Why Vanlifing Will Change Your Life
Vanlifers, ratepayers
Gypsies, townsfolk
Abel, Cain
Farmer, shepherd
Wild, domesticated
Takers, leavers
Structure, chaos
Predictability, unknown risk
The human choice
A recurring dichotomy in the history of our species
To wander or to roost
To travel or nest
How does vanlifing effect how we perceive the world?
At different parts of our lives, we can choose to maintain a life of stasis or flux, to be stationary or nomadic, in a movement away from or movement towards change. To allow the landscape to shape our experience of each moment, by moving around from place to place or, to allow the built structures, concrete and walls to act as a frame to the experience of our daily lives
Each choice is not a better or worse one, but an expression of each individual’s relationship to place and to security
Vanlifing improves our moment to moment awareness
A stable life is one where our core needs are reliably met. When travelling in a van, you can achieve a state of stability through routine and a good van setup but it takes effort purely because being on the road presents unique conditions and challenges everywhere you go. You spend much more time and energy on survival needs and diverting your attention towards abundance, creativity and the future takes concerted effort
The nature of van living involves a cost to ones own energy resources but the trade-off is the freedom and choice to be and go wherever you choose. Not having a physical house with its own embodied energy, is certainly more environmentally less resource intensive but it requires that we need to provide the things we would otherwise take for granted in a house for ourselves
This may involve extra time spent finding places to sleep or rest that has some shade and extra time to find power or a toilet or shower if the van isn’t fully self contained. Extra awareness of not knowing what’s next, extra effort to keep everything tidy and not a constant mess or a logistical challenge to have healthy self-care routines and human connections. It forces a state of presence that house dwellers don’t need to maintain in their daily lives
So one could argue that vanlifing, much like backpacking, is a practice of living presence and introduces into our lives an almost radical acceptance of the future. Risking and surrendering to circumstances bigger than ourselves where we can’t have everything tightly controlled because beyond the essentials, we don’t know what might happen. A state of being where we can practice surrendering to the idea that we will be OK.
An expression of radical trust, surrendering and falling into the arms of circumstance
So full time free van camping could be considered an opportunity to be in a constant state of faith, a pilgrimage of sorts. Where we lean into the abundance of the world, trusting that we will always find somewhere to park and sleep, safely and unobtrusively.
Vanlifing gives us an opportunity to practice intuitive decision making.
The freedom to choose where you will go on a whim allows for choices based much more on feeling and intuition than logic. If you can truly be wherever you wish, the mind can take a back seat and you can allow our sense of rightness to lead the way.
This practice is a powerful teacher and shows us what can happen when you trust our internal knowing rather than external pressures and expectations from other people and societal constructs.
It allows us to find the balance between the masculine and feminine drivers in your life, the yin and yang of responsiveness or direction. Where too much surrendering leads to aimless wandering but too much direction doesn’t allow for contemplation and integration.
Having a guiding intention for your travels, a reason for going to this or that place helps hone your sense of meaning and purpose. For several years my guiding intention was supporting nature connection and rewilding camps held by friends up and down the coast. For others it might mean visiting all the best rock climbing spots in an area. Purpose shapes us and gives us focus, context and a container for our learnings to grow and to share with like-minded others.
It encourages us to engage with the landscape
Living in a van means spending time outside of the van to avoid cabin fever or overheating in hot weather. This gives you more opportunity to get sunlight, where even in Australia, a place celebrated for it’s abundant sunshine, 1 in 4 people have Vitamin D deficiency.
While vanlifing in Sydney a few years ago I noticed I explored local parks and reserves much more than when I settled in a inner west rental. I found some beautiful natural spots that were underutilised and unappreciated.
Parks and gardens in inner city Sydney are some of the most deserted places on a weekday, as the cost of living demands residents work most daylight hours, typically spending that time indoors.
Having a regular and continued relationship with the natural world has a multitude of benefits that reaches beyond the physical and and can support us when we need it most. Nature is the most reliable supporter you can have, always ready to listen regardless of who you are
Vanlifing encourages us to engage proactively with the public domain
Between lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia the influx of vanlifers in coastal towns stimulated pushback from local residents up and down the eastern seaboard. Their daily existence seemed descended upon by the presence of city dwellers parking their newly converted campervans in their favourite beachside carparks and reserves
After months in crushing lockdowns, many city dwellers longed to break out of their concrete imprisonment and sought new horizons by the open ocean. New signs were erected in many beach carparks, threatening fines for those who would dare sleep in their vehicles during the early hours of the morning. “Day” camping became a fineable offence in some council areas and local Facebook community groups were littered with sightings of vanlifers doing non-standard activities in public spaces.
Certainly there are ways that vanlifers can support and reduce the impact they have on the local communities they pass through. Caretaking a space by collecting rubbish and leaving no trace can be a great start to positively impacting an area. Supporting local businesses and buying local in an area can inject tourist dollars into the local economy better than shopping at a nearby multinational-owned superstore
Saying hello to others as they pass on local beachwalks and smiling and acknowledging them can be a small gesture towards broaching any potential hostility that may arise over time.
Vanlifing as a rite of passage
The benefits and growth that we may get from full time extended van camping can be an amazing way to travel and a hugely worthwhile rite of passage. Many people I know also do it out of sheer necessity when their resources are low or accommodation is scarce. Enabling the longevity of vanlifing or nomadic living as a way to experience the landscape is essential to many people’s growth as human beings
The way it provides us with the opportunity to step out of our habitual state of mind and practice presence. The way it allows us to trust our inner compass. How it forces us to spend more time outside and interacting with the public domain.
These benefits demonstrate its worth as a personal growth avenue that should be appreciated and celebrated more in our culture. Not many other ways of living allow us to step outside societal expectations of rent and an office job so that we may grow into well-rounded and grounded forces unto ourselves.
