Let's Go, Jane!

Oh, boy, did I fall into a rabbit hole this week. Remember when I said I don’t need much space to live in, I’d be happy in a tiny home with a postage stamp garden? Well, the other day I went on YouTube to search for something, and the algorithm (ears, everywhere!) fed me a video by someone who has been living in a converted cargo van for the last four years. I watched, fascinated, and then found a whole subsection of the internet dedicated to people living in their vehicle by choice. I’m not talking about RVs, I’m talking about vehicles, mostly vans, that are small enough to fit in a regular parking spot. Like a tiny home, but on wheels.

I thought back to the things I said after my first house sit in D.C., about how I want to prioritize outdoor activities and natural beauty and good weather. How I want to find a sense of community, where people know their neighbors and look out for them. The more I learned about #VanLife, the more I started to think, to feel in my bones, that this might be just the thing for me when I’m done with my international travels. Can you tell how enamored I am by this idea?

For the last few days I’ve been watching videos about DIY cargo van builds. Each design is totally unique and personalized to the owner(s). Some vans are rough and utilitarian, others look like they came out of an interior design magazine. I’m particularly interested in the ones that are meant to be lived in full time, not the ones that are just for weekend getaways.

I’ve also watched a bunch of videos about practical things like toilets and washing your hair and making coffee. There are many approaches to heating a van, from high end radiant floor heating to an actual tiny wood stove. Most people use a diesel or gas heater tied to their gas tank. Some vans have showers, others have no bathroom facilities at all, relying on public restrooms and gym showers. There are vans with built in stoves and ovens, and others that use a portable camping stove. It runs the gamut.

Am I idealizing van life a little bit? Yes, probably. But does this idea have the potential to unlock a whole lot of adventuring in 2026? Also, YES! I could see doing this for a year or two before settling down in a conventional house somewhere. That would allow me to live in lots of different places before choosing a home.

My thought is to spend this fall traveling through Europe and Asia, come back for Christmas with my children, and then travel to South America in the beginning of 2026. Once I’m ready to come back to the states, I can buy a used van, convert it into a living space, and then explore the U.S. until I’m ready to put down roots. Amazing.

If I do this, I’d like to do the conversion myself so it’s customized to my needs, and so that I understand all the systems really well. I’d need to learn about plumbing and electrical and heating. The research and planning really appeal to me, as that is my favorite phase of any new hobby. I’d need to figure out a budget, and determine which states allow someone to live in a vehicle, and which ones don’t.

In the meantime, I want to rent a converted van through outdoorsy.com for a weekend, so I can experience living in one first hand. I want to really think about what it would be like to take showers in a gym or pee in a bottle, depending on how fancy I decide to get with my build. I can practice some of these things now at home, like using a camping toilet and washing my hair in the sink. I just started reading a book called The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self and I suspect it will reinforce that this is the right move for me.

I am not under the illusion that living in a cargo van is easy or perfect, as some YouTubers make it appear. But I’m excited about this idea, and the more I think about it, the more it feels like it’s meant to be. Like I have been heading toward living in a van this whole last year, but without realizing it. I will tell you this, I haven’t been this captivated by an idea since I first realized that I could go locationless at the end of my current lease. At the very least, I will be exploring this idea to the fullest in the coming months!