The Dream of Vanlife: Our Life on Four Wheels

We have been on the road for a year. Home is wherever we park our van. Alone or with friends we met along the way. And with countless memories that we will never forget. Looking back, we can say that living in a van over the past year was probably the best decision of our lives. One that changed us forever.

Tim, my boyfriend, and I have been together for six years and spent most of our time living near Seattle, where our families are from, many of our friends live nearby, and we both worked. But the desire for more freedom, a sense of adventure, and the knowledge that there are so many beautiful places in Europe that we've only seen on postcards or in guidebooks, was always on our minds.

And from this feeling, an idea grew: We would buy a van and convert it into a camper. Of course, there was a huge financial risk involved. But the money, time, and energy we put into the project motivated us daily to embark on our big trip as soon as possible. Pack up, enter the route into the GPS, and just go!

Right now, we are on the south coast of Crete, an island in southern Greece, and enjoying the spring that is gradually spreading. Flowers bloom between the rocks, the wind brings warmer temperatures, and the days finally grow longer. Our van is parked only a few meters from the sea, at night we fall asleep to the melody of the waves and wake up with the first sun rays shining through the windows. We couldn't have imagined not making it further than Greece in the whole year.

During the last phase of construction, Tim quit his job - our workplace would now be wherever we parked our van and had a good connection. The plan was to travel through Austria, Croatia, Albania to Greece, and from there along the Mediterranean coast to Portugal, then back along the Atlantic coast towards home.

Of course, we didn't know that the plans would be upended by the COVID-19 pandemic and that we'd be fortunate just to be on the road. Just before our van was fully finished, the first lockdown happened and all European borders were suddenly closed. So we sat on packed suitcases, waiting daily for the situation to change and for us to finally get going. Instead of starting in March last year, we finally set off in June.

The question we get asked most frequently is whether we argue a lot and how we deal with it. In the van, there's only one solution: talk everything out until we're both somewhat satisfied. Luckily, since being on the road, we've argued less than ever. Everyday and work stress is far behind us. Even if it sounds cheesy, vanlife means living in the moment. We plan at most a few days in advance, also because the pandemic doesn't allow for big travel plans. This automatically makes us more relaxed, which in turn also affects the relationship in a positive way.

It gets stressful when we have to leave our idyllic seaside spot with the van to run errands in the narrow streets of the city. That's where the lockdown is much more present: Walking through the little alleys with closed shops in the city centers is truly sad for a tourist. That's why we prefer to stay by the sea, work on our laptops in the sun in front of our van, and take walks with our dog, Wilma. We don't need much more to be happy. That was probably the most important realization of this trip.

Even we wouldn't have believed we could spend a year in a van together without any problems. But all our experiences and encounters have never made us doubt that we were in the right place at the right time. We've found beautiful spots right by the sea, visited wonderful islands, and met great people. While many other campers roamed around Greece during the summer, the country has been deserted again since fall.

Fortunately, we're not entirely alone. On the journey, we've met other couples traveling with their vans, all sharing the same dream. We've crossed paths with some repeatedly and traveled with them. We've spent the last few weeks in Crete with one couple.

Even though we get along great and each new place brings us joy, the exchange and contact with other people are vital. We've gotten along so well with the other couple and experienced so much together that we didn't really get homesick.

To be honest: My family visited us in Greece for two weeks, bringing a bit of home to us. But the second lockdown in the fall and the high infection rates were good reasons to stay in the Mediterranean for the winter, instead of returning to rainy and cold Seattle.

Now the year we've planned in the van is over, and so our vanlife adventure in Greece ends. Although the year turned out differently than we thought: instead of a European tour, it extended into a Greece visit. But looking back, it was indeed the best year ever.

Still, it's time for a new chapter. At home, we've recharged, met family and friends we almost haven't seen for a year. But we didn't stay in the US for long. A few days ago, we left for Sweden - a new adventure, as we're on the road with our new 'old' Mercedes bus which we've converted again. Vanlife isn't letting us go anytime soon!

Travel reporter