re: Van Life. Has anyone here done, currently doing, or plan to do this lifestyle?

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Sorry to be so blunt, but what would you do for pussy (if that’s your thing)? Seek out a local prostitute in every town you’re close to?

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Well I haven't had sex in years so that's not really an issue for me. But yes I'm sure I could easily hit up some local prostitutes if I really needed to.

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But if not, if you're not of retirement age and you're in good health, there's no time like now to be productive (as in working your arse off) at adding to your nest egg for later. Spending a few years away from that, you'll be wasting some time that you could have spent on making more money.

If you don't care about any of that, then with all things, I say go for it and see how you like it. Just see what happens. Though it is a good idea to do this in bite sized chunks to see what your tolerance is for it.

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You hit one point I was hoping wouldn't come up. That's the thing for me. I'm not in the greatest of health. I don't have good genetics as almost all the men on both sides of my family died in their 60s or 70s. My dad was the oldest at 81 (almost 82), but the last 3 years of his life, he was surviving, he wasn't living. I don't want that for myself.

I genuinely worry that I'm saving for a retirement that simply isn't going to happen. The one thing I've really noticed, as I've seen family members and friend's family members get older, is that none of them live the elaborate life that is sold to you as "retirement". My one uncle does live a good life, but otherwise most of them just sit around, watch TV, maybe do some gardening or an activity like golf at first. Then the medical issues hit and their life just becomes doctors visits. I mean look at the stats. 44% of retirees are in poverty and just living off social security.

I wish I could say otherwise, but part of me already feels like my body is falling apart. I can actually feel it to some extent. I have two conditions that I do have to manage but I can do it with medication. So if I do this, I'll definitely have to opt for COBRA or get a good plan on the ACA market.

But I'm seriously considering doing this even now, because I worry this may end up being my retirement. Do this for a couple of years, use up my retirement and investment accounts (just over $120,000 total) and then go back to work until my body essentially fails completely.

It's hard because my family genuinely won't understand. I could see them being really annoyed at me. But I really don't think I'll see 70, never mind 80, so it feels like the time needs to be now. That's why I'm considering this really seriously.

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With a Cargo Van, there's no worry about towing a vehicle. A Cargo Van is easy enough to drive around even a major city. I've driven a lot of Cargo Vans so I'm comfortable with them. I've genuinely never driven an RV and they seem like a bear to drive. The most comparable thing I've driven is a U-Haul and that's always a miserable experience. I know you can get smaller RV's, but to me there are still more negatives to RV's compared to Cargo Vans.

Am I wrong in that assessment?

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I truly apologize for being blunt, but you are just super inexperienced. I'll say a couple things here.

You need to look up Sprinter vans and Class B Rv's. They are basically sprinter vans modified to be an RV. Plenty of commercially sold RV vans out there.

Staying in Walmart parking lots and the like is for dirt poor people. Occasionally, sure that's fine. There are tons of state parks in every state that have very cheap campsites, $25 a night or less. You can boon dock more so out west but in many State Forrest lands for free. There's a lot of other areas you can stay in an RV for free, many rest areas for example. Truck stops are also an option often times.

My point here is that as a 42 year old with a little money, there's almost no reason to try to be absurdly cheap and sleep illegally in parking lots. There's tons of free better options you can stay in with an obvious RV and a lot more comfortably.

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Also, why not just buy an RV? They're actually made to sleep in and usually come with air conditioning and a shitter.

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I think buying an RV opens up a whole new can of worms, especially if you are traveling solo. Extra costs, mechanical issues and for me the biggest deal breaker is you lose mobility. If you actually want to move around a bit you need a regular car, not some giant money pit of a land yacht tethered to an electrical and water line back at some out of the way RV park.

It seems to me like the Vanlife crowd is trying to hit the center of a Venn Diagram composed of RVing, tent camping and regular hotel travel, but the analytics usually fall flat on closer inspection.

People have been traveling in all forms for a long time. These young social media kids didn't discover some life hack by spending $50k to renovate a cargo van so they could wake up to a South Dakota sunrise.

I hear you. And health (and predicted health) have a lot to do with this kind of decision.

You could decide to have a "good" retirement full of things to do that are interesting to you. You sound like someone who would see to it if given the time on this earth

I was in literally the best physical shape of my life when I was 52. But now I'm 57 five years later and despite my best intentions, it's going downhill as well faster than I ever thought would ever happen. My family ages bad but usually lives well into their 80's and sometimes 90's. So that's not so great either. I can understand how that's a concern.

As far as them being annoyed with you and dealing with that, that is their life task and they have to learn how to manage their expectations of you and everything else in life.

My son wants to move to Japan (he's single and no kids, nearing 30) and a big part of me wishes he won't but I know it's life and if it makes him happy, then I'm all for it. It's my life task to manage my expectations and his life task to decided if he wants to do that or not.

So, if you want to do it, I'd say go for it.

Only we can make our own selves happy. Life is meant to be lived and that's all there is to it.

We met a couple living the van life last year on our trip to AK. They seemed to love the "van life". My wife and I were intrigued and thought about considering this for retirement. However, retirement is several years away and I seriously, doubt we give it any serious consideration when the time comes.

It seems awesome in theory but that has to be cramped as hell and would get old real quick.

A lot of pro disc golfers have vans they travel and live out of during the season (March - early Oct). Play a three-four day tournament, then travel to the next stop. They get a couple days of practice before the event starts.

Starts in Florida (second stop is New Orleans) and they make their way across the country. Around 24 stops with some smaller events in between. You have to play pretty well to make it (some do, most don’t) and have some sponsorship. Some of the top pros will Airbnb their house during the season.

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but to me there are still more negatives to RV's compared to Cargo Vans.

Am I wrong in that assessment?

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You are comparing different things here. RV people want to drive somewhere and stay in one place for at least a few days. Like a campground. Where they have supplies to stay in place. Is that you?

How do you see your travel / move patterns? For me and my Wrangler, I wanted to see as much of the Southwest in 60 days as I could - I had a deadline. So I was moving near every day.

The other consideration is what part of the country will you focus on? If you are East coast, you are gonna spend $ on parking, no way around it unless you stay in truck stop parking lots.every nite. Even some Walmarts are now restricting overnight parking. And they don't want you there for over 24 hours. You'll have to be on the move.

But even on the West coast, if you are staying on BLM land guess what: You have to drive out of town 10-20 minutes to be on public land. It's not like you can park for free downtown. In fact. West coast towns know that RV'ers / vanners are looking for free parking and prohibit it just like the East coast.

Some other tips:
- Apps like iOverlander are key.
- You'll want to get where you camp before dark if you are looking for free.
- I say find a van to rent, buy a few items like a camp stove and power station and try this out before you dive in. Sleeping bag, pillows, and blankets. I went on three trips here on the East Coast before my trek out West.

I wouldn't do "van life"...but a dream of mine is to buy or rent a camper and drive out to the national parks out west.

I wouldn't do it without it being a full-blown camper with a bathroom and a bed. "Van life" seems way too cramped for me.