Full-time

[JAM420]

Anyone here live full time Overlanding?

Me and my wife will be transitioning to that life style next week. We will periodically get a hotel room for a night or two,but mainly we will live on the road.

Any input will be great.

Thanks
Jess

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Anyone here live full time Overlanding?

Me and my wife will be transitioning to that life style next week. We will periodically get a hotel room for a night or two,but mainly we will live on the road.

Any input will be great.

Thanks
Jess

I'd have to ask you why would you do such a thing. The American dream has always been to have that little white house with the picket fence, puppy dog and two-three kids. A home represents security for family. On the other hand I dont know how anyone can afford that dream any more. It use to be you could move to small towns and live a nice life style on much less money than the cities. Not the case any more. I can see trying to change things for survival sake. I think it is possible to have a free life style if your strong enough and have the survival skills. I dont see that when living in s car, truck or van. "The grass is greener" is a dangerous move in totality. Just my humble opinion but I'm never right.

 

[JAM420]

We've had all of those things and that's the point to cut away from what's holding us in place. We started this adventure a year ago living in 160sqft of space in an RV. We feel that its holding us back in our goals because it's comfortable. We're going to find out how this journey will go.

 

[M Rose]

Anyone here live full time Overlanding?

Me and my wife will be transitioning to that life style next week. We will periodically get a hotel room for a night or two,but mainly we will live on the road.

Any input will be great.

Thanks
Jess

Several full timers here... @Jeepsies are just one of many that come to mind.
jesseazarva

 

[rgallant]

Hard to say people do spend several years traveling the world that way, but unlike most of the lower 48 in the US what you call boondocking or dispersed camping is possible everywhere.

The biggest issues I can see :

• Income but I assume you have that somewhat sorted
• Where to stay - my point above
• Living in close quarters for a long time - it would drive me a bit nuts after awhile I need my "me" time
• Quite honestly the biggest issue I have heard is boredom, literally what to do after a while
• And the disconnect - you loose you connection to society overall and family
• What will you do if your vehicle has a major failure

 

[FishinCrzy]

We've had all of those things and that's the point to cut away from what's holding us in place. We started this adventure a year ago living in 160sqft of space in an RV. We feel that its holding us back in our goals because it's comfortable. We're going to find out how this journey will go.

What's your planned rig going to be? Just move around with the seasons? Not for everybody but surely there are many that this style suits. Good Luck out there!

 

[grubworm]

i think thats pretty cool to do. on your deathbed i doubt you will be looking back regretting that you didnt work more or had a bigger house, etc. enjoy life and exploring and making memories with your wife...no amount of money can buy that

 

[JAM420]

We have a Ford Excursion now and are buying a trailer next week. We will try to travel by weather too. Who knows its all unplanned...lol

 

[Outdoordog]

Hmmm, what about a RV that tows a 4x4? You could set the RV as like a Basecamp.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

I'd have to ask you why would you do such a thing. The American dream has always been to have that little white house with the picket fence, puppy dog and two-three kids. A home represents security for family. On the other hand I dont know how anyone can afford that dream any more. It use to be you could move to small towns and live a nice life style on much less money than the cities. Not the case any more. I can see trying to change things for survival sake. I think it is possible to have a free life style if your strong enough and have the survival skills. I dont see that when living in s car, truck or van. "The grass is greener" is a dangerous move in totality. Just my humble opinion but I'm never right.

We would do it in a heartbeat if Colin was out of school. that's the only thing holding us back. Right now, we have a house that has over 6000 sq ft on 3 levels, over an acre of land with two big garages where I do my work etc. My wife works from home full time now (thank god), and Colin is in school. I don't know if I am just getting old, or if society has changed in the past 20 plus years, but I am getting sick of "people" if you know what I mean, or sick of the people in my town. I dunno, sounds like a great time to me. Goto a place enjoy what it has to offer, experience some new local things, people and places....then move on, rinse and repeat. We probably will never do it full time, but after this shitshow is over there will be alot more travelling in our future for longer periods now that my wife is remote enabled at her work. We will see. Right now, I have 3 snowmobiles to work on!

 

[JAM420]

I feel ya. There is so much negativity in the world and so much disconnect from who we are suppose to be as people.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

I feel ya. There is so much negativity in the world and so much disconnect from who we are suppose to be as people.

OH yes. The work/family life has moved so much towards the big corporations and their Shareholders making millions while the little guy doing all the work gets nothing only a 4x4 cubical in a cubical farm. I am over being someone's "bitch". I been that for the past three years since I closed my powder coating business. I am opening some new ventures soon and working on my own terms at my home. I have more time with my family while working. My wife just got her go ahead to work from home full time, and only has to go in to the office for one week rotations. If someone goes back full time after the pandemic, she does not need to go in at all anymore.

I am going to be doing a few different things remotely so if we want to take off for a month on the road, we can and still have income. She's fully remotely setup, and I will have enough remote work to keep some cashflow. The full time on the road is our dream though. Cannot lie about that.

 

[El-Dracho]

I can understand the question and the idea very well. I have often been on the road for several months, the longest overlanding trip was over a year. I really love it to be on the go. I just find a lot things easier on the go. The daily life and much more. But sometimes that also involves a lot of organizing, thinking and making decisions, like at a permanent home, one shouldn't forget that. And depending on where you travel in the world in can be even stressful to find a good place to stay for example.

But in the end it's just great to be out and about and to enjoy the freedom! Since the last big trip I am back in Germany, Europe for about 1.5 years now. I think that if this C19 did not happen, and we are of course somewhat restricted as a result, I would be on my way again already to see the world!

I also see that society is changing a lot. So let's use the time and do something great, meet nice people and look at interesting places.

In this sense have fun with whatever you do and enjoy life!

 

[JAM420]

I feel ya. There is so much negativity in the world and so much disconnect from who we are suppose to be as people.

OH yes. The work/family life has moved so much towards the big corporations and their Shareholders making millions while the little guy doing all the work gets nothing only a 4x4 cubical in a cubical farm. I am over being someone's "bitch". I been that for the past three years since I closed my powder coating business. I am opening some new ventures soon and working on my own terms at my home. I have more time with my family while working. My wife just got her go ahead to work from home full time, and only has to go in to the office for one week rotations. If someone goes back full time after the pandemic, she does not need to go in at all anymore.

I am going to be doing a few different things remotely so if we want to take off for a month on the road, we can and still have income. She's fully remotely setup, and I will have enough remote work to keep some cashflow. The full time on the road is our dream though. Cannot lie about that.

Sounds like you have a planned layer out. Good luck with your adventures.

 

[JAM420]

I can understand the question and the idea very well. I have often been on the road for several months, the longest overlanding trip was over a year. I really love it to be on the go. I just find a lot things easier on the go. The daily life and much more. But sometimes that also involves a lot of organizing, thinking and making decisions, like at a permanent home, one shouldn't forget that. And depending on where you travel in the world in can be even stressful to find a good place to stay for example.

But in the end it's just great to be out and about and to enjoy the freedom! Since the last big trip I am back in Germany, Europe for about 1.5 years now. I think that if this C19 did not happen, and we are of course somewhat restricted as a result, I would be on my way again already to see the world!

I also see that society is changing a lot. So let's use the time and do something great, meet nice people and look at interesting places.

In this sense have fun with whatever you do and enjoy life!

Thank you.

Over the course of a few years. Once our oldest daughter went to college we went from a 5 bed 3bath 9 acre home to a small 3bd in a neighborhood. Then my younger daughter left for the military and we went to a small rental while we remodeled our RV.
It's amazing the "CRAP" you collect over time.
It feels good to strip down the crap.

 

[El-Dracho]

It's amazing the "CRAP" you collect over time.
It feels good to strip down the crap.

Oh yesss, I know exactly what you mean. The clearing out and the significant reduction in belongings have given me, above all, great freedom of thought. Because now I just have a lot less things to worry about. This gives me a lot more time and experience instead of just collecting items. During and after a long journey I often notice how little a person gets along with. And in addition I can make others happy with the things I don't need.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Sounds like you have a planned layer out. Good luck with your adventures.

Yes, after the past 3 years working retail for no money, putting up with crap from customers, and bosses.....I am offically done. I will figure out how to make that amount of money doing my own thing. Not like I was getting rich or anything anyways. Making 400 bucks a week then having taxes taken out of that, I think I can do that no problem doing my own thing! That leaves me with family time when I want where I want. No answering to anyone, Having to get docked pay for taking an hour to do something for my sons. Or, getting reamed over calling in well before work in the morning when we had a snow storm, my wife was starting a new job and could not stay home with my son because school was closed and my parents live 30 mins away at our cottage so they are not driving down from there to look after him. I got so much shit for staying home that morning. It was a freaking snow storm and they had like three customers at work. That day after I came out of the managers office, I made my mind up then that I was done working for someone else and I would make it on my own. Which is what I will do!

 

[Lil Bear]

I would do it in a heartbeat if I knew I could work remotely and provide enough income that way. We would sell off most of the "crap" we don't need and just move around, seeing the united states! Then maybe on to national borders! But alas I'm still here at my job making someone else a lot of money. Wishing I was at these wonderful places y'all post pictures of! Sigh

 

[Autism Family Travels]

I would do it in a heartbeat if I knew I could work remotely and provide enough income that way. We would sell off most of the "crap" we don't need and just move around, seeing the united states! Then maybe on to national borders! But alas I'm still here at my job making someone else a lot of money. Wishing I was at these wonderful places y'all post pictures of! Sigh

What do you do for work?

 

[GordyP]

We moved into an RV 4 years ago and although we don’t travel full time we do stay for long stretches of time in a lot of different places. It takes away all of the monotony of staying put but maintains some stability. This is a much less expensive way to live which enables us to do fun things when we want. There is still that corporate feeling to my job while my wife home schools the kids but that’s the trade off. We don’t frivolously buy things due to the space constraints which is also a benefit. Once we get a few things in order and my work contract ends our plan is to spend a few years traveling as a family before our kids go off to college or whatever they choose. After that who knows. That is our American dream.