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Not Luxe ☼ Travel
  • ABOUT NICK & RAYCHEL
  • WHY “NOT LUXE”
  • Cambodia
  • Australia
  • Travel
  • Teaching ESL
  • Move Abroad
  • Travel Insurance

van life reality

    Van Life Myths : Debunked

    by Nick & Raychel November 3, 2021

    What comes to mind when we say we live in a van? Some may say we are too poor to afford a home, others may claim we are rich kids living off of mom and dad’s money. Maybe your first question is how do we eat? Or what do we eat? How do we go to the bathroom? These are all valid questions that we will break down in this post where we debunk some of the biggest van life myths and misconceptions. 


    If you prefer to listen to our answers to your questions you’ll find our YouTube channel attached here!

     

    Are you guys trying to isolate from people?

    Quite the opposite actually! This is a major van life myth. Our families live about 4 hours apart so we thought the van would be a fantastic way to visit family and have our home in whichever city we so choose. Having done quite a bit of travelling for the last 5 or so years we’ve made some friends all over the world as you could imagine. We thought that having a van would be a fantastic opportunity to not only see our family, but friends too. 

    Do you guys just eat hot dogs and marshmallows?

    Although we may have more campfires than most people probably do the answer is sadly no. Our 10 year old selves would be stunned. Living the van life has actually made us much more aware of what we eat but more importantly what we buy. We have a limited amount of fridge space and no oven so sometimes we have to get creative. The lack of fridge space means that we never have to eat up what we have, we get to pick exactly what we want for each meal and the fridge is there to keep condiments and frequently used ingredients (as well as a few adult beverages). Sometimes only having one burner and always doing the dishes right after you eat can get a little annoying.

    Do you have ghosts in your ambulance build?

    Now clearly this one does not apply to all van lifers but this is our most frequently asked question as we converted a retired ambulance. 

    We have experienced nothing but good energy while living in our ambulance! We smudged it when we first bought it and as far as we can tell we’ve had no spirits stick around. Some of you may be thinking, “yeah right, this is all bologna” but this really is our most frequently asked question. Is it a van life myth for everyone? Maybe not – but is it for us ambulance-dwellers? I think so. 

    How do you guys shower/go to the bathroom?

    If we don’t have access to a public washroom we can always rely on our gym membership. As part of our van life bills having a 24-hour gym membership is one of the most important. This means we can always work out, shower or use the washroom whenever we need to. We do have a Dometic toilet in our build that we only use for going pee, but its always there in case of an emergency!

    public shower

    Are mom & dad paying for this? / Are you guys poor? 

    For some people living in a van may seem cool and exciting and for others it may be necessity. Unpopular to van life myth believers, nothing is wrong with either of these things. For us, the answer lies somewhere in between. Yes we are incredibly lucky to have parents that had the tools and property for us to live and build our van but everything we’ve done we have paid for and built ourselves. My parents haven’t given me a dollar for over a decade – but they have provided me with a roof over my head when I was getting the project underway. We understand that some people may not be so lucky and be in a van our of sheer necessity but for us it’s something we’ve always wanted to do as well as a means to be able to save money for our future together.

    Remember – you can’t judge the size of someone’s bank account just by looking at them.

    Do you have to be handy to live in or build a van?

    To this we would say the answer is no. The wonderful thing about living in the 21st century is that most of us have access to everything we need to know right in the palm of our hands – and one of the biggest van life myths is that you have to have it all memorized.  Although Nick does have prior construction experience there has been many many times we have become “YouTube mechanics” or “YouTube carpenters” while taking on this project. The most important thing to know is to have the confidence and patience to look for, diagnose, and fix the problem if you have to. Of course not all problems can be sorted out/fixed without a professional but try your best without! Hey, nobody said van life was gonna be easy!

    Do you guys sleep in beautiful places every night?

    If you follow most Instagram pages about van life (including ours), you’ll notice that all of them have pictures of the back doors opened, laying on the bed, enjoying a coffee and looking out over a gorgeous lake or mountain top. This is one of the top van life myths – believe it or not! While occasionally this is the case, usually the reality of van life is spending 30 minutes to an hour every night trying to find an inconspicuous place to park within a city where a bylaw officer doesn’t wake you up at 4am to kick you out or give you a ticket. Although when you find that perfect spot on the top of a lookout or at the perfect beach nothing beats it!

    van life views

    Where’s the van life reality? This must be fake.

    As I previously mentioned, if you follow any van life pages on Instagram or even YouTube you will see nothing but beautiful places and amazing food and travel photos. This can be frustrating for some people because, especially if you’ve lived it, you know that this isn’t always true. Sometimes van life is staying in a Walmart parking lot and peeing in a bottle. But other times its eating amazing organic food and looking out over the ocean. There’s a give and take with living van life and sometimes we can be guilty of not showing the true realities and difficulties we as van lifers go through. We personally do try to be open and honest as much as we can with our experience and on our YouTube channel to help you truly understand the upsides and downsides to living the van life. 


    Speaking of #vanlifereality – is van life even cheaper than living in an apartment anyway? Read our write up here!

    So what’s in our van anyway? Here is a list of van life essentials that we simply can’t live without. 

     

     

     

     

     

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Nick & Raychel
Nick & Raychel

In 2018, we sold everything we owned and moved to Cambodia to teach English.

Let’s make this clear: this journey didn’t start with money. This journey started with a desire to see the world and to do something different for a change.

We’re not going to fool you with photos of floating breakfasts and private jets. We know what it’s like to be on a budget. Although we like to take pretty pictures, we aren’t going to wake up at an ungodly hour to give you unachievable travel jealousy. We aren’t going to censor ourselves or lie to you.

What we are going to do is stay in cheap hostels, find ways to make money, give the advice that we would want to hear, and share our experiences with you honestly.

Are you in?

Not Luxe

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ABOUT NICK & RAYCHEL

About Us Hi! We’re Nick & Raychel, the Canadian travel couple behind the brand ‘Not Luxe’. Far before we were married (and on a mission to see the world), we were working…

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Instagram

  • Working to TRAVEL✈️🚐

If you’ve been following along with our vlogs and stories, it will come as no surprise to you when I say that our days are long right now. When we chose to start travelling, we signed up for a work-save-travel-repeat cycle and have been living in for the past 4.5 years. 

We chose this life.
But we still get tired. 

And between fixing up the van, preparing for our next adventure and working full time in that Southern Ontario heat - it’s a lot. But our minds are set on travel, on exploration, on adventure, culture, and learning. So we adapt to the seasons and understand that this point in the cycle is  just that - a season -  and we are so damn grateful to be doing it together.

📍 Traditional territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Mississaugas.
__

Tags: #notluxe #worktotravel #travelcouple #vanlifecouple #traveldiaries #vanlifediaries #travelgram #livetoexplore #vanlifeculture #budgettravel #worktotravel #traveljobs #travelblogger #vanlifestyle #vanliving
  • **CLOSED** GIVEAWAY!! 🎉

We are giving away a Bluetti EB70 portable power bank. Having a power station on hand is a sweet backup for those who are already set up completely for off-grid living and/or a good start for weekend campers looking to try out van or camper van life. We are stoked to have another way to work outside, charge more appliances and get out adventuring.

The winner will win ONE Bluetti EB70 power bank & charging cables. 

Specs:
• 716Wh capacity and 800W rated wattage
• The ultra-stable LiFePO4 battery chemistry,2500+ life cycles
• 4*110V AC outlets, 2*100W PD ports, 2*5V/3A USB-A ports, 2*regulated 12V/10A DC outputs, 1*12V/10A car port,1*15W wireless charging pad.
(Note: does not come with solar panels)
-

HOW TO ENTER:

1. Like this post 
2. Must be following @nickandraychel & @bluetti_official
3. Tag a friend in the comments below (more tags = more entries)
4. Bonus entry - share this post to story for 5 extra entries! 

Open to USA & Canada residents. Giveaway closes on June 22, 2022. 
Winner will be announced on 06/25/22. 

-

Disclaimer: No purchase necessary. Giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Instagram.

The contest period will run from 06/15 to 06/22 2022.

— 

Tags: #vanlifecouple #vanlifeing #notluxe #vanlifediaries #vanlifegiveaway #campinggiveaway #campervan #vanconversion #camperliving #tinyliving #tinyhomeonwheels #tinyhomes #vanlifenewbie #vanlifers #livinginavan #livingoffgrid #offgridliving #vanlifedreams #travelinspo
  • Slowing down 🚐 

The whole appeal of van life and many alternative living options is the freedom to take a go at your own speed.

But sometimes it feels like you just want to see it all.
And we’ve seen SO much in the past twenty months. 

Especially in the past six.

As Canadian travellers, I find that our slow season is the opposite of others. We escape the cold weather and have been abroad for many Christmases and snowfalls. During those times, we’re cliff jumping, waterfall hopping, cruising, skatepark hunting, friendship building…

Then, when lake season rolls around we’re ready to take on a more conventional work schedule, to save up to do it all again.

But we have to tell ourselves to relax, to enjoy the downtime, to take in the peaceful moments just as much as the epic ones. To soak up the sun, to drink water, to slow down.

It’s a constant learning process.

📍Traditional Hohokam, Patayan, and Yavapai land ⁣

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Tags: #vanlife #vanlifeshot #vanlifemeetup #vanlifemoments #vanlifemovement #vanlifemagazine #vanlifestyle #vanlifeculture #vanlifecouple #vanlifeconversions #campulance #campinggirls #campinglife #rvliving #camperlife
  • But how do you SHOWER? 😅

This photo is from the most ridiculous YouTube thumbnail we’ve had to date. We took so many funny photos this day, we couldn’t NOT share. Or maybe we could. Oh well.

But let’s answer the question while we’re at it.

🚿 We primarily go to Anytime Fitness which is a little pricier than Planet Fitness. In our opinion, however, the equipment is way nicer, there are usually less people, they’re all over Canada & the US, it’s open 24/7, and the showers are private.

🚿 When we’re not near an Anytime Fitness (this has only happened one time when we were in Quartzsite), we find a truck stop shower to go to.

🚿 And that’s about it. We bought a camping shower at the beginning of van living and only used it one miserable time.

Do you think a shower is necessary in a van build?

___

Tags: #vanlife #vanlifeshot #vanlifeshower #vanlifecamper #campinglife #campingtrip #vanlifebuild #vanlifediaries #vanlifegirls #vanlifetravel #vanlifetravels #vanlifestyle #vanlifeexplorers #campinggirls #outsideisfree #outsideshoot #vanlifeculture #vanlifecommunity
  • We have been doing so much stealth city camping lately that we felt like we needed a break. When we first moved into our van, we set off to Vancouver Island, where we were constantly surrounded by nature - and even though we had no idea what we were doing, it was just easy to be outside.

As you guys know, we’ve lived all sorts of van life. From brick & mortar jobs, to off-grid living, to city dwelling, to full-time travelling. Lately, we’ve seen A LOT of cities and while we’re grateful to have covered so much ground, we knew we needed nature. 

So we nestled ourselves into Starved Rock State Park and reset.
Full video is on YouTube. Link in bio.

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Tags: #vanlife #vanlifecouple #vanlifediaries #vanlifers #vanliving #ambulanceconversion #vandwelling #vandweller #camperlife #campervan #camperconversion #campingbackpack #campinglife #campingtrip #illinois #starvedrockstatepark
  • “The life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you have” – Anna Quindlen

I can’t imagine committing to being the person I was 5 years ago for the rest of my life. I can’t imagine committing to one mindset or one way of life. 

It would be impossible to put into words how much we’ve changed through travel and meeting people. And as we start to hype ourselves up for our next big journey, we’re excited to dive head first with an open mind. 

Whether you’re building a van, starting a new job, buying a plane ticket, or even walking out of the house every morning - you have no fucking idea what’s in store.

Travel has a special way of changing you. 
And the best thing you can do is allow it. 

📍 Traditional Kumeyaay land
___ 

Tags: #vanlifemovement #vanlifecommunity #vanlifecouple #vanlifediaries #vanlife #vanlifers #vanliferevolution #vantravel #vantrip #roadtrippers #roadtrippin #lifeontheroad #livinginavan #ambulanceconversion #vanlifeadventures
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