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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

#71

Post by lowglow »

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 Alto.

Palo Alto remains a legal place to live the van life. You'll also meet a bunch of other van dwellers from tech companies around there. There is even a couple of secret facebook groups for nerds working/living out of their van in and around SF/BA.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#72

Post by mantas »

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.

In my country, a public school from 5th largest city, with population of less than 100k, routinely makes it into top-3 high schools. It gets worse only when population is < 10k or so and can't fill a full-blown school. On the other hand, quite a few schools in big cities are notoriously shitty...

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#73

Post by pdimitar »

classisch wrote: post #54

Hey everyone! I'm the author of that article. I just started the blog and still have a ton of things to write about. I like all the (critical) feedback. That inspires me for further blog posts. Thanks for reading!

Thanks for writing this. It made me very sad because the traveler life appeals a lot to me but I still quite like the things I have in the city, so I have always been extremely conflicted about a nomadic life (or a period).

How do you deal with the toilet troubles though?

Also, can you give some details on how do you avoid cold weather? My girlfriend tells me there are areas in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece where summer is much longer and the winter basically means 13-17 degrees without snow -- in the worst case scenario.

I was profoundly touched by your article. I am at a point of my life when I feel a desperate and very strong need for a change. Reasons are a lot and I don't want to derail this thread by making my comment a public confession -- suffice to say, I realize I dislike a part of my life and I want to do something about it.

Truth be told however, I like my mega-strong internet (Bulgaria). I like being able to go buy cooked food when I feel lazy or sick or tired and don't want to cook -- telling yourself "get a grip and cook!" sounds like stress and forcing myself and not like something that relaxes you. I like being able to go to a cinema on a whim.

The city gives me the sense of being able to spontaneously do various things.

I really want to try some nomadism -- or at least travel to 10+ places during a period -- and as a 37 y/o with a burnout, nature's appeal grows in me with each passing week.

Overall, I am happy your format worked for you -- it made me consider some traveling very seriously and I started to weigh pros and cons.

Thank you.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#74

Post by jbb67 »

mcjiggerlog wrote: post #53
hycaria wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

As someone from the UK, this is surprising. In the UK the worst schools are generally in cities, and much better in smaller towns.

I was going to add this. Education for possibly future children is one reason why I would move _out_ of London

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#75

Post by teekert »

victornomad wrote: post #63
earlybike wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 re…

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…

Hi, I have a question, maybe too personal, feel free to answer or not... Do you have children? I do and many rules are inhibiting nomad life (even shortly). Kids are obligated to go to school for example. If this was more relaxed, I'd love to go away for several months at a time (I have a small caravan with a bunk I made for the two kids). I'd love to teach them about everything while traveling Europe. But the kids have 6 weeks of vacation at most during the summer.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#76

Post by mantas »

victornomad wrote: post #63
earlybike wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 re…

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.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#77

Post by icebraining »

jlebrech wrote: post #36
icebraining wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

He's on his third boat. The first was the Microship trimaran, designed by him (using off-the-shelf parts) and could run on wind, sun or even pedal power.

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#78

Post by sealjam »

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.

I think (hope) the downvoters have missed the sarcasm in this comment

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#79

Post by znq »

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…

Awesome! #vanlife is becoming a big thing it seems :-)

I also made a video recently about "3 Years of Living in a Camper Van and Running a 20 People Remote Business" [1]

Now I'm in it for 3.5 years already and thought I'd settle down eventually, but I still love it as on the first day if not even more.

[1] https://optimizingforhappiness.com/3-years-of-living-in-a-ca...

Re: 150 days of living and coding in a van

#80

Post by codesnik »

robotmay wrote: post #31

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! Unfortu…

how's it going? I love to move around with my laptop, but nature is too damn distractive. Sun is too bright, stone under my ass is too cold, that view is too beautiful, oh, I'm already hungry, oh, it's sunset. That was a nice day, but I barely worked.
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