Truth? Or Clickbait? Vanlife decisions for fulltimers.

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NBB

Well-known member
If you're young and haven't expanded your life into a house yet - those people seem to do better. I know many in their 20's and early 30's who have done multi year stints in a van. All that freedom and a little bit of personal space - dreamy if you just moved out of your parent's house or some shared apartment. I also know a couple retiree climbers living in a Sienna minivan - entire summers for many years now - but they're an exception. I need my house - 50% of last year at home, 50% on the road - seemed a good mix for me.

Too many posts for what was a really stupid video - probably made by some loser to justify overspending then bailing on probably not his first fantasy gone bad. A first person account would have been more interesting, though I suspect they depicted themselves as one of the examples.
 
vreihen

vreihen

🇺🇸 2014 NCV3 170" cargo with OM651
Vanovia is 100% AI clickbait. Their channel started out as another #VanLife cheerleader reviewing over-priced rigs like it was 2020 all over again, and went all negative about two months ago when the clicks for their positive content weren't happening. My suggestion is to not financially reward them by clicking on any more of their videos.....
 
glasseye

glasseye

Well-known member
It absolutely was too long. We got the premise immediately. And I agree with those who say YTs are a lame way to collect information, especially when narrated by AI.

I posted it not to sway opinion, but to promote discussion of something, *anything*, nonpolitical.

A far better interpretation of vanlife was the movie "Nomadland", IMO.
 
R

Road Ranger

Active member
gas_sprinter said:
Gotta have the primary goal, our goal was to get out of the tent camping.
We love spending outdoor but man,,, tent camping started to put a toll on our body +++ putting the camping gears in/out of the garage was just another pain point.
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Same here. My wife and I have always loved our car-camping adventures to remote and scenic places but packing up the gear into the back of the truck, setting up camp and crawling into a tent was beginning to lose its charm by this point in our lives.

Doing the same trips out of our class-B van over the last 18 months has been such an upgrade. I’m still trying to decide what to do with all the camping gear I’ve carefully assembled and refined over the years but no longer need.
 
A

AK_Sprinter

Well-known member
NBB said:
If you're young and haven't expanded your life into a house yet - those people seem to do better. I know many in their 20's and early 30's who have done multi year stints in a van. All that freedom and a little bit of personal space - dreamy if you just moved out of your parent's house or some shared apartment. I also know a couple retiree climbers living in a Sienna minivan - entire summers for many years now - but they're an exception. I need my house - 50% of last year at home, 50% on the road - seemed a good mix for me.

Too many posts for what was a really stupid video - probably made by some loser to justify overspending then bailing on probably not his first fantasy gone bad. A first person account would have been more interesting, though I suspect they depicted themselves as one of the examples.
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I think a lot of young folks are drawn to the idea of van life, and try it before eventually moving on into more conventional homes. Covid accelerated that trend for awhile. A friend of ours who lives in a ski town in Idaho referred to it as the “Zoom Boom”, when his area filled up with people working remotely from vans. Some stick with it but upgrade to bigger class c rigs. A few continue in vans. Eventually many find the disadvantages outweigh the fun Factor. I suspect many of them move into houses but keep the van and still use it on weekends and vacations, like many on this forum.

When I retired we bought our van but never seriously considered living in it full time. I’ve never bothered to total up how many days a year we use it but it probably adds up to a couple of months. Often my wife, dog, and I do trips, sometimes I do solo trips, and occasionally my wife will use it with friends. We’ve enjoyed it a lot and will continue as long as we’re physically able to, though I suspect one of these days we may upgrade to a rig with a few more creature comforts than our current rather basic build.
 
mrfish27

mrfish27

Well-known member
I found the video unwatchable. Talking down to me never works.

When I first heard about van-life, I knew that what I would do with my future van was not-van-life.
 
Kajtek1

Kajtek1

1922 Ford T. No OBD
I know some members watch "Truck House Life" chanel.
Tim on his videos is admitting, that for 12 (?) years he was living in ClassC motorhome, what allowed him save money for house downpayment.
But even Anchorage allows street camping, he had a rule, to spend every night at different place, to not create too much disturbance.
So it is doable, but then on Cassey chanel you can see how some full-timers in Oregon can trash several acres of forest and it takes whole towing/bulldozer crew to clean after them.
 
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mrfish27

mrfish27

Well-known member
A few years ago an RV parked on the residential street in front of my house. At 9:30 pm they decided to run their generator so I knocked on their backdoor and when they opened up I said "No." They packed up and left and quiet returned.

If it happens again, I may offer an extension cord and 15A of 120V depending on their situation and attitude. I loathe the noise of generators.
 
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spagthorpe

Well-known member
That whole fucking thing was written by AI. You can tell by the patterns of words and sentence structure. Not saying some of it is wrong, but take it as more AI swill.

There are plenty of videos out there of post pandemic people giving up van life and why.
 
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spagthorpe

Well-known member
Only thing that bugs me is NOT being retired, and I can't go take off for a month or two at a time. That, and all the campgrounds I want to go to are constantly full of people. Can't get a reservation most of the time.
 
W

wet_coast

Member
glasseye said:
It absolutely was too long. We got the premise immediately. And I agree with those who say YTs are a lame way to collect information, especially when narrated by AI.

I posted it not to sway opinion, but to promote discussion of something, *anything*, nonpolitical.

A far better interpretation of vanlife was the movie "Nomadland", IMO.
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I was happy you mentioned "Nomadland".
Produced well before the proliferation of videos by so-called "Creators", this one was thought provoking on many levels.
It also started me on a path that helped end my Amazon addiction.
 
Diver160651

Diver160651

170 ext 3500 4x4
spagthorpe said:
Only thing that bugs me is NOT being retired, and I can't go take off for a month or two at a time. That, and all the campgrounds I want to go to are constantly full of people. Can't get a reservation most of the time.
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I feel fortunate—I’m not retired, but I’ve had a lot of freedom with my time. The hardest part when I leave is making sure everything at home is taken care of, from ducks and chickens to horses.

If you set up your vehicle so you don’t rely on campgrounds, especially in the western states, and you’re willing to do a bit of research, you can usually find solitude year-round—even near highly desirable areas.

If you do plan to use campgrounds, avoiding weekends and holidays makes it much easier to find available spots.

even though I can easily stay away for a month at a time, I really prefer the one to two week trips in general
 
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