My Journey to Van Life

This post is all about my journey to van life. But also...how van life chose me.

I get asked all the time why I chose van life. It is definitely a unique way to live so, understandably, people have questions.

This will give you all of the details around how I came to live in a van and the story behind this dramatic lifestyle change. It may surprise you to know that this was one of the easiest decisions I've ever made. I like to think that in a way, van life actually chose me.

I hope my story can help you decide to take the risk and go for it, whatever that means for you.

This post is all about my journey to van life!

How It Started

In order to get the full story, we have to rewind back to when I was just a little kid. I don't remember exactly what age it started but basically as long as I can remember, I knew I wanted to travel when I got older. (That is my best friend Taylor in the photo with me)

It was a lot of little things that added up which created this dream of mine overtime. Like hearing stories of other people's travels, seeing new and unfamiliar places on tv or reading about them in a book, or even watching a show like Gilmore Girls and hearing Rory talk about all the travel she wanted to do, and most of all seeing the travel photography in National Geographic magazines.

I quickly developed an interest in photography as well, even before I had a camera, and decided that my dream job was to be one of those travel photographers for National Geographic. Long story short, as I got older that dream felt like just that, a dream. Not something I could make into a reality, I'm sure some of you can relate to that. The full story behind my photography journey will have to wait for another time.

For now, just know that I gave up on my dream before even trying to make it a reality which unfortunately is what usually happens. As kids we're told we can be whatever we want but somewhere along the way society starts teaching us to be "practical" and to chase after the "American Dream" instead of your own. Even though I gave up the travel photography dream, I knew very early on that the "normal" route was not for me, I just didn't know what that looked like or how to go about it.

How It Didn't Happen

Aside from the travel photography dream, true crime has always interested me. I would get little spy kits as a kid and the only books I read for the majority of my life were true crime books or mystery novels. Once I got old enough, I was obsessed with shows like Bones, NCIS, Criminal Minds, and plenty of true crime tv. I decided my new plan was to be a special agent in the FBI.

After high school I tried to go to college for criminal justice but I couldn't afford it and could not get a loan or financial aid. I was working 2 full time jobs trying to make ends meet. Serving in the military always held a place in the back of my mind but it wasn't until now that I gave it some serious thought. I thought it could be my way of doing something "more" with my life, get out of my rut and use this to create the life I wanted, use my time in the military as a stepping stone to joining the FBI, and being able to experience a bunch of new places on the governments dime would be a huge plus – obviously. So, almost 2 years after graduating high school, I was off to start my Air Force career.

Maybe I'll share more about my military journey later, but for now all you need to know is that after my enlistment was up, I decided to separate. While I'm grateful for that time, let's just say, I didn't have very good feelings towards the military at that moment, so frankly I had no interest in working for the government again. I decided to change routes once again.

Once I was separated, I was feeling pretty lost to be honest. I didn't know where to go from here. I figured it was time to do the 9-5 thing, at least until I figured out what I really wanted.

I started working at a staffing company and ended up staying there about 3 1/2 years. I got comfortable there and I liked the people I worked with. And if I'm being totally honest, I probably would still be there if it wasn't for...the infamous year of 2020.

Quarantine happened and we started working from home and couldn't leave the house so I, like many others I'm sure, found myself in deep YouTube rabbit holes quite often. I know I was late to the game but I was never on YouTube much before this so it was a whole new world to me. (Anyone else just start singing 'It's a Whole New World' in your head?)

This was the first time I realized people my age were living the life I always dreamt about. They were getting paid to travel the world and it all started because they took a risk and chased a dream, not knowing how it would end. It really inspired me. 

How It Happened

I always knew I wanted more freedom than what the 9-5 life could give me. So after getting inspired, I started doing a lot of research about escaping the 9-5 and making money online. Turns out there are a TON of ways to make a living online. I explored many different options, but in the end I decided I wanted to figure out a way to work for myself. I have big plans for my life and I realized, I'm not going to get there working for someone else.

I wasn't exactly sure how to make this happen yet. Keep in mind, at this point I was living with and planning a future with my now ex-boyfriend, I had no intention on traveling or living in a van. I was thinking more along the lines of product photography, local freelance work, just something that I could make a living with for now.

Up until this point I never actually learned the "basics" of photography. I knew enough to make the photos look good but I wanted to learn what it all meant and improve my skills. I went back to school and took a basic photography course, photoshop, and an Adobe design class. That turned into me getting interested in graphic design. Knowing that is a good avenue for freelancing, after the first semester, I switched from a photography degree to graphic design.

Fall of 2020, my car was on it's last leg and it's not like we were really driving much those days anyways, so I decided to sell the car and get a van to convert into a camper for my boyfriend and I to use on the weekends. Thought it would help get us out of the house more and spending more time in nature is good for everyone.

Fast forward to the beginning of Summer 2021, my boyfriend and I break up. Maybe I'll share that story another time but for now, the reasons don't matter. After about 2 1/2 years of planning my future with him, I found myself having to start over. I knew I didn't want to go back to wasting money on an apartment so I was looking at houses to buy. I can't really explain what I was feeling while I was saving houses and looking into getting a loan and all of that, it just didn't feel right. I kept thinking, "I'm starting over, so let's really start over."

I don't remember the exact moment or anything but it just kind of hit me one day, I realized that it was now or never and everything in the last year was preparing me for this, I was already working on escaping the 9-5 and I already had a van. So I had a choice to make, either I can buy a house and continue on with my "normal" life here...or I can take a risk and go after the life I had dreamt about as a kid. Obviously I chose to take the risk, but I can guarantee you if I didn't already have the van, I wouldn't be here right now. I have always believed that everything happens for a reason and this whole situation was just more proof of that.

I talked to my ex about it and we agreed that I would stay at the house until I could move into the van and that he would help me finish building it. I was thinking it would take a month at the most but jokes on me LOL, many miserable months later, it was finally finished. Jack and I moved into the van and left town on September 5th, 2021.

It is now a year later, almost to the day, and while it hasn't been easy I am so grateful I made the decision to go for it. Jack is living his best adventure cat life and I've done so much healing, growing, and traveled more in the last year than I have my entire life.

If you take anything from my story, know that it's never too late to chase your dreams and that, even though it may not feel like it in the moment, everything happens for a reason. 

This post is all about my journey to van life!