As a part-time nomadic van dweller, probably the 2 words heard most often from fellow van dwellers is, "Freedom and Portability."
Freedom to spread one's wings and soar like the mighty eagle
Why these 2 words? Because of the questions I ask. My background is a professional private investigator, I'm very inquisitive; it's my nature to ask questions. I was an investigator most of my working life. I joined the military right out of high school and became a military policeman and worked in investigations. After 8 years and an honorable discharge, I continued in the investigations industry as an insurance fraud investigator for a major insurance company. After a few years there, I decided to open my own private investigations agency and eventually had offices in Houston, Texas, Atlanta, Georgia and Punta Gorda, Florida.
Since retiring I got the urge to travel. I have a cargo van that I converted to a small home on wheels - think small RV.
During my travels all over this great country, I meet many other folks that are doing the same thing; that is living and traveling in converted vans. I had no idea there were so many "nomads" out there doing the same thing. In fact I see some of the same folks in the desert of southwest Arizona during the winter and in the Colorado Rockies during the summer months.
When we get together, there are always discussions on how we got started, why we became nomads, etc. Thus the reason for hearing the words, "Freedom and Portability."
In my travels and doing my non-scientific research into why folks chose the van life, I find that most of these folks are retirees and have a steady income to fund their travels, but more and more, I'm seeing younger people moving into this lifestyle. Again, the answers I get when questioning the motives of these nomads is basically the same from the young and old; they want freedom from dead-end jobs and the Internet has given them the means to become portable. I see more and more younger people on the road that are working to fund their lifestyle as they move around the country. I've met traveling nurses, folks with real jobs that provide them the freedom to telecommute. Some are self-employed with an eCommerce business. Some are doing retail arbitrage, some use Craig's List to find odd jobs or handyman services to keep them as busy as they want to be.
Portability to work from anywhere
So you see, if one has a desire to become a nomad, they don't let anything hold them back. There are so many opportunities available today and a way to capture those opportunities.
Source: Most of the photos in this blog are provided courtesy of pixabay.com.
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