here we go again.

vandwellin.

4 months of paradise

and we are stoked for the months to come. Some random pictures...

 what we started our new lives with.

 A sunset swim/skim sesh.

Just completely happy for changes made in our lives, and what life has in store for us.

happy birthday

to the one who always has me laughing, loves me like a bestfriend and lover should. to the ridiculous joker whos always pushing me to better myself. the one who wants to do crazy things with this life. to the guy who is a constant reminder that this life is short and shouldn't be taken seriously, this lifes for fun and being happy.to the selfless guy who won me over by saying he wants all his things to fit in this certain box.
Your amazing. Happy birthday. I love you more than words.

paradise.

a day at the beach.

 a ride in the back of a jeep.

 a sunset on top of a volcano.

A perfect day in paradise.

new setup.

day 3 of working in the yard. (Or the boys working in the yard) The bulldozer came and made the yard almost 3 times as big. We have a pretty good sized rockwall starting and big plans for a garden and some flowers.
So, basically our friend (thanks a million casey) is letting us live in his yard. The shower is going to hang from the tree, he put some nice rocks down for a shower floor. The van will be inside the rock wall hidden in the plants, that hopefully won't take too long to get big and pretty. Planting some grass, some plants growing out of the rocks, and a new home?

Once again well figure out the toilet situation  well be living simply, and next to nothing rent, veggies and fruit once the trees get bigger and a place where we can have a 4legged best friend.

missing my family alot. Ians mom and aunt get here in 9 days or so!

And tomaro is my first day off in 34 days! Bamboo forest here we come!
create

yayyyyy for van living.

yay for saving money.
living simply.
enjoying life.
:( but not waking up on a new beach every day.


Most definitely the best idea since she broke down.

update for my family and (real)friends.

Things are wonderful.
As usual.
So lady we were living with got evicted. So we moved in with a friend for the month. Trying to find our own little perfect ohana we can call home and get settled in at.  For some reason housings been our only little setback so far, even when we had nothing planned. But thank goodness for friends. And good friends.

Alot of people out here moved like we did. So your friends literally become your family. Its nice to have friends that are so welcoming and so down to help with whatever because you are their family. I love that. Im not even sure I had that back home. Besides a few.

Happy anniversary to my parents. Thank you both so much for another year of being the most amazing example of how best friends and lovers work together to make a happy and loving home for us. We couldnt have had a better example of an amazing marriage. They went through their share of shit but it only made them stronger.

Ians mom and Aunt are coming out in just under 3 weeks and we can't wait. It'll be so fun showing ians mom around and doing some hikes with them. Linda thanks for planning everything! :) See you guys soon!!!!


createlove.

3 month mauiversary.

we've had an adventure thus far!
3 Months in....
We've had a house for 5 weeks.
lived in the van for almost 6 (gosh do I miss it)
beached it for almost 2 weeks.
And wouldn't trade it for the world.
Getting woken up by sprinklers while on the beach, police knocking on the windows, van breaking down, livin with a random lady and her son babysitting for free rent, having to pee in a bottle, knowing all the clean public bathrooms, walking miles to work, eating the freshest fruit...
Ahhh. Its a good life.

3 years ago.

I posted on a blog....
Im giving up paradise but only for now.
I know I can make it.
I know I can survive.
And that's enough comfort for me.
I know I belong here.
Just not for good yet.
Maui baby ill be back for you.


Funny how things work. Im back, brought along my best friend/lover and there are no plans to live anywhere else anytime soon, or not so soon. We are so happy, so lucky and so blessed to be where we are. And to have the minds we do to think outside the box amd live a fun life, while most people are not happy with their situations but keep chasing those benjamins that are only gonna get them things.

this life is a good one.
createlove.

it hasnt been long.

Living in a house is nice.
But i miss my vannnn.

We got an estimate from the shop to fix her up. More than we expected so well see what happens.

what to do when your house breaks down on a world famous golf course.

Laugh. Because its 9 at night and stressing or getting upset isn't going to help anything, there's nothing you can do till morning.
So when the security guard comes up just let him know, "the van just broke down, our friends coming to tow it when he gets off work" and that you dont know exactly what time that will be. When the next security guard comes and wakes you up at 4 in the morning tell him the same thing and your really sorry. (That security guard was pre warned we were there and only came by to let us know the yard crew was coming in and they might be loud, pretty thoughtful.)

...So in the morning we called some shops, a tow truck and some prices for towing. So, we went to the beach for a couple hours to figure out our options and what we were gonna do on top of working on my tan and ian getting a skim sesh in.

The tow truck came and the rather large man 'duffy' got in the van to steer and made me push him! I'm  thinkin alright I better be getting some money off for this. And of course didn't. On our ride back to the shop Duffy was telling me about his life in vehicles. Apparently he lived in a 66 window bus with as many as 30 people in it traveling Europe selling jewelry they made. Interesting stuff.

the shop took a look at the van and let us know the temperature sensor had burned up and our motor overheated. Major bummer. Head gasket blown. Major money and time. And possibly something with the cylinders, but he won't know till we agree to do the head gasket. Its all kind of up in the air and were still waiting on a estimate for the headgasket.

The last couple nights have been spent on the beach. (last night we woke up too sprinklers soaking us, twice, in two different spots. and someone musta thought we needed a drink cuz we woke up to two beers by ians head. hahaha.) Down sizing to 50 pounds of luggage was hard, harder to downsize into the van, now i have my backpack full of necessities. Well see what happens, but for now a hold on life in a van :(

Hopefully its a quicker and cheaper fix than were thinking. Fingers crossed.

creatlove..

our reality.

Our reality is different than yours, please dont be alarmed.  

we wake up and go to sleep on our own beach with amazing mountains behind us every day. Instead of staring at a white boring ceiling.

I've been getting amazing feed back from everyone so happy were following our dreams and living freely, but when are you going to do what you want? When will you start following your dreams? whats holding you back from now? Because we only have now. 

costs and saving in a van.

Saving money is a huge reason for vandwelling. Heres a list of the different expenses of each. When we were looking for either a bedroom and our own bathroom in a shared house for around 700-800 or our own ohana for no more than 900, including everything. Rent in a van is 0. Costs for conventional housing ....
Rent.
PO box.
Cell phone.
Cable.
Internet.
Garbage.
Water.
Sewage.
Electric.
Natural gas.
Laundry.
Groceries.
Auto insurance.
Gas.
Auto maintence.
Entertainment.
Anything else you want to add? Yard service, homeowners insurance? Those are kinda optional. But you might have some of those included for a higher rent.

Van living...
Auto insurance.
Gas.
Auto maintence.
PO box.
Cell phone.
Laundry.
Groceries.
Entertainment.

Say we save everything we'd normally pay for rent, average 850 that's just 425 each. In a year wed have just about 11,000 cash in our banks. Just a waiting  for us to buy tickets around the world and go! Or put down on a piece of property and camp, while slowly upgrading to an off grid life style, just kidding thats some years down the road.

Its a sacrifice, and who knows if we'll make it a year, or 3. Its definitely worth everything sacrifice, every appreciation, everytime we brush our teeth with bottles of water and everything we've given up and learned.

I was trying to post this last night, but another blog was unfolding, stay tuned for our night at the Kaanapali Golf Course.

createlove.

we are not alone.

Apparently were not the only crazy painted van around! We saw this one when we went to the other side of the island.

Happy labor day.

We both have the day off today. The charging of the phones at Starbucks is almost complete and we will spend the rest of the day soakin up the sun, snorkeling with turtles and enjoying this beautiful life.

Dear everyone, come visit puhleassseeee, you can stay in our tent;)

createlove.

lack of appreciation.

I never appreciated a lot of things in my life enough, so here's to thoes things (that I can think of right now with a, surprise surprise, almost dead phone):

• My family being close both loving and in distance instead of an ocean away like now. 
• My own bathroom, or even a shared bathroom at that. 
• My outlook on this fun amazingly beautiful life we are given, if we take advantage of it. 
• My up-bringing, we weren't rich, and not poor but we got by and my parents always did everything they could for each of us. 
• The ocean, not that i dont appreciate it but not enough as it deserves. 
• The hard times in my life, it all just made me that much stronger. 
• My friends that are always there no matter how many states are between us. 
• Electricity, living simple is hard with the every day technology that I am lucky to have. 
• Ian. He is my best friend and lover, i couldnt imagine living in a van or spending my time with anyone other than him. 
• Both of our families being supportive of our crazy decisions to up and move so quickly and living in a van.
• The sun for shining, the clean air I breath in. 
• My dollar store scarves I now wear as skirts. 
• Life, happiness, an open mind, a drive to do anything and everything I can in this short but hopefully long life.

More to come.

createlove.

goodmorning officer.

A knock on the window, a bright light and a stern voice saying "police" was our 4am wake up call 2 mornings ago. Apparently where one of our 'sleeping spots' is is on Maui county land. But isn't all this land Maui county? Anyways, after we gave the officer our ids and he ran our insurance and registration he says ma'am step out of the vehicle. Me? Why me?! My boyfriends right here, I'm still waking up, I have no clue what's going on, bra-less and I can't find my glasses anywhere. Shaking and worried (I hate cops) I walk back to his car where he insists on shining his bright ass flashlight in my face. "This is an arrest-able offense, you know," he said. No, I thought in my head I still dont know what's going on. Your inhabiting maui county land, you could be arrested. My brain was too slow, all I could think was "f*** being arrested and going to jail with the crazy locals because were parked on the side of the road!"

He took down all my info and just told us to leave. Thankfully, no ticket and no jail.

I blame it on Ian, he gets too hot in the van at night with all our curtains up, so the only night i decide to leave them open the cop sticks his head through. The curtains are now staying closed so we can act like were not home when the next cop comes knockin.

(family and taco truck, i miss you)

createlove.

simply.

thankful for this amazing life.

perfect day.

A Sunday evening on Maui calls for little beach! We drove down to big beach yesterday so ian could get some waves with this swell that's coming through. I worked hard on my tan and just enjoyed the waves, the hot sand and getting to just relax. Ian and I played in the biggest waves I've ever even seen before, diving under them or waiting till they crash right over your head. So much fun.

Around 6 we started walking to little beach, the clothing optional beach. We both decided to opt in on the clothing part. On Sundays its a huge hippy party with a drum circle, with naked hippies and fire dancing during the sunset. Its probably one of my favorite places; open minded people playing happy music, happily dancing, being carefree and enjoying the sunset and natural beauty of Maui. Its an experience, but a fun one every time.

Our night ended with finding a beach shower for me to remove some unwanted sand after a huge wave decided to wrestle with me. Found one that was kinda in the shadows so I grabbed my bar of soap and a towel. Ian came 'for protection' because there was a kinda creepy-ish man somewhat close to the showers. I obviously stayed in my suit, washed off and then we chilled on the park bench. We joked around about my next blog being about my first public shower with the weird man who just happened to leave to a different table (closer to the van) as soon as the lights turned off 10 minutes after my shower. Weird.

We did some organizing, threw the trash away then as I was walking back to the van the man goes "Hey tell your boyfriend you guys are doing Maui right. You guys have it made" Now he was blog worthy.

We couldnt help but smile.

Yes, we do have it made with our situation and our minds.

And I am beyond thankful I get to share this with my best friend and lover.

createlove.

vanagon work day.

Our day started off waking up on the most peaceful private beach and a huge rainbow, I should have known better and got a picture of it, i will next time though. We had a vanagon workday with our friend Elie who has a 84 vanagon. Got our baby a tune up and finally got out box of shit(excess clothes, books we dont need right now and just other random stuff) that is not necessary to have in the van in a storage place, thanks elie! Got the van purrrrrin and running great!!!

ian is now at work and im spending the evening at the laundry mat.
createlove.

our first little confrontation.

So back around day 4 of having a mobile house we went up to Honokawai to go paddle boarding. We parked at a grocery store around 11am, walked across the street to the beach and found the little spot with the boards. It was really windy so paddling against the wind was pretty tough. After maybe 20 minutes we decided to come back on a less windy day. So we chilled for a couple minutes and then went back to our car and bought lunch at the grocery store and ate in the van.

After we ate we were trying to decide which beach to go to. That's when the security officer, who obviously takes his job too seriously, came up to us. It was maybe a little after noon so we'd been parked there a bit over an hour.

He stuck his head through our back window and said, "There's no overnight parking here." Ian and I just looked at eachother kinda confused and the security man repeated himself. We told him we got lunch at the store and were leaving to go to the beach. He reminded us again, no overnight parking. Then left. After he left we were kinda confused. It was noon; even if we were going to park overnight in a parkinglot while we camp on a beach, we're smart enough to come back after dark, dummy.

That was the first and only time we had anyone say anything to us, so far.

createlove.

day 23.

Just a couple random thoughts after night 22...
Organization is key living in such a small space.  Something we didn't really think about before moving in. At first it was chaos every day looking for something, especially at night when we'd misplace the flashlight. Everything now pretty much has a place, work clothes with work clothes, toiletries all in 1 place, little things we use every day in a little plastic container, food in one spot and so on. I was never super organized before, so the van is forcing me to work on my life skills.
Luckily we both work a lot, and our jobs have bathrooms. But its a whole planning process, ok, were going back to the van I need to stop at a bathroom while I have one. Maybe this is too much for a second post but at 22 days in a van, I've popped some squatts and cut the top off some water jugs. I appreciate EVERY toilet a lot more now than I ever did, even the mcdonalds toilet. Showers are taken at the house i babysit, luckily. But theres always the option to go to the camp ground or use a beach shower after sunset with not many people around and a bar of soap. Christmas list, my own pack of seat covers and a go girl. For real though.
Electronics. During the week I can charge everything up at the house I nanny at. By sunday my phone needs charged, just enough to get through the day just in case i need it. So sitting at Starbucks a norm. I've learned the earlier the better. Its almost like a game, beating the bums to the comfy chair by the outlet. This last Sunday we noticed some other guys charging their electronics. We briefly started talking one guy was from Modesto, other New York they live on the beach we camped on when we first got to Maui because they want to save money and live simply. then the question came up, "you guys car it?" all I could do was laugh, no one we haven't told knows, and it was the first time being questioned. So I replied yep! Then he goes on to say he thought so because he recognized my curly hair and saw me charging my stuff at the other Starbucks.
Hahahaha.


Off to the beach,
createlove.

The Story

Hello all! I'm Brittney and I live in a van on Maui with my boyfriend Ian. I am not a writer or even good at spelling for that matter. These are my thoughts and stories as they come and this is my venue to share them.

We're just 2 average kids in our early 20's seeking some adventure. We lived in a small town most of our lives but ultimately we found ourselves stuck in our hometown. We were re-introduced several months ago, fell in love and started planning a get away. We easily decided on Maui because I already had some job connections, not to mention the beauty and beach life Maui has to offer. We started planning, booked our flights, put in our 2 weeks notice (at jobs that had promised promotions) and started packing.

We moved into a friend's perfectly located 1 bed 1 bath ohana(back house) but since they use it as a vacation rental it was just for 1 month. Next thing we knew we had 5 days to move out. I got a job being a nanny for the cutest toe-head 18 month little boy. Ian is working at a surf/skate clothing store and a really nice seafood and pizza place.

We couldn't find anything we liked in Lahaina within our price range so we started joking about living in a van. But it got us kinda excited for some adventure! We continued to look for a place that wouldn't compromise showers, cooking, downsizing our wardrobes (again) and our own bathroom but nothing else was coming up that wouldn't result in us dropping 2 grand on rent and a deposit for a place that wasn't a perfect setup. The van idea started to sound good.

We had both wanted a WV vanagon since we were kids, so the blue, teal and orange striped beauty on Craigslist grabbed our attention. The story went like this: Owner asking $2400. I test drove it. Loved it (and the included bed and dresser). Offered him $1700. He accepted and papers were signed.

So, why we decided on the van...

1. No Rent. If we do decide on a house we will have the money saved (and still have the van).

2. Living a simpler life. Ridding ourselves of the extras that we take for granted. 

3. To eat better. There's so many benefits to raw food and now we have no oven, fridge or even microwave so it pretty much forces us to shop daily and eat fruits and veggies. 

4. Take advantage of Maui. We don't coop ourselves up in the van, we enjoy our new home.

5. For a story. We want to tell our kids someday that we lived in a van and because of it  were able to save money and travel the world.

6. This life is for fun. We want to work to live instead of living to work. 

7. Saving Money. Our biggest reason of all.

I hope you keep up on our adventures, daily life, learning to live in a van and whatever else comes to mind the next time im on the beach listening to the waves and decide to share another story.

createlove.