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In The Hippie Diaries

It feels good to be lost in the right direction

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There are many things that we are excited about for this trip. We are trying to balance not having any expectations while being dreamers finally living OUR way and naturally getting so excited. We know that it will be hard, we are fully expecting lots of tears, some fears, a decent amount of boredom and our fair share of arguments. But we are also dreaming of all the mountains we get to climb, all the hidden waterfalls we get to swim in, all the many faces we get to meet along the way and we can’t help but get excited. We have thought a lot about what kinds of things we want to accomplish in a more personal growth kind of way – flexibility, healthy diet, promoting our beliefs, etc. The one thing we can never stop smiling about is the thought that we have all the time in the world to do anything we can dream of. Our wondering minds have no boundaries. We can write books, go to school, take up art, learn how to play guitar, anything we want. The saying “the world is your oyster” has never seemed so fitting. It’s a big responsibility, the utter freedom, but one thing we can both agree on is the comfort of having our home with us. No hotel rooms, never having to go home at night but to instead always be home and have that familiarity. To never have to leave your loved ones and your belongings, but rather carry all that’s important with you. There is a possibility that this all may fail, that we may come home after a week wondering what we were thinking. But just imagine, what if this is the best thing we’ve ever done.

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

Make a life you’re obsessed with

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Ever sat there and thought about your life and realized how much you lived for “one day”? Saving for a house, waiting for the right time to get married, to have kids, for school to start, for a big promotion? I consider myself a decently aware person, of my surroundings and actions and habits, I make an effort to be present and aware. However until today, I have never realized how much I put my for now on hold in hopes for my some day to come true. While I sit here and watch all my stuff get sold and talk about this trip, it doesn’t quite feel real to me yet. No way, I’m not the girl who is going to pick up my life and move it into a van with my family and travel my little corner of the world! Yet it is happening – just over two weeks from now! We have uninsured our vehicles and made our little van our daily driver. Spending more and more time has done something completely unexpected. I realized that for possibly the first time in my life, I am living right now and loving every second of it.

S

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✌️

In The Hippie Diaries

Turning dreams into reality

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“The difference between dreams and reality is action.”

That’s what they say at least. If you ask us we would say it’s work. A lot of work. And tears, and doubt, and fear and regret. But also a lot of excitement; A lot of learning and a lot of fun. Selling all of our stuff has proven both liberating and at times, painfully difficult.

Something we once spent months saving up for was selling for a mere $50, it was heartbreaking. But everything has now turned in to “That’s another tank of gas that can get us another 450 km.” Almost to a fault we found ourselves scrimping for everything. Milk has become a luxury item. Selling has become addictive – this dream will become reality.

Our motivation for this lifestyle is in part due to experiences we have faced in the last couple of months. We decided that we wanted to live, really live. So we decided to complete an obstacle course style race called Tough Mudder. In our training I ended up hurting my knee, tearing my meniscus and leaving me useless to my previous physical job. Not even a week following my injury, Myles got into a car accident that left him with a ton of soft tissue damage and a severe concussion (his fifth one).

This left us, once incredibly outdoorsy people, in the house on the couch and intolerant to light and sound. This quickly turned us both to dark thoughts and on a lonely road to depression. One sunny Saturday we were sitting on the couch, my knee raised with no lights on and our curtains covered and our TV so low it was almost inaudible and we saw our dogs sitting with their heads under our curtains just looking outside.

When we realized how much this was effecting our dogs, how much it was effecting us.

We vowed to take our life back.

After talking about our dreams we bought a hammock so we could lie outside, some dark glasses so Myles could handle the sun and a chuck it for our dogs to run through our yard. We went to physio, the gym and everything else we could think of to regain our strength.

This was it, this was our chance.

We were liberated. We can be anything. All that was left was to decide who we wanted to be. After dozens of long conversations and staying up all night dreaming together we decided that our dream world was one spent traveling and spending our days together, happy and stress free. We wanted to discover ourselves and explore our own backyard.

If we are going to do this, we are all in.

We want to experience all this lifestyle has to offer. With little money in savings we will need to work along the way, berry picking, selling crafts, house sitting, farm work, anything that will help us to keep going. But there is one thing we have agreed on: we vow to use nothing more than paper maps and word of mouth from those we meet to keep us going.

For us, the journey is about getting lost, staying in the forest, trading for goods as much as possible, learning to live off the land. Everything is going to be new, the food we eat, the way we think, the places we sleep. For some, this may be scary, but coming from a state of pure vegetation and not having a reason to get up, it is a more than welcomed adventure.

Our dreams are going to become our reality.

In The Hippie Diaries

Aspiring adventurers; Aspiring no more.

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dreams

What would you do if you won the lottery? What would your life look like if money wasn’t a concern? These are things we all day dream about and ask ourselves. Would you buy a mansion? Buy a nice car? Quit your job? Our answer, travel! We have both traveled a bit, but with 3 dogs a jeep payment and careers we were horrified with the realization that our dreams of travel would have to be fulfilled with a mere 2 weeks a year that our vacation time allowed along with the odd long weekend.

That is not enough time to submerge yourself in a new culture, to get lost and see it all, to both relax and see all of the sights. So going on a vacation that we can bring our dogs on and go at our own pace seemed like the best way to spend our life. So, we are taking the leap! Committing to do what in our minds seems so natural, yet in our circle is unheard of. “You’re crazy”, “that’s not how life works”, “you need to work and buy a house”, we had a steady flow of doubt and loving ’bouts of reality’ from family and friends. Understandable, after all this concept of off-grid living wasn’t common amongst our loved ones and we were the first of our friends and family to really question the “get a career, get married, buy a house and have kids” lifestyle. What we have been told our whole lives, since elementary school. 

We were told we are trying to be hippies in a world that can no longer handle them, it isn’t safe, it’s too expensive, there are too many laws against them. None of this was going to stop us. We have completely romanticized the idea of selling everything that doesn’t fit into our 32 year old van and hoping it will hold up long enough to take us up mountains and through forests to find the great wonders lying in our own backyard. (Although saying it, or rather writing it, does sound kind of crazy!) Luckily for us, we have a whole Instagram world that’s saying this is an actual possibility, and with that we pray they are right.

SM