Bakedbooks
New member
Hello there friends. Stefan here, coming to you from Ohio. Lots of corn, lots of fun.
This is a bit of a read, haha. So if you feel like reading, there ya go. If not, feel free to skip to the end, I understand. Just wanted to forewarn everybody.
With that being said, here you go, my whole van life planning story :
I've been interested in living nomadically, probably since I could drive at 16, so about ten years now, I guess. Spent some time going to college, dropping out, driving across the country in my little Prius and living in Seattle for a year. Drove back to Ohio to go back to college (I don't know why? I dropped out again, what a journey). Moved to Columbus to figure out what to do and sort out my finances (because all this debt and everything else is just a lot to keep track of, frankly) and get out of my dinky college town full of just drinking and college kids. Thought about traveling and then COVID hit.
Many things happened over the last two years. I decided to move in with my parents seeing as I didn't know if I wanted to rent somewhere alone or live with friends or what I wanted to do and I was getting tired of the city. So I made my way out to the country and moved in with them.
A big part of my life adventure is discovering my unhealthy relationship with alcohol. I ended up getting a DUI and totalling my wonderful little Prius. Do not worry, no one was hurt besides my little blue Prius and a parked car in the middle of the night.
Needless to say I have no car and a suspended license.
However, today I am 180 days alcohol free! And since I took myself out of the situation I was in before in the city and moved myself in with my parents, I've had a good amount of time to do some healthy self reflection and figure out what I want to do. I've realized how much I miss travelling and the small amount of time (probably about 2-3 weeks total) I spent crossing the country and living out of my car.
So, since here I sit, waiting on the freedom to drive anywhere again and also without my own vehicle, I've decided I might as well save up for a van and do some converting of it to make it livable. I've got the time and space here at my parents, and my dad loves fixing up cars and we like building stuff together. Seems like the perfect time to pursue something I've been thinking about for so long.
As of now I am just saving up money to buy myself a van, doing some research into what kind I want and how the prices are in my area. I figure I'll save up a few thousand and then see what's available for what price in my area at that time and go from there! I will get my license back in June of 2023, so I'm sure I'll be able to save up something by then.
I've watched Bob Wells' videos for years and figured now was as good a time as any to join the forums. I hear there's a wealth of information here. If anyone has any advice on different vans and their pros and cons I'd be glad to hear it! Right now I'm looking for something for me and my two cats. They're older cats, around 16 or so....(I'm not totally sure they were born on our property when I was a kid and eventually became inside cats and now my cats). Been taking them outside on harnesses and leashes to see how they feel. One hates it and one loves it, so that's what I'm working with. I'm not looking for anything crazy big in terms of a van. I used to drive a box truck for work around the city, so I'm no stranger to driving a bigger vehicle, but I do prefer a smaller one. (I used to have a Prius. Tiny, and you can fit so much in it! I loved that car.) Being able to fit in a standard parking spot and be able to parallel park it fairly easily if need be. I mostly want to make sure there's room for me and two cats to be fairly comfortable. The Ford Transit Connect is appealing to me because it seem fairly small for a van, and they have that whole overhead storage situation. I've been hopping around watching many van tours of a certain van for a while and then moving onto the next one. Let me know if you have any insights and thoughts on small vans and cats and anything about all that.
But that's a bit, sorry for the long read! I tend to ramble sometimes. I'm a bit of a writer....
Here is a photo of my cats!
This is a bit of a read, haha. So if you feel like reading, there ya go. If not, feel free to skip to the end, I understand. Just wanted to forewarn everybody.
With that being said, here you go, my whole van life planning story :
I've been interested in living nomadically, probably since I could drive at 16, so about ten years now, I guess. Spent some time going to college, dropping out, driving across the country in my little Prius and living in Seattle for a year. Drove back to Ohio to go back to college (I don't know why? I dropped out again, what a journey). Moved to Columbus to figure out what to do and sort out my finances (because all this debt and everything else is just a lot to keep track of, frankly) and get out of my dinky college town full of just drinking and college kids. Thought about traveling and then COVID hit.
Many things happened over the last two years. I decided to move in with my parents seeing as I didn't know if I wanted to rent somewhere alone or live with friends or what I wanted to do and I was getting tired of the city. So I made my way out to the country and moved in with them.
A big part of my life adventure is discovering my unhealthy relationship with alcohol. I ended up getting a DUI and totalling my wonderful little Prius. Do not worry, no one was hurt besides my little blue Prius and a parked car in the middle of the night.
Needless to say I have no car and a suspended license.
However, today I am 180 days alcohol free! And since I took myself out of the situation I was in before in the city and moved myself in with my parents, I've had a good amount of time to do some healthy self reflection and figure out what I want to do. I've realized how much I miss travelling and the small amount of time (probably about 2-3 weeks total) I spent crossing the country and living out of my car.
So, since here I sit, waiting on the freedom to drive anywhere again and also without my own vehicle, I've decided I might as well save up for a van and do some converting of it to make it livable. I've got the time and space here at my parents, and my dad loves fixing up cars and we like building stuff together. Seems like the perfect time to pursue something I've been thinking about for so long.
As of now I am just saving up money to buy myself a van, doing some research into what kind I want and how the prices are in my area. I figure I'll save up a few thousand and then see what's available for what price in my area at that time and go from there! I will get my license back in June of 2023, so I'm sure I'll be able to save up something by then.
I've watched Bob Wells' videos for years and figured now was as good a time as any to join the forums. I hear there's a wealth of information here. If anyone has any advice on different vans and their pros and cons I'd be glad to hear it! Right now I'm looking for something for me and my two cats. They're older cats, around 16 or so....(I'm not totally sure they were born on our property when I was a kid and eventually became inside cats and now my cats). Been taking them outside on harnesses and leashes to see how they feel. One hates it and one loves it, so that's what I'm working with. I'm not looking for anything crazy big in terms of a van. I used to drive a box truck for work around the city, so I'm no stranger to driving a bigger vehicle, but I do prefer a smaller one. (I used to have a Prius. Tiny, and you can fit so much in it! I loved that car.) Being able to fit in a standard parking spot and be able to parallel park it fairly easily if need be. I mostly want to make sure there's room for me and two cats to be fairly comfortable. The Ford Transit Connect is appealing to me because it seem fairly small for a van, and they have that whole overhead storage situation. I've been hopping around watching many van tours of a certain van for a while and then moving onto the next one. Let me know if you have any insights and thoughts on small vans and cats and anything about all that.
But that's a bit, sorry for the long read! I tend to ramble sometimes. I'm a bit of a writer....
Here is a photo of my cats!
