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In The Hippie Diaries

The first explorers

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Myles and I consider ourselves pretty worldly, for our age at least. We have both explored different corners of the world, but we both agree that Vancouver island is unlike anywhere either of us has ever been. Perhaps it’s the expensive ferry ride to get here or the incredible charm of Victoria that makes people not want to explore further, but we have found ourselves in the clearest of waters and the most incredible of beaches without a single other soul in sight – and we are traveling in August, what should be peak season.

On our drive from Nanaimo to Tofino I tactfully convinced Myles to pull over at a rest stop along the way so we could nap. What I didn’t expect was Myles to come running back to me before my head could even hit the pillow and tell me to follow him. What he found literally steps away from the rest stop was a little lagoon filled with the clearest water either of us had ever seen. Fully equipped with a rope swing and lots of rocks for cliff jumping, the only thing that was missing was the hundreds of other people that would have been sitting there as well. Maybe we just come from a big city but I couldn’t help but feel like Vancouver Island was this absolutely gorgeous unexplored tropical island with lush rainforest and some of the most beautiful sights that was yet to be discovered by anyone else. If you don’t believe me, take a look at some of the places we’ve found, all without another soul in sight: 

Spoke Potholes, Sooke, BC

Holland park trail, Duncan, BC

CY Hampson park, Saanich, BC

Taylor river, Port Alberni, BC

East Sooke, BC
The funny thing about it is, we have been told by most of the locals that the northern part of the island is much more remote than the southern and central parts that we have already explored, as wild as that seems. Who knows what’s yet to be explored, one thing we do know is always have a camera close by!

In The Hippie Diaries

Heavenly disagreements

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​Myles and my relationship is far from a fairytale. We put two big personalities into one relationship and when you add three independent mutts, life can get a little chaotic. Now putting that chaos into 80 sq ft… Kinda crazy. The way we looked at it was that it would be the best or worst thing we’ve ever done. What we’ve found is that we still argue, but now it’s about amazing things like what city or mountain to explore. Our most current battle being Myles wants to go explore caves while I want to go scuba diving. 


One of these arguments was about coming to Vancouver Island. I didn’t want to come, thinking it would be much like Vancouver, and the idea of a cold and wet climate really didn’t appeal to me. But what we’ve found is that it is nothing like Vancouver, the best difference being that dogs are more widely accepted along here. The roads are more forgiving so Gurt even enjoys it more.


Our quirky little family finds itself more at home in the woods than in cities and the Island has proved to be a perfect place for that. We have found that it is easy to feel a million miles away even when you are in a “big” city. It may be luck, but we have found that wherever we go you are only a small hike, or drive, away from finding your own secluded little hideaway. 


Everyone we have met has been completely supportive and has understood our motivation without need of explanation. We have even found a place where we can go both scuba diving and cave exploring. Alright Myles, you win this one!

In The Hippie Diaries

A bump in the road

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Before we started this trip Myles would rave how Nelson would be a perfect stop for us in this trip. The people, the shoppes and the lifestyle combine into an eclectic atmosphere. After falling mesmerizingly in love with Nelson, we decided to spend our evenings at the nearby Ainsworth hot springs.


A mixture of the hot steamy water with the enchanted swim through caves and our long hot sunny summer days left us wonderfully relaxed and ready to sleep. Unfortunately for us, life had other plans. That night I awoke to a little baby mouse crawling up my curtains inches away from my face. I wish I could say this was the first time I had a startling wake up with unwanted creepy crawlies by my face but I do also have a not so distant memory of awaking to a cockroach on my hair in Vietnam, but that’s a different story. 

Fast forward a few hours and Myles and I found ourselves in a 7/11 getting energy drinks and fuel. After a chat with the attendants we were on our way to a 24 hour Waffle House (of course) where we were served by a modern hippie talking to us about his views on life, business and travelling and inviting us to stay on a compound that he and a group of about 80 people live on together. 

Another 10 hours (for a typical 6 hour drive in a modern vehicle) and we were back at my parents place washing all of our clothes and planting mouse traps. Too much spray foam and a wonderful week spent in the sun with our loved ones and we were itching to get back on the road. On the bright side, the break and access to tools let us do some much needed projects to make our home even homier.


 It took about 15 minutes of us driving to remember how much we loved this lifestyle, with no rushing and endless beach and family time, what’s not to love.  

In Vanlife

Vanlife: Take two

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To our friends and family and all our readers we greatly apologize for the lack of communication from us since our departure. This trip has been a roller coaster. Incredible highs met with unexpected lows. Vanlife, for us, was a way to disconnect; to completely unplug from our everyday lives and focus on our priorities, our little family.

When leaving we had a naïve excitement for what’s to come. A blissful work free, stress free easy lifestyle. We knew there was going to be an adjustment period but we thought mostly of the bright early wake ups and tripping over each other with the lack of space. What we actually found was something greatly unexpected and something that I believe we had to learn along the way.20160701_162153

For us, we began our second attempt at vanlife northbound up the coast of British Colombia where we visited all the major tourist attractions in Squamish, Whistler, and Lillooet (if you haven’t already done so, add the drive from Pemberton to Lillooet to your bucket list – a steep climb up a mountain rewards you with unbelievable views and many places to stop and relax) in an effort to get to our main destination: Kamloops. I wanted to visit some amazing friends of mine to say goodbye before departing into the great unknown. Only what we didn’t realize at the time was that we were already on our trip. Always living for the future is a hard concept to shake. Always having a destination was something drilled into us, it was unexpected and even while on our trip we didn’t realize we were still living by.

After spending two nights in Kamloops we had our next destination in mind, to go visit Myles grandmother and family in Vernon. Myles passport was lost so we were forced to spend almost a week of our trip in Vernon. Luckily, we met with both of our families to wp-image-1318214369jpeg.jpeg visit vineyards and help us pass the time. While we were oh so impatiently waiting for his passport to arrive we had the time to have one of our infamous worldly discussions where hours pass by unknowingly and we discuss every dream and worry we have.

We realized that silently we were both having the same doubts and concerns about our trip thus far. We were rushing through towns in an effort to find our next destination, we were not set up in the van how we wanted to be (completely over packed) and we didn’t actually believe we were on our trip; This meant we were not doing it how we wanted.

We were surprised however how much space we truly had, not once had we tripped over each other. In one afternoon we cleaned out our entire van (cutting what we had currently packed by about half). After (finally) getting Myles’ passport, and doing some much needed maintenance on the van (including a fuel pump and fixing our water pump), we were on our way with new eyes and hearts full of hope.

We set sail Southbound to Osoyoos stopping at local fruit stands and always finding time to jump in the unbelievable lakes, even in a storm. We learned a few things: cleaning was a constant and important task in such small quarters; opening up our blinds helped to make everything feel much bigger and brighter; and most importantly to never forget about the excitement of what we were doing. With having no more places to stop, nowhere to be, we continue with a little experience and a ton of anticipation. How vanlife should be lived.

We promise to write more often now that we have our life in order 🙂

In The Hippie Diaries

Everything you ever wanted is on the other side of fear

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After six long weeks, we finally have her back. Our new soon-to-be home on wheels, back from the repair shop. With only a week left until we leave, we were incredibly eager for her return and our excellent mechanic was just about ready to have two new employees in us. We purchased Gurt for such a great price we decided to put in some extra money to make her as reliable as an 1984 vehicle can be. With a newly rebuilt engine, we are the most excited we’ve been.

Being able to finally start cramming our possessions into every nook and cranny, testing our new solar panel (yeah! we got one, thanks to Samara’s family), this is feeling real.

As you could probably tell we’ve spent the last few weeks taking turns panicking about this trip. Luckily, we never seemed to panic at the same time and always found the voice of reason. We won’t be able to sell all of our stuff, what if we don’t get our van left, do people really do this, holy crap we just sold all our stuff, holy crap WE are really doing this. In the last few days, pieces have been falling into place. Our stuff has been selling, we got our van back, and we have people lined up to show Relish to (our second Westy).

This has been a whirlwind project that is finally coming to fruition. Life was either going to get harder and push us to rethink our plan or reassure us. Thankfully it was the latter. Now there are just small things to do like sell two cars, clean our two-bedroom suite, pack our life into our van and start our journey (can you sense the sarcasm).

SM

In VanDogs

It’s a dogs life

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We had many fears, many doubts about this trip. Well, we have them still but every single day that passes those fears get smaller and our excitement gets bigger. In about a week we no longer have a home address which only magnifies every feeling. Our “bring” pile seems to get cut in half every day as we realize how little of what we once filled our home with actually matters. Having only gone camping for weeks at a time (at the most) we can only guess at what we will need but it is extremely important to both of us that this doesnt feel like a temporary camping trip but feels like our life.

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Living with three dogs and two humans in about 80 sqft leaves us with about 16sqft each. With an ever encroaching fear of claustrophobia we have decided to do quite a few test runs to help get us,  and our dogs, acclimatized to our new life. After our first hour our fears completely evaporated, leaving behind only excitement. We are all able to walk around and find places to sit without tripping over each other. Our biggest fears were about how our dogs would handle this trip. We can’t sit them down and explain what’s happening, making them nervous and shaking especially seeing their dog beds being sold. But like any move, they’re being showered with treats, love and reassurance that we are bringing them all with us. They have now become very comfortable in the van and while we see us spending the majority of our time in the mountains and out of the van, it is very comforting to know how adaptable they have been.

Now all that’s left to do is go explore.

In The Hippie Diaries

The good, the bad, the new life

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The date is set, our van is in the shop, our notice has been given, we are selling our possessions. There is a lot of worrying, excitement, and anxious time that goes on behind the scenes. Preparing for life out of a van is a mixture of every emotion. There is so much unknown that you are overcome with feelings you never felt before. Much like weeks before you’re about to fly away to an unknown land, the feelings are overwhelming.

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There has been some hurdles we have had to overcome. From our hearts telling us this is right, our head telling us this is not possible and our dogs panicked about us packing, our house being in shambles. Imagine having to sell pretty much everything you have accumulated in your life, sounds stressful right? Now imagine having to sell it all in only 30 short days. Yes, spontaneity sounds fun, but the unromantic reality sets in when you are scrambling to sell/donate/throw away almost everything in your 2 bedroom apartment in order to down size to life in around 50 sqft. The reality of your prized possession getting a quarter of what you value it, knowing you can’t bring it with you.

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With still having three vehicles, and a house full of stuff we can’t bring with us we have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it. On top of that, worrying about where money will come from and getting our van back in time before we have to leave our basement suite. Trying to focus on the positive and good has been our everyday struggle. Breaking down what we have to accomplish into smaller pieces has been key. Yes, we’ve gotten overwhelmed. Yes, we’ve broken down. Yes, we’ve become closer than ever. No one told us it was going to be easy, but you better believe it will be worth it!

In these stressful times we love hearing from you! Please don’t hesitate to message us. Much love.

In The Hippie Diaries

When seconds feel like hours

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Patience is a virtue, one that I unfortunately don’t possess. Only a short twenty seven days until we leave and to say that we are excited would be an understatement. One of the most beautiful things about switching to this lifestyle is the lack of certainty, the profound unknown. The only thing we know, is that we don’t know anything. There is somethings so raw and vulnerable about realizing that your whole world is about to be completely turned around. We would no longer be able to buy in bulk, we would no longer have an oven to use, counter space was going to become virtually inexistent, even showering will become an unplanned but I’m sure very welcomed privilege. We will have to have jerry cans full of gas, and be prepared to eat a lot of no name noodles (yes, even kimchi will become an unaffordable luxury item). We have searched hard on Instagram and Twitter and have seen lots of families take to a simpler van life but we haven’t found anyone who has three furry children along for the ride.

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That, for us, is both an incredible excitement while admittedly being an additional obstacle. In an attempt to truly do this 70s inspired lifestyle, we have decided to ditch our Google maps and gps and plan this entire trip as little as possible. With nothing more than the signs on the road, a paper map, and the input from all our amazing friends, like you!

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We plan to star the spots on the map that we consider our must sees – and find roads and trails along the way to take us there. We want to see a few cities but stick mostly rural – the more hot springs and hidden beaches, the better! This last week has had many ups and downs that come with completely overhauling your life but we both can’t believe how happy we are that we are actually starting our fairytale life, running away to live in the mountains. Now comes the hard part… The waiting game!!

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Are you a fellow #vanlifer or adventurer that knows some great spots in North America? Please comment and let us know some of your must see places and help us build our maps✌️