums and building connections in this new part of the country. It was going to be the next big adventure.
Two weeks after we moved to the area, the country shut down from the pandemic. And, well, we didn’t get to do most of the things we dreamed of. At first, we were told that lockdown would just be 10 weeks and maybe in early June life would go back to normal. We all know how that turned out.
One day, Travis and I were walking our dog, Pepper Jack (the best boy), and talking about what the future could look like for us and what we wanted to do when things opened back up. “Maybe we move to France,” I said, half joking and half dreaming about what our new life abroad would be like. While that idea was shot down for several reasons, it did get us thinking about how we didn’t just want to be stagnant. We wanted to go on adventures and travel before we had kids.
We couldn’t remember who – but one of us brought up the idea of van life. We would live out of a van and work from the road. This would allow us to see the country and take our time through it. We saw a lot of people in our feed do similar things and we started thinking maybe this was the right path for us. After many hours of research and tough conversations about whether this would be feasible, we decided to go for it.
Why was van life the right decision for us?
Frankly, at the time we made the decision, it felt like the right one. Nearly a year later as I’m writing this, I can confirm – it was the correct decision. Over the last year, we not only found out where we want to live after we stop van life, but we also discovered so much about the country and ourselves. We learned there’s a lot of beauty in those “flyover states” that get criticized by people on the coasts and that people saying “there’s nothing out there” don’t have their eyes open. We discovered that the locals will always hook you up with the best food recommendations, all you have to do is ask. Finally, we learned that while it’s a journey that can be exhausting at times, it’s well worth it.
What should you know before committing to van life?
If van life is something that you’re considering – there are a few things you should know. I’ll go into more details about each of these in a different post – but for now, I leave you with this.
You get out what you put in.
Plan just enough to give you direction, but not so much it’s stressful.
Get used to making decisions constantly.
Your experience will be different than your expectations, no matter how prepared you think you are.
Don’t think of van life as only what you see on Instagram – it’s not always glamorous, but it is fun. (also feel free to follow our adventures on Instagram.)
Let’s Discuss! Comment Below:
Any questions you have about van life
Where you’re from
The one place in the United States you’ve wanted to go to
Your favorite place to travel
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