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"VanLife" is just "glorified homelessness"....who would have thought?!
- Thread starter Oillover
- Start date
Requires an account to view the full article. People think it's easy living "van-life" because of instagram but as an avid roadtripper, it's not cheap retrofitting vehicles and any cheap vehicles are probably not going to be as reliable as somebody would want. Then you have issues with storage space, finding places to sleep, a steady income source, gas, etc.
Here's the article on Yahoo:
https://www.yahoo.com/now/van-life-just-glorified-homelessness-180516593.html
Early VanLife.
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I guess its great if you have a trust fund, some sponsors, and a ton of ad revenue from your videos, blogs, .....
Otherwise, its just misery with some lipstick on the pig. Homelessness and poverty just aint fun.
Anything to convince the young and dumb not to seek out a useful career/trade and sponge off others. Its like programming for the fools.
Otherwise, its just misery with some lipstick on the pig. Homelessness and poverty just aint fun.
Anything to convince the young and dumb not to seek out a useful career/trade and sponge off others. Its like programming for the fools.
I wouldn't want to do it. Might be okay for a month or two, but then I'd want to go home.
I suppose it would be okay if you were raised in this life and only moved from time to time with extended family and friends, like the Roma (the gypsies) do, or at least did. I just don't know how your children would get an education, and health care especially for chronic conditions would be a major problem.
I heard about a KLM pilot who decided to retire young and travel around the world, slowly and fully enjoying every country on the way. He and his wife set off in a Mercedes G class diesel which they had outfitted for van living. They mostly cooked and slept in the van but occasionally booked into a hotel to clean up. His wife died somewhere along the way (of breast cancer I think). After more than a decade, and as far as I know, he's still going.
I suppose it would be okay if you were raised in this life and only moved from time to time with extended family and friends, like the Roma (the gypsies) do, or at least did. I just don't know how your children would get an education, and health care especially for chronic conditions would be a major problem.
I heard about a KLM pilot who decided to retire young and travel around the world, slowly and fully enjoying every country on the way. He and his wife set off in a Mercedes G class diesel which they had outfitted for van living. They mostly cooked and slept in the van but occasionally booked into a hotel to clean up. His wife died somewhere along the way (of breast cancer I think). After more than a decade, and as far as I know, he's still going.
I did a bit of searching and found a link.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/...23-year-500000-mile-journey-around-the-world/
With nation wide cell coverage and Starlink Internet, and if I didn't have a wife and kids, there's really nothing that would prevent me from working and being comfortable on the road. A line of code is the same no matter if it's written in a cubical or at the lake. Even on Zoom or Teams, everybody has a background image hiding their messy offices.
This intrepid couple trumps that guy.
Why should I believe anything in that article?!?
Now this I can understand!
He was about 20 years ahead of them. By comparison they're on a quick trip ("55,000 miles this trip" and "130,000 miles all together" they say, vs 500,000 miles in the G wagon). So their 3 1/2 year trip must include periodic long stays somewhere, perhaps home to England.
Unless these two stay in hotels all the time, tenting in the rain would get old really fast. Our approach to several days of rain on a tenting trip has always been to head for home. Tenting in the rain is a miserable experience. And there would be lots of days of rain on a 3 1/2 year trip.
But pretty impressive either way.
Sounds about right... another example of the glorious vanlife:
https://www.youtube.com/c/REGRETLYSS1/videos
Meh... YT income has always been "feast or famine", so I hope she's saving her pesos when times get lean.
https://www.youtube.com/c/REGRETLYSS1/videos
Meh... YT income has always been "feast or famine", so I hope she's saving her pesos when times get lean.
Van life might be OK if the van looked like this.
Now, depending where I parked, I might not need the missile launcher…
Now, depending where I parked, I might not need the missile launcher…
I worked ten to 12 hours a day in television for 43 years.. with a reporter and photo person meeting me on location.. so i spent about 50 to 60 hours a week in a large ford e350 van. No sleeping , but everything else..
And the idea of living in a van sounds miserable to me. Not being tall enough to stand up inside.. no cooking facilities and no shower or toilet or even a place to wash your hands.. and no laundry machines..
I survived more van time than anyone else I know.. and it was enough..
A large enough RV with huge genset and AC and 150 gallons of water. I could deal with for two weeks out of the month.. but its not on my wish list.
And the idea of living in a van sounds miserable to me. Not being tall enough to stand up inside.. no cooking facilities and no shower or toilet or even a place to wash your hands.. and no laundry machines..
I survived more van time than anyone else I know.. and it was enough..
A large enough RV with huge genset and AC and 150 gallons of water. I could deal with for two weeks out of the month.. but its not on my wish list.
Seems to me it is what you do when you can't afford anything better, such as a small studio apartment in a less desirable area that comes with a fixed mailing address.
Does beat a tent or a cardboard box out in the wild.
Does beat a tent or a cardboard box out in the wild.
If it's my only option, sure. But to give up everything and just embark, no thanks. I'm forever scarred by a motor home trip with my parents and extended family when I was 13. Long story short, the brand new motor home broke down in Gold Beach, OR, and we camped in that wretched thing for 3 days behind an Exxon station waiting for parts. There was a perfectly nice Super 8 just a block away, but my tightwad family preferred to breathe each others' stink for the duration. So.... Life in a vehicle only surpasses life under an overpass. No, but thanks.
