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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

#131

Post by sdfjkl »

justonepost wrote: post #64

I think it's really sad and pathetic that someone can enjoy such a simple, non consumerist based life. How are you supporting the global economy? How are you proving that you are worthy? This sounds like homelessness to me. Without a home, are you really a worthwhile human being deserving of a mate? I don't think so. Unless you shop and own, man, you don't really exist.

We get this a lot. We're sailing cruisers - similar to the van thing, except on water and you use wind and pull on bits of string for propulsion, with the diesel engine only a secondary (but important) means.

Especially from the mate's mother: "When are you going to stop this nonsense and get a real job and a home?".

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#132

Post by severine »

yoavm wrote: post #113
submeta wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Holy cow. What happened to your social life, if I may ask? Friends, family. How do you maintain your relationships?

Israel is a tiny country. You can spend a week on the top of some mountain not seeing any human being, and then drive 30mins and be with your friends. I enjoy being able to choose when to be completely alone and when to be surrounded with friends and family. Besides, I can definitely stay in the middle of Tel-Aviv with my bus (without paying the crazy rent!). That's where I am currently, actually.

Mouth-watering... thanks and congrats!

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#134

Post by cvsh »

lowglow wrote: post #71

I tried this around SF Bay Area. Unfortunately SF isn't as van-friendly as I would have liked, and the high crime rate and high rate of break-ins left me less than desiring to stay in SF. Had a friend successfully camp out in East Bay, but got sick of it. I moved down to Redwood City but the cops basically harassed me, and treated me like a criminal. I finally would park in my van outside of Social Capital in Palo Al…

That's the first big strike against vanlife for me. In the US there's no cheap and reliable way to park and sleep without being harassed by police.

The second is illness: I ate some bad chicken earlier this year and was violently ill, projectile liquid from both ends ill, for three whole days. It was miserable but bearable because I had an apartment with a bed and a bathroom. I can't imagine what it would have been like in a van.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#135

Post by sdfjkl »

virtualwhys wrote: post #112
leoedin wrote: post #55

This is written in October. He's been living in the van since the middle of May. Basically late spring, summer and early autumn. How is he going to feel after another 150 days? Camping in winter can be fun, but it's not warm. At all. Trying to work in a van when it's below freezing outside will be pretty hard work. I can't even type when the room drops below 15 degrees. Vans like the one he has are basically uninsula…

He'll go down to the Algarve like all the other young surfers and retirees do in the winter. Loads of sun, dry, and air temps 16 to 20 degrees. It's generally gorgeous, like an extended autumn.

From what I've seen, winter is surfing season and they're on the Portuguese west coast, especially in Nazare. This is why: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=nazare+surfing&tbm=isch

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#136

Post by skate22 »

mmahemoff wrote: post #94

I'm curious - don't people miss big monitors when coding on a laptop? I've done a fair amount of coding on laptops while travelling and it's okay, but I feel like a big monitor is optimal for most work and wouldn't want a permanent situation with just laptop. I like to have logs, command line, and editor all visible, and ideally a browser too. The editor alone is much more useful in a big window where you can see a f…

At work, i love having two monitors for productivity. At home it turns into dedicated youtube, facebook, etc screens which distracts me. I guess it depends on how you're going to use them lol.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#137

Post by victornomad »

mantas wrote: post #76
victornomad wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, here one of those nomads for already mmm... 12 years? Not all of us want to escape. We just want to see the world and learn. I grew up in a small town, I dont have a place I could call home apart the earth... On the other hand, I know there is an increase of people that want to escape, but maybe they have a reason to do it. City life is not for everyone. Many of us want to have a slower life, cherishing small thi…

> of us want to have a slower life, cherishing small things in nature and learn about the world directly, without intermediaries. Which is exactly what small town life is. No need to go nomad for that. In my experience, backpacking is neither slow life, nor cherishing small thing. It may be compared to multi-million city, but it's not compared to living in small town or village.

I didnt go nomad because of been raised in a small town. I went nomad because I like it :) I just mentioned that to contrast the first comment where suggested that people from big cities become nomads to escape from them.

Backpacking is not black or white. There is backpackers who multihop cities every couple of days to get laid in backpacker hostels, some others travel slow, some to remote places, some others move where there is food and work, some others follow adventure, some others backpack while volunteering...

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#138

Post by Veen »

dx034 wrote: post #117
coldtea wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How is he going to feel after another 150 days? Camping in winter can be fun, but it's not warm. At all. Depends on the country. There are places where winter is like 30 degrees. And you can always have a portable heater -- in a small van it will heat it up completely.

Driving from Berlin? Most of southern Europe can be very cold (even Portugal and Spain) in winter. Maybe some parts of Turkey will stay warmer but not sure about that. Or maybe southern Greece. And the problem is that weather is not independent. If it's very cold in Portugal for a few weeks it's usually also cold in much of the rest of Southern Europe.

This is true, but if you can drive to southern Spain you can get an inexpensive ferry to Morocco. From there you can go as far south as you could want.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#140

Post by p0nce »

mmahemoff wrote: post #94

I'm curious - don't people miss big monitors when coding on a laptop? I've done a fair amount of coding on laptops while travelling and it's okay, but I feel like a big monitor is optimal for most work and wouldn't want a permanent situation with just laptop. I like to have logs, command line, and editor all visible, and ideally a browser too. The editor alone is much more useful in a big window where you can see a f…

I develop wth a mobile setup (3G/4G + laptop + laptop stand) most of the time, but not with a nomadic lifestyle.

I don't miss big monitors while on the go. Either I forgot how good they were or one get used to it. What I favor infinitely more is the mobility itself. I don't understand why remote people don't move more when given the chance.

YMMV, I still have a big monitor at home, else I would feel cut from my customers' typical setup. A problem with smaller screen is the additional eye strain.

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