🔎 Guest: Living the VanLife across continents with Liv in her mobile home on wheels
🔎 Guest: Living the VanLife across continents with Liv in her mobile home on wheels
Home is where you want it to be....
👋 Welcome, welcome new subscribers!
Edition number 91 features a Nomad who lives the #VanLife called Liv.
Meet Olivia Thurlow, who works across creative marketing, production & strategy within the brand advertising world. She grew up living in different places like Hong Kong and Denmark. Her mom is Polish, and her dad spent a large amount of his childhood in the UAE, so her wanderlust and concept of 'home' being wherever you want it to be are innate.
TLDR: 🫱🏽🫲🏾 In case you don’t know me already, I am Ro, I am based in Zaragoza, Spain with my Location Independent, somewhat Nomadic (4-6 months a years of nomading) family.
For work, I am a Remote Work and Digital Nomad Expert, Advisor and Writer, oh an a Linkedin Top Voice. All my web and free resource links are here and you can book a 1:1 here.
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In 2019, Liv and her partner converted an MWB Mercedes Sprinter with the intention of having an adventure mobile for short trips away. Like many, the unfortunate Coronavirus pandemic and its multiple lockdowns presented a frank "life is short" reality check.
They tweaked their job roles with their employers' flexibility, rented out their flat, and moved into their home on wheels. This change in perspective and better work-life balance meant relocating back to a mix of coast, country, and a rising creative-independent scene.
In 2023, they decided to travel more extensively across Europe and Africa.
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🫶 How do you take care of yourself when nomading?
This lifestyle change, moving into and traveling in a van, has confirmed that I am not a routine type of person – quite naively, I thought I'd be journalling and doing yoga every morning, seizing the day, and all that yadda yadda.
But if I didn't do that or make space for that before, why did I think I would now?!
If anything, I'm far more aware of what makes me feel good and where the balance lies:
generally being outside more
having a good book on the go
going for a run
not overloading myself with "things I think I should be doing"
exploring and seeking creative inspiration
Moreover, my curiosity and hunger to learn explain my interest in curating, and writing about community, creativity, culture, psychology & travel.
✴️ How do you find community as a nomad?
The longest we've stayed in one place is a week, which only gives us a little time to settle and truly connect, although we've met many lovely people on the road. I'm a big advocate of online communities, which I want to build on with my newsletter “Along the Way”, here on Substack by
.“I Like Networking” and “The Stack World” which are great networking sources for those working within the creative industries and to meet amazing women in business.
Instagram is also great for making pals and sharing knowledge within the van-life community.
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🌱 How do you consider the planet and minimise your impact?
Due to the lack of space and storage in the van, I've had to become a “forced minimalist,” something I definitely wasn't back home: I'm a thrifter and lover of second-hand, but even then, I had a very consumption-based mindset. Another Nomad featured previously, also a Substack writer
publishes on living a more minimal and uncomplicated life, read Charlie’s Digital Nomad Story “Meet Charlie, the ex-wine-pro-turned-writer”.Liv continues, Less water consumption: when you rely on approximately 75L of water on board for drinking, washing, etc., you become much more conscious of how and when to use it.
Showers have become much less frequent – I can confirm that needing a shower daily is an absolute myth.
Our water is also heated by a calorifier system that heats it from the engine coolant whilst simultaneously cooling the engine.
The van batteries are charged using solar panels on our roof – we're yet to feel the need to plug in for an electric at any campsite!
We also shop locally where we can: farmers' markets, souks, street-side stalls, you name it.
Whilst the above showcases a step in the right direction, I'm still very aware that 'van-life' is fraught with contradiction and hypocrisy – fuel consumption being the main, most obvious one. Composting toilets not actually being that compostable is another lesser-known one.
🔗Connect with Olivia Thurlow via her Instagram and LinkedIn.🔗
May the road rise to meet you,
love n light,
💚 Ro