The Digital Nomads of today: The Van Lifers
If the travel bug once bit you and you love cosy small places, you probably already thought about how it would be to live in a van. Just leaving everything behind in an attic or basement of your parents and go. Everything you need in the van, your home on wheels that you take everywhere with you. Being a Van Lifer and realise your own #projectvanlife.
The Van Lifer
The van life dream. I started dreaming that one in Australia right after graduation backpacking through this huge country being 18 years old. Unfortunately I didn’t have my super cool van back then but a super cool station wagon, but the feeling was the same: Everything I needed was right beside me. I can just start and sleep at the most beautiful places and wake up with amazing views.
A few decades ago only the „real hippies“ did that. The ones leaving society behind for real, who rejected those annoying rules and constraints and pressures of society. But the 70s are long gone and the vans of this earth are getting more and more. The most popular blogs such as Project Van Life, The Rolling Home or The Bus and Us are only three of the examples of people who document their van lifer experiences.
„I quit my job and moved into a Van“
This often read sentence includes two things for me. I quit my job. Awesome, the right decision if you are unhappy with your job and it brings you more negative feelings than positives. More and more people realise how important it is to take care of themselves and look for another way to live life instead of bathing in self-pity for years and years. Moved into a van. Those people, or let’s better say we, want to travel, see the world, are open and craving for adventures. This is the best condition for a not yet that rusty brain and many years of open-mindedness to come, for new encounters and experiences.
But the fact that we read so much about it – and there goes the critique – says also that many don’t leave society for real, like Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild (seen that one already? – if not, must watch for travel bugs!). The internet and super hip digitaml nomads show us that there is a middle way. You can work on the road from your moveable cosy home. But not many of the digital nomads talk about that hard work. We only see beautiful people lying at the most beautiful beaches or waking up in cosy vans cuddled into gorgeous covers and blankets. But guys, half of the time it’s taking a lot of (many times not so naturally arisen) pictures, editing them, creating content and updloading it online – creating the perfect illusion of freedom and dropping out of society.
This doesn’t make being a van lifer more negative, but you should be aware of the fact that a lot of work is put into creating that oh so beautiful illusion. Almost none of the 22 or 23 year olds could really afford a perfectly built van with all the luxury and bells and whistles. It’s a job. So the digital nomads of today are not the 70s hippies from back then, but still (and there comes the declaration of love) people who make the great decision of trying to live another life taking matters into their own hands, searching for an alternative way to live than taking the conventional road of „permanent employment – house and home – dog – kids“ if that wouldn’t make us happy. No judgement there, I just prefer van-dog-kids for now (or something like that) 😉
If you read until here, you might be interested in some advice on how to choose a good van for yourself. Check out the 5 question I think are the most important making that decision.
And there we go, WAYFARER, another blog creating some van life content. For the love of travel, vans, cosiness and opening the door of my home to the beautiful places of this world.
