Are you, like us, obsessed with #vanlife? It’s been a dream of ours for a decade, and with the pandemic turning everything upside-down, in a not-so-strange way it made perfect sense to do it now. So, this summer we bought a 2003 Mercedes Sprinter with 253,000 miles (which our daughter named Luna), rented our home, sold our car, opted into a year of remote learning for our 5th grader, upped our data plan for work, and set out to spotlight the American gap year while giving ourselves the journey of a lifetime.
Social media generally paints a very particular story about #vanlife. The people are as beautiful as the locations. The vans are immaculate, and costly. The scenes are carefree and adventure-filled. These seemingly picture-perfect stories seem to set an unattainable standard, so many assume such a journey is out of reach.
Do you have a car? Then you can take a roadtrip. Do you have trusted friends who want to adventure with you? Then you have your crew. Do you have an intention, and a bit of money saved? Then the road ahead awaits you.
As you collect those picture-perfect and post-able images of your own, you’ll soon learn that #vanlife is, of course, filled with real grit. It takes work, patience, planning, communication, and good judgment. And the grit? Oftentimes that’s the best part. We have been sharing our story with whomever will listen … whether they want to hear about the gap year programs we are visiting in the U.S., what it’s like to run a business from the road, how to travel with kids, or just some good ‘ol fashioned (mis)adventure stories.
We were particularly excited when our friends at Gap Year Radio invited us to be part of their podcast. We hope that aspiring gap year students, road-trippers, families and fellow adventurers will give this episode highlighting our journey (aka J2Rides) a listen! Travel along with as as we share some of our tips, trials and tribulations.
As always, we would love to connect with you, so head on over to our contact page and drop us an email, schedule a free, introductory call or join us for Webinar Wednesday. Happy listening, and safe travels!