Why Van Life

I’ve had a lot of deliveries in the last few days: a window, timber, floor insulation and more stacking neatly inside my van, the things I need to start building are finally here. But why am I doing it? Why van life? I thought today I would share my reasons with you all.

Where the idea for this new life sprang from is simple: a long-cherished dream to travel. It is the only dream I can remember having my entire life. The only one that hasn’t wavered. During the last 10 years that dream has felt almost impossible. Building my career was my priority, and the lack of money shaped so much. I didn’t know how to make my dreams of art and travel a reality at the same time.

But I never lost the itchy feet, the desire, the wish.

There is a line at the end of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie: Captain Jack Sparrow is standing the wheel of his beloved Black Pearl, holding a compass that doesn’t point north, the sky and sea behind him. Then he utters the words, “Now, bring me that horizon.”

That’s what I’ve always wanted, the horizon. Not at the expense of seeing the world around me, but as an ever-moving target that can draw me on through endless wonders and experiences. After all one cannot reach the horizon, it is in the journeying that life, adventure, and art exist.

I have always known that, always known that there was a world out there I wanted to see, to capture, to interpret, and to share.

So why the van? Why not just travel?

The answer is this: I love home. I love its comforts, I love cooking, I love my own bed, I love my things, I love my own studio. I love waking up every day in a space I have made safe and comfortable. The van can be all of that. It will be all of that. But unlike a traditional home, it can also bring me the horizon. I can find and explore the world from my doorstep because my doorstep will move.

Last week I went down to Porthmeor Beach to experiment with some underwater photography and video. There isn’t any seagrass at Porthmeor, but there is seaweed and plenty of rock pools. Entire worlds exist inside a rock pool. Life and colours that are hard to see standing above them. It’s only when you get deep inside, under the water and up close that the true magic of these tiny worlds is revealed.

To me, that’s what travelling in my van is going to be. The chance to get close, to see new life and new colours, and to do it all from the comfort of my nest.

It’s that comfort I am focusing on as I build, taking every step in the right order. That means that in the coming weeks I will be putting in the sound deadening stuff, installing the window and roof fan, getting the floor laid, ordering the solar panels, and working on the design for where things like the batteries and the water tank are going to live. It’s a big job, and most of it won’t be visible, but it will mean that every time I step into my home from seeing the world up close and seeking the horizon, I will be embraced by the best space I can create.

Bring it on.