#VANLIFE in the Pandemic Era | Behind The Hustle Ep.05
Van Life, Pandemic Travel, and Sprinter Renovation - May 3, 2020 (almost 5 years ago) • 15:22
Transcript:
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Mia Sullivan | The way it's working is that some states are choosing to close the developed campsites in their national forests, while others are actually keeping them open. So, you really have to go forest by forest and look to see what's going on.
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Nick DeSantis | Hey everybody, this is Nick DeSantis from The Hustle. Welcome to another episode of *Behind the Hustle*, the show where we take you behind the scenes to tell you a little bit more about some of the stories that we're working on.
I'm really excited about today's episode because we're here to talk about **van life**. This is a trend that you may have heard of on Instagram or on social media—people who essentially live life from the road.
About a week ago, we wrote a story about this in our daily email. It was not something that I had obviously heard of; I had seen the Instagram hashtag and read a little bit about this trend, but I didn't know a ton about it. Luckily, we have a contributor who writes for us out in San Francisco. Her name is Mia Sullivan, and it turns out that she is actually planning, as soon as the shelter-in-place orders lift, to hit the road and live a little bit of the van life herself.
So, I wanted to invite her in to talk a little bit about where the idea came from and what she was planning. Thanks a lot, Mia, for joining us. I really appreciate it.
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Mia Sullivan | Yeah, of course!
Hey everyone, so I know it kind of feels like a strange time to choose to move into a van, but my fiancé and I are planning on doing that in the summer. We're hoping to still go.
Just a little bit of background on how the idea came about for us: we were really interested in taking a year off and traveling, living a more simple life. We're big backpackers, so we thought we'd be pretty good candidates to move into a small space.
We have a big dog who's going to be traveling with us, so we're designing our van with him and our lifestyle in mind.
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Nick DeSantis | Yeah, one of the things that you had called out in the story you wrote for us a couple of days ago was the fact that there's sort of a wide variety of vans. There are certain people who do a more low-tech version of it, and then there are other people who have vans that you sort of called "mini bunkers."
So, you sent me a couple of pictures of the van that you're actually building out. It looks like... tell us a little bit about what that looks like.
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Mia Sullivan | Yeah, so it is a 2015 Mercedes Sprinter van. It has a 170-inch wheelbase, so it's one of the longer ones. There's a shorter one and then a bit of a longer one.
I would say our build-out is definitely going to be more like the bunker than bare bones. We'll have running water, we'll have heat, and we won't have a full bathroom, but we will have a toilet and an outdoor shower situation.
So it will be pretty contained. We won't have to rely on gyms or bathrooms in random towns, so I'm feeling pretty good about that, especially now. We were going to get a smaller water tank, but we're opting for the bigger 35-gallon tank given the pandemic.
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Nick DeSantis | How are the renovations going? You sent me some photos. Has it been challenging? Have you run into any headaches? I'm curious about what that process has been like.
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Mia Sullivan | Yeah, so it's going well. It is very challenging for me. My fiancé is the builder out of the two of us, so he's been the one figuring out, you know, what to do and what to buy. I am the assistant.
The other week, we cut out a window in our van. It's the third window that we've installed. He was the one doing all the cutting, planning, and measuring, but I was basically helping him—handing him things and cleaning.
So, it's going well, but there are certain things coming up, like the electrical wiring, that I know he's pretty nervous about. So far, you know, cutting a window into a van is nerve-wracking, and I think he handled it well. So, so far, so good.
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Nick DeSantis | Good. I mean, it certainly looks... I was surprised at how big the van was. But it certainly looks like things are going well. | |
Mia Sullivan | Yeah, it's pretty big. I think that, you know, with the two of us and our dog, it'll probably be a good size. It probably won't feel very big once we have everything in it. But right now, it's really just an empty box with insulation and a few windows. | |
Nick DeSantis | So, tell us a little bit about your plans. One of the other things that you had written about last week was where people are allowed to go. There are national parklands and national forests where some of the more common camping facilities in those places are shut down to visitors. However, there are more wide open spaces where people can go.
I'm curious, what does your route look like? Are there particular landmarks or places you want to visit?
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Mia Sullivan | Yeah, so we were planning on doing more of a trip up the West Coast. I live in San Francisco, and we were going to head up the West Coast to hit Oregon and Washington State. However, much of the land right now is closed in Oregon, and because we're starting a month later than we wanted to, we're actually going to skip that for now and do it on the back end of our trip.
So, we're going to head to Montana and Idaho first and hit the national forests. It's pretty confusing. It's not like all national forests are closed right now. The way it's working is that some states are choosing to close the developed campsites in their national forests, while others are keeping them open. So, you really have to go forest by forest and look to see what's going on.
What I have found is that most national forests are open to dispersed camping. That means you can just drive your van somewhere on this huge piece of land and camp, being alone. So, that is what our trip is going to look like, especially in the beginning.
You know, there might be some states that are reopening. Maybe there will be small towns in Montana that we can check out and just be really, really careful. But especially in the beginning, with the pandemic still kind of raging, we're going to be mostly in isolated areas. We might even stay in one national forest for like two weeks and then continue on to just hike and explore. | |
Nick DeSantis | Have you thought about if you do run into other people on the road, how you'll handle that? Given all the concerns about social distancing, those aren't going to be going away anytime soon.
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Mia Sullivan | Yeah, so we bought cool masks with mask filters, so we're definitely going to be wearing those. We'll have gloves, and you know, we'll just kind of keep our distance from people.
I think that we're going to be interacting with a lot fewer people than we currently do, just going to the grocery store and being in the city. So, you know, I think that if antibody tests are available, that's obviously something that we'll be interested in doing so we can feel safer meeting people.
But I think for the beginning, you know, it's going to be like masks and keeping our distance. Sure. But another thing I'm thinking about is that it'll be interesting. We might go to certain places where no one's wearing a mask. You know, we might be in a small town in Montana, and people will look at us like we're crazy.
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Nick DeSantis | sure | |
Mia Sullivan | Sure, I'm really interested in how all of those dynamics will play out. Alright.
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Nick DeSantis | Are you planning to document your travels in any way? I think one thing that we had talked a little bit about is that you were maybe hoping to write some stories from the road.
I'm curious about whether you are going to be trying to tell any stories of people who are dealing with the pandemic. Are you going to try to document this trip in any way?
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Mia Sullivan | Oh yeah, so as a journalist, my aspiration is for it to be incredibly documented. The main thing I'm doing is a podcast called *Places*. It will launch in mid-June and it's going to be about stories from small towns across the U.S. That was my original plan for it, and I'm already a few episodes deep just on the background of how we're planning to go about the trip.
However, I do think that with the coronavirus situation, the focus may change a little bit. So that's still to be determined from my end. But yeah, the podcast will also weave through our experiences traveling on the road.
That's one thing I'm doing. I am also planning to collect stories on the trip and want to write about what it's like—how people are living in smaller towns. I think that the view I'm getting is that this is how people are living in cities, and that's a lot of what's being reported on. But how are people approaching it in small towns? Are they afraid of it? Are they thinking, "This is ridiculous"?
I'm really interested in that and kind of the rural-urban divide of fear in the crisis.
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Nick DeSantis | And maybe some places that haven't been quite so hard hit as places like San Francisco or D.C., where I am.
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Mia Sullivan | yeah | |
Nick DeSantis | I'm also curious, as you talk to friends and family about your plans, are there misconceptions that come up? Are there things where people try to talk you out of it or raise concerns?
I'm curious, what is the reaction when you tell other people about your plans? Have they been supportive? Are there things that you have to explain? What do some of those conversations look like?
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Mia Sullivan | Yeah, so in the time before the pandemic, I think everyone was extremely supportive, even to a degree that really surprised me. People were so supportive, but at the same time, I think that a lot of the people I was telling know me very well. It's the type of thing that's like, "Oh, that makes sense that you would want to do that." Maybe they wouldn't want to do that, but it makes sense for you.
So, I felt really lucky for people to be supportive. I think now, honestly, it's surprising, but no one has said, "Oh, I think that you should postpone this trip. I don't think it's a good idea to do it this year or anytime soon." But I wonder if people kind of think that but don't want to burst our bubble.
Some people have said, "Oh, well, we just want to make sure you have a great experience, and we don't want you to not be able to go to the places that you wanted to go and do the things that you wanted to do." I get that. But other people say, "Oh, well, that seems like the most socially distanced thing you could do right now: live in a van just with your partner and boyfriend and hike around in places where there aren't people."
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Nick DeSantis | it's not as if you're getting on a a bunch of airplanes | |
Mia Sullivan | Yes, so I don't know. I mean, no one's come out and said, "I think this is a horrible idea" yet.
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Nick DeSantis | To me, good. What is the thing that you're most looking forward to? Obviously, circumstances are different now, but you know, what's the thing that you're most excited about?
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Mia Sullivan | So, I think a combination of a slower pace of life and being able to connect with people is important. Telling stories about places that are foreign to me is also significant.
I am anxious about the connecting with people part, as that's a huge aspect of the trip. If we can't interact with many people, I think it will be very unfortunate. However, I'm optimistic that we can figure out creative ways to still connect.
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Nick DeSantis | Cool, that's really good! Well, thanks for taking some time to tell us about it. Obviously, you're still sort of waiting on the green light, I think, but we're going to be excited to follow some of your trip.
I'm sure we'll talk more, and I think you had said the other day that when the van is finished, we might get a little bit of a visual tour. I'm looking forward to that as well.
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Mia Sullivan | Yeah, absolutely! I'd love to show everyone around. It should be done at the end of June. So cool! | |
Nick DeSantis | well good luck with the rest of the renovations I hope everything goes well and I'm sure we'll talk more soon | |
Mia Sullivan | thanks nick | |
Nick DeSantis | alright thanks bye everybody |