>>2739622
>migrant jobs
What kinda jobs are those and how does one goes about getting them?

>>2739639
Seasonal farm-hand, forestry, carnival worker, or just parking to pick up any minimum wage job that's desperately hiring -temporarily- until you can afford enough gas money to hit the road again.

I'm just guessing here. Right now I'm a GM at Hot Topic who's worked construction and at a pier rental booth. No matter where and what time of year, there's always some shitty gig.

If you want to meet lesbians get into through hiking

Best way to have athletes foot and an itchy asshole.

>>2739705
You know from experience?

>>2739622
it is if you're a trustafarian
the people that do van life dont have a singlr worry because they know their parents bank accounts are there to save them.
How the fuck do you think they afford to live in a van with thousands of dollars worth of items, an internet connection, etc while working at a pizzq place?

you're retarded

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>>2739756
exactly lol

>>2739756
van life can be significantly cheaper than regular life if you're not stupid about it. if I had to live on a strict budget of say 2000/month for 5+ years i'd build out a van. 50k all in is a whole lot less than 1000-2000 a month for 70 months in rent. also rent only goes up. once you own a van other than repairs you dont ever pay more.

>>2739821
ok so you cheap out on a van.
Now you have to spend a log of money getting the ac redone, the engine redone, hell maybe the engine is crap and it needs to be swapped for a better/younger engine.
making sure the transmission is good to go.
Making sure it passes inspection
and after all of that you can now start building on it.

And if you finance a new one you have to make $300 a month payments which is already a chunk of a $2000 paycheck

yeah in the grand scheme it's cheaper because once it's done you only have to worry about the average car headache that ranges from oil change and flat tire to your tranny blowing up. or hell maybe even your diff or suspension blowing up. which ive seen before when i had a car phase and went to go study auto mechanics for a semester.

overall is this is something anyone plans on doing it's better to plan ages in advanced to be ready for allnthe possibilites that can happen.
The last thing you want is to be down an entire AC system because you dont know how to diagnose your ac in your car on a 108° summer which is currently fast approaching

>>2739833
Cars are so fucking retarded that even fucking up an oil change can cause to have to get a new car?
Over tight the seal on the oil pan? Guess who has to go pay a lot of money to get it fixed if they cant fix it themselves?
you!
and it may not even be fixable the fix for that doesnt work sometimes so you may need to end up getting an entirely new car now compare that to a worker coming to spray freon in your ac like once every 3 years in an apartment

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Real niggas just fuckin do it and don’t shoot down every single thing that could happen. They live life and deal with the problems that inevitably come. Not that some NEET on 4chan pretending to be into nature would be able to deal with real world problems and have fun despite it.

>>2739833
Did you even read what i wrote?
>yeah in the grand scheme it's cheaper

Thats my point. Lots cheaper.

>shit breaks
ACs on houses and apartments break too. You pay to fix it. I didn't say it was free, I said it was way cheaper than other options. Its like owning real estate but the startup cost is 30-50k instead of 300-500k. You do you though

>>2739841
>i cant read

You're right, van life sucks and you shouldn't do it. Keep paying the mortgages plus my living expenses renting my rentals, that's a better move for your financial future. You've cracked the system.

>>2739855
nigger

>>2739847
Real.

>>2739847
This

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Ive lived in vans and cars on and off for about 4 years. Best advice is get a big water jug with a tap to drink from, a big bottle to piss in; usb fans, a decent mattress and sheets, slap it down. If its too hot make a hole in the roof for an extraction fan and another at the rear of the van to pump fresh air in. Flexible solar slim-line and a couple batteries to keep the fans going.
A cott is fine in summer but the edge poles can get annoying. Fuck sleeping bags right off in summer.

You can avoid all of these problems by buying a hybrid like say a Prius V as the idle wont fuck the engine up and hardly drinks fuel. You will be way stealthier too. The engine kicks in every 5-10 mins sure but if any cops or karens knock and ask you to move just say you are drunk and need a couple hours before driving….

>>2739841
>>2739833
i have been living out of a van for 6 years
what the fuck are you talking about

I bought a van I can stand in that is mechanically sound with no rust. I added as many solar panels that I could fit onto the roof to passively run airconditioning and a fridge. Enough 12v batteries to run airconditioning overnight. A bed. A countertop with a sink.
Total cost: $25k

I park it for <$100/month and travel to almost any other country in the world for cheaper than the cost of rent. As a matter of fact I saved about $15k over the last six months "working remotely" 1-2 hours a day from condos in southeast asia. you can get a condo here with a gym and spa for cheaper than a campsite back in the US and it is way more safer and peaceful here..

>>2739990
back when I had rent I would never have enough money to leave my apartment and had to cook cheap meals to break even. also, I had a lease. so I could never justify any travel as I was spending out the ass at that point just to secure basic survival measures that I am not even using.

>>2739622
>meet lesbians

YWNBAW

But really you should get into van life and drive off your nearest cliff

>>2739821
>if I had to live on a strict budget of say 2000/month for 5+
for me it would be finding a cheapo house in like south dakota with a decent WFH job. at least i technically keep a good portion of the money i pump into it

>>2739622
I was there at this gathering in mexico the day this photo was taken.

The golden era of this stuff is pretty much over.
We used to fly under the radar but now everyone sees us coming a mile away.

This was never as cheap as some of you think it is unless you are living a miserable life staying in one town or city.
The whole point is to travel and that is not cheap.
I will say that it is the cheapest and best way to spend 6 months seeing an entire continent.

>>2740180

>>2740184
Go away verdolaga

>>2739903
Now do that when it is -25 to -35 °C, so dark that you can't see anything but black 24/7 and diesel is really expensive. Water, car, engine, pipes etc. all frozen including you. Diesel heater is too expensive to use, electricity also too expensive, solar panels don't work and even with heating with webasto or block heater, your car sometimes don't want to start at -30 °C. Most of the places you can't even park and if you find a spot, after 1-2 days, some big machines clear the road and your car is now packed into dense snow pile. If you don't move your car for month or two, your car is now under the snow pile. Even if you have two chinese diesel heaters and wood stove, those all are fucked after 3 months of winter anyway or you can't legally use them in anywhere near homes.

I never understood this whole idea. If you would do this in some warm/hot country anyway, you can do all of that without the whole car anyway. I always cringe when "vanlife" youtubers show their led lights, beds, books, kitchen, cool view and scenery, when you can literally just sit down on the ground without a house or a car and you have that anyway. What is even the point of that "house"? Only thing I'm interested is, how these people shower, use toilet, storage food etc. when it is -30 °C and it is raining some ice water and you have to be somewhere off grid for three months because your car tires are frozen into ground. You can't empty your casette toilet every day. Your water don't last even a 10 toilet flushes or one shower. Your battery lasts 5 hours of laptop use. What is even the point of this "24h living space" if you have to go places that have other people anyway? What is point of the toilet that you have to empty into public toilet every 3 days?

If I can't live alone, cheaper than living a house, in a car even 3 months straight without exiting a vehicle, I would just buy a sleeping bag and one person tent, using public places as much as possible.

>>2740189
You have to be American because you are so low iq. Calling Finnish person a Spanish word. Are you mentally ill or did you think I'm somebody else and you are so butthurt that you can't even think anymore?

>>2740192
This is the most muttbrained post I've seen. And that's sad.

>>2740194
Nice argument. Try again.

>>2739705
this. The not showering and not having access to a toilet whenever u want takes its toll after a few weeks. Shittin in woods and using baby wipes is fine for a little bit but not sustainable

>>2740192
Maybe he just speaks Spanish and uses Spanish words in general.

>>2740190
>without exiting a vehicle
Why can't you exit the vehicle?

>>2739622
Live in a 2000s Subaru Outback instead. Much cheaper. Sleep outside in the summer, inside in the winter. Or just straight up live in a tent and go north in the summer and south in the winter.

>>2740190
>Now do that when it is -25 to -35 °C
Why would you stay in a place where it gets that cold at night? You live in a VAN, just DRIVE to where the weather is temperate in any given time of year. Spend winter down south, summer up north, that kind of thing.

>>2740712
He's clearly an Indian living in Canada and knows he can't get a US visa.

>>2740711
>admitting that you're a manlet
Why would you do this

>>2741135
A bed is only 75" while an outback is 76" anyway how have you managed to get to old enough to post here without learning to sleep slightly balled up?

>>2739640
I can't find shitty gigs, and I have a house.

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“Van life” is a fund baby larp of being homeless for a summer. They want to “live” in national parks and state forests while gloating on starlink/instagram how they used their bespoke kitchen knife to perfectly slice a waygu ribeye for her professionally trained GSH. At the end of summer her sprinter van will be for sale because she needs to show up for uni.

>>2741177
Not gonna lie you made it sound really cool. t. has a home life I can barely ever leave overnight from.

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>>2741177

And I will be there to buy m'lady's Mercedes for a deep discount.

>>2741177
Autocorrect meant =>”trust fund”

>>2739622
It's like no one has been to a beach so I'll fill you in. Sand gets everywhere. Fucking everywhere. Doesn't matter what you do to try and prevent the spread it will get in. So any time you see a picture like this just know it's bullshit. There is no way these people actually live in the vans for extended periods of time because of how dirty it would get in any practical situation. They probably pay people to clean it every other day too.

When I was putting in fences for a month I lived in a van. It gets rekt and smelly within the first week. There is no keeping up with the upkeep. I didn't realize how bad it actually was until I was home and people wouldn't even go in the van it smelled so bad. I didn't notice by that point.

Van life is the definition of trust fund bullshit.

>>2741204
You know you're still supposed to shower and do laundry while living in a van, right? Get a Planet Fitness membership, visit a laundromat, go to a car wash and use the vacuums.

>>2739639
>What kinda jobs are those
he means seasonal work, temp work and stuff you do while traveling.
shit like fruit picking, temp laboring, ski resort work etc
you show up, do it for 2 or 3 months, then move on.

lot of people do a couple months fruit picking and itll pay for ~6 months of bumming around in a van until winter.

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I live in a van and it’s the best choice I ever made. Foresty Forest inspired me like 7 years ago. I quit my depressing middle class job and now I fuck college whores in the woods in my sprinter, work out everyday, eat Whole Foods and fresh fish, and travel the country. I’m off ssris and feel like I’m 19 again. I’m 38 and my life is barely started. Obviously I lie to my parents but other than that, total and complete life changer.

>>2741212
You vastly underestimate how much shit you trek into a vehicle you're living in especially if it isn't just sticking on main roads. I used to work at an RV camp ground. My job along with my siblings was to do detail work on RVs before they left if they so chose (which the rich fucks almost always did). In the span of 3 days most RVs look like a nuke went off inside. All surfaces had a layer of dust on them. Pullouts and couches felt like sand paper. Fuck anyway who had carpet flooring because that was a bitch to clean. That's 3 days at a camp ground where each site had running water and electricity.

It's one of the main reasons I thought I could live in a van for a month. I knew how to clean, I knew what I needed to clean, and I knew how to keep it clean. In the end it's just fucking impossible. It's like people who have cats and say their place doesn't smell like cats. It fucking smells like cats; they're just used to it.

But by all means go live in a tiny enclosure and be delusional about the cleanliness of it.

>>2739750
Yes.

>>2739622
Would love to eat her pussy in either of those vans. Preferably after petting that dog, but before fucking her mouth.
Anyways, it would be awesome to travel cross-country and live out of a Honda Element.

>>2740190
For me it's just a more reasonable investment than an apartment at this point.

Apartments cost for a small studio now ranges anywhere from 1,200-1,600 monthly, then you have your bills, food, general COL, after everything is said and done the apartment is going to bleed you dry. I have a lot of friends and family who would be more than willing to let me "camp out" in their driveways indefinitely and you get a bit more privacy and autonomy in a vehicle "home" than you would in a small spare room, so it's just the best option for now. If you aren't used to much living space in the first place, it seems worth it to me.

>>2742034
Anon, she's a female redditor. Her yoni probably smells like yesterday's fish tacos after they've been sitting in the kitchen trash and there was a heat wave.

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Could I get some recommendations on decent vans or RV'S that would be well suited for this but won't absolutely crush the bank?

>>2741488
nobody is fucking your stinky hobo ass lmao
wait, the other hobos probably fuck your ass actually

>>2741408
I knew a guy who got his journeyman carpentry license and would travel on that. Wherever he stopped he’d go to the local Union shop and check the jobs board.

>>2742147
>Wherever he stopped he’d go to the local Union shop and check the jobs board.
Is that a thing?

>>2742152
Yes. It’s a thing. Journeyman means you can journey around on your license. The really cool thing about trade unions is, as long as you keep paying your dues, even if you’re not working on union jobs, you still rate healthcare, unemployment and retirement.

>>2742154
>as long as you keep paying your dues, even if you’re not working on union jobs, you still rate healthcare, unemployment and retirement.
Don't you still need a number of hours per week to qualify for a lot of things? I worked for a health insurance company and anyone covered through a labor union had to be checked for eligibility with the union before we could pay any of their claims. If they didn't work enough hours that week the claim would get denied as if they had no insurance, even with paid up dues.

>>2742159
Trade unions are not labor unions. They have their own parallel systems. Including unemployment. Back during the recession the local unions were rotating workers in and out of contracts that were still remaining in order to get the maximum amount of workers their time and then unemployment during the next batch of workers turn.

>>2742171
Interesting. Man, I wish I knew this kind of stuff when I was younger. The whole world of trades was just never even presented to me as an option and I regret not going that route.

>>2742172
I used to do GED coaching. We’d have the local trade union reps come in and talk all the time.

>>2739639
Saar you need to be learning the javascript node.js

>>2739640
Do you fuck the alt chicks bro

>>2740183
no one cares

>>2742310
This thread is full of people who care.

>>2742385
i dont care sorry
what's in it for me?

>>2742389
A van.

>>2742390
what's in the van?

>>2742392
You

>>2742393
im sold ill take 10

>>2739847
True true

>>2739847
Yup.

>>2740612
I just shit at stores or restaurants while driving, or at campsite restrooms that I pass by. As for bathing, I sit under a waterfall or swim in a lake.

>>2739833
You have to buy a car to live in society anyway, might as well buy a van or SUV and live in it.

Yes but carry a gun, especially as a woman which it sounds like you are. As long as you're armed and keep your doors locked at night then you should be fine.

Best of luck on your rug-munching adventures, I hope you find some good tiddies along the way.

>>2744060
Stinky

>>2744060
Not comfy at all

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>>2739622
>mogs your vanlife

>>2744622

>isn't allowed at any campgrounds

>>2744622
>its pissing rain or a freezing blizzard
>lets just step out of my vehicle and walk around to the back to enter it
one of the big selling points of vanlife is to avoid that
>oh its pissing rain outside?
>lol i just turn this seat around and take off wearing my undies...

>>2744622
Saw a youtube short of a boomer making fun of rich kids that do this shit.

"rich kid cosplaying as a poor person

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>>2744766
>nooo! you are rich you are not supposed to use thoose savings on a simple life in cash you must spend them on buying expensive shit on credit so you can continue to be a slave to the system
>here take this 1 500 000 $ earthroamer instead

vanlifers go /out/ to spend 99% of the time inside the van

>>2744802
and they spend that time with a better view than you get in your suburb, and they can move if they dont like it.
almost as if thats the point of vanlife...

>>2744787
kek

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>>2744803
this is the view from my house lol vanlifers are gay fags and so are you

>>2744805
i could literally drive to my ranch at any time i wanted to get the "same view" that van lifers have.

>>2744806
>has to drive to his 'ranch'
ram ranch maybe

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>>2744808
conveniently there is a ranch where i live called ram ranch

every season we go down we play ramranch when we drive past it

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>>2744805
and this is mine.
i want to drive up there and sleep in my van or see different parts of the world, dont you? if not you are the gayfag.

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>>2744805
>>2744812
and i can wake up to this in the morning...

>>2744812
>>2744813
i just drive 10 minutes down the national forest road and hike, no gayfagging necessary

>>2744813
are you sure you can wake up in the morning?
what if you're missing your waking loicense?

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>>2744813
or this...
but yeah vanlife sucks, right? no one ever has both a house and lots of land yet still like the vanlife lifestyle.

>>2744816
this isnt usa.

>>2744817
You know I can just live in a nice air conditioned house and then. Get this, I can drive out to a pretty place. Not even very far because I'm next to the national Forest. Maybe even camp for a week or two.
And then, hear me out. When I'm done I can sleep in a house. Like with a refrigerator and separate rooms for shitting and sleeping. It's amazing. I even have a backyard. Where I do stuff like play basketball and smoke meats. I even have things like a social life and neighbors.
Vanlifing is gaaaaayyyyy

>>2739622
No, buy a small yatch, travel the world.

>>2739622
just motocycle camp its cooler

>>2744819
>t. homesick fag
do you get anxious and scared sleeping away from your old faithfull bed?
you know, i have all that too but i still dont live next to north cape, the finnmark tundra, the west coast fjords, the epic glaciers and the best salmon rivers, thats things spread out over the country further away than a days drive and in order to experience it i choose to drive there, in a van, with most of the comforts from home. its almost as a home on wheels, instead of driving there and back again to my house, i bring my house to the scenery. and i can change scenery whenever i feel like, and when i get bored i just go home.

>>2744819
>Where I do stuff like play basketball and smoke meats.

I bet you do smoke meats anon

In fact I have a meat right here for you to smoke

>>2744821
>buy a small yacht
>get raped by somali pirates

>>2744857
>>2744992
*Extra* gay. Lol. You dirty fuckers.

>>2739847
This /thread

>>2741177
that sounds great to me, and I'm sure most folks would enjoy it if they could afford it too. what's your problem with it?

>>2739847
Imagine speaking like this but unironically. Embarrassing.

>>2739841
Well, owners can be retarded, not the cars.

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>>2741204

Van Lifing is difficult. I wouldn't try it without knowing how to perform pretty large repairs on your vehicle at the least. Its risky to leave your entire house and means of transportation with some mechanics that might try to rob you or could fuck it up even more, not to mention the cost of getting it repaired.
At minimum you should:
>flush all of its fluids (engine oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid, powersteering fluid, differential oil, coolant (with thermostat, hoses, and water pump if they're old), etc.)
>perform preventative maintenance (new thermostat/hoses, clean the MAF/throttle body, brakes, bearings, timing chain + tensioners (ADVANCED), fuel filter, air filter, cabin air filter, etc.)
>find its manual and perform the maintenance it tells you to for its mileage
so you can have confidence in it. These are all things you should be able to do on your own before you go out. I would keep the old parts around in the van along with enough fluids for future/emergency maintenance and tools. Doing all of this beforehand means you'll spend money on the tools now so you can handle problems on the road rather than getting into a nightmare mechanic shop scenario and so you won't unpredicably burn through your money. Inspect it frequently.

Don't be a fat faggot. You'll take up more space, it'll be more difficult to move around, and getting injured while van lifing is massively more dangerous than getting injured while at home/with family. You can explore more places on foot/bike and you can save money on food since you'll be less tempted to eat garbage due to addictions. Learn 2 cook.

Security-wise, you should install an alarm, a hidden kill switch, and metal security bars over the doors so its absolutely impossible for anyone to open it from the outside once you're in. If you can, put cameras outside. Find a way to lock the hood from the inside/the bottom so people won't try to steal anything. Use tamper-resistant screws on anything outside.

>>2745634
kek

>>2744812
you went to a marshmallow farm? you son of a bitch

>>2745926
Reddit-tier comment tbdesu

>>2745932
>no fun allowed
>everything i dont like is reddit tier
fuck off

>>2739622
Whores
>:(
Whores outside
:O

It seems like its easier and cheaper to just buy a travel trailer and just dump the waste water in the woods

>>2739622
just about everyone i've seen living the van life whether it was a neighbor, someone i met, or saw on a video has been depressed, looked very depressed, lived a depressing life, was in cycles of depression or some combination and thought nomad van life was going to cure them, probably because they read or heard some personal story and thought they could live that life and gain some of that wisdom or some such shit on their magical journey to picking up STDs, om tattoos, and eroding trust funds

>>2746638
I reckon its because most people see it as a form of escapism, rather than a (long term) lifestyle. They're not planning on exploring, or going into places unknown normally beyond the means of the ingrained, trapped man. You have to give up a lot in order to make it work as well.

>>2739847
you're right but it dosent hurt to prepare

>>2744759
I see those all the time at campgrounds.

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People are talking a lot about money and how this is an impossible life. You don't have to be rich to do this at all.

I went from being homeless to starting a job to renting a place privately to buying my own apartment to renovating that apartment and now shopping for a van to convert all in 18 months. 18 months from the transition from homeless to working to actually van shopping. I estimate the van will be completed in 6 months. So say 2 years clean from nothing to mortgage and van. I bought an apartment at the bottom of the market and did a full renovation (see pic). When I decide to travel in the van I will take 8 weeks off work just to dip my toes into living in a van. If I like it I can fuck off and rent it out far above my mortgage repayments while working various jobs. I'm fully ticketed to drive forklifts, trucks, confined space, elevated platform, traffic control, electrical spotter, service of alcohol and gambling etc picking up work with so many certs is quite easy.

>>2739833
>now you have to spend a log of money getting the ac redone, the engine redone, hell maybe the engine is crap and it needs to be swapped for a better/younger engine.
I hate wrenchlets that pretend to know what they're talking about so fucking much.

Van life is way better in theory than it is in practice.
The shit you see online is mostly fake Instagram type shit that doesn't reflect reality at all.
That doesn't mean "digital nomad" isn't a viable thing, but if you're getting your info from social media you're fucked.

Vans have a few high level problems, let's start with the biggest; they're fucking small.
You see these girls online doing this solo female travel adventure shit, very very few of them are living.
Basicaly none of these people can go fuck off in the woods for a week without suffering. At best they're camping.

What's the difference? Camping in most vans is just a glorified tent.
You don't have the basic features you need for daily life without going outside to get them.
That means a shower, food storage, ability to cook, ability to control the climate, and the capacity for those to last more than a weekend.
You can go a weekend without a shower and you can deal with the heat for a day or two and live on potato chips and slim jims but this is not reasonable in the long term.
If you're just a LARPer looking to spend weekends at an RV park then whatever it doesn't mean too much but you're going to be struggling not enjoying yourself otherwise.

The next thing with vans, a "good" one is going to be extremely expensive, which is why van life is generally associated with trust fund kids.
A base Sprinter starts at 50k and you're going to want some of those optinos like the high foor and extra length so you're looking at more like 60k.
You could go used and that's for sure what I recommend for normal folks but still talking a big pile of cash for something relatively new that you expect to last more thana year of two.
Then you have to outfit it. if you ignore all the meme shit you see on social media (jackery, renogy, etc) and are doing the build yourself you might get it done for 10-15k before you're out of space
to add anything else.

continued....

>>2747800
It IS possible to make this shit mostly work but it's not easy, its not the default, and you will make sacrifices to get there.
Ask your local van lifer how many showers they can take before they need to refill their water.
Most of them will say 0 because they don't have a shower or "running" water and they use planet fitness.
Some will say 1 or 2 and they probably have an outdoor shower on the side of the van and take terrible water saving showers.
Very few will say they can take a "real" shower.

If you want to live instead of camp, and you don't have 6 figures to spend on it, converting a school bus is the way to go.
A little education on buses goes a long way. Any bus older than 20 years is generally not able to be used by a school district any more,
so the prices drop. Further, a bus produced before 2004 won't have the emissions garbage that made modern diesels suck. Even a low end
bus with a Cummins 5.9 can be expected to hit 300k miles with basic maintenance. And full sizes buses generally sell for less money
than short ones, because short buses are unintimidating and girls and gays want them. Even with the market being weird for the last few
years you can expect to spend 5k or less on a 40 ft bus with no particular problems, and the only time you'll mind the size is when
trying to park it.

I've been living full time in a bus for almost a decade now, I am a professional developer who works remotely and have done several laps around the US
and know many people who made different choices, i see their wins and fails first hand. I've got a power outlet and water spigot outside
so that I can help a neighbor who doesn't have those resources, and its almost always a van that needs it.

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What about /dinghylife/?
Cheaper than a van.
Can move around with just a sail and oars.
Closer to nature.

>>2748060
This is going to be very specific to the climate you're in... Your ability to control the climate is almost nil. Even with a white canvas sheet a summer day will turn your little boat into a furnace, and when sun goes away you will quickly become the same temperature as the water beneath you.

"real" vessels suffer in the same way but at least have more capacity for things like energy sources to spend on climate control and other necessities. A little boat like this will be worse than living in a honda civic in basically every way, but admittedly the boat looks cooler.

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Vans are fun out rigs.

>>2748229
They are very comfy. I would not want to live in one full time though. Especially not in the winters we get here.

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>>2747803
Ex bus driver here. You don't even need a hueg school bus, just a small little shuttle bus will be more than enough. Absolutely big enough to fit a shower inside of, and they're generally pretty tough.

>>2748385
Generally a van will be comparable to a short bus with 5 windows. Shuttles like you posted can be a little bigger, and I've seen some nice builds, but I would make 3 points.

#1 the example you posted in your photo is a cutaway van chassis. These (and the "Type A" school buses) are based on a van from a can manufacturer. They have car frames, car engines, car brakes, etc. Moving to a "real" bus platform (type C or D), you're in a different league even if some parts are related.. Medium duty truck platforms have huge advantages in durability and longevity, not to mention maintainability, they are designed to be maintained by fat armed fleet mechanics who wouldn't be able to change teh alternator in a van. This also is directly reflected in their carrying capacity, a bus built on the medium duty truck platform will have a gross rating of 18 tons or more. Note: there are some higher capacity platforms made by GMC and Ford, for example the Topkick, which do have higher capacity but also cost multiple times what you'd spend on a school bus.

#2 There is no replacement for displacement. A larger rig is almost all upside and very little downside. A 40 ft rear engine school bus isn't going to be fun to park at a mexican restaurant, but its a dream on the highway and is going to fit all your amenities. Having a shower and enough water to use it for a while is a game changer. Having a bedroom that isn't also your kitchen, having a workstation, a sofa, a kitchen counter with cabinets, that's the meat of the difference between living and camping. In my bus we want for nothing, we carry almost 200 gallons of fresh water, we have 3200 watts of solar panels on the roof (again a function that requires physical size), we have a real kitchen, a real bedroom. not the same as Adventure Jim and his dog.

continued...

>>2748513

#3 it's a real thing that people get stuck on wanting something small because it looks unintimidating at a distance. I know a LOT of single women (mostly lesbians) in little 5 window short buses who are making it work and while they won't admit it, they are way less independent than their instagrams suggest. When we're out adventuring or doing events we always have a few of them hanging out at/in our bus, using our kitchen or shower, sitting outside under our awning using our outdoor grill, mooching power and refrigerator space, internet, enjoying the heat or air conditioning depending on the weather... I'm not goig to say that the difference between a 5 window length rig and a 6 window isn't real and a big deal, but you're still talking about a box 14x6 ft living space vs a 40 foot bus having around 37x6.5 ft..

I don't hate on van lifers and short bus owners but I also won't pretend they're living without major compromise.

My general recommendation for folks is to look for a 32 ft Bluebird TC2000 as the baseline and go from there. it's not a high end bus but they're widely available and you should be able to find a good one under 4k without much effort. There are cad programs like sketchup that you can do a layout with and see how you're going to fit, try to be realistic with what you actually need to be comfortable, a lot of those things might sounds like "wants" at a casual consideration.

>>2748513
>>2748516
Do you have to have a CDL to drive it?

>>2748517
This part varies by the state your driver's license is in. Most states the answer is "no" as long as you have gone through the steps of converting the title to "motorhome". A few states have an extra step you need to take if the gross weight is above a certain number (usually 13 tons), and if you're in Canada I'm pretty sure you need a special endorsement for air brakes regardless of the type of vehicle. I don't believe any of these are actual "CDL" but rather an extra endorsement, the CDL should only ever be needed if you have a commercial use.

Check the back of your existing license and see if it mentions motorhome or recreational vehicle.

>>2748513
>>2748516
The cutaway chassis really isn't a bad thing. The E-Series Fords and Express cutaways are very tough. The buses I used to drive had 6.8L V10 tritons in them that could break 200k without a sweat so long as they received maintenance. They don't have as much space as a school bus yes but its still more than enough and infinitely better than living in a cargo van.
On top of all of that its smaller and drives more like a big truck instead of an enormous school bus which will be more difficult to park, drive, and to work on, not to mention that there's no worry about license issues since its small and doesn't use air brakes.
Little cutaway buses also have tons of space underneath because of its frame, just like school buses, so you can stuff batteries, tanks, and other stuff down there easily and in large quantities. I would be surprised if a 50 gallon water tank didn't fit under one of them.

>>2746877
When you started listing tickets I knew you were aus. PowerPoints confirms it

>>2748646
When you get up into the Ford F650 or GMC C6500 things start to get closer, but an E350 is a joke compared to a medium duty truck. You can actually find some shuttles build on Freightliner or Navistar platforms but the Ford stuff, especially with that v10 gas motor, is not on the same level as a medium duty truck platform... it just isn't, because it didn't have to be, and if it were they'd have to double the price.

Not to mention those trucks don't administratively "age out" like a school bus, the used market for them is primarily commercial until they're scrap metal, and the price reflects that reality.

Also, as I mentioned previously, the whole fear of air brakes and "enormous" size etc is a trap to filter out the frightened. Air brakes are fundamentally better than hydraulic, it's not an accident that they're on every large vehicle.. and most school district bus drivers these days are women, I'm sure you can figure out how to do it.

meanwhile, that shuttle bus has about as much usable space as my bedroom, and less than my kitchen. Size matters.

>>2749170
Jesus can suck my dick

>>2739622
Van life faggots are modern day murderhobos and they deserve to get burned to death in their rusty pieces of shit.
>https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-supreme-court-backs-anti-camping-laws-used-against-homeless-people-2024-06-28/
No court would ever convict (You).

>>2749370
>picture at top of article
>"an unhoused woman"
Stopped reading there

>>2749373
What's the difference between van lifers and homeless people?
NOTHING.

>>2744759
>he isn't Dutch
Kek!

>>2749375
One is homeless the other is just larping.

>>2749375
one is homeless, the other one is living a life you could only dream off.

>>2739622
I think the best way to approach van life is to have a plot with an electrical hookup, either at an RV park or in someones back yard. You can find them on Craigslist, and they range from 300-500 a month.

What ends up happening is that you are basically paying a cheaper rent for a very tiny studio apartment that you own, and can also drive if need be. My friend did this in Washington state just outside of Seattle, and he saved a bunch of money.

I don't recommend it if you are planning on traveling around and taking odd jobs, parking in the street or parks. You will get set upon by homeless and thieves and it is not a comfortable way to live. But if you have the money to invest in a basic setup it isn't a bad alternative to renting. I say you need at least around $25k to start, but sometimes you can find deals on Craigslist. my 2 cents.

Just buy a property that is like minimum 5 acres, it has a good climate, a river, and lots of old trees.
Work on this and get animals and plant trees.

I say this because I live out of my 4x4 pickup with a camper. With the price of gas you at most -50% from usual expenses, so for all the suffering you encounter while living in a car you are only profiting in the end like +50%. If you are traveling some country then maybe so but it may get rope it too, best to stay at resorts etc and not cheap out or do both.

Humans have adapted to have a property. Humans have always tended to there forests, there gardens, there animals, and there farms. Being homeless and living in a city is the absolute opposite of humanism and people wonder why those people are roping it and high on the worst drugs...

>>2749869
>Humans have adapted to have a property
have they? there are many of us who dont feel that way, either because its a burden or you simply dont have it and you are fine without. think of the lone cowboy, the viking sailing across europe, aragorn he didnt have a home from what i saw in the movies? he did get one in the end but was he miserable and unhappy being a lone traveller?
the man and his van is the modern day replacement for a man and his horse. there can be poverty that leads to this or there can be a desire to live a free and unrestricted life.

>>2749871
Perhaps, but I will likely stand by my statement. Humans have adapted to have a home, it would make no sense foe there even to be homes if not for this adaption. In a way a home is an adaption of all of the above, family, agriculture, etc. without a home you just have the spoils of nature but even there you make a 'camp' which is a temporary 'home'. Humans literally can't survive without a home, he'll I think most mammals birds etc have homes as well. The only case you could possibly make is the lack of boredom etc if one were to continually explore for eternity, but even then you get 'home sick'... lol

>>2749871
>there are many of us who dont feel that way,
Little nigga thinks he's Odysseus, huh? Sorry, pal, you're not.

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>>2739789
What are the arrows pointing at? Damp grass and mud... during a storm lol? The fuck is the point of this image? The left is someone parking near a beach lot on a nice day and the right is just a shitty campground during a storm.

Why not just pack a tent and backpack is each night then drive during the day? Outside of winter it's not that bad.

>>2739990
Sounds amazing! where in southeast asia would you recommend for cheap beaches and safe? And why did you need to use condos instead of just your van?

>>2739990
You reckon southeast asia is possible for 10k usd? If so, for how long and where would you recommend?

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>>2749869
This is good advice. Travel is a waste of resources. Settlement is a potential wise investment of resources

Instead of wasting money on gas and repairs, invest in fruit trees and livestock. Instead of trying to find beautiful places to visit, make your permanent home a beautiful place

>>2749871
I'd rather live like a Hobbit than Aragorn. The Shire is peak living

I’ve seriously been thinking about this. Just really tired of paying rent for an apartment and nothing really interests me any more. Plus I have spots I could crash for a few weeks to get a break. I’ve heard people say to get a planet fitness membership for showers. I got a large suv that I can sleep comfortably in and about 40k saved up.

>>2739622
My only advice is to get a van with a high roof or a pop up top. I'm currently van living in aus and loving it but fuck me does it grind my gears when I'm hunched over or bang my head on the roof.

>>2745825
you're over thinking it waaay too much

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>>2750100
what the fuck is thats stupid quote?
most retarded shit I have seen all day

>>2744805
Good for you.
But did it ever occur to you that others don't get the same privilege and thus chose a van to wake up to such views and more? If the thread doesn't appeal to you then move on.

>>2752318
>move on
No
You need to stop liking things that I dont like or I will continue to bully you

>> 2739622
Isn't that van life meme over by now?

Maybe during the "pandemic" it was a thing since remote work was more acceptable, but now, to drop $50k into something that immediately depreciates is just fucking retarded. Nevermind that 50k could be a down payment for something that has a chance of appreciating, but at least you will have a stable residence where you receive mail, hold a steady job, make friends, build skills and make useful connections.

You spend a few years in a van and you have jack shit to show for it except some garbage social media posts. Alone every day because everyone else has a regular fucking life that seems boring but actually makes sense, while you waste your life away, for all intensive purposes being homeless. You spend your day just surviving, never thriving. Where will you park, cooking, using the bathroom, basic necessities of daily life become a hassle, just like being homeless. Inevitably your van will break down, and you will be fucked because unlike a home, you have no right to be there.

Good luck with that.

>>2739622
What the fuck do you want to meet lesbians for you dumb motherfucker?

>>2752474
>intensive purposes
You had one job

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>>2739622
I've been thinking about vanlifing on and off since pre-covid. I never pulled the trigger because it seems like a massive daily time investment. Recent events got it on my mind again.

>>2752474
>You spend a few years in a van and you have jack shit to show for it except some garbage social media posts.
As opposed to working a 9-5 job with the most boring people on the planet earth?b

>>2739990
sounds like a third world country gimmick and you didnt save because those shit holes are cheap to live in and rent

>>2753858
so true gaynon

>>2752474
>You spend a few years in a van and you have jack shit to show for it except some garbage social media posts.
whether you meant it or not, you've told a lot about yourself. Very sad outlook on life.

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>>2740612
>not showering
washcloth and a small tub.
>not having access to a toilet whenever u want
bucket and cat litter.
Try thinking outside the wet cardboard box of your brain just once.

>>2739622
Can't comment on meeting lesbians but it's a pretty good way to experience the outdoors.
My wife and I spent a year and a half living out of our 4x4 for our honeymoon. Drove from Alaska to Argentina (inb4 Darien Gap? No, container ship from Panama) trying to hit as many national parks and the like as we could on the way.

>>2750090
Outside of Burma, Mindanao and maybe West Papua pretty much everywhere in SE Asia is safe.
>>2750095
10k could probably get you by for months.
I spent 4 months backpacking through SE Asia when I was 18 and budgeted about $30/day; lower in places like Cambodia or Laos, more when I was doing a lot of scuba diving. I'm sure prices have risen now but I doubt you'd need to go above $50/day to have a good time.

>>2740190
Just.. drive away from the cold, retard

>>2752249
Sounds like you live in a poorly governed country.

>>2754016
>bucket and cat litter
I have a sinking feeling you meant that unironically

>>2740612
There are portable shower solutions if you also have a nearby water source to fill a water bladder.

As for toilet, this is an american issue. Any waterbottle can turn into a bidet.

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>>2739622
>watching van life stuff on youtube
>almost always women
>never a mention of working or always bragging about not having to work in so long
>100s of people paying for their lifestyle via patreon and shit
>some i've seen are divorced so they probably get monthly checks and live off that
>watch vids of men in van life
>they always talk about the hard realities and having to do seasonal jobs or be traveling nurses or some shit
>often looks way less comfy

>>2739847
thats the spirit

>>2741488
>Foresty Forest
he should have never got the dog

>>2740711
But what if I want my head gaskets working?

>>2754247
Why do you have to shit up every fucking thread

Fuck you

I've lived in my van for 2 years but this is actually my last month of it, finally moving back into my house in a few weeks. Pretty excited desu, have loved the past 2 years but I'm ready for some stability.

Fucking homeless bums with wheels.

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Not a van but I want to change my duster so I can sleep in it for a tour. What are some absolute necessities I should bring on my two week tour in that car?

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Been considering sleeping out of my truck during a road rip to New England, two obstacles I'm thinking of as its the busy season are places to park it and showers. Anyone go up there have any advice? Its the busy season around Acadia so many of the campgrounds are booked out.

>>2758011
similar to what I plan to do with my duster. I will stealth camp and then shower every couple of days in a bed and breakfast, or something along the lines of that.

>>2758015
What areas though? I was considering Acadia and Mt Desert Island but that area is supposedly heavily congested this time of year. Can anyone confirm?

>>2758127
don't know. I am a eurofag, I'll tour the UK

FUCK THE HOMELESS
>https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/25/us/newsom-homeless-california.html

>>2744622
Based dolphin owner.

>>2744759
>>2744762
Both of these are literal fiction dreamed up by people who never go outside and couldn’t be bothered to do a google image search before posting.

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Got me a free van bros. 92 chevy g20, needs some work done but im hoping to be able to save up a nest egg after i splurged the last one being lazy and depressed after moving to another state. My girl just left me so im ready to drown in stanky hippie puss. Anything fun to do in ohio?

>>2758220
Lot of BBC sluts in Ohio if you're into that. Specifically Cinci or Cleveland.

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>>2739847
Its infinitely smarter to be prepared rather than get in trouble and fixing it after the damage is done.

>>2739885
>>2739900
>>2742416
>>2744048
retarded sheep who can't think for themselves.

>>2758223
Im a wyte boi...
Also i hate cities