When we hit the road we were nothing but excited to actually be doing the thing we had spent months, and years working toward. Having a well thought out build plan is going to save you a ton of stress and money in your conversion. This is something we stress in our DIY Van Conversion eBook, just how important the planning process is. We made a list of things that were important to us in a vehicle, and began crossing off vehicles that didn’t match our list, eventually we determined that the best fit for us and the lifestyle we were trying to create was a high roof cargo van like a Mercedes Sprinter, Dodge ProMaster or Ford Transit.Īfter determining that a van was a perfect fit or us, we spent 2 years researching and planning our design. Take baby steps, start downsizing, tape your layout on the floor, rent a van for a week, start saving, see if and how you might be able to start working from home with your current job, etc.'įirst, we started with RVs, then bus conversions, and finally settled on a van. 'If you want to experience van life, or make any major lifestyle change, commit to it. After our fourth or fifth move, Vanessa said “we need to be like turtles and carry our home with us!” That’s the moment van life really began, and Vanessa started down the rabbit hole of researching how we could be just like turtles. For years we had been traveling across the country for work or school, and every time we had to sell, pack up, move, resettle, buy new stuff, etc. Take us to the moment you decided to begin your Vanlife?įor us, “van life” started way before we were in the van. Since hitting the road in 2017, we were able to make two 5 month trips through the States (we’re Canadian), one as a couple and one as a family of three we built one van for ourselves, and 4 for others, started a van conversion company here in Nova Scotia, Canada called Heartwood Custom Vans, sold our original van and are now in the process of building another van for ourselves: the ultimate family adventure vehicle ! In December 2018 our son Cedar Fox was born, and we’ve since been able to share van life with him. It was at this time we decided to have a baby, and we were lucky this happened quickly for us.

We had time for ourselves, and time to slow down and reflect on what was important to us. Watch our van tour! This new-found lifestyle was everything we hoped it would be for us, it gave us the freedom to explore our interests and be creative, we started a YouTube channel and were able to help others get on the road. It took us about two and a half months to convert our van and hit the road. So we sold it all, we sold the house, we sold pretty much all our belongings and we committed to our dream.įor two years while we renovated our home, we’d been planning and designing our dream van, so when the day arrived that we actually owned the van we were ready to get to work. Everything, most people hope for, but we wanted adventure, we wanted to travel, we wanted something different.

Our families thought we were crazy, we had a successful business and a beautiful newly renovated home. In 2017, we sold our home in Ontario, which we’d just finished renovating, and bought a 2008 Sprinter van. What a beautiful gift we can give him by doing that!' there is so much I love about raising our son in a world where he gets to experience new people and places daily. It took two years of planning, and hard work but we are so glad we made the decision to follow our passions and our gut. Life was busy, and we found ourselves seeking out a way to make our lives more focused on the things we loved, so in 2015 we began putting into action a plan to make that happen. Vanessa had spent years as a student, first getting her undergrad, and then her masters in Sustainable Environmental Management and Adam had gone from working as a drywaller/painter/interior finisher to owning his own business.

We both love the outdoors, hiking, travelling, gardening and good vegan food.

Youtubers life 2 adam