Van Life
Story and Photos by Lexi Wicks | Design by Chandler Vanous
You have nowhere to be and everywhere to go. The freedom of unlimited possibilities and nothing but road to travel.
To many of you, living inside of your van or on the road may seem strange, exciting or downright crazy. To these individuals, the open road and the back of their van are everything they need. This is Van Life.
“I always say it’s a really interesting alchemy of comfort, difficulty and adventure,” explains Zach Daudert, co-founder of Van Life Outfitters, a boutique that creates a carefully curated catalog for camper vans that makes the DIY build out process easier for van lifers.
Van life is an alternative lifestyle where people turn a vehicle into a home on wheels. This allows them to live practically anywhere and cut down significantly on average, everyday expenses. This lifestyle gives people the freedom to travel on a budget while still living in the comfort of a home they can call their own.
Daudert says these vans become a part of their persona because it is not just something they make everyday errands in, but it is integrated into their lives.
For most people, their vehicles are simply a machine to get them from place to place. However, for van lifers, these vehicles become a home.
Jessica Shisler, co-founder of The Vanlife App, says the concept of van life goes beyond the vehicle. It can also be a state of mind. “Even if you are not in a van, you can definitely live by the principles of a van life,” Shisler says.
“I don’t get attached to really anything, but I am pretty attached to this,” says part-time van-lifer, Eli Liske.
Liske’s journey into discovering van life started with mountain biking and camping. Liske notes that he wanted to “just pick up and go.”
But what exactly does this look like?
Realities of Van Life
People enter van life for different reasons. Numerous join the community willingly and ready for adventure, but there are a lot of people who are living this lifestyle as a financial necessity.
Van life can be a way to take back some control of your life. Although van life can be full of novelty and adventure, it has its fair share of challenges.
Shisler says everyday is a race to fulfill all basic needs. This means finding a place to go to the bathroom, shower or get wi-fi for her remote job. She mentions finding these basic needs everyday can be very taxing, and may limit access to other needs, such as connection.
“Literally, where you are going to be that night can be difficult. But, it is also kind of [be] rewarding in a way,” says Daudert.
After traveling as a full-time van lifer, Shisler notices the van life community lacks resources. With the help of her co-founder, Breanne Acio, Shisler launched the The Vanlife App that aims to help bridge these gaps.
“We are connecting people,” Shisler says. “We are helping them share resources and then we are helping share knowledge within the community. Which is really how you can be successful and live a sustainable nomadic life.”
Despite the lack of resources that Shisler has noticed and the challenges that come with this nomadic lifestyle, millions are flocking to the van life aesthetic all over social media.
Growing Popularity
If you search #VanLife on Instagram millions of images of beautiful landscapes and built-out vans will flood your screen. The hashtag that started as a joke by a photographer named Foster Huntington in 2011 is now representing a lifestyle.
In many ways, the growing popularity on social media platforms is beneficial to the van life community. Daudert explains that it creates social proof for the lifestyle and the potential that it has. But he cautions that van life is “definitely not the perfection you see on social media.” Online platforms allow users to post the most positive and exciting parts of their lives, but many people do not always share the challenges.
Social media allows others to bring awareness to different lifestyles and shows that there are options beyond some may consider the standard way of living.
The Nomad Neighborhood
“The van life community is absolutely amazing,” says Liske. “Anybody will help anybody in van life, whether it’s in person, even online or on the phone.”
The unique lifestyle is definitely something they all have in common, that helps bring the community together. Bennett Phillips, youth pastor at Mercer Creek Church and part-time van lifer, calls this an “instantly shared connection.”
“It’s as diverse as the community at large,” Daudert says. “You might get the impression that this is like a younger person’s endeavor, but it is actually not. It’s all age groups, all socioeconomic backgrounds, all kinds of people across all political spectrums.”
As the popularity of van life grows, the van life community benefits from the growth as well. Although a bigger van life community is welcomed, Shisler urges that the more people that come outdoors also need to take the time to get properly educated. “For us, it is really important that as more and more people are getting outdoors, that they know how to respect and leave that outdoor legacy for the next generation,” Shisler adds.
Common Community Misconceptions
You may have heard that van life carries the dominant narrative that all people living a nomadic lifestyle are homeless due to bad choices.
The Vanlife App website advocacy page says, “We are NOT homeless, our homes just move with us. We are different, but we are good.”
Many van lifers contribute greatly to the overall economy. While working remotely, many have started their own businesses.
“If anything, we give ourselves more time and space to be the good humans we want to be, instead of being too busy to care. The only difference between ‘them’ and ‘us’ is our propensity to pursue a life that isn’t ‘normal,’ but makes us happy,” says The Vanlife App website advocacy page.
The wrongful stigma of van lifers being “bad” or careless follows them into daily struggles on the road. Daudert talks about “making public spaces public again.”
Many public spaces “close” at dusk in order to discourage nomadic communities from staying the night in that area.
Daudert says the van life community, “are good neighbors, and through the process of demonstrating that hopefully [they] can work with the managers of campgrounds and public spaces to change the rules a little bit and be more welcoming.”
Why Choose Van Life?
Van life is a lifestyle that rejects the social norms and allows people to take control of their life, or maybe even lose a little control in the best way.
Reasons for jumping into van life are going to be different for everybody. “There’s the travel and adventure motivation, some see this as an alternative lifestyle, … and then there are a lot of people who really aren’t doing this by choice,” says Daudert.
Van life may not be for everyone, but if you are working from home and wishing to see the world around you, this lifestyle may just be the best opportunity.
Shisler says that one of van life’s best benefits is experiencing the beauty we have in our backyard. “There are just so many beautiful things about the spaces here. They are worth seeing and experiencing.”
“There are choices you are going to be able to make and I think it is more about empowering people to feel the opportunity to make those choices. Because sometimes the scariest thing is the right thing to do,” says Shisler. “You don’t have to live your life any certain way, you can live it how you want as long as you are not harming anybody else.”
