Setting Trends
What is Vanlife? Where did it all start? Well, the first time we heard of people living the van life was in 2016 after a couple, Naomi and Dustin Grevemberg decided that they would move into their 1985 Volkswagen Van and worked out how to sustain their lives this way.
Vanlife has now grown in popularity. This is probably because it offers a lot of flexibility to live life on your terms, you can go where you want, when you want, you can live life your way with no one to tell you, you can't. Vanlife can come in all shapes and sizes. Because of this, it can crossover to the tiny home movement too. Just more mobile.
Vehicle Choice
As for what vanlife is, this is a little subject to opinion. The main requirement is, not living in a house or other permanent location, but instead living in some form of transport. I imagine that some people would argue that “it has to be a van! The clue is in the name!” But actually, from the moment we started looking into the idea of going on the road and making plans to live the van life lifestyle, the vehicle of choice is very subjective. We have seen people setting up their homes in the back of cars, vans, old army trucks and even buses. People are choosing to live their lives on the road, and it doesn't matter the mode of transport they have chosen.
Why Choose Vanlife?
The motivation behind it looks to be for many reasons. It is not all about just following a fad because of the hashtag and pretty Instagram pics. People have made a very deliberate decision to live a nomadic and minimalistic life. This is not a small decision by any stretch of the imagination. The motivations are varied too. It is probably very easy to look from the outside in and think that it's all about beautiful views with no cares in the world and living their best hippie life. The truth tends to be much deeper than that. People are finding that soaring rents and the prospect that they will never be a homeowner is forcing them to make alternative decisions. Even people that have already started climbing the property ladder are selling up and hitting the road. The main motivation in most cases is people feel that they are not able to have materialistic things and experiences, and are forced into a choice of “Do I have stuff or experiences?” The sad fact is that the decision to live the van life is not all positive, with some people being forced into this lifestyle because of the cost of living, or other reasons that have left people down on their luck. Sometimes these reasons have forced them to the only option left to them.
When hearing the stories and seeing the pictures of what people have done and what they have been able to see and experience, it's really easy to see why so many people are choosing to just hit the road.
What Do You Want?
What does it mean to just hit the road though? It wasn't that long ago that there was a stigma attached to anyone that was not living in a fixed abode. Now, living in a vehicle is not only acceptable, but has become quite the trend. For some people, this may just be a phase that they want to try out for a bit. For other people they only want to do it part time. For others, this is the choice that they have committed to, and will live the lifestyle for what could be indefinitely.
If you are still reading this thinking “This sounds amazing and I want it now” it is important to realise that, as flexible as this lifestyle choice is, it's not for everyone.
Your Vanlife
As with anything there are pros and cons, and you need to know them. You need to know your own motivations and what your van life is going to look like for you. Is it just you or are there other people that will be sharing your journey? There are plenty of families with partners, kids and pets. Either way you will not be alone. There is a huge community on the road, and it is not unusual for convoys to form and friendships to flourish within them. Other things that you will need to consider, is the type of transport you would want to live in and the models within them, converting your home on wheels, what you are taking with you and what you are getting rid of, living and working in a van, storage, and the big one… budget. You will need a budget for getting on the road, (especially if you are converting it yourself) and then a budget for sustaining the vanlife lifestyle.
