Thinking of taking the nomadic plunge

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
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Hi all,

I posted about a week ago and now I’m back again! This time after advice, opinions etc.

So I came into some inheritance last year, and bought a van conversion as has always been my dream. It’s everything I hoped it would be. I’ve spent a wonderful summer travelling through France in it (although it has had to be treated to a new serpentine belt and power steering pump after it had to be towed down a mountain - luckily you could access some lovely hikes from the garage it spent 4 days outside of :rofl:).

I’m from the UK and run a business during school term time (although I usually finish two weeks before the schools), which requires me to be in that one certain area of the UK for approximately 33 weeks a year. I have a small workshop/office space in the area as well. Now that I have the van, I fully intend to skip town the second I go on break from work, as I have done the past Easter and now summer.

I’ve been renting a wonderful little flat for 3 years now. I love it and it’s been perfect for the past three years. I have a really good relationship with my landlord and whilst my rent is not that expensive, I’ve costed that I spend approximately £11000 per year on the flat, including council tax and bills. I am however, not allowed a dog of my own - something that is a lifelong dream.

For the past 18 months, I’ve also done various house sits in the area, many several times, which I love, filling the dog shaped hole in my life. With all the invites I’ve had within a 10 mile radius, I could easily be booked up until mid-October after I return to the UK. There are also several available going up until December.

Can you see where this is going?

I technically wouldn’t be house-sitting full time, as if there wasn’t a local sit that didn’t take my fancy - I would stay in the van instead. I’ve done February in the UK in it, and the lake District in pouring rain, and whilst I would rather take 20 degrees and sunny, it wasn’t horrible. I love living in my van, easy to keep clean, simple etc. But I have only done it “on holiday” and working remotely doing admin, I have however done plenty of house-sitting whilst working and that’s worked fine.

It is devastating to think about giving up the flat, but it’s likely to 4-5 months of the year empty at the moment which is a haemorrhage of money for me, and of course I’m paying for the upkeep of the van etc.

My sister and friends thinks I should go for it, my parents are horrified - but I’m interested if anyone here has done something similar? And if people think it’s a good idea or not, things that I might not have considered? Any other sites I should be joining? Rover etc? Am I moving too quickly? Will I experience van burnout?

Thoughts are appreciated!

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No experience living in a van but I’m curious what the logistics and what would it look like if you needed to live in the van full time? Can you just park it anywhere and live in it? Does it need to be in a “campground”? What are the local/council rules for living in a motor vehicle. Here in the US it can be done but the country is sooooo much bigger and moving the van around is much more “doable”.

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@ERRa I’m not answering, just wondering what will happen to your ‘things’. Storage? Or will you downsize? For some people, that’s a big thing, not having their things around them, but you’ve had practice, so it won’t be completely foreign to you to live minimalist.

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I haven’t done anything similar but at 52 I can categorically tell you life is too short. Seize the day. Yes for now, doesn’t mean yes forever. If you don’t try you don’t know. Go for it!

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It’s a stealth van, I’ve parked it in industrial estates a few times and no-one questioned it. There are definitely a few areas around me which I’ve always thought “that would make a good spot”, plus I know the area really well so know when free parking comes into effect when etc. it’s definitely not as easy as France where I sometimes feel a bit brazen (central Toulouse, for free? Really?!) it’s so easy. I know where to get water etc.

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I actually have very little stuff! I promised myself when I moved into my flat I wouldn’t collect loads. Some of it will go into my workshop space as furniture for there. I know a few people with garage space for my dismantled bed etc. most of my cutlery etc is in the van with me.

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Thank you!

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No van experience (although we would love a campervan!), we joined THS early last year and our plan was to turn our own home into a holiday cottage for the odd week here and there while we went and had fun with pets.

Long story short, we loved pet sitting so much straight away that we have only spent a couple of days at our home here and there in 15 months, we just don’t miss having a ‘home’ at all (which we really thought we would), not in the slightest. So do whatever feels natural for you to do.

I think you secretly really want to take the leap, and you’re looking for other peoples good experiences, rather than the bad.

The one thing I would say is in the UK it’s easier to get a loan/mortgage if you are on the council tax somewhere, so perhaps your parents address could help with that as your official address.

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I remember @Romana was living in a van with a pet or two. Not sure she’s still active on the forum, though. She is currently doing a reeeaaallly long term sit!

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It sounds like a dream that should come true!

I would however look into consequences of maybe not having a permanent address (?), health care, insurance etc. I know several people (from the newspapers, not personally) that ended up stranded in a hospital bed they didn’t have cover or funds for. So just check out those things. Boring but so important for peace of mind.

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I see @CreatureCuddler is/was also spending time in a van (from another thread) - maybe they have insights for you?

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Thanks to @botvot for tagging me in. :slight_smile:

I’ve been mostly full time in my van for about 3 years now. I live in a micro camper (small VW caddy) which is an extra challenge, but in general it’s great. I have been completely nomadic with no home base for over 15 years and have been sitting for 10+.

It’s not a lifestyle for everyone, but I’ve enjoyed it (though I am planning to establish a home base in the next year).

My vote would be to do it!

I will say that van life in England can be difficult, depending on the location. Councils have been cracking down. However, if you do sits and have a network in the area, it might make it easier to find park-ups between sits. There is a vanlife UK Facebook group that I would recommend joining. Search for your area of the country to see if people have had challenges there. Or just ask in a post.

You may end up not loving it, but you have gotten a taste so I think if you don’t try it, you’ll always wonder. :slight_smile:

Good luck!

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Check out Youtube for channels on “stealth camping” in the UK. ie living for free without being on a site. There’s some great ones we keep watching from time to time, even though we don’t own a camper… as yet!

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Yeah, a lot depends on what kind of van you have. Being in a micro camper that just looks like a normal car makes it really easy for me to just be wherever. But if you’re in a big boy all decked out with fancy stickers it’s much more difficult. :slight_smile:

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The smallest camper conversion I’ve seen is the one done by Dag Fransson in Norway. He is a pianotuner and travels a lot for work - and converted a VW Up! It was in a lot of papers a few years ago.

Found this article:

Seems he did it in a couple of days and used some old materials (?).

So any car can be converted, it seems!

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@ERRa How exciting!!!
My hubby and I have been fully nomadic for over 12 years! We are 60 & 62 now. We were full time motorhomers for the first 8 years of that time-only putting our M/H in winter storage so we could fly off somewhere warm! Otherwise we spent our time roaming around Europe & also UK every year.
Its a fabulous lifestyle for free spirits! :star_struck:
We added housesitting to our travel repertoir about 6 years ago but were not full time in the beginning as we were still enjoying our half/half lifestyle of motorhoming and asian travels.
So we just took sits inbetween when something interesting popped up.
Just before Covid (autumn 2019) we sold our last and biggest Motorhome- a big 9m Frankia!- and post Covid have become full time housesitters.
We often think that a smaller van (something like yours) would be a great companion to housesitting especially in countries where you may have gaps to fill. We’ve spent the last 5 months in France & Spain and had a few gaps here and there where we stayed in airbnbs. When in Europe we are travelling by car with a roofbox these days. We do have camping gear on board and the possibility to convert our car for emergancy sleeping! We even tested that out for 3 nights on campsites heading from France to Spain. Doable! But obviously a far cry from our ‘luxury’ motorhome set up with bathroom/kitchen and all the mod cons, or even a good van conversion! But we’re very adaptable- happy to try new things!

Sounds like you are on the brink of a major life change and that’s so exciting! I
would absilutely say GO FOR IT!! Life is short and there are so many adventures to be had before you kick the bucket! :rofl: You can always get another homebase again if you miss it! But you might not miss anything!

If you plan to be mainly in the UK, and maybe even in a certain area you could always join Rover and earn money doing what you love doing! We’ve considered Rover but are still too much globetrotting for it to be a practical option!

By the way when my hubby and I first went nomadic we’d been living in Germany and sub renting our apartment every winter to go to India and spending so much time away in summer too that we started to feel the flat was a burden! So we gave it up and decided we’d go off full time in the motorhome for a year…:rofl:
Well, ofcourse, as you’ve already read above we have still not returned to a settled lifestyle & I can’t see it happening any time soon! Even the (big) motorhome eventually became too restrictive (always calling us back from our winter travels!) so when we decided to sell that too we became free as birds!!
No fixed or rolling base anywhere in the world and we literally just Go With The Flow, not planning too far ahead. We love it!
None of this was planned and this lifestyle is definitely not for everyone!
But if the freedom bug is biting you then surrender to it! I don’t think you’ll ever regret it! (but you might regret NOT doing it!) :rofl::joy::rofl:

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My husband and i have been nomadic for almost 13 years now. We lived in a van for 8 years. This was in North America so i can comment on doing this in the UK. But i absolutely loved living in our van and miss it.

Vanlife can make house sitting easier as you bring your whole house with you. If something is missing at your house sit, you can just pop out to the van and get it.

The only problem we ever had with the van and house sitting is that sometimes there isnt a place to park the van.

I say go for it. Life is an adventure! You can always go back to apartment living if it doesn’t work out.

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Maby parallels to us!! (Incase you missed my comment above yours!):blush:

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Also, flat tires I suppose :wink:
Sounds really intriguing. Well, I have committed to having little animals in the house, so for the moment I won’t be able to be on the move. They will be gone at some point in the future, or only one left. Then I will think really hard about this!

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Yes, we started with a sailboat and house sat durung hurricane season, then got a van and still house sat during the summers. We joined THS about 3 years ago and house sat occasionally while traveling in our van. We sold the van earlier this year and are now doing backpack travel in South America. We have one house sit coming up in Ecuador. The nomadic life is amazing. You never know where it will lead you. We are 61 and 65 and like you, have no plans for settling down soon.

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