ost weekend warriors,
nine-to-fivers and burned-out college applicants
have had the fantasy:
ditching your home, work
and obligations, selling
off possessions and taking life on the road and
off the grid for true mobile adventure. How
many actually follow through? The numbers
are scant. Yet some people do take the plunge,
and van life — now a hashtag — has picked up
speed over the past few years. While this way
of being can bring wonder and excitement,
the day-to-day reality isn’t like living with a
permanent Instagram filter. We spoke to
locals who have embarked on life on the road
and can now speak from the rearview, yet
wouldn’t have it any other way.
Who enjoys van life?
Kristin Hayes, who runs the blog The Way ward
Home, says her 1994 Chevy Astro van totally
changed her life. “Back in 2016, I lost my job as
a reporter at KGO radio,” she says. “I refused
to go into debt to pay rent, so I moved onto my
boyfriend Tom’s sailboat. During this time,
I started the blog, which was meant to inspire
others to downsize and live free of possessions.”
She lives part-time in the van and part-time
on her boyfriend’s boat.
Erik McGregor and Mandy Xie took up van
life just before 2020. “Having a stocked fridge
and water and the ability to jump in and go
any where at a moment's notice inspired us,”
Mandy says. “It also supports our surfing and
kiteboarding lifestyle well.”
What is van life really like?
For Hayes, the van serves as primary worksta-tion, a place to sit and write her blog during
the day, and it also allows her to go camping
and exploring often. “I am not attached to a
house or tons of belongings and, given that
I also work remotely, I can live my life completely on my own terms,” she says. “Plus, if
I ever have a bad month of work in the future,
I know I don't have a big rent or mortgage
payment. So I live pretty much stress-free.”
She also likes how living in a van brings
her close to nature. Cities are less friendly to
vans, however. “As you probably know, sleeping in a vehicle is prohibited in most cities.
Therefore, we have to ‘stealth camp,’ which can
