Living the Dream: A Vanlifer's Inside Joke
Whenever I tell someone I live in a van, I get a few all-too-predictable responses. Some people immediately jump to the practical questions: How do you go to the bathroom? Where do you shower? Did you build it yourself? What kind of van is it? While others focus on the interpersonal: Do you and your spouse ever get sick of each other? Is it lonely? Oh, I bet you meet lots of cool people on the road. The final group is aspirational: Oh my god, I’ve always wanted to do that. You’re living the dream.
I’m not criticizing anyone for these stock questions. These are all questions I asked before moving into the van with my husband and business partner, Isiah. Even so, the last statement, “living the dream” always makes me chuckle.
Truthfully and honestly, yes. I love vanlife. It really is living the dream, one I revisited all throughout my time in high school and working in tech. I’ve spent entire workdays overlooking California beaches while on Zoom calls with coworkers. I’ve signed off work and immediately jumped into hot springs, cold springs, rivers, lakes, and waterfalls. I’ve gotten to explore more national parks between Monday and Friday than some people visit in a year. I am truly grateful for having the opportunity to work and travel in a van—all while building out my elopement photography business.
Speaking of adventure wedding photography—the van is just plain practical. I can’t count the number of times it's helped out. From having almost every supply I could need at a moment's notice, to giving Isiah a place to work while I hike with a couple for their wedding day—”Clyde” (my van) has become an essential component. We hosted one wedding in Yosemite National Park where our couple and their guests needed a tablecloth, a chair, a blanket, and a bottle opener. Before anyone even could finish listing the things they didn’t have, Isiah was coming out of the van with multiple options for each!
But vanlife is hard. And weird. And just plain absurd sometimes. There’s the awkward outdoor bathroom breaks in the dead of summer. Rainy days (and hail) put a damper on our ability to explore the outdoors—thus, trapping us in our adventure van often with little to no solar energy. And vehicle breakdowns have spoiled trips and cost big bucks.
The worst of our breakdowns was when our transmission broke, trapping us in Tucson, Arizona for a week. Luckily, we have an emergency fund that we used to rent a motel room for a week while the van was in the shop. But that’s hardly the only time. We once packed up the van for an engagement shoot, only to find out the battery was cold dead. Or the time we drove through soft sand to get to a hiking spot, and got stuck the instant we parked.
These are examples of the private chaos that vanlifers face. While it’s an absolute joy sometimes, it’s also hair-pulling panic during other times. These highs and lows can even happen on the same day; like when we spent a rainy weekend looking for indigenous pictograms, only to pick up a sneaky mouse in the van which kept us up all night with its scratching inside our walls.
I’m not trying to talk anyone out of vanlife. If you are the kind of person who fervently desires a life on the road, then you’re probably a lot like me—and nothing is going to stop you. We endlessly researched what vanlife was really like, warts and all. And we were still sold on the idea. Heck, even if I buy a house and property, I still plan on spending as much time in the van as possible.
But are we living the dream? Maybe and maybe not. It’s more like an adventure (with high-highs and low-lows) than a dream. My spouse and I make the joke of “living the dream” every time we are washing dishes in the rain or sweating on the floor in 100-degree weather. But we also make the joke every time we are watching wolves from a distance or waking up to sunlight hitting a canyon.
So, I’m not sure if I am living the dream or not. I think that’s in the eye of the beholder. But I do know that I am living the life I want to be living. For all the dust and chaos, traffic jams, and overnight parking lots—it’s worth it for all the forest hikes and afternoon swims.
So here’s to living the dream—and whatever that means to you!