TOFINO 鈥� Jocelyn Lees never set out to live in her van. The 30-year-old Manitoba native has been tree planting every summer in sa国际传媒 for the last ten years and until recently, spent every winter travelling 鈥� in places such as Ecuador, Morocco and Australia.
鈥淭he nature of my job is that I鈥檓 always away from home, and then in the winters I was away,鈥� Lees says. 鈥淪o, when would I ever be in this house that I would pay to have?鈥�
When her car broke down a few years ago, she decided it was time to make a life change.
Instead of paying for rent, she invested in a camper van, which gave her more mobility and a comfortable place to sleep during her summers in the woods. Her 1981 Dodge has been her home ever since.
鈥淗aving my van is amazing,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 just wake up at the beach.鈥�
Lees is part of a community of Canadians who often dub themselves 鈥渧an-lifers.鈥� They have a variety of motivations: a desire for adventure; frustration with expensive rental markets and precarious employment; and the possibility of social-media fame.
Many Canadian van-lifers end up out West, often favouring Vancouver Island. Twenty-two-year-old Sacha Morin-Sirois described Tofino as 鈥渓iterally, the end of the road.鈥�
When Morin-Sirois travelled with his family as a young boy, he would dream of setting off on his own, sleeping in his van and surviving the elements.
鈥淚t鈥檚 mostly a call for freedom, I think,鈥� he says.
He and his girlfriend left Gatineau, Que., in June in a van older than they are 鈥� it鈥檚 a 1991 model 鈥� with plans that weren鈥檛 much more specific than 鈥渉ead west.鈥� They both wanted to integrate their travels with their chosen careers: Morin-Sirois, a chef, took on seasonal work picking fruit in the Okanagan and developed dishes using whatever was in season. His girlfriend, a writer, started a blog about their experiences and worked on her fiction.
Lisa Felepchuk and partner Coleman Molnar, who lived in Toronto until a year-and-a-half ago, also incorporate their work into their van life. They offer content and social-media services through their company Li et Co Media and organize their travels around making sure Wi-Fi is accessible. That鈥檚 occasionally meant skipping out on some places they wanted to visit.
鈥淟ast year, we were so close to the Mexican border, and I regret not going into Baja,鈥� Felepchuk says. 鈥淏ut the Wi-Fi was a big question for us, and we weren鈥檛 sure if we got down there what it would mean for us and for our business.
鈥淚 think finding that work-life balance is tricky for most people,鈥� she says.
Adds Molnar: 鈥淭he only difference between us and somebody who has a regular job and lives in a house is that we鈥檙e able to just take our jobs on vacation with us.鈥�
Other van-lifers prefer to unplug completely, using money saved from previous jobs to finance a work-free experience. Adrian Myles, 38, goes home to Perth, Australia, to work as a sommelier every few years, which allows him to travel for a year or two without having to worry about money.
鈥淧eople living this life aren鈥檛 sitting around talking about what was back at home,鈥� says Myles, who was recently travelling through sa国际传媒
鈥淵ou can know someone for a month and never know what their job was, because you don鈥檛 ask, because it doesn鈥檛 matter.鈥�
A New Yorker piece published last year explored the business side of the #vanlife social-media movement. A profile of Emily King and Corey Smith, who post under the Instagram handle Where鈥檚 My Office Now, demonstrated that their dreamy, aspirational photo feed 鈥� stunning cliffsides, starry skies, exotic vistas 鈥� was the result of hours of deliberate work in an effort to make their lives seem whimsical and spontaneous. Their social-media following allows them, like other popular van-lifers, to monetize their travel experience. They receive money from companies to feature their products on Instagram or other platforms.
sa国际传媒 has its own social media stars, including 鈥淰an Man鈥� Philippe Leblond, a model originally from Montreal. He now lives in Los Angeles and travels out of his van, taking trips he documents for his 164,000 Instagram followers.
Felepchuk and Molnar know of King and Smith and describe them as 鈥渁n inspiration.鈥� But they also represent 鈥渁 warning sign in [how you can] go wrong when you just advertise with whoever. They have these poems written about Kettle Chips, and it鈥檚 just like 鈥︹�� Molnar says, his voice trailing off.
For their part, Felepchuk and Molnar say branded content is only a small part of their income.
Others eschew social media completely. Myles says he used to take a lot of photos to document the places he visited. But he kept feeling that the urge to compose a perfect shot was distracting him from the natural beauty he had travelled to see.
鈥淵ou would go somewhere and you were framing the photo,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 running through your head is: 鈥楬ow do I show this to somebody else?鈥� That by definition takes you out of it.鈥�
Morin-Sirois says he and his girlfriend once got in a fight because she kept wistfully looking at other people鈥檚 social-media photos while they were on their own trip.
鈥淚 told her: 鈥榃hy are you looking at other people鈥檚 lives? Just be here and enjoy it,鈥欌�� he says.
鈥淧eople want what they don鈥檛 have, and that鈥檚 really not my mentality at all.鈥�
Molnar is also happy to admit that van life isn鈥檛 always easy and that the photos leave out a lot of the less-glamorous elements. Vans break down all the time, he says, and old ones can sometimes be hard to repair.
鈥淚 like to say that there鈥檚 a thin line between freedom and homelessness, and we鈥檝e walked that at a few points,鈥� he says.
Myles once locked his keys inside his van on a cliff during a sleet storm. Lees鈥檚 van broke down after she and a friend had purchased about $400 worth of peaches for canning 鈥� luckily, it started up again soon, before the fruit started to rot. Morin-Sirois and his girlfriend had to throw out a lot of vegetables over the summer, when they took their non-air-conditioned van to Arizona. Even in their small fridge, their food wouldn鈥檛 stay cool. In a van, 鈥渆ven if you鈥檙e inside, you鈥檙e still outside,鈥� he says.
But those kinds of experiences promote self-reliance, they say. You get comfortable in a small space and you learn to fend for yourself.
Lees says people tend to assume she鈥檚 sick of her van. There鈥檚 sometimes a pitying quality in the way people offer up their couch for her to sleep on, she adds. But even when she goes back to her parents鈥� house, Lees says she鈥檇 rather sleep in the bed in her van than the one in the house.
Myles says people sometimes think living in the wilderness is a rejection of society, but he doesn鈥檛 see it that way at all.
鈥淢y old English teacher messaged me and said: 鈥榊ou could write the next Into the Wild,鈥欌�� Myles remembers.
鈥淚 said: 鈥榃ell, people only read books where people either die or learn something at the end, and I鈥檓 not really here to do that. I鈥檓聽just here to live the actual experience.鈥欌��
