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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

#221

Post by classisch »

lucaspiller wrote: post #159
classisch wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey! I'm the author of that article. I respect your opinion and I totally agree that van life is not for everyone. However it's seems funny that I've never experienced one of your concerns: > I would totally hate the lack of space and comfort. I have 12 square meters and my bed is super comfortable. Most of the time I'm outside. Works perfect for me. > I'd sleep really poorly at night when it's super hot in summer an…

> for Christmas I will fly back to my hometown Where do you plan on leaving your van while you are away? Are you worried about security?

A friend of mine has a friend who has a friend who lives in southern Portugal. I might be able to park the van there. If that doesn't work: there are guarded parking areas near airports where you can leave your van for several days. I think it's something like 5 Euros a day.

But even if I leave the van somewhere unattended: I take my laptop and wallet with me. Other than that I don't have much valuable things in my van: If someone wants to steal my underwear that I've been wearing for ten years: fine go for it.

At the end everything in my van is replaceable. Including the van itself ;)

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#222

Post by koolba »

e59d134d wrote: post #220
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…

Not really, I prefer to code on my 13" MBP. I have 24" monitor but I rarely ever use it. Ability to lay back and put legs on coffee table are more important to me.

A huge desk, huge monitors, comfy executive chair, and a foot rest gives, IMHO, the best of all worlds.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#223

Post by maaaats »

coldtea wrote: post #187
maaaats wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's some serious gatekeeping.

Keeping the gate of what? As I wrote "some of us" prefer smaller/single screens for focus. If it doesn't work for you, or if you can manage NOT to get distracted by 5 open windows in 2 x 24" monitors, then more power to you.

It was your tone. It reeked of "real programmers" don't use debuggers etc.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#224

Post by egeozcan »

googamooga wrote: post #170
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'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. That is why we, coders, are different from other 99,99% of population of the Earth. I gave the original post to my wife and her first question was “How’s the…

I directly skipped to finding a solution to that "problem". I literally found myself browsing amazon for monitor stands that can be folded and easily mounted in a van. What happens if I break hard? Hmm... I came up with requirements for a monitor stand suitable for use in a van. For a moment, I remember being depressed about the zero number of perfect solutions for this "basic" use-case.

Now I'm convinced that I'd never give-up my home-office for a van-office until serious advancements are made in the monitor-stand industry.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#225

Post by Fnoord »

googamooga wrote: post #170
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'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. That is why we, coders, are different from other 99,99% of population of the Earth. I gave the original post to my wife and her first question was “How’s the…

> That is why we, coders, are different from other 99,99% of population of the Earth.

Not sure if that's coders or autistics (to be clear: NOFI).

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#226

Post by timmaah »

cvsh wrote: post #134
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 l…

> In the US there's no cheap and reliable way to park and sleep without being harassed by police.

IF you want/need to live in a city. The west has tons of public land with an LTE signal. I'm hanging out on BLM land in the middle of gorgeous Utah right now.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#227

Post by thedz »

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…

Different people have different work styles - some prefer the focus.

Fun fact: Antirez worked on Redis solely on a MacBook Air 11"

http://oldblog.antirez.com/post/apple-mba11-my-sole-computer...

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#229

Post by endymi0n »

koolba wrote: post #222
e59d134d wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, I prefer to code on my 13" MBP. I have 24" monitor but I rarely ever use it. Ability to lay back and put legs on coffee table are more important to me.

A huge desk, huge monitors, comfy executive chair, and a foot rest gives, IMHO, the best of all worlds.

This might be something for you two guys if you can afford it...

http://mashable.com/2015/10/28/altwork-station-laying-down

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#230

Post by classisch »

yokisan wrote: post #211

This is awesome. So much so, I'm going to borrow his idea and kick this off next Spring. If the author is reading this, some questions: - How do you deal with solitude? Most can handle it but seeing as everyday is a new day in a new place there must be an urge to share that with somebody. - This mode of living must have an impact on the ol' love life. What do the ladies say - if you meet many at all - when you sugges…

> How do you deal with solitude? Most can handle it but seeing as everyday is a new day in a new place there must be an urge to share that with somebody.

I haven't experienced solitude so far. Sometimes I even leave crowded spots because I want some time for myself. I travel in Europe, not in Alaska. I meet people everyday and on top of that I have a regular job and interact with my co-workers every weekday. Mostly asynchronous and sometimes synchronous.

> This mode of living must have an impact on the ol' love life. What do the ladies say - if you meet many at all - when you suggest going back to your van/office/home?

Yes, this is can be a problem. Sometimes you meet people who don't love the "simple" life like I do. I respect their opinions and either spend time with them in their world or make a compromise, e.g. stay on a campsite that offers all the facilities you have in a regular apartment.

But at the end you usually hangout with people that get a long with you and your life style?

> What are your plans for the Winter? I imagine just go as south-west as possible to chase the sun.

Yes, I'll follow the warm weather once my naked feet get cold here.

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