Living in a Van

It’s funny that one of my more popular posts on my personal blog is on Living in a Van Down by the River.

It wasn’t a post I expected many people other than immediate friends and family to read but I can see through my stats that a lot of eyes land on it. I’m not sure if that’s a statement on the popularity of the SNL skit, the current economy, a general dissatisfaction with the status quo or what exactly. However, it was one of the reasons I thought that maybe I would write more about the decisions in my life and the inspirations I’ve gotten.

I intend to do more posts on people who have chosen mobile lives, and I have a heap of them in a growing folder on my blog reader, but as with all things there are as many flavors as colors in the rainbow. There are people living in cars, vans, boats, Airstreams, and everything in between. Not to even mention the people who are living out of their bags as they travel the world either as a living or a way of life.

When I originally said farewell to the old life, my plans were for more international travel, but after my time in Ireland and Paris had passed and I was back home, I started looking at other options instead of getting back on the planes immediately. Partially I was trying to grow my photography business, but I was also looking at RVs of various descriptions before finally buying the one in the slideshow above. And it took longer than I expected to get everything the way I wanted it. Even being reasonably picky about the RV’s in my price range and spending a little more for a low mileage one, there were plenty of things I wanted to do to it. I may not have enjoyed DIY projects at my house, but I appear to have made up for it in other areas.

The end result is that right now I have precious little but the stories of others to pass along in this area, but hopefully before long that will change as I dip my toes into the water so to speak. I’m not sure I ever intend to live full-time on the road as some do, but I equally enjoy having the means to do so.

I do intend to go into more depth on the people I’ve been following who are living mobile, but here are a few to whet your appetite right now.

• To Simplify – One man who abandoned sticks and bricks to live in a Class B RV very similar to the one I have now. He’s since upgraded to a newer and slightly larger model having decided to continue his experiment in mobility. I really suggest reading from the beginning of his blog if you have any thoughts of taking Glenn’s path. Glenn has pondered on multiple occasions why more young people don’t follow his path.
• The Spartan Student – Would you live in a van to afford college? Live like a modern day Thoreau in the pursuit of a debt free education? That chapter has more or less drawn to a close for this blogger, but it’s engaging reading.
• Tynan – The author behind this site has traveled with minimal possessions, lives in an RV and is very much following alternative paths in living. I actually found Tynan while looking for people full-timing in RVs that weren’t retired.

So, are you inspired to try something different yet? If you could take your life on the road, would you?