They say that one of the many quirks of happiness is going away in a campervan with your best friends or the love of your life. And I’ve always never been the romantic one but I thought of this last night before I went to bed. And I’ll say yeah. Maybe for the love of the universe, I think it’s nice to do it with the people closest to your heart once the travel bug bites.
Anyway, I get the inspiration to put this on my bucket list after watching The Kindness Diaries when I was still in Dubai last year. It was a television series where the guy (Leon) was traveling from Canada all the way down to Argentina. In a yellow vintage Volkswagen beetle convertible! Throughout the journey, he was dependent upon others for food. And then for gas, for lodging, and for whatever other needs might arise.
And since I’ve never been to the Americas just yet, I will just file this under my bucket list.
Home is wherever you park.
Well, they say that if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. And I want to always tell myself ‘I think I ended up where I needed to be.’
After much research and scrolling Instagram under #campervanlife, I get to learn that traveling in a campervan is indeed an incredible way to see the world.
You know, I want to start driving at 3 in the morning to catch the magnificent sunrise in Cape Hillsborough, Australia. Or take an all-nighter and drive through U.S. Route 50 in Nevada just to see what’s the universe is like from a vantage point of a wide endless desert. And then whoever I am with, we will spend the night alone in the wilderness because it is one of the quirks of van travel; in the comfort zone our comfy campervan bed, of course!
Traveling slow.
One of the things that campervan travelers are telling the world is that they have all the liberty to call the shots here. That they can travel and drive at their own pace, let alone squeezing 25 stops in one week when they travel the South Coast.
Personally, I want to dedicate 12 months of traveling in a Campervan in the future. From North America to South America? Sure. From Europe to Asia? Why not! Or it could also be an African Safari journey or coast to coast travel in Australia.
You get to see the places through its back doors.
I think one of the difference when you travel and live in a campervan is that it gives you a lot of rare opportunities that you won’t usually get if you stay in a fancy hotel in one place.
Often times, you will get to see off the path phenomenal sights that you will never see in postcards and you will interact and meet more locals. You will discover panoramic places that not a lot of tourist knows. And once you do, it’ll give you more freedom to be in undiscovered corners and untrampled towns that missed the modern parade. More and more doors are opening to worthwhile places that are rarely go undiscovered.
Traveling with someone special.
Traveling long term with someone whom you get to be with 24/7, in a small space, can either make or break you. But talking about the upsides of campervan travel couple goals, this will give you the time to really know them.
By traveling together, you get to check things off from your bucket lists, you guys work as a duo to overcome on the road challenges, and you spend a lot of quality time together. You get closer to your partner while getting to know yourself too And some of the deepest relationships and friendships have formed from traveling with other people.
You might want to read: My personal love letter to Timothée Chalamet (even if it’s not reciprocated)
“I wish we could both hop on ’65 Ford Mustang Convertible and drive to the wide-open road of God knows where places as we plan to cross many state lines. Me and you, a full tank of gas, windows down, smoking cigarettes, and listening to our made-up Spotify playlist. I want to see how the wind blows your hair back and how every curl of it reacts to whatever temperature the breeze there is out there. I want to glance at you smirking because I want to make sure I am making you laugh with my crazy stories. And I want us to laugh together, frantically, uncontrollably, breathlessly.
And I also wish that we could randomly pull over and just admire the view in front of us. We could bring a big cooler packed with our favorite beers and we will drink it on the many pitstops that we are taking along the way! We’ll disconnect ourselves away from the internet because, for me, there’s no way my friends should be updated because I want our time to be exclusive and I will try my hardest to live at every dazzling moment with you. I will remember every word of our conversation and I will remember the scent of every smell so that if it turns out to be only just a dream, I will wake up happy and think that at least, even if it’s not in person, I lived with it.”
My personal love letter to Timothée Chalamet (even if it’s not reciprocated)
Conclusion
In the future, I just want to do it with someone who shares the same level of energy as me, get a campervan, and help me paint it all 60s’ peace and love. We will just sing happy songs, smoke, and drink in all the pitstops that we will be having ahead of us. No actual destination but willing to cross many borderlines, sleep with unfamiliar stars, and change timezones.
So there, all in all, years from now, I just want to tell people an amazing story behind a campervan journey that I will soon (hopefully) take. And that, sometimes the most scenic roads in life are the detours you didn’t mean to take.
Featured Photo by Paul Trienekens
Comments
This would be my dream but I’d have to have a disabled adapted version now! Lovely post
Author
I guess a weekend campervan drive to the nearest national park would do? Thanks for reading!
What an incredible experience that would be! Every night a new sky to see. Every day, new faces to greet! It’s a life of freedom, for sure! This post is so refreshing! Thank you for sharing:)
Author
Indeed it is, you just said it all right! Thank you, Nova!
💖🌸
This would be the dream!
Author
It IS my dream. Haha! Doing it soon! Thanks for dropping by!
Every one of my holidays to the USA or Canada have been “fly-drives”; get off the plane, pick up a rental, and just … drive.
Occasionally I’ve had a roughly outlined plan in mind, or maybe a single target to be at a certain place on a certain day, but the rest of the time has been the freedom to explore at my own pace, and that is just magical.
Author
Wow that sounds like a fantastic travel! I’m actually planning to do it in Canada soon! Thanks for sharing your travels with me, Tish. Hope you’re well x
I’m good, thanks Marron. Hope all is well with you.
Canada’s a big country, which side are you aiming for?
I would totally be down for this!
Author
Are’t we all? Thank you, joe!
That is such a pleasurable read. Oh, it’s a dream for me as well. Being the hermit that I am, only leaving the house when necessary more often than not, add in the fact that I totally suck at directions, memorizing names of places and such … a campervan life sounds really scary and challenging but in a good way. I wish I could get to do this some day. And that excerpt of love letter made me feel so kilig and smiley. Doing it with someone dear to you would complete it all, for sure.
That is one great read. Thank you for that. And for reminding me that this too had made my bucket list years ago even though it had been in the forgotten page. 😂
Author
Awwww thank you for reading and for sharing your thoughts, Gerry! I hope you get to do it one day too, with a special someone of course!
This is beautiful and I wish you luck as you pursue this dream. My husband and I want to do that with our travel trailer when our kids finally move out of the house 🙂
Author
Thank you so much! I’m so excited for you and for your husband. It’s going to be fantastic!
I hope that you get to live your campervan dream. Sounds like freedom and adventure! My daughter refurbished a van and lived it for several months and traveled up the west coast. She is an artist and was able to work at a few festivals. It was quite a traveling house, complete with solar panels on top. I was worried about her safety, but she was fine and forever changed by the experience and when her adventure was done, she was more than ready for a proper shower! 😆
Author
Thanks, Michele! Your daughter sounds like a free-spirit! I’m pretty sure anyone would be forever changed from a campervan life experience. And yes, a proper shower! Haha!
She is that and a talented artist! 🥰 After my convincing, she did add a toilet, but a shower she lacked. 🤣
Author
Hmmmmm that will probably a future problem for me too! Thanks for the heads up by the way. Haha!
I hope you get to live this dream at some point. I know someone who did this in Australia and had the time of his life!
Author
Thanks, Markus and Micah! Australia sounds like a great adventure to me!