How we live the nomad life
We had been thinking for some time (as have so many people) about finding ways towards living with less, spending more time together as a family, and living in a more sustainable fashion. Vanlife seemed to tick many of those boxes for us, although neither of us had even set foot inside a van before much less lived in one! But we like a challenge! So we arranged to rent out our house, to help cover the mortgage, and we ploughed all our savings into buying a van, to see what adventures awaited.
I guess the first thing that people wonder about vanlife is, how do you finance living this way? In our case, we are fortunate that both our jobs lend themselves to a digital nomad lifestyle. Caitríona is a translator/editor. Prior to this adventure, her work was in the civil service, involving both office-based work and teleworking. It was a difficult decision to resign from the well-remunerated permanent pensionable, but the flexibility that contracting offers us is priceless. So now, Caitríona works on average three days a week from the van, doing similar editing work as before but on a contract basis. This means that a good WiFi connection, an electric connection, and dependable hardware are essentials for us on those days. In reality, we have ended up spending most of our time at campsites or stopping points with electric hook-up (EHU) because this is needed to facilitate working, but it also gives Morgan a sense of comfort in knowing that the battery isn’t liable to run flat, and WiFi is constant. I guess we all just have to find what works for the group of people involved and proceed on that basis. Saul took an extended leave period when we first went on the road but, once that expired, he was able to return to his previous work on an online basis as, of course, by the time mid-2020 came around, the world and his wife was ‘WFH’!
As regards learning to live with less: we have learned plenty along the way; for example, about how much water we use, how to limit our water and power usage, and how many clothes a person really needs, when it comes down to it! We feel we are learning to free our minds by reducing the quantity of ‘stuff’ around us and by stepping away from the usual hustle bustle of everyday life and commitments. Of course, nobody could have predicted that a global pandemic would hit the world not long after we started our journey, and many people have come to similar realisations as us with regards to the unhealthy and unsustainable pace of life that so many of us felt tied to before now. It’s all one great big learning opportunity, for young and old alike.
There are lots of great blogs out there, detailing how other people have made this lifestyle work for them. We’re going to add links to a few of them here, blogs we have found interesting, informative and inspirational:
Motoroaming: Karen and Myles, an English couple who packed everything into storage and hit the road in search of adventures: Before we go – Motoroaming
Absolutely everything you could ever need to know about vanlife, available here! Written by Julie and Jason, they even have written several books about how to live this life, how to make money on the road, and how to find financial freedom without playing the lottery: Home – OurTour Motorhome Blog – Our Tour Motorhome Blog
Julie and Jason give a comprehensive listing of other folks’ blogs, so we will just add their page here, for anyone who would like to peruse this avenue further. These blogs cover all sorts of set ups, fulltimers, parttimers, worldschooling families, travels with pets, 4×4 plus roof tent travels, Europe-centred, worldwide, you name it, somebody’s done it! Motorhome Blogs List – Our Tour Motorhome Blog
Lastly, trusty Bob Earnshaw is our go-to man on YouTube for the how to’s and what if’s of vanlife. You got a problem? Bob has the answer 😎 Bob Earnshaw – YouTube