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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

#31

Post by robotmay »

I've met a few people living in vans/converted trucks when I've been in France. There's quite a few countries around with great regulations that let you park up in lots of places, e.g. in France there are regular places you can stay along the major roads for free, usually with decent facilities. I met a girl there this year who had converted a truck into a mobile home. It even had window boxes for her plants!

Unfortunately it's much more awkward in the UK. So much of this country is private land and everyone's so afraid of gypsies that you're basically prevented from setting up a van nearly anywhere.

I work remotely and I've started experiencing leg problems from sitting too much. So I'm now trying to set the trend of "wood-working"; where I go for a walk to the woods nearby, sit on a rock by the river, and do some coding. It might catch on ;)

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#32

Post by earlybike »

teekert wrote: post #18
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…

Maybe you are right, maybe not. I just think those stories where people worship their nomad life represent not the entire truth.

It's not because nomad life is so great, often it's because they struggled because--again--life in developed areas is tough and so they opted for the easier way.

Moreover, those have still some home base in an developed country, a back door where they can always settle again, so it's not really nomad, it's just a long vacation labeled as something adventurous.

For us from developed countries, it's so easy to take our backpack and travel dozens of countries and just spent a fraction of what we would spent in NY, London or Berlin. You know it's really nothing special or something people should admire. Everyone from a developed country can do this. But nobody from not so developed countries could and want to do this. I personally would miss a goal and again the challenge. I can just buy a ticket in 5 minutes and go, find some remote work and live for peanuts. Where is the problem, everyone can do this There is no risk and no goal. And because your FB friends got tired of all your useless and boring nomad posts you need to write now public blog posts and spam social news sites telling people that what you do is great justifying your goal-less endeavour to yourself.

So, another popular reason of being a 'nomad' might be: I am struggling with the high competition in my current environment, want to save money or spent a fraction in an underdeveloped country and live like a king. But not like I want to know who I am (maybe they know it afterwards but I think it's rather unrelated).

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#34

Post by victornomad »

d--b wrote: post #7

Good for him... I would totally hate the lack of space and comfort. I'd sleep really poorly at night when it's super hot in summer and cold in winter. I'd hate it to have to look for a good internet to work. I'd miss my friends all the time. I'd dislike having to socialize with random van neighbors every time I want to not dine alone. I wouldn't last a month of this...

I traveled in a similar way and sometimes thought about what you just described. But the reality was totally the opposite and I ended up doing a full year in two intervals.

Some of the best experiences of my life!

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#35

Post by bshimmin »

grecy wrote: post #24

I am doing something somewhat related. I built a Jeep Wrangler into a house on wheels [1], and am driving around Africa for two years. I am freelancing for Magazines, and earning money through my website and social presence. I have not done any coding on this trip, mostly becuase I find it hard to get remote work that meets my flexibility needs - i.e. weeks off-grid and only occasional checkins/calls. Last time I dro…

I think work is the big issue with this sort of lifestyle (leaving aside children, as others have mentioned). Many remote gigs still want a daily standup, a weekly sprint retrospective and planning session, etc, and none of that really works if you're truly nomadic and can't really guarantee where you are or how good your Internet connexion is at any given time.

The article talks about the flexibility of his lifestyle: "instead of following a fixed plan, I get inspired by random ideas: When the waves are great, I go surfing. When it’s chill and fresh, I work. When it’s hot, I go for a swim." ... which sounds lovely, but I can't see how that works with a full-time job, to be honest.

There are, of course, freelance jobs you can do where you have a task to do and a deadline and (hopefully) not too much real-time conversation required... but it may be hard to get enough of that work to support yourself.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#36

Post by jlebrech »

icebraining wrote: post #29
mvanbaak wrote: post #13

This is exactly what I'm planning to do, but instead of a van, use a sailing 'yacht' big enough to live on. As soon as I have enough funding to get the gear, I'm off!

Steven Roberts is a good inspiration for that; after computing across America on his amazing bicycles during the 80s, he has moved onto boats: https://microship.com/

after not renting a house for a decade he could afford a boat? cool

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#37

Post by cyphar »

hycaria wrote: post #25
phillc73 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 remun…

Don't you worry about the objectively lower education for your children there ? As much as I dislike cities, I can't imagine raising children somewhere else. Education, culture and network potential (through friends) is just not the same.

There are many "mid-sized European cities" that have better education than London. Most of Estonia is an obvious example. And a city of 250k people is still large enough in my book to allow for a large enough pool for networking.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#38

Post by jlebrech »

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…

If you can convince an employer to let you work remotely and maybe let you fly in for monthly meetings you could move to a satellite city that has cheaper rent

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#39

Post by madeofpalk »

kbart wrote: post #14
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I feel like there's a middle ground though between spending lots of money raising kids in a London penthouse, and raising them in a van.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#40

Post by jlebrech »

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…

the only way to find a "long term partner" is to start a business, sex and children is no longer a partnership thing.
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