February 11, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode of the Van Life Series, your hosts dive into the real-life highs and lows of life on the road. From the thrill of free camping under the stars to the challenges of navigating long days of driving and figuring out where to sleep, they share the raw moments that make vanlife so unforgettable. Along the way, they reflect on how the lifestyle shifts their perspective on life, showing how little we really need to live fully and how the freedom of minimalism can be life-changing.
Tune in for an honest look at the adventures, the struggles, and the simple joys of life on the road—this episode is packed with stories, lessons, and plenty of laughs along the way.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Appodjay production.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
The Van Life Series podcast acknowledge the traditional owners and
ongoing custodians of the land on which this podcast is recorded.
We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and tour As
Strait Islander people, and to the elder's past, present and emerging.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
You just need to take the step and get out
there and do it. We actually can turn what we
love into our career.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
We wanted to travel to be a part of life
and not a perk of life.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
It's the best decision I've ever made.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Every day is now different, different sun rise at a
different beach.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
That's just a paradise.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Yeah, it's a paradise.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It's an insane I feel so alive and free.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Hand in your notice, make a plan and just commit
to it. I would just say do it.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
The Van Life Series.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
We were like instantly, like first friends.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
This whole podcast is basically you admitting that I am
your very good mother.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
You can't wait until life isn't hard anymore, until you
decide to be happy. And that is the motto that
I did for in getting in my vent and just going.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I think my confidence in my natural beauty now I
would never have gotten if I didn't do band life.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
You know, when the weather's really really bad and you
can't get out of the college, sometimes you're kissing in
a bag.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Hey everyone, and welcome to the Van Life series podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
My name is Olivia and today I'm going to be
talking to my best friend Chelsea, who I've met on
the road in fan life.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Hello, how are you. I'm good. It's good to see
you again. It's been a while since we've spoken.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
I still feels normal, though.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Still feels very normal.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
You're obviously still living in the van, and I'm now
I've got a.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Room, so I am definitely still living in my van.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
I'm currently in a Bunnings car park on their Wi
Fi to record this podcast, which is typical van life.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Absolutely, it's been like three months since I saw you,
But it's also been like nine months or something since
we met in Esperance, WA.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
Which is crazy to think that we met and we
just become best friends instantly. We were like, let's travel together,
and we pretty much never left each other's side.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
I think that's one of the things that people fear
the most, is like if they start their van life
journey on their own, they expect that they're not going
to meet.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
People, and I had that as well.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Yeah, and I did travel for three months on my own,
but then I met.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
You and then we weren't separate and four Yeah. No,
it's crazy how quick the times are gone. Definitely, what
are some of the topics that we do want to
touch on today? Like, I think one of the main
things is why we chose to do van life. So
for me, I was just like bored of working the
(02:56):
basic nine to five job, and like I always had
my van that I dreamed of traveling, and like I
had the van sitting at home like doing nothing. It's
three years and then one day I just said, you
know what, you only live once, like just getting your
van and go. And I was so scared to leave home,
Like I spent a whole day before I left like
(03:16):
spewing because I was so sures and I'm like, what's
going to happen?
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Like, and I had to cross the Nulla war as well,
so like I just didn't know like what was in
for me, And I guess that would.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Be like you, Yeah, I think my decision to do
van in life was honestly very spontaneous. I kind of
had no challenge in my life, and I was getting
quite bored and I wanted to travel, but I didn't
want to go too far away from home because I'd
never been overseas before, and so it was a really
(03:48):
spontaneous decision. I woke up one day and I decided
that I was going to tell my parents that I'm
buying a van and I'm leaving. And then three months
later I had bought my van.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
They probably would have worked at you, like what.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
They thought that.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I was absolutely insane full supportive though, but yeah, it's
three months of me buying the van and getting ready
and then I was like, see a fam, I'm out
of here.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I think that's the best thing.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
When you actually have your parents support into doing it,
it makes it ten times easier. And to know that,
like if it wasn't for you, you could literally turn
around and go home, like you have your little home
on the wheel ye wheels.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
And it's just so much unseen that needs to be seen, Like.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
Australia is beautiful, like we have such a beautiful backyard,
and it shocks me every day that people haven't discovered
it yet. And I think after traveling, like a nine
hour drive feels like a one hour drive and something's
just down the road, like it'st but it's.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Not that far.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I think the beauty of being in a van as
well is that if anything goes wrong or you feel
like you just.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Want to go home, you're in a vehicle that you
can just drive back home.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
It's not like you have to book flights or anything, and.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
Your vehicle becomes your safe place at the end of
the day, Like that is where you feel most safe,
and like you could be in any sort of situation
on the road and you don't feel safe, you have
a homemone will so you just hop in and you
just sleep.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, we're both lucky enough to have a van that
like we can jump in the front seat as well,
and started multiple times.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Absolutely, Like if you're afraid to do van life because
of like the situations or the places that you might
be in, I highly recommend a van where you can
be in the back and then.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Jump straight into the driver's seat. Yeah, but I do
absolutely multiple times.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
Yeah, I think we should really touch base on how
he did actually meet. So, like I left, I was
about a week into my lap and the first town
after the number war was es friends and I sort
of had live on social media, but that was all
it was, like we just followed each other and I.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Reached out to her and I was like, hey girl,
Like she stalked me senior in estans, like do you
want to catch up?
Speaker 5 (06:03):
And yeah, I guess you were down to meet you
and pretty much since then we were like instantly like
first friends. Like nothing was forced, like there was no
jealousy there, like because we were doing the same lifestyle.
I think having you there at the very start for
me personally made the experience much better because you taught
(06:23):
me through like these are the things you need to do,
like when you self camp, but these are the things
that you need to watch out for, like get this
fore event.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
It's really good.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
Like if I didn't have you, it would have been
more tricky. But I think that's the whole experience within itself.
And then yeah, I guess we didn't. Yeah, we just
decided to follow each.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Other around like little flies, didn't we.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I definitely like enjoyed the first three months on my own,
but then it was just like a completely different shift
when I met you, and it was just such an
easy and simple friendship, and I think that is quite
rare however, obviously not impossible. Yeah, and I don't know,
I feel like my lap around Astray was improved by
(07:06):
you being there, and I'm really grateful for that.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
Oh why hot, No, honestly, I agree with that so
much and I'm so grateful, Like I think it was
really important for me as well, and like you you
were by my side with this is like you need
to go and spend some time alone as well, Like
you need to do it by yourself.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So I think, like obviously WA was crazy.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
We met so many people, so like when you go
to the Northern Territory, it was like, Okay, this is
going to be my sort of time where I get
to experience our life alone. And I think that's also
when I had the most challenges throwing it me, Like
I was very down.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
I was at a very low.
Speaker 5 (07:45):
Point in my life with like getting a bit homesick,
like in if clock what almost six months, which isn't
a long time, but I think when you're not working,
you're traveling every day and you're constantly Like it's such
a hard thing to say because like people look at
vanlife and that's the dream, and it is the dream.
Like I'm so great or that I did it and
(08:06):
I still can do it.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
But yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Think people don't really look at the exhaustion that comes
with it with trying to refine. I feel like people
definitely forget how big Australia is, Like there is not
always something to do. Areas can be very isolated, and
you know, there might be a bad patch of weather
where you actually can't go out and do anything that
(08:30):
you would normally do, and I feel like that's when
your mental strength really grows and it's a good thing.
But it's also like one of the lows of traveling,
like it's not always each days and hiking and everything
like that. Yeah, for sure, and like you are stuck
in this bots like we touched on like weather conditions.
You know, if it's hot and humid, the inside is
(08:52):
the same, Like it doesn't cool down. You can have
fans going, like unless you can get power every single
night and have an air condit like it is our
hot bots like, And I think that's another thing as well,
Like me of sleep, I really struggled with sleeping on
the road because I was one I was worried sometimes,
but then two it was like the inside was just
(09:13):
super hot, definitely.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Yeah, spray bottle. A spray bottle of water goes a
long way.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
Remember when Remember when my aircorn didn't work for majority
of my lap and you had.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Your spray bottle and I would be.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
Cruising, like driving seven hours with the windows down, and
I was so hot and I was like, oh, I
need your spray bottle. I was just like literally spraying
myself every five minutes the windows down and call me off.
Seven hour drive and like you had airpones, we'd get
out of your car and be so fat and I'd
get out with my cold.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Oh that was actually hilarious.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
It was like as well, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
I looked back and I'm like, I can't believe I
like traveled majority of that without having like an air
like those in the podcast. Like my aircorn shat itself
two days into my lap and it just needed regassing.
But I didn't really get it regas because I'm like, oh,
it's fine, Like I'll be fine. And then as we
sort of went up Australia, more just got more hot,
(10:21):
and I was like, I really should do something about this.
So yeah, it wasn't until like after the whole of
WA that I actually decided to get my air con.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
The weather is no joke in the top end of Australia,
especially during the summer months, it is insane and I
highly recommend you do have your aircorn regas for anyone listening.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Absolutely.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
Yeah, that's one of the things that I've really learned
on the road is like how Australia's got so.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Many different like climates.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Yeah, the climate's how it's so different, Like you could
drive four hours and there'd be a whole different climate.
Like it can be hot and humid, drive four hours down,
it's not as humid.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Drive another four hours down it's cold.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
Like It's crazy how quick the weather conditions can really change.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
And yeah, I think that that is one of the
hardest parts.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Also makes it really convenient though, Like it's really convenient
that if you're feeling down and miserable because it's raining
and bucketing in Perth, just drive up a few hours
and I promise to you the weather is probably sunny.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Absolutely, And that's exactly what we ended up doing. Yeah,
I think we should touch face.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
I traveled around Australia in a little pyon die eye load,
like a little greasy then I did it on a budget,
like my father helped me with everything.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
I'm so grateful for that man.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
So, like I did get this van really cheap, and
then I can't stand up in it, and then Live's
got this brand.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
New I definitely went the other extreme. It's an LDV
Deliver nine.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
Yeah, and like Live has a sink, she has a shower,
she has a toilet.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
I mean it would be great if she had a
washing machine.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
So I think for us.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Having traveled together, like it was really handy because when
the weather was ship or I couldn't be bothered walking
to the toilet. I would just knock on the door
and be like, hey, like I'm here to here's your toilet. Yeah,
or like we went, we would go like a few
days without a shower.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Live unneed your shower, Like, but then like I.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Guess it's definitely something to consider.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Absolutely, Yeah, and then like going back to like the
weather conditions, you know, they've still had this nice, like
little home that she could stand up in. Like for me,
it was like when it was raining, I couldn't go
outside to cook because my kitchen had pulled from the back.
So I did really struggle in those aspects. And she
obviously has her toilet. I don't have a toilet, so
(12:53):
I did spend a lot of time in the bushes.
You just got to learn to do it, like and
I wasn't like that when I left my I did
beauty for seven years.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Like me, sort of living outdoors is something so so.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
New, and I just had.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
To really suck up.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
All the gross things that come within van life, Like
you know, you have to sometimes this outside, like you
can't do it inside, and you know, when the weather's
really really bad and you can't get out the color,
sometimes you're kissing in a bag.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, So like if you're wanting to do van life
and that's not something that you want to do, then
the option that I went with, like having a shower
and having a toilet is something that you should consider. Yeah, absolutely,
Like I definitely could have done it without. I definitely
could have gone without it all, but it's something that
I wanted to prioritize. And like standing up in my
van is super important because I do have like a
(13:47):
back injury, and I knew that if I couldn't stand up,
I just wouldn't enjoy my travels. So there's definitely two
extremes that you can do van life, whether you're it's
because of your budget that you need to go one
way or the other, or just like your priorities and
your standpoint on what you want while you travel. There's
definitely always a way that you can travel Australia in
(14:07):
a van.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
Yeah, And I think it just depends on the person,
Like if you think that you are really capable to
live sort of like in a small van like I did,
or like some people you know like live. She has
priorities and she wanted something bigger and that's totally okay,
But it just goes to show that like, no, like
we still have the same memories at the end of
the day, Yeah, traveling in like you know, I was
(14:31):
in a smaller van, she was in a big one.
We still see the same things. We've still done the
same things. Like you're not really missing out. Yeah, you
obviously just have your few like more challenges, but that's
just grow she as a person.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
I did get bogged on the beach though, So if
you have a bigger van, maybe maybe don't drive on
the beach where your tiny van friend goes.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
I'd had too, Like the amount of roads that we
talk out vans down that were probably considered full will
drive tracks and we were just like, you know what,
it'll be fine. We spend many many times on corrugated
ro and me and lived send each other a tents
message and be like this is fucked like and then
we wouldn't call it this somewhere and like everything's like moved.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Around in the back of the van and like would
surprise like it'd opened the door and would have.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
A looking to see what's like moved lim you had,
didn't you have like a tray that was smashed.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yeah, so a tray on my bed that he was
usually there, I like, for some reason, hadn't put it back.
And obviously after a big drive, I'd opened my van
and this tray had a candle, my laptop, like books, crystals,
everything was just scattered throughout my van. And you know,
there are some of the moments of van life that
people don't usually show on social media. But I was
(15:49):
just so enthused by my own stupidity that I shared
it and it ended up being like one of everyone's
favorite videos.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
So like, I know, and I'm just going to embrace
brace it all.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
People appreciate like the like the reality of it, not
just like the beautiful beaches, like they appreciate when you
show them the things that can go wrong.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
But I think, like you've just got to do it.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
Like that's all I say to people, Like it's not
that hard, you just got to do it.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Like I left with savings. None of us worked on
the road.
Speaker 5 (16:19):
We just traveled around and we lived very minimalistic, so
like you know, we would go shopping once a week.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Sometimes we would over buy food. I would say that because.
Speaker 5 (16:29):
Like, you know, you want to make one dish and
then you have all these extreme ingredients. You need to
be mindful, like sometimes you make the same food over
and over again because you only want those small ingredients
you don't need like ten ingredients stores sumwhere in the
van for one dish.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, I think me having a freezer helped, yes a lot,
because I got to freeze produce and stuff in like
those towns that didn't really have a lot of grocery stores.
But for you, it was definitely more difficult, Like all
of your food ended up being predominantly vegetarian because you
just couldn't store.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
My continental food was like a musk because all I
needed was butter and water. But like that's the thing
I always say as well, like it's not hard, we
are just lazy, and like, yeah, I could say that's lazy,
but I wanted to I don't know, like food for me. Yeah,
it was more just like I just need some food
for my body. Like I wasn't very much like I
(17:26):
love to cook, Like I actually didn't caught going into
van life, so yeah, I didn't really cook on the road.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I think live cooked more dishes for me.
Speaker 6 (17:34):
And then like, actually I love that quote, well quote,
I love that quote that you say that you're like
nothing's hard, we're just lazy, and I think that is
so accurate.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
Yes, you can't What is the quote? It's you can't
wait until life isn't hard anymore, until you decide to
be happy. And that is the motto that I lived
for in getting in my vent and just going yeah,
get in it and go pipe up all this stuff,
get it in a definitely Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
People our age obviously, we went through COVID in like
our early twenties and stuff, and everyone kind of just
gave up on adventure and gave up on like their
goals and dreams. But we're just lazy, Like our generation
is just so lazy. Compared to like our parents, let's say, so,
I think the main thing to remind yourself is like
it's not actually that hard.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
You just need to do it.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yeah, Like you just need to pack everything in the
car and drive off and then figure it out from there.
Because where like as humans, we know how to survive
if we're thrown in the deep end.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
And that's it.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
I think that's another thing like with living in an event,
because you do spend like majority of its fine outdoors,
you do learn like your basic survival skills and you know,
like you know, like I have to go. You can
prioritize the things that need to do, and like you need
to do washing, Okay, you need to drag to a
lawndering mat. Like there's other there's so much like things
(18:58):
that went into it behind the.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Scenes, like that we don't really speak about.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
And I think that's as simple as like I need
to wash my sheets, Like okay, you spend a whole
day at the laundry that because by the time you've
compiled all your laundry and you find a laundry mat,
like you're gonna be there for the whole day. And
then on top of that, like you need to fill
up your water. I was filling up water jugs I
didn't have, like I didn't have a tank in my van,
so I was just filling up water jugs and then
to find like water and then drinking water as well.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
That's another one.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
It can be really difficult to find drinking water, especially
on the West coast of Australia. Like a lot of
the small towns don't have fresh drinking water. So I
had a water filter for when I was filling out
my water tanks. But even still, like sometimes there are
just places that do not have water at all that you.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
Can get and restock at. Yeah, like in Xmouth.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
In Xmouth, you had to go back and forth from
the bathroom with a water.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Bottle like a hundred times.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
Oh absolutely. And like let's touch face on camping, like
wiki camps is amazing fur liv on the road. I
highly suggest that to everyone that it's something that men
lived pretty much lived on that helped us with you know,
finding water, finding nice places to see, and then obviously
your free camps. We did spend most of the time
(20:16):
in free camps, and I think that's where we saved
the money, so much money. Like the only times we
would get a power site. Was we felt unsafe or
if we needed to ye, well, yeah, I guess it
was more just like if we felt unsafe, because we
didn't really pay for a campsite other than that, did we.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I think we paid for one. Yeah, we paid for
like one campsite in Carlinora, I think. But the rest
of it was just free camps And there are free
camps everywhere if you look hard enough.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Yeah, But then in saying that, your free camp could.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
Be like an hour, So when we were in ET's Mouth,
we were driving an hour to and from every single
day because you can't stealth camp, Like there's some towns
that are so so strict on parking up somewhere on
the side of the street for a night, like you'll
wake up to like a three hundred dollar fine.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
It's happened to.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
Me in Ely, where I am now living, Like you
just got to be so careful and obviously you're not
a local there until you get there, so you don't
know how the town's gonna work. But you knew those
real Cheracy towns were always going to be hard to
find somewhere to camp. But yeah, yeah, an hour or
two and from every day just to see AT's mouth
and then the saying in broom. It was about forty
five minutes to and from. Yeah, just to sleep, like
(21:32):
literally just to drive somewhere and be able to sleep
knowing that you're not going to wake up to a
fine And I think that was the most exhausting part,
is constantly being like I love this town, Like I
wish I could just stay in the beach park you want,
but no, you do have to get up and you
have to go drive, so you can't site, which is yeah,
it's not just ten minutes down the road.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
It can be an hour, yeah, sometimes less, sometimes more.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
I think as much as I didn't plan my trip,
and as spontaneous as my trip was, it does require
so much planning. And I think I experienced a lot
of my exhaustion and purely based on having to find
where I was going to sleep that night, where I
was going.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
To get water, where I was going to get food.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Like that is such a challenging part of van life
that people do not talk about.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
Yeah, absolutely, And like I just remember, like when I was.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
In the Anti, I just hit rock bottom because I
was sick.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
I couldn't find a shower, like I couldn't find somebody care.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And I was like I didn't want to go to
the shops. I was just in such a rut. And
I'm like, you know, calling my parents and I'm like,
I don't know if I can do this, but yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:39):
Lucky they were always there to be like, you know,
you can always come home for a little.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Bit, like come see us. And that's really good on the.
Speaker 5 (22:46):
Route too, like with your savings, like have your like, yeah,
just have a ticket, so like you can just fly
home for a couple of weeks, fly back, and then
start again. Because I think going home really refreshes your mind,
and then it also makes you see like that not
everything's about your home sound, like there's so.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Much more out there.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
And I think because you've like you've grown on the
road and you go back home, you realize like it's
not for you, or you might realize that that sound
is for you, and then like that just makes your
decisions easier for your future as well, because I think
our constant search for life is finding out who we
want to be.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
And yeah, then life.
Speaker 5 (23:27):
Really does help that because it brings out so many
emotions that you didn't know you had.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah, I'm definitely incredibly happy and appreciative of my opportunity
to be able to travel this country, and I think
it has definitely changed my perspective on life, especially with
like understanding how minimally you can live as a human.
Like my materialistic side has dropped significantly from when I left.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Absolutely does.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Where I left, I was like fake nails, lashes, and
like expensive clothes and everything.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Yeah, the whole shit. Bam.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Yeah, And now now I'm just going to chop my
hair on.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
The side of the road, like I'm just going to
get normal now polished my nails.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
You truly get to understand like how little you need
to be happy, Yeah, absolutely, which I think is like
a really good outcome from this kind of lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Yeah, for sure. I remember there would be titans when.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
I'm like I feel like straightening my hair to day,
and mind you, this would be like maybe once every
two months, and like I would literally go into an
aquatic center and find a PowerPoint, unplug the blow dryer,
use the PowerPoint, straighten my hair, and walked out of there.
But my hair is like already like seven days with
not being washed. Like the things that you.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Do, the things you do for a shower.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Yeah, when Live was saying about your appearance.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
The other thing as well is I think in this generation,
like you're always made to feel that you're meant to
look a certain way and be a certain way. And
I know, like a lot of us young girls judge
ourselves in a mirror about how we look. But in
a van, you don't have access to a full length mirror,
Like you rarely see the image of yourself. So I
(25:15):
think that's really good because you're not always looking and criticizing.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
The way that you look.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
Yeah, And that was one thing that like it was
it was really difficult for me at the start, and
it was difficult to live too.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Like sometimes we would be in a shopping center, we'd
find a full length mirror.
Speaker 5 (25:30):
We would just stand there for about a few minutes
and we just look at each other and be like,
this is so weird, like to see ourselves in a
full length mirror.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Yeah, because you don't get access to that on the road.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
I think my confidence in my natural beauty now I
would never have gotten if I didn't do band life, yeah,
a hundred, because I would have still been stuck in
that world where you know, there are certain standards that
society puts on women, especially, and I think if I
didn't do ban Life, I would never be as confident
(26:02):
as I am now to be like out in public
in no makeup, in clothes that I got from an
op shop, Like, I would not be the person I
am now if it weren't for Van Life, And I
am actually super proud and happy that you know that
change is being made.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
To my lifestyle.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
Yeah, Like, I'm so confident now to just walk around
without make up.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
But before, when I was in beauty, it was.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
Like you have to wear it every day and then
when you didn't have it on, people would be like,
are you sick? Whereas I think people got to see
me so natural with it. It was like that's Chelsea.
And then when I would dress up, they'd be like,
oh my god, you look so nice and I'm like, yeah,
I know, like sort of just yeah, it's crazy and
obviously like you can't get your hair done. For me,
(26:44):
being a blonde, living on the road has been really challenging.
My hair is just bruttal, like the Australian sun is harsh,
so yeah, sometimes it's just easy not to like if
you're living on the road, I would say, like wash
it maybe once every two weeks, like don't brush it,
just like let it be disgusting that life. You don't
(27:06):
know anyone that you see, Like, let your hair be
any self discussing it's okay, Like, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Anyone that you meet on the road probably hasn't showered
in a week or so as well.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
So they aren't going to judge you. They cannot judge you.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
The guys have it so easy if they don't have
long hair, they have.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
It so easy.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
It is so much more difficult being a woman and
having to keep your hair looking like you haven't been
attacked by bird.
Speaker 5 (27:36):
Let's touch base on the topic about being a girl,
like a solo female traveler, because I think a lot
of the people that men live have met on the road,
they've been like couples and then lots of males. We
didn't really we met maybe two girls that traveled alone.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah, it's definitely more rare to see women traveling alone.
And like, I didn't see anyone really doing ban life
for the first three months of my LAP, and I
was quite surprised and quite shocked about that. But you know,
when other people, especially all the oldies out there traveling
(28:15):
see that you are a solo female.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
They look out for you. They do.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Like the amount of old couples that I would have
come and talk to me and like offer me advice
or where to go and where not to go. Like
the community that are traveling around this country are so
beautiful and so lovely as long as you're open and
wanting to have those conversations.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Absolutely.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
Yeah, That's one thing I realized is like you'll be
at to camps at and you always meet people, but
there are so many older people traveling in their caravans,
but they're always there to help you in your advice.
And I found it was always good to have a
little yarn of the oldies, you know, Yeah, I can
see what they're up to. Yeah, and they give you
the best advice on the road because you know, they've
lived a longer life than what we have.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
They've been doing it for longer.
Speaker 5 (28:59):
Did you ever feel unsafe, Like, did you ever feel
unsafe with being in your van?
Speaker 4 (29:06):
I think I got very lucky on my trip.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
There were only maybe a handful of times where I
did feel a little bit uneasy in certain campsites. But
obviously the beauty of being in the van is I
get to close the door and lock it and it
makes me feel safe, or I can get in the
front and drive away. So I think trusting your instincts
(29:30):
and going with your gut feeling is so important when
you're traveling alone. I did feel safe in probably ninety
percent of Australia as a solo female. There were just
a few places where you know, you drive through and
you get that feeling and you just continue to drive.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
You just keep driving.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Too, And there is nothing wrong with trusting your gut
and missing like a town and just.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
Going through it.
Speaker 5 (29:58):
Absolutely. Yeah, No, I think I feel the same with
you in that one. I did feel safe majority of
my lab And that's another thing as well, like when
you travel, you are going to miss some places, like
don't feel like you need to see everything, like have
your bad days, like you know you don't really need
to see everything. I think that most people when you travel,
(30:20):
expect you to see these beautiful.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Places, and which you do, but you aren't, like.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Don't feel expected to have to go and see everything,
because that's when you're draining yourself more by planning full time.
Travel is exhausting, it is, it's like a hole you're
planning your day constantly. Like me and living we would
sit down on nights and rather than talk about our day,
we would be like, Okay, what's the plan tomorrow?
Speaker 5 (30:45):
Where are we going from here? Where are the free camps?
Are we going to have phone service? Yeah, it's just
lots of planning.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
I think it's a big change from a nine to five.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Like if you go to work at nine o'clock and
you get home at five, you don't have to plan
what you're doing the next day. That night you get
to chill out for a few hours and then you
might not work on the weekends and stuff that doesn't
happen when you're traveling full time. It is like a
consistent and constant battle of trying to make sure you
can get through to the next day.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
It is exhausted, absolutely, but we are grateful and like
I know, we sound really ungrateful. I think we're just
talking about our challenges, Like, you know, every day was great.
We will say that, but it obviously is that part
that's exhausting, that it's not on them talked about. Yeah,
but like we were so lucky in wa to have
met like not only did there then I traveled together.
(31:35):
But then we convoyed with about how many falls about
six six seven.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Yeah, on and off with multiple people similar age to us.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
And then we would be like it would come to
a free camp which is probably just a truck stop
that night, and we would all put our cars in
a circle and have our camp fire and our deck
chairs and like.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
It was so fun. And then we order about bug
disco on nights where you wouldn't have a campfire, and
like we sat around with these people and they had
a lantern.
Speaker 5 (32:09):
And we would sit there and we caught it bug
disco where we would look at the bugs and watch
them and it would make it be like a nightclub
but with bugs.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
And like we didn't have phone service, we couldn't have.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
Fire, Like it's the simple thing.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Yeah, yeah, we'll make our own fun. And it was
so much fun.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
Like really get back to your roots.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Yeah, it does.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
It's very wholesome feeling when you meet other people on
the road as well, because they have the same mentality
as you.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Having no service is not always a bad thing, Like
it can be very refreshing. So if you're with people
and you feel safe, I feel like embracing the no
service areas of Australia is actually such a beautiful situation
to be in because you don't realize some of the
things that you know, you go outside and you look
at the stars, you go outside and like the breeze
(33:01):
or anything like that, Like you don't appreciate those things
if you're inside your and on your phone watching a movie.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
Yeah, And I'm guilty for that because I would always
be like, I want a service so I can watch
a movie in bed tonight. In some days where I
didn't have that, it was like, oh, well, get off
your phone, go read a book, like bo, do some art,
like go do something that's going to benefit you would
make you feel great.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (33:22):
But then I guess because with social media we're so
consumed by it and movies that we just consume so
much time. So if you don't have that there, you
have to find other things to do.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
You definitely learn how to entertain yourself in the no
service areas.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
What was the main thing you think you did to
entertain yourself.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
I loved those paint by numbers that you get it, Kmar.
I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Did Y's that's what you did?
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Aug the time I would go to KMA and I
would buy like their paint by numbers canvass and then
that would entertain me for like the entire afternoon, not
even joking.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Yeah, now I would just do art and then yeah,
I mean me and live.
Speaker 5 (34:04):
Like we would park up next to each other and
we'd have both our doors open, would be sitting in
the vans, like we wouldn't be in each other's vans.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Very rarely would we do that. We would sort of
just like put our head out the window and be.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
Like, hey, live and she'd like, chum sitting and then
we'd ask a question and that's that for the next
couple hours. Like we were almost like a married couple
on the road that then lived in separate beds. I think, yeah,
we just become that use to each other and like
he just lives there.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
We both enjoyed our personal space, but like loved having
the company there.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
So it worked really well that we both had the
same mentality.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
Yeah, Whereas I guess if you clash in personality, she
could have had someone really fucking annoying, but you had me,
and I'm great.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
Yeah, you are great.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
She's so great that even if we're parked right beside
each other, she'll still call me on the phone.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Yeah, like I.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Can hear her from my window, but she's on the
phone to me. So that's the level that it gets
to when they're traveling together on the road.
Speaker 5 (35:07):
Yeah, just because I couldn't be stuff to actually get
out of my van and like through most of it
when we would have our like some days we would
drive three hours, other days we would.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Drive like eight hours.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
And yeah, it would always be live in front of
me because my phone battery is stuffed, so like I
couldn't have maps on and I couldn't play my music
in my older van, so whereas Live she could charge
her phone and have her maps on.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
So it was like Live, you're in front. I'm not
having maps on, just music. I need the music. And yeah,
we would pass things on the side of the road
and send each other a text and me we'd be like,
did you see that.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
This whole podcast is basically you admitting that like I
am your fairy godmother.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
You're honestly like sometimes you were my mother. You would
give me the lectures I was.
Speaker 5 (35:56):
I'm a wild girl that lives in the van, and
she still allow us to like party and like do things,
and you were just a mom in a van. Yeah,
I would say, aspects were very different, but then we
were also very alike, which helped us. Yeah, just maintain
a good friendship. And like me and Liver being separated
now for three months, but we can call each other
(36:18):
like nothing's changed, Like yeah, and I think for now, I.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Would say, like I've stopped for a little bit, but
it's not forever, Like I want to keep going.
Speaker 5 (36:26):
I'm really really just happy when I was doing it,
and I love meeting new people.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
I love to hear.
Speaker 5 (36:32):
About their stories and why they're doing what they're doing
as well.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
I think that's the biggest thing you can take away
from our podcast in particular, is that, like, the friendships
that you could potentially make on the road could make
your entire life so much better. Like I didn't have
a lot of friends when I left to travel, and
now I've got like one of the best friendships that
I could have ever imagined having. I Yeah, I agree
(36:59):
with that purely because I decided to pack up and
I decided to get in my van and all a coincidence,
but we ended up being in the same town at
the same time, and I'm going to call it fate
because I'm so happy that I got to meet Chelsea.
She's truly my best friend, and whether she likes it
or not, I will continue to annoy for the rest
(37:20):
of her life.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
I'm in the wedding, so.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
I definitely think, like, if you're afraid to travel on
your own, don't be because you might find a Chelsea.
You might find a forever friend.
Speaker 5 (37:33):
Yeah, you might find your soulmate. You might find a Chelsea,
you know, or you just might find yourself.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
She's absolutely batshit crazy.
Speaker 5 (37:43):
Yeah, I just Yeah, That's the one advice I have
is honestly, get out and do it. And when you leave,
you'll look back in a couple of months and realize,
why didn't you go sooner?
Speaker 3 (37:53):
That wasn't hard, Like you.
Speaker 5 (37:55):
Will see how much happy you are on how freeing
it is to have a car that you're just is
your home and you're not working, like you're doing whatever
you want at your own time, like you are grounding
yourself every.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
Day, whereas back home you don't do that.
Speaker 5 (38:11):
So if you are thinking about ban life, go and
do it, Mike, go and do it.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
That's all I have to say.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Yeah, embrace all the challenges, Embrace all the ups and
the downs and just you know, go about it day
by day and I promise you that by the end
of it, you might never want to stop.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
It is truly life changing.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
And that's that's what we've.
Speaker 5 (38:34):
All come to the conclusion, like, yeah, we've both stopped
for a little while, but it doesn't mean it's forever.
And like, I'm sure we're going to meet up again
on the road. And then I think, once you know
you've done one country, that makes you want to go
and do all the other countries And.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Yeah, yeah, that's okay, you're allowed to do that.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
Don't be afraid to travel. It's all I have to say.
Speaker 5 (38:53):
Exactly, don't be afraid to travel, get out there and go.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Yeah all right, well, thanks guys for joining us on
the band Life series podcast. So if you had a
good time listening to mine and Chelsea's crazy journey of
fan life, and like, the one thing you can take
away from this is just don't be afraid. If you
want to do fan life and you want to travel Australia,
one hundred percent, just jump in the deep end and
embrace everything that happens.
Speaker 5 (39:20):
Yeah, I one hundreds and agree with that much love
be grateful for everything around you, because yeah, you often
don't see it.
Speaker 4 (39:29):
Thanks for listening to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
We would love if you could leave us a review,
and don't forget to hit subscribe or follow to stay
up to date with new episodes. Get out there and
try something new and we'll see for the next episode.
Appodjay production.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
The Van Life Series podcast acknowledge the traditional owners and
ongoing custodians of the land on which this podcast is recorded.
We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and tour As
Strait Islander people, and to the elder's past, present and emerging.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
You just need to take the step and get out
there and do it. We actually can turn what we
love into our career.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
We wanted to travel to be a part of life
and not a perk of life.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
It's the best decision I've ever made.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Every day is now different, different sun rise at a
different beach.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
That's just a paradise.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Yeah, it's a paradise.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It's an insane I feel so alive and free.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Hand in your notice, make a plan and just commit
to it. I would just say do it.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
The Van Life Series.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
We were like instantly, like first friends.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
This whole podcast is basically you admitting that I am
your very good mother.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
You can't wait until life isn't hard anymore, until you
decide to be happy. And that is the motto that
I did for in getting in my vent and just going.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I think my confidence in my natural beauty now I
would never have gotten if I didn't do band life.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
You know, when the weather's really really bad and you
can't get out of the college, sometimes you're kissing in
a bag.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Hey everyone, and welcome to the Van Life series podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
My name is Olivia and today I'm going to be
talking to my best friend Chelsea, who I've met on
the road in fan life.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
Hello, how are you. I'm good. It's good to see
you again. It's been a while since we've spoken.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
I still feels normal, though.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Still feels very normal.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
You're obviously still living in the van, and I'm now
I've got a.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Room, so I am definitely still living in my van.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
I'm currently in a Bunnings car park on their Wi
Fi to record this podcast, which is typical van life.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Absolutely, it's been like three months since I saw you,
But it's also been like nine months or something since
we met in Esperance, WA.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
Which is crazy to think that we met and we
just become best friends instantly. We were like, let's travel together,
and we pretty much never left each other's side.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
I think that's one of the things that people fear
the most, is like if they start their van life
journey on their own, they expect that they're not going
to meet.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
People, and I had that as well.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Yeah, and I did travel for three months on my own,
but then I met.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
You and then we weren't separate and four Yeah. No,
it's crazy how quick the times are gone. Definitely, what
are some of the topics that we do want to
touch on today? Like, I think one of the main
things is why we chose to do van life. So
for me, I was just like bored of working the
(02:56):
basic nine to five job, and like I always had
my van that I dreamed of traveling, and like I
had the van sitting at home like doing nothing. It's
three years and then one day I just said, you
know what, you only live once, like just getting your
van and go. And I was so scared to leave home,
Like I spent a whole day before I left like
(03:16):
spewing because I was so sures and I'm like, what's
going to happen?
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Like, and I had to cross the Nulla war as well,
so like I just didn't know like what was in
for me, And I guess that would.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Be like you, Yeah, I think my decision to do
van in life was honestly very spontaneous. I kind of
had no challenge in my life, and I was getting
quite bored and I wanted to travel, but I didn't
want to go too far away from home because I'd
never been overseas before, and so it was a really
(03:48):
spontaneous decision. I woke up one day and I decided
that I was going to tell my parents that I'm
buying a van and I'm leaving. And then three months
later I had bought my van.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
They probably would have worked at you, like what.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
They thought that.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I was absolutely insane full supportive though, but yeah, it's
three months of me buying the van and getting ready
and then I was like, see a fam, I'm out
of here.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I think that's the best thing.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
When you actually have your parents support into doing it,
it makes it ten times easier. And to know that,
like if it wasn't for you, you could literally turn
around and go home, like you have your little home
on the wheel ye wheels.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
And it's just so much unseen that needs to be seen, Like.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
Australia is beautiful, like we have such a beautiful backyard,
and it shocks me every day that people haven't discovered
it yet. And I think after traveling, like a nine
hour drive feels like a one hour drive and something's
just down the road, like it'st but it's.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Not that far.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I think the beauty of being in a van as
well is that if anything goes wrong or you feel
like you just.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Want to go home, you're in a vehicle that you
can just drive back home.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
It's not like you have to book flights or anything, and.
Speaker 5 (05:01):
Your vehicle becomes your safe place at the end of
the day, Like that is where you feel most safe,
and like you could be in any sort of situation
on the road and you don't feel safe, you have
a homemone will so you just hop in and you
just sleep.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, we're both lucky enough to have a van that
like we can jump in the front seat as well,
and started multiple times.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Absolutely, Like if you're afraid to do van life because
of like the situations or the places that you might
be in, I highly recommend a van where you can
be in the back and then.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Jump straight into the driver's seat. Yeah, but I do
absolutely multiple times.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
Yeah, I think we should really touch base on how
he did actually meet. So, like I left, I was
about a week into my lap and the first town
after the number war was es friends and I sort
of had live on social media, but that was all
it was, like we just followed each other and I.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Reached out to her and I was like, hey girl,
Like she stalked me senior in estans, like do you
want to catch up?
Speaker 5 (06:03):
And yeah, I guess you were down to meet you
and pretty much since then we were like instantly like
first friends. Like nothing was forced, like there was no
jealousy there, like because we were doing the same lifestyle.
I think having you there at the very start for
me personally made the experience much better because you taught
(06:23):
me through like these are the things you need to do,
like when you self camp, but these are the things
that you need to watch out for, like get this
fore event.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
It's really good.
Speaker 5 (06:31):
Like if I didn't have you, it would have been
more tricky. But I think that's the whole experience within itself.
And then yeah, I guess we didn't. Yeah, we just
decided to follow each.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Other around like little flies, didn't we.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I definitely like enjoyed the first three months on my own,
but then it was just like a completely different shift
when I met you, and it was just such an
easy and simple friendship, and I think that is quite
rare however, obviously not impossible. Yeah, and I don't know,
I feel like my lap around Astray was improved by
(07:06):
you being there, and I'm really grateful for that.
Speaker 5 (07:09):
Oh why hot, No, honestly, I agree with that so
much and I'm so grateful, Like I think it was
really important for me as well, and like you you
were by my side with this is like you need
to go and spend some time alone as well, Like
you need to do it by yourself.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So I think, like obviously WA was crazy.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
We met so many people, so like when you go
to the Northern Territory, it was like, Okay, this is
going to be my sort of time where I get
to experience our life alone. And I think that's also
when I had the most challenges throwing it me, Like
I was very down.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
I was at a very low.
Speaker 5 (07:45):
Point in my life with like getting a bit homesick,
like in if clock what almost six months, which isn't
a long time, but I think when you're not working,
you're traveling every day and you're constantly Like it's such
a hard thing to say because like people look at
vanlife and that's the dream, and it is the dream.
Like I'm so great or that I did it and
(08:06):
I still can do it.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
But yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Think people don't really look at the exhaustion that comes
with it with trying to refine. I feel like people
definitely forget how big Australia is, Like there is not
always something to do. Areas can be very isolated, and
you know, there might be a bad patch of weather
where you actually can't go out and do anything that
(08:30):
you would normally do, and I feel like that's when
your mental strength really grows and it's a good thing.
But it's also like one of the lows of traveling,
like it's not always each days and hiking and everything
like that. Yeah, for sure, and like you are stuck
in this bots like we touched on like weather conditions.
You know, if it's hot and humid, the inside is
(08:52):
the same, Like it doesn't cool down. You can have
fans going, like unless you can get power every single
night and have an air condit like it is our
hot bots like, And I think that's another thing as well,
Like me of sleep, I really struggled with sleeping on
the road because I was one I was worried sometimes,
but then two it was like the inside was just
(09:13):
super hot, definitely.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Yeah, spray bottle. A spray bottle of water goes a
long way.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
Remember when Remember when my aircorn didn't work for majority
of my lap and you had.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Your spray bottle and I would be.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
Cruising, like driving seven hours with the windows down, and
I was so hot and I was like, oh, I
need your spray bottle. I was just like literally spraying
myself every five minutes the windows down and call me off.
Seven hour drive and like you had airpones, we'd get
out of your car and be so fat and I'd
get out with my cold.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Oh that was actually hilarious.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
It was like as well, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:59):
I looked back and I'm like, I can't believe I
like traveled majority of that without having like an air
like those in the podcast. Like my aircorn shat itself
two days into my lap and it just needed regassing.
But I didn't really get it regas because I'm like, oh,
it's fine, Like I'll be fine. And then as we
sort of went up Australia, more just got more hot,
(10:21):
and I was like, I really should do something about this.
So yeah, it wasn't until like after the whole of
WA that I actually decided to get my air con.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
The weather is no joke in the top end of Australia,
especially during the summer months, it is insane and I
highly recommend you do have your aircorn regas for anyone listening.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Absolutely.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
Yeah, that's one of the things that I've really learned
on the road is like how Australia's got so.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Many different like climates.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Yeah, the climate's how it's so different, Like you could
drive four hours and there'd be a whole different climate.
Like it can be hot and humid, drive four hours down,
it's not as humid.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Drive another four hours down it's cold.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
Like It's crazy how quick the weather conditions can really change.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
And yeah, I think that that is one of the
hardest parts.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Also makes it really convenient though, Like it's really convenient
that if you're feeling down and miserable because it's raining
and bucketing in Perth, just drive up a few hours
and I promise to you the weather is probably sunny.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Absolutely, And that's exactly what we ended up doing. Yeah,
I think we should touch face.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
I traveled around Australia in a little pyon die eye load,
like a little greasy then I did it on a budget,
like my father helped me with everything.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
I'm so grateful for that man.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
So, like I did get this van really cheap, and
then I can't stand up in it, and then Live's
got this brand.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
New I definitely went the other extreme. It's an LDV
Deliver nine.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
Yeah, and like Live has a sink, she has a shower,
she has a toilet.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
I mean it would be great if she had a
washing machine.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
So I think for us.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Having traveled together, like it was really handy because when
the weather was ship or I couldn't be bothered walking
to the toilet. I would just knock on the door
and be like, hey, like I'm here to here's your toilet. Yeah,
or like we went, we would go like a few
days without a shower.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Live unneed your shower, Like, but then like I.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Guess it's definitely something to consider.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Absolutely, Yeah, and then like going back to like the
weather conditions, you know, they've still had this nice, like
little home that she could stand up in. Like for me,
it was like when it was raining, I couldn't go
outside to cook because my kitchen had pulled from the back.
So I did really struggle in those aspects. And she
obviously has her toilet. I don't have a toilet, so
(12:53):
I did spend a lot of time in the bushes.
You just got to learn to do it, like and
I wasn't like that when I left my I did
beauty for seven years.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Like me, sort of living outdoors is something so so.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
New, and I just had.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
To really suck up.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
All the gross things that come within van life, Like
you know, you have to sometimes this outside, like you
can't do it inside, and you know, when the weather's
really really bad and you can't get out the color,
sometimes you're kissing in a bag.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, So like if you're wanting to do van life
and that's not something that you want to do, then
the option that I went with, like having a shower
and having a toilet is something that you should consider. Yeah, absolutely,
Like I definitely could have done it without. I definitely
could have gone without it all, but it's something that
I wanted to prioritize. And like standing up in my
van is super important because I do have like a
(13:47):
back injury, and I knew that if I couldn't stand up,
I just wouldn't enjoy my travels. So there's definitely two
extremes that you can do van life, whether you're it's
because of your budget that you need to go one
way or the other, or just like your priorities and
your standpoint on what you want while you travel. There's
definitely always a way that you can travel Australia in
(14:07):
a van.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
Yeah, And I think it just depends on the person,
Like if you think that you are really capable to
live sort of like in a small van like I did,
or like some people you know like live. She has
priorities and she wanted something bigger and that's totally okay,
But it just goes to show that like, no, like
we still have the same memories at the end of
the day, Yeah, traveling in like you know, I was
(14:31):
in a smaller van, she was in a big one.
We still see the same things. We've still done the
same things. Like you're not really missing out. Yeah, you
obviously just have your few like more challenges, but that's
just grow she as a person.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
I did get bogged on the beach though, So if
you have a bigger van, maybe maybe don't drive on
the beach where your tiny van friend goes.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
I'd had too, Like the amount of roads that we
talk out vans down that were probably considered full will
drive tracks and we were just like, you know what,
it'll be fine. We spend many many times on corrugated
ro and me and lived send each other a tents
message and be like this is fucked like and then
we wouldn't call it this somewhere and like everything's like moved.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Around in the back of the van and like would
surprise like it'd opened the door and would have.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
A looking to see what's like moved lim you had,
didn't you have like a tray that was smashed.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Yeah, so a tray on my bed that he was
usually there, I like, for some reason, hadn't put it back.
And obviously after a big drive, I'd opened my van
and this tray had a candle, my laptop, like books, crystals,
everything was just scattered throughout my van. And you know,
there are some of the moments of van life that
people don't usually show on social media. But I was
(15:49):
just so enthused by my own stupidity that I shared
it and it ended up being like one of everyone's
favorite videos.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
So like, I know, and I'm just going to embrace
brace it all.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
People appreciate like the like the reality of it, not
just like the beautiful beaches, like they appreciate when you
show them the things that can go wrong.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
But I think, like you've just got to do it.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
Like that's all I say to people, Like it's not
that hard, you just got to do it.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Like I left with savings. None of us worked on
the road.
Speaker 5 (16:19):
We just traveled around and we lived very minimalistic, so
like you know, we would go shopping once a week.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Sometimes we would over buy food. I would say that because.
Speaker 5 (16:29):
Like, you know, you want to make one dish and
then you have all these extreme ingredients. You need to
be mindful, like sometimes you make the same food over
and over again because you only want those small ingredients
you don't need like ten ingredients stores sumwhere in the
van for one dish.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, I think me having a freezer helped, yes a lot,
because I got to freeze produce and stuff in like
those towns that didn't really have a lot of grocery stores.
But for you, it was definitely more difficult, Like all
of your food ended up being predominantly vegetarian because you
just couldn't store.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
My continental food was like a musk because all I
needed was butter and water. But like that's the thing
I always say as well, like it's not hard, we
are just lazy, and like, yeah, I could say that's lazy,
but I wanted to I don't know, like food for me. Yeah,
it was more just like I just need some food
for my body. Like I wasn't very much like I
(17:26):
love to cook, Like I actually didn't caught going into
van life, so yeah, I didn't really cook on the road.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I think live cooked more dishes for me.
Speaker 6 (17:34):
And then like, actually I love that quote, well quote,
I love that quote that you say that you're like
nothing's hard, we're just lazy, and I think that is
so accurate.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
Yes, you can't What is the quote? It's you can't
wait until life isn't hard anymore, until you decide to
be happy. And that is the motto that I lived
for in getting in my vent and just going yeah,
get in it and go pipe up all this stuff,
get it in a definitely Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
People our age obviously, we went through COVID in like
our early twenties and stuff, and everyone kind of just
gave up on adventure and gave up on like their
goals and dreams. But we're just lazy, Like our generation
is just so lazy. Compared to like our parents, let's say, so,
I think the main thing to remind yourself is like
it's not actually that hard.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
You just need to do it.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yeah, Like you just need to pack everything in the
car and drive off and then figure it out from there.
Because where like as humans, we know how to survive
if we're thrown in the deep end.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
And that's it.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
I think that's another thing like with living in an event,
because you do spend like majority of its fine outdoors,
you do learn like your basic survival skills and you know,
like you know, like I have to go. You can
prioritize the things that need to do, and like you need
to do washing, Okay, you need to drag to a
lawndering mat. Like there's other there's so much like things
(18:58):
that went into it behind the.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Scenes, like that we don't really speak about.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
And I think that's as simple as like I need
to wash my sheets, Like okay, you spend a whole
day at the laundry that because by the time you've
compiled all your laundry and you find a laundry mat,
like you're gonna be there for the whole day. And
then on top of that, like you need to fill
up your water. I was filling up water jugs I
didn't have, like I didn't have a tank in my van,
so I was just filling up water jugs and then
to find like water and then drinking water as well.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
That's another one.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
It can be really difficult to find drinking water, especially
on the West coast of Australia. Like a lot of
the small towns don't have fresh drinking water. So I
had a water filter for when I was filling out
my water tanks. But even still, like sometimes there are
just places that do not have water at all that you.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
Can get and restock at. Yeah, like in Xmouth.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
In Xmouth, you had to go back and forth from
the bathroom with a water.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Bottle like a hundred times.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
Oh absolutely. And like let's touch face on camping, like
wiki camps is amazing fur liv on the road. I
highly suggest that to everyone that it's something that men
lived pretty much lived on that helped us with you know,
finding water, finding nice places to see, and then obviously
your free camps. We did spend most of the time
(20:16):
in free camps, and I think that's where we saved
the money, so much money. Like the only times we
would get a power site. Was we felt unsafe or
if we needed to ye, well, yeah, I guess it
was more just like if we felt unsafe, because we
didn't really pay for a campsite other than that, did we.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I think we paid for one. Yeah, we paid for
like one campsite in Carlinora, I think. But the rest
of it was just free camps And there are free
camps everywhere if you look hard enough.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Yeah, But then in saying that, your free camp could.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
Be like an hour, So when we were in ET's Mouth,
we were driving an hour to and from every single
day because you can't stealth camp, Like there's some towns
that are so so strict on parking up somewhere on
the side of the street for a night, like you'll
wake up to like a three hundred dollar fine.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
It's happened to.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
Me in Ely, where I am now living, Like you
just got to be so careful and obviously you're not
a local there until you get there, so you don't
know how the town's gonna work. But you knew those
real Cheracy towns were always going to be hard to
find somewhere to camp. But yeah, yeah, an hour or
two and from every day just to see AT's mouth
and then the saying in broom. It was about forty
five minutes to and from. Yeah, just to sleep, like
(21:32):
literally just to drive somewhere and be able to sleep
knowing that you're not going to wake up to a
fine And I think that was the most exhausting part,
is constantly being like I love this town, Like I
wish I could just stay in the beach park you want,
but no, you do have to get up and you
have to go drive, so you can't site, which is yeah,
it's not just ten minutes down the road.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
It can be an hour, yeah, sometimes less, sometimes more.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
I think as much as I didn't plan my trip,
and as spontaneous as my trip was, it does require
so much planning. And I think I experienced a lot
of my exhaustion and purely based on having to find
where I was going to sleep that night, where I
was going.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
To get water, where I was going to get food.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Like that is such a challenging part of van life
that people do not talk about.
Speaker 5 (22:18):
Yeah, absolutely, And like I just remember, like when I was.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
In the Anti, I just hit rock bottom because I
was sick.
Speaker 5 (22:25):
I couldn't find a shower, like I couldn't find somebody care.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And I was like I didn't want to go to
the shops. I was just in such a rut. And
I'm like, you know, calling my parents and I'm like,
I don't know if I can do this, but yeah.
Speaker 5 (22:39):
Lucky they were always there to be like, you know,
you can always come home for a little.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Bit, like come see us. And that's really good on the.
Speaker 5 (22:46):
Route too, like with your savings, like have your like, yeah,
just have a ticket, so like you can just fly
home for a couple of weeks, fly back, and then
start again. Because I think going home really refreshes your mind,
and then it also makes you see like that not
everything's about your home sound, like there's so.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Much more out there.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
And I think because you've like you've grown on the
road and you go back home, you realize like it's
not for you, or you might realize that that sound
is for you, and then like that just makes your
decisions easier for your future as well, because I think
our constant search for life is finding out who we
want to be.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
And yeah, then life.
Speaker 5 (23:27):
Really does help that because it brings out so many
emotions that you didn't know you had.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah, I'm definitely incredibly happy and appreciative of my opportunity
to be able to travel this country, and I think
it has definitely changed my perspective on life, especially with
like understanding how minimally you can live as a human.
Like my materialistic side has dropped significantly from when I left.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Absolutely does.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Where I left, I was like fake nails, lashes, and
like expensive clothes and everything.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Yeah, the whole shit. Bam.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Yeah, And now now I'm just going to chop my
hair on.
Speaker 5 (24:07):
The side of the road, like I'm just going to
get normal now polished my nails.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
You truly get to understand like how little you need
to be happy, Yeah, absolutely, which I think is like
a really good outcome from this kind of lifestyle.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Yeah, for sure. I remember there would be titans when.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
I'm like I feel like straightening my hair to day,
and mind you, this would be like maybe once every
two months, and like I would literally go into an
aquatic center and find a PowerPoint, unplug the blow dryer,
use the PowerPoint, straighten my hair, and walked out of there.
But my hair is like already like seven days with
not being washed. Like the things that you.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Do, the things you do for a shower.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Yeah, when Live was saying about your appearance.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
The other thing as well is I think in this generation,
like you're always made to feel that you're meant to
look a certain way and be a certain way. And
I know, like a lot of us young girls judge
ourselves in a mirror about how we look. But in
a van, you don't have access to a full length mirror,
Like you rarely see the image of yourself. So I
(25:15):
think that's really good because you're not always looking and criticizing.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
The way that you look.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
Yeah, And that was one thing that like it was
it was really difficult for me at the start, and
it was difficult to live too.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Like sometimes we would be in a shopping center, we'd
find a full length mirror.
Speaker 5 (25:30):
We would just stand there for about a few minutes
and we just look at each other and be like,
this is so weird, like to see ourselves in a
full length mirror.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Yeah, because you don't get access to that on the road.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
I think my confidence in my natural beauty now I
would never have gotten if I didn't do band life, yeah,
a hundred, because I would have still been stuck in
that world where you know, there are certain standards that
society puts on women, especially, and I think if I
didn't do ban Life, I would never be as confident
(26:02):
as I am now to be like out in public
in no makeup, in clothes that I got from an
op shop, Like, I would not be the person I
am now if it weren't for Van Life, And I
am actually super proud and happy that you know that
change is being made.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
To my lifestyle.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
Yeah, Like, I'm so confident now to just walk around
without make up.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
But before, when I was in beauty, it was.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
Like you have to wear it every day and then
when you didn't have it on, people would be like,
are you sick? Whereas I think people got to see
me so natural with it. It was like that's Chelsea.
And then when I would dress up, they'd be like,
oh my god, you look so nice and I'm like, yeah,
I know, like sort of just yeah, it's crazy and
obviously like you can't get your hair done. For me,
(26:44):
being a blonde, living on the road has been really challenging.
My hair is just bruttal, like the Australian sun is harsh,
so yeah, sometimes it's just easy not to like if
you're living on the road, I would say, like wash
it maybe once every two weeks, like don't brush it,
just like let it be disgusting that life. You don't
(27:06):
know anyone that you see, Like, let your hair be
any self discussing it's okay, Like, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Anyone that you meet on the road probably hasn't showered
in a week or so as well.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
So they aren't going to judge you. They cannot judge you.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
The guys have it so easy if they don't have
long hair, they have.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
It so easy.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
It is so much more difficult being a woman and
having to keep your hair looking like you haven't been
attacked by bird.
Speaker 5 (27:36):
Let's touch base on the topic about being a girl,
like a solo female traveler, because I think a lot
of the people that men live have met on the road,
they've been like couples and then lots of males. We
didn't really we met maybe two girls that traveled alone.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah, it's definitely more rare to see women traveling alone.
And like, I didn't see anyone really doing ban life
for the first three months of my LAP, and I
was quite surprised and quite shocked about that. But you know,
when other people, especially all the oldies out there traveling
(28:15):
see that you are a solo female.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
They look out for you. They do.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Like the amount of old couples that I would have
come and talk to me and like offer me advice
or where to go and where not to go. Like
the community that are traveling around this country are so
beautiful and so lovely as long as you're open and
wanting to have those conversations.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Absolutely.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
Yeah, That's one thing I realized is like you'll be
at to camps at and you always meet people, but
there are so many older people traveling in their caravans,
but they're always there to help you in your advice.
And I found it was always good to have a
little yarn of the oldies, you know, Yeah, I can
see what they're up to. Yeah, and they give you
the best advice on the road because you know, they've
lived a longer life than what we have.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
They've been doing it for longer.
Speaker 5 (28:59):
Did you ever feel unsafe, Like, did you ever feel
unsafe with being in your van?
Speaker 4 (29:06):
I think I got very lucky on my trip.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
There were only maybe a handful of times where I
did feel a little bit uneasy in certain campsites. But
obviously the beauty of being in the van is I
get to close the door and lock it and it
makes me feel safe, or I can get in the
front and drive away. So I think trusting your instincts
(29:30):
and going with your gut feeling is so important when
you're traveling alone. I did feel safe in probably ninety
percent of Australia as a solo female. There were just
a few places where you know, you drive through and
you get that feeling and you just continue to drive.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
You just keep driving.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Too, And there is nothing wrong with trusting your gut
and missing like a town and just.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
Going through it.
Speaker 5 (29:58):
Absolutely. Yeah, No, I think I feel the same with
you in that one. I did feel safe majority of
my lab And that's another thing as well, like when
you travel, you are going to miss some places, like
don't feel like you need to see everything, like have
your bad days, like you know you don't really need
to see everything. I think that most people when you travel,
(30:20):
expect you to see these beautiful.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Places, and which you do, but you aren't, like.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Don't feel expected to have to go and see everything,
because that's when you're draining yourself more by planning full time.
Travel is exhausting, it is, it's like a hole you're
planning your day constantly. Like me and living we would
sit down on nights and rather than talk about our day,
we would be like, Okay, what's the plan tomorrow?
Speaker 5 (30:45):
Where are we going from here? Where are the free camps?
Are we going to have phone service? Yeah, it's just
lots of planning.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
I think it's a big change from a nine to five.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Like if you go to work at nine o'clock and
you get home at five, you don't have to plan
what you're doing the next day. That night you get
to chill out for a few hours and then you
might not work on the weekends and stuff that doesn't
happen when you're traveling full time. It is like a
consistent and constant battle of trying to make sure you
can get through to the next day.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
It is exhausted, absolutely, but we are grateful and like
I know, we sound really ungrateful. I think we're just
talking about our challenges, Like, you know, every day was great.
We will say that, but it obviously is that part
that's exhausting, that it's not on them talked about. Yeah,
but like we were so lucky in wa to have
met like not only did there then I traveled together.
(31:35):
But then we convoyed with about how many falls about
six six seven.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Yeah, on and off with multiple people similar age to us.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
And then we would be like it would come to
a free camp which is probably just a truck stop
that night, and we would all put our cars in
a circle and have our camp fire and our deck
chairs and like.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
It was so fun. And then we order about bug
disco on nights where you wouldn't have a campfire, and
like we sat around with these people and they had
a lantern.
Speaker 5 (32:09):
And we would sit there and we caught it bug
disco where we would look at the bugs and watch
them and it would make it be like a nightclub
but with bugs.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
And like we didn't have phone service, we couldn't have.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
Fire, Like it's the simple thing.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Yeah, yeah, we'll make our own fun. And it was
so much fun.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
Like really get back to your roots.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Yeah, it does.
Speaker 5 (32:32):
It's very wholesome feeling when you meet other people on
the road as well, because they have the same mentality
as you.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Having no service is not always a bad thing, Like
it can be very refreshing. So if you're with people
and you feel safe, I feel like embracing the no
service areas of Australia is actually such a beautiful situation
to be in because you don't realize some of the
things that you know, you go outside and you look
at the stars, you go outside and like the breeze
(33:01):
or anything like that, Like you don't appreciate those things
if you're inside your and on your phone watching a movie.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
Yeah, And I'm guilty for that because I would always
be like, I want a service so I can watch
a movie in bed tonight. In some days where I
didn't have that, it was like, oh, well, get off
your phone, go read a book, like bo, do some art,
like go do something that's going to benefit you would
make you feel great.
Speaker 4 (33:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (33:22):
But then I guess because with social media we're so
consumed by it and movies that we just consume so
much time. So if you don't have that there, you
have to find other things to do.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
You definitely learn how to entertain yourself in the no
service areas.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
What was the main thing you think you did to
entertain yourself.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
I loved those paint by numbers that you get it, Kmar.
I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Did Y's that's what you did?
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Aug the time I would go to KMA and I
would buy like their paint by numbers canvass and then
that would entertain me for like the entire afternoon, not
even joking.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Yeah, now I would just do art and then yeah,
I mean me and live.
Speaker 5 (34:04):
Like we would park up next to each other and
we'd have both our doors open, would be sitting in
the vans, like we wouldn't be in each other's vans.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Very rarely would we do that. We would sort of
just like put our head out the window and be.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
Like, hey, live and she'd like, chum sitting and then
we'd ask a question and that's that for the next
couple hours. Like we were almost like a married couple
on the road that then lived in separate beds. I think, yeah,
we just become that use to each other and like
he just lives there.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
We both enjoyed our personal space, but like loved having
the company there.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
So it worked really well that we both had the
same mentality.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
Yeah, Whereas I guess if you clash in personality, she
could have had someone really fucking annoying, but you had me,
and I'm great.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
Yeah, you are great.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
She's so great that even if we're parked right beside
each other, she'll still call me on the phone.
Speaker 4 (34:57):
Yeah, like I.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Can hear her from my window, but she's on the
phone to me. So that's the level that it gets
to when they're traveling together on the road.
Speaker 5 (35:07):
Yeah, just because I couldn't be stuff to actually get
out of my van and like through most of it
when we would have our like some days we would
drive three hours, other days we would.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
Drive like eight hours.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
And yeah, it would always be live in front of
me because my phone battery is stuffed, so like I
couldn't have maps on and I couldn't play my music
in my older van, so whereas Live she could charge
her phone and have her maps on.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
So it was like Live, you're in front. I'm not
having maps on, just music. I need the music. And yeah,
we would pass things on the side of the road
and send each other a text and me we'd be like,
did you see that.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
This whole podcast is basically you admitting that like I
am your fairy godmother.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
You're honestly like sometimes you were my mother. You would
give me the lectures I was.
Speaker 5 (35:56):
I'm a wild girl that lives in the van, and
she still allow us to like party and like do things,
and you were just a mom in a van. Yeah,
I would say, aspects were very different, but then we
were also very alike, which helped us. Yeah, just maintain
a good friendship. And like me and Liver being separated
now for three months, but we can call each other
(36:18):
like nothing's changed, Like yeah, and I think for now, I.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Would say, like I've stopped for a little bit, but
it's not forever, Like I want to keep going.
Speaker 5 (36:26):
I'm really really just happy when I was doing it,
and I love meeting new people.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
I love to hear.
Speaker 5 (36:32):
About their stories and why they're doing what they're doing
as well.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
I think that's the biggest thing you can take away
from our podcast in particular, is that, like, the friendships
that you could potentially make on the road could make
your entire life so much better. Like I didn't have
a lot of friends when I left to travel, and
now I've got like one of the best friendships that
I could have ever imagined having. I Yeah, I agree
(36:59):
with that purely because I decided to pack up and
I decided to get in my van and all a coincidence,
but we ended up being in the same town at
the same time, and I'm going to call it fate
because I'm so happy that I got to meet Chelsea.
She's truly my best friend, and whether she likes it
or not, I will continue to annoy for the rest
(37:20):
of her life.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
I'm in the wedding, so.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
I definitely think, like, if you're afraid to travel on
your own, don't be because you might find a Chelsea.
You might find a forever friend.
Speaker 5 (37:33):
Yeah, you might find your soulmate. You might find a Chelsea,
you know, or you just might find yourself.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
She's absolutely batshit crazy.
Speaker 5 (37:43):
Yeah, I just Yeah, That's the one advice I have
is honestly, get out and do it. And when you leave,
you'll look back in a couple of months and realize,
why didn't you go sooner?
Speaker 3 (37:53):
That wasn't hard, Like you.
Speaker 5 (37:55):
Will see how much happy you are on how freeing
it is to have a car that you're just is
your home and you're not working, like you're doing whatever
you want at your own time, like you are grounding
yourself every.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
Day, whereas back home you don't do that.
Speaker 5 (38:11):
So if you are thinking about ban life, go and
do it, Mike, go and do it.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
That's all I have to say.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Yeah, embrace all the challenges, Embrace all the ups and
the downs and just you know, go about it day
by day and I promise you that by the end
of it, you might never want to stop.
Speaker 4 (38:31):
It is truly life changing.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
And that's that's what we've.
Speaker 5 (38:34):
All come to the conclusion, like, yeah, we've both stopped
for a little while, but it doesn't mean it's forever.
And like, I'm sure we're going to meet up again
on the road. And then I think, once you know
you've done one country, that makes you want to go
and do all the other countries And.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Yeah, yeah, that's okay, you're allowed to do that.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
Don't be afraid to travel. It's all I have to say.
Speaker 5 (38:53):
Exactly, don't be afraid to travel, get out there and go.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Yeah all right, well, thanks guys for joining us on
the band Life series podcast. So if you had a
good time listening to mine and Chelsea's crazy journey of
fan life, and like, the one thing you can take
away from this is just don't be afraid. If you
want to do fan life and you want to travel Australia,
one hundred percent, just jump in the deep end and
embrace everything that happens.
Speaker 5 (39:20):
Yeah, I one hundreds and agree with that much love
be grateful for everything around you, because yeah, you often
don't see it.
Speaker 4 (39:29):
Thanks for listening to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
We would love if you could leave us a review,
and don't forget to hit subscribe or follow to stay
up to date with new episodes. Get out there and
try something new and we'll see for the next episode.
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