My Vanlife Dream
My van life dream never included being on the road full time. I love to travel but I love my neighborhood, my stuff, and my apartment too much to give it all up for life as a digital nomad, permanently on the road. Traveling 25 weeks of the year is enough for me. Plus, there are places I want to go that I don’t want to drive to.
In my dream, van life is only for a few scenarios.
The Ski Lodge
I love to snowboard. I really like skiing. Having a campervan means having a place to stay at every ski resort in the region, a home that is packed with all my stuff and ready to go at the drop of a hat or any fresh powder.
A campervan with a suitable workspace makes it easy go any time and stay for days or weeks whenever the mountain calls.
The Schedule Shifting
When you have a comfy bed wherever you go, your schedule opens up.
Want to be somewhere very early? Want to be at Disneyland when the gates open? Want to arrive at the Long Beach Marathon with time for breakfast and a warm up before the start?
Drive in the night before. Sleep in your own bed. Show up bright and early. No hotels. No rushing out before dawn. Just a good night’s sleep and arriving where you want to be when you want to be there.
The same goes for late nights. Want to stay a little longer but have a long drive home? Not anymore, you’re already home. You can drive back in the morning after a good night’s sleep and a leisurely breakfast.
With a little planning you can even skip out on rush hour.
Instead of fighting rush hour traffic to get to a six o’clock appointment, go three hours early. Being three hours early is no hassle when you can wait at home.
It works the other way too. Don’t want to fight traffic to get home? You’re already home. Enjoy your time. Drive back when you feel like it and when traffic isn’t so bad.
The Little Getaways
Having a home wherever you drive makes little getaways way easier and more comfortable.
Want to go to the beach on a hot day? No problem. Spend the day on the coast looking at the waves and enjoying the breeze. Stay for a couple of days if you want.
Or go to the mountains. Pull off onto a dirt road. Do your work meetings between hikes. Enjoy the smell of pine needles. Stay all day, or two.
Visit family or friends. Be nearby but have your own space. Make the drive worthwhile without needing to find, schedule, book, pay for, or schlep to a hotel.
The Big Getaway
Having a home that can quickly relocate is incredibly valuable if you need to quickly relocate.
If for some reason I need to leave my apartment suddenly, with a campervan I have a way to go and a place to stay.
There are a lot of reasons why I might want to relocate quickly, for a day, a couple of days, a week, or longer.
Extreme heat (like in August 2025) could make Los Angeles unpleasantly or dangerously hot.
Fires like the Eaton Fire or the Palisades Fire could make my apartment unpleasant, dangerous, or destroy it entirely.
War or civil unrest, for example paramiltary organizations snatching people off the street, could make staying home dangerous.
In any of these scenarios having a home that I can move someplace else could do wonders for my comfort and safety.
The Office Space
In order to be able to live out of my van for days or weeks at a time, I need the van to have a good workspace.
If the workspace in the van is good enough than I don’t need a workspace in my apartment. When I’m travelling I can work in the van. When I’m home I can still work in the van.
Having a van office frees up space in my apartment and provides much needed separation between work and home.
But I am selling my campervan because it doesn’t have what I need to live my vanlife dream. For example, I need a permanent bed.