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150 days of living and coding in a van

ruby-on-wheels.github.io

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Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#11

Post by phillc73 »

earlybike wrote: post #9

Slightly OT: Living in a capital/big city is tough: - High rents, even in Berlin nowadays - There are more options but also much more competition for finding the right accommodation, job and spouse - In particular, finding your long-term partner can be a huge struggle in a big city in times of Tinder where nobody is committed anymore For some the solution is just to escape, avoid the challenge and call it nomad life…

> However, once they have kids, they have to settle and are back to square one.

I don't necessarily think it's back to square one. One doesn't have to settle in a big city.

I moved out of London when my first child was due. We moved to a mid-sized (250k population) European city. I was able to find work, in an unrelated field to my previous experience but still using similar technical and management skills. The remuneration is less than I was earning in London, but the cost of living is significantly lower too.

This was a lifestyle choice and the environment is much better, in my view, for raising children. Only my view of course, but in this case "better" means things like more green space, less pollution, less crime etc.

It's not been 100% plain sailing. I have had to overcome a language barrier (not fully achieved that). I do feel culturally adrift sometimes. And Brexit seems to be trying to screw everything up.

However, I still don't feel like I'm back to square one.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#12

Post by tonyedgecombe »

earlybike wrote: post #9

Slightly OT: Living in a capital/big city is tough: - High rents, even in Berlin nowadays - There are more options but also much more competition for finding the right accommodation, job and spouse - In particular, finding your long-term partner can be a huge struggle in a big city in times of Tinder where nobody is committed anymore For some the solution is just to escape, avoid the challenge and call it nomad life…

You can do kids on a budget, plenty of people do.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#14

Post by kbart »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #12
earlybike wrote: post #9

Slightly OT: Living in a capital/big city is tough: - High rents, even in Berlin nowadays - There are more options but also much more competition for finding the right accommodation, job and spouse - In particular, finding your long-term partner can be a huge struggle in a big city in times of Tinder where nobody is committed anymore For some the solution is just to escape, avoid the challenge and call it nomad life…

You can do kids on a budget, plenty of people do.

In most European countries your children would be taken away by the responsible institutions if you tried to raise them in a trailer.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#16

Post by unixhero »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #12
earlybike wrote: post #9

Slightly OT: Living in a capital/big city is tough: - High rents, even in Berlin nowadays - There are more options but also much more competition for finding the right accommodation, job and spouse - In particular, finding your long-term partner can be a huge struggle in a big city in times of Tinder where nobody is committed anymore For some the solution is just to escape, avoid the challenge and call it nomad life…

You can do kids on a budget, plenty of people do.

Yeah. That happened to me. Cannot recommend this. AT ALL.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#18

Post by teekert »

earlybike wrote: post #9

Slightly OT: Living in a capital/big city is tough: - High rents, even in Berlin nowadays - There are more options but also much more competition for finding the right accommodation, job and spouse - In particular, finding your long-term partner can be a huge struggle in a big city in times of Tinder where nobody is committed anymore For some the solution is just to escape, avoid the challenge and call it nomad life…

First: Not everyone wants or can have children. Second: You may be back at geographical square one but you have picked up a lot of baggage in the form of knowledge and emotions that probably changed you (hopefully for the better, I'm betting it does) forever.

Also, this life style is nice for getting to know yourself, what do you really want? Maybe you thought you were a city dweller but now you know you feel better closer to nature. You also learn that you don't need much as a human, that is a very comforting though that can get you through difficult times.

Changing your lifestyle may not always be pleasant (at first) but you learn about yourself. For example, I though I was a real backpacker, turns out I get very stressed when I have to get in random taxis and I convince myself almost everyone wants to screw me (in the bad way) and I have constant inner dialogue about why I would care about being screwed for a couple of euros. Now I plan thing differently, maybe I someday really learn to relax. But it won't be by sitting at home, I know that for sure. For now, I have kids and already learn that I don't like my life style to adventurous (maybe I'm not even that adventurous without kids), and I'm ok with that... even though that took some time to accept.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#19

Post by simonbarker87 »

I'm in the process of converting a van to a camper to make weekly commuting cheaper. Lifestyle will be slightly different to this as I will still be running a factory and in the UK winter, however, I am hoping that one day I can do some extended periods somewhere warm and outdoorsy using.
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