Why a Campervan?

in life •  8 years ago 

One definition of a house is - A box to store all your stuff in. (so the bigger the box, the more stuff you'll buy to fill it with)

If I did a study of where I spend the majority of my day inside my house, it would be: My desk, lounging on the sofa, bed, a short time standing in the kitchen, short time in the bathroom. I don't use much of the space.

So could I do all of these activities in a smaller space? Have a look at the campervan interior below, it's not exactly what I'd like, but it illustrates my point: There's standing room in the 'kitchen', there's a sofa to lounge on, fitted with a table it could become a (paperless) office space, the sofa converts to a bed for sleeping. The only thing missing is the bathroom.

Advantages of living in a smaller box:

  • You have room for MUCH less stuff.
  • Easy to heat. It's so wasteful heating a whole house when you only occupy a tiny part of it.
  • Much less living expenses - No council tax (local tax in the UK), no electric bill, no gas bill etc
  • It forces you to radically simplify your life.
  • It forces you to get out more, no-one wants to spend ALL day in a tiny box
  • Less money on food, you only buy small quantities at a time (most of us have cupboards full of food, spices etc we never use)

You could almost call it an exercise in voluntary simplicity. Here's a great book I read on this subject, 'Walden on Wheels' about an American guy that managed to save enough money by living in a van that self-funded his way through college & left with ZERO debt:

What I, & I think most humans want, is PRIVATE SPACE. A campervan allows you to take this private space around with you! Imagine travelling to some historical town or picturesque beach and you've brought your living room, kitchen, office & bedroom along with you!

My project for this year is to build a camper so that I can carry some 'private space' around with me. I'm not going totally radical & living in a van fulltime, instead I plan to go on trips for 2-3 days at a time, then return to 'base'. Because I work online, this isn't limited to holidays or weekends, I will travel work online ...explore the new location, then return home with adventures to tell!

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Hi Alan, how you getting on with your build? I'm about to embark on a camper conversion of a Citroen Dispatch panel van.

Lovely post. Thanks 🙏 for sharing.

I'll have to read that book. I'm converting a van about the size of the one pictured to explore my country - New Zealand. I reckon I could retire early If I enjoy extreme simplicity

Nice. I hope to read about your adventures on Steemit :)

Definitely going to give that book a read, I'm transitioning to a more nomadic lifestyle and looking to learn more options as far as alternative ways of life. Good luck to you and all your adventures
Cheers, gypseanicky

I really liked your post and I will check your blog for other interesting things.
So sad that there are only few people writing about vanlife on steemit.

Last summer we bought a vw T5 van and I converted it to a little camper for the summer months. (Also lot fulltime vanlife ;) )

Curious about the van build out too! ;) I've explored vanlife before and am about to make a leap to totally nomadic life on wheels. I'm normally a digital nomad via planes and trains. But as you noted, I'm craving the traveling along with my private space. Would love to hear more about the journey.