#1 Freedom
I’ve felt the calling of gypsy life for a long time now. Three years ago we attempted to cut our ties with modern day living, but it didn’t work out due to family ties. But from that point I knew traveller life was something I needed for my soul.
I don’t know what it is but the way we live in our new age western society never sat right with me. It never made me happy. I always felt like I was just hanging around waiting for my time to shine. Waiting till I could spread my wings and live more nomadic.
My Instagram and Pinterest is full of travelling inspiration, of people who are living life the way I see myself living my life. Exploring, seeing and making life itself an adventure.
We got the Van during the first lockdown as a new little project, but it didn’t take long for the idea of fully committing to living in the van took root in our minds. It felt like a middle ground to living free but being able to stay in our hometown when we needed or wanted to.
We’re now 5/6 weeks into our van adventures and I will admit it’s everything I imaged and more. I’ve learnt things about myself, about society and I feel content.
#2 Money
Once we decide to make full time vanlife our goal, we quickly realised what this would mean for our finances, and that just made the idea even more appealing.
We have always rented, we never have liked committing to one place to live, I guess that’s why we’re so suited to this wondering lifestyle.
The house we lived in was lovely, but it was costing us £1000 a month just for rent and bills. We don’t do bad for money, Jon’s got a great career that earns enough to fund our lifestyle but it was more the pressure of having to make sure we had that money, plus all the cost of living (food, fuel, etc).
Jon’s self employed so it’s always been over our heads to make sure moneys coming in every month. Since living in the van, that pressure has gone. While we still need money for food and fuel, a big chunk of our monthly spends has disappeared.
Jon’s happier, less stressed. Our relationship has got even better because now he’s not having to focus on finances and making sure his business thrives.
Any money we do get is ours, not our landlords. And that feels great!
#3 Adventure
Life is adventure. We live and we die. I never could except the idea that we spend our whole lives working to pay bills, to pay for the things this system has sold to us. There must be more to life than that.
I wanted to drop all that. I wanted to fully experience life. Everyday life fully living. Moving into the van has allowed that to happen.
No more working to pay bills. Just time and space to play with life. To enjoy the wonder of life’s flow. To get creative.
Another big reason for me was I wanted to show my children a different way of living. I wanted to show them in real time that life isnt about how big your house is or how many toys you have, it’s about having fun and finding joy in simple things.
Like Tunnock parties in the forest!
Even without travelling very far at the moment, van life itself is an adventure. We’ve got to get creative with how we wash, how we shower, where we find water and where we park up to sleep for the night.
It’s made daily living fun and fresh.
Those were my three main reasons why I found the idea of van life appealing and why I wanted to give it a try. If you have a burning desire within yourself to live more free, to live off grid and make life more adventurous then I encourage you to give living in a van a go.
If you want to have a chat or have any questions about how we do vanlife, please head over to instagram.com/samanthajaynebird and message me.
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