Lauren and Craig | The story so far.
Currently: 2024 will be a year of backpacking, starting with: Oman, The Maldives, China and Pakistan
Craig and I have been together for over 15 years. We met while working at Pizza Express in the South East of England and after a year of saving up we applied for a working holiday visa for Australia. We landed in Sydney in August 2008 and immediately bought a station wagon car which we lived in for 9 months…and we’ve never looked back.
We instantly fell in love with our new nomadic lifestyle and mastered the art of living simply and on a budget so we just kept going, and now 14 years later we’ve explored 85 countries together. Along the way we’ve bought and sold 7 campervans, each one we’ve called home and have found the freedom of living and travelling in a van has surpassed any other form of travel. When we’re not exploring in a home on wheels we can be found backpacking or volunteering to enable us to stretch our funds which we earn from working as waiters for around 6 months at a time in the UK or with various working holiday visas around the world. The volunteering has been an eye opener for us and a great way to experience new countries, we’ve found ourselves making mud bricks in the Sahara Desert, house sitting in Greece, helping build a bothy on a private island in Scotland and taking guests snow shoeing in the Norwegian Arctic.
Since covid restrictions eased we excitedly set off on our travels again and spent a year roadtripping around the UK, Ireland, Spain and France before selling our beloved Helga the camper and taking our backpacks around the world again. 2022 saw us exploring the Balkans, hiking through the mountains of Georgia, swimming with whales in Mauritius, coming face to face with wild lions in South Africa, hiking across the Himalaya’s and wild swimming in Taiwan.
So what are we doing after this seasonal job in the Lake District? We’re planning an epic backpacking trip starting February 2024 so stay tuned to see where we end up
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What awesome adventures you have, you look like a gorgeous hot couple with a huge zest for life! Good luck, I will be reading your updates.
Wow! Lauren and Craig, you two are awesome! What an adventurous life you’re living. From one nomad to another, I applaud your intrepid spirits. Can’t wait to read more. All the best, Terri
Thank you very much Terri, what a lovely comment! Your story is great!! I wonder if we’ll make it 30 years like you two!
Adventures blog! I am glad I stumbled across your blog and I wish to read more of your adventures. Keep them coming 🙂
Hey Jackson, thank you! Always nice to find other people who aren’t interested in working to save for retirement but travel instead, as you say! 😀
Hey! Loving your blog 🙂 So much that I’ve nominated you to post about 5 places you’d love to re-visit! interested to see your answers – it really made me think when I had to pick mine!
http://thewanderbug.com/2014/10/27/5-places-i-want-to-re-visit/
Thank you very much for the nomination Genevieve! Its going to be a tough choice 🙂 . Really enjoying all your blogs too – especially the waterfall highway ones, i adored that drive when we did it, especially Ebor falls, you live in a beautiful country!
Hi I enjoy reading your articles! And your photos are amazing! Im happy that I found your blog. Enjoy your trip!!
Hello! Thank you 🙂 really glad you enjoy them. And im looking forward to reading about your US roadtrip – the yellowstone blog photos are awesome!! Very envious!
Oh thank you so much!!
WOW! Incredible!
You mentioned working at basically all the locations you traveled to. Did each of those places require different Work Visas for which you had to apply/wait for?
Yeah we worked in australia, canada and new zealand, and we got working-holiday visas for each of them. You have to apply in advance, canada was quite strict and we had to get police checks and we could only apply from our home country. The visas are mainly for one year but you can extend them to two years if you do certain things like 6 months farming work in australia. For new zealand we had to get medical checks. But if you dont need money, just enough to love off you can volunteer which we did in scotland via Workaway or HelpX and you worl 25hours and get free accomadation and food so a good way to explore certain areas 😊
Awesome, that is great! Thank you for the helpful response =)
Great summary. I am so envious. I hope to make it East one day as well (though those descriptions of India didn’t make it sound too appealing!)
You two are very lucky to have found somebody with the same adventurous spirit as yourself. I hope we meet one day on a trial and share a cup of water and a story or two.
oops – edit – I clearly meant trail…
Have you been to Australia?
We sure have, it was or first destination back in 2008!
Cool! I am from canada but i was curious because australia is nice
Hello (sorry if I’ve sent this three times…it keeps vanishing!) thank you so much for taking the time to read about us. Yes we’re very lucky to of found each other as we both enjoy the simple life, hiking and nature.
I think India is very hit and miss…loveable and hateable at the same time. But nearly two years on and we miss it and would love to go back! It’s bloody intense but now I miss that, the colours, the people etc.
It’s very brave of you uprooting for a year with a whole family, have you kept a house back in Canada or left everything behind? What do you think of England?? And the English people…I’m curious haha, as I found Canadians super friendly and hospitable, whereas I think Brits keep themselves to themselves more.
My wife is very fond of the area we were in – she grew up there, and her family still lives in the area, so we are renting out our house. I was all for selling and seeing where we landed when we returned, but I understand and I don’t mind the compromise.
Thank you for your kind words about Canadians. I like to think of us as a friendly lot! I have met some very nice people here in England as well – in fact, the folks on the bus and in the pubs are very chatty and friendly. There are certainly a lot of hard nosed people as well though.
The pub culture here (and in Scotland) is so great. I get to meet a lot of travellers and people that want to travel. It isn’t too hard to find a kindred spirit.
Looking forward to reading more about your travels. Take care!
I just found your blog this morning and really enjoyed reading your reviews on Europe… Norway would never have been on my radar. Happy travels in the future, Cheryl
Thank you so much Cheryl! Yes Norway is a must if you get the chance, we will definitely be back one day, it blew us away! 👌
Still following you pair.. Had a lot going over the last year or so. How time fly’s ..Hope you are both well and staying safe. Kindest regards Stephen & Rowe xxxx
That’s so nice to hear Steve! Thank you very much, I was going to email you and let you know you were mentioned in my Platypus Bush Camp blog from when we were in Mackay all those years ago.
All the best, Lauren and Craig 😊 x
We subscribe to Exploring Alternatives and saw their video about your adventures. I had a bit of a laugh when Lauren commented about hiking when she gets older. As a nearly 68 year old adventurist myself, I can say that it doesn’t get easier but it’s just as rewarding 🙂 If your plans do bring you down from Alaska to Florida, by all means get in touch with us. We have a spot at our house with water and electric hook-up in a beautiful area on a 39,000 acre lake in north Georgia. You can check us out at http://www.youtube.com/travelswithyoly
Peace and safe travels,
Neil & Yoly
Hello! Wow thank you very much for the offer, if we come your way we will definitely get in touch – it’s sounds lovely! I’ll check out your YouTube page too 😊 many thanks and happy travels to you too, Lauren and Craig
It would be nice to meet you folks. We are 30 minutes away from the tallest waterfall east of the Continental Divide and this is our back yard ….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUUiIZfYPFo&list=PL2v8LB6vz74umuSXId_y1UeiZBuBhn3qg&index=15
Peace and Safe Travels,
Neil & Yoly
Holy moly! What an amazing back yard you have, such a fantastic view! All the best, Lauren and Craig
Happy travels, guys! Thoroughly enjoying browsing your site. Jx
Hey James, thank you very much!! I’m a little behind lately so have lots of bits to add from Japan and now we are in Hawaii 🌺 so they’ll be lots more, I just need some decent wifi and nothing to distract me like beaches and road trips haha
Enjoy…! Jx
Came here via YouTube. Your video is great! I would love to travel and adventure like you guys do! Keep sharing your stories… so some of us can live vicariously! LOL. You’re an inspiration.
Hey Norman! Thanks so much, we’re really happy you enjoyed the video and can’t believe how many views it’s had already! We’ll keep adding stories and photos 😁
Just fabulous what you two are doing. Life is as good as you make it, and it looks like you two are making it just fine. Have you ever had the urge to stay somewhere you have traveled and never leave? Cheers!!
Hey Joshua, thank you very much! Yes and no, we’ve been to places that we’ve just fallen in love with and thought how fabulous it would be to move there, but at the same time we always have a sort of ‘we’re on a journey’ vibe and just stay long enough to do the hikes and see the area and then get back on the road. I do all the research on where we go and Craig does all the driving so I’m always really excited to see the next place that I’ve read about even if I love where we are already. Is that weird? Haha
Just found your blog via exploring alternatives. Thanks for the taking the time to share your adventure with us.
When you drive south from Alaska, you’ll likely go right by our little off-grid homestead in northern BC. You’re welcome to stop by and camp if you’d like. You can check out our story at http://gridlessness.com/
Thanks,
Hey! Ah thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the video. We will certainly be coming through northern BC so will try to get back in contact in a couple months if we’re in your area! Thank you 😁
Hey i would love to hear your drunk Canadian hillbilly story!
Amazed by your story and wish you the best of adventures. When you are on your way to Florida, email me. I have a house for you to crash in or at least a safe driveway to park if you want to stay in the van.
Hey Toby! Thank you very much, what a sweet offer. We have successfully bought our new van in Alaska and have already seen so much in the first week! Excited to see where the road takes us next!
Hey guys I love what you are doing! If you happen to travel near Minnesota you should totally stop by the boat house in Albert Lea MN everyone who works there knows about tiny houses, car camping, dirtbagging, and most alternative living methods. Mostly because a lot of our staff are looking at doing it or are actually doing it! Plus we have kayaks, canoes, SUP boards, and ham boards now too. I hope to see you but if not I look forward to your posts and adventures!
Hey Cory, thanks so much!! If we head your way we will be sure to swing by! All the best, Lauren and Craig
hey there! silly question, but may be a big money saver… ive lived in Australia in van for a while, living is very cheap,
but ive just come to UK to travel the EU in a van …
so ive bought the van, but the expencess are soooo massive. and you guys have bought many vans to travel cheapy with , still trying to wrap my head around budetting for this trip.
If you have any advise for travelling this area and the logistics of owning a car here?
Say i wouldd love to know what insurence company you went with, because the cheapest if found is 580 pounds for 6 months. and for me to keep that up may be hard…
anyway, advice would be awesome… because noone on the internet seems to talk about these things so it seems not to be an issue… but for me right now it is
much much love, and besides all this hard work, we are doing the best thing for are souls ❤
Hey Elise! Yeah it’s not quite as cheap as oz! And insurance is the main kicker. We went with a company called Stuart Collins I think or Stuart & Collins, as the others wouldn’t insure us for long periods or if we were living in the van. I think it cost us about £600 for a year, so very expensive. But our van was cheap so we saved some money there. We don’t 7 months round Europe and with all the costs of the van and living it worked out to be about £10 each per day. It’s cheaper with two people so I don’t know if it’s just you in the van? We wild camped everywhere round Europe, so we had free accommodation. Stocked up on food in Aldi/Lidl stores before we crossed into more expensive countries like Norway and Switzerland. But we didn’t have many other expenses as we just hiked, that was the best sightseeing activities there was and it was wonderful! Such an incredible roadtrip and definitely worth the costs. We traveled from May till December and had great weather, when we did more touristy countries which are stricter with wild camping like Greece, Croatia and Switzerland it was off season so no one cared. One other tip is we bought camping gaz bottles we got the 907 which had 2.75kg gas. They were so cheap in Denmark. And then the next place we needed them was Romania and because it was Autumn they didn’t stick them anymore!! Disaster! But then we found out you can take them to the LPG stations and we got them filled up for €5 in Romania and again in Greece. It was such a bargain! Anyway, if you have any other questions feel free to ask. Happy travels, Lauren and Craig
Ohh thanks heaps! Its great to hear about others adventures, and im so excited about everything to come!
Ill be working the festival season here in england, and then my boyfriend flys in and we’ll travel Europe!
Yeah had to bite my tounge with expenses, but we plan to wild camp and hike every where so it should work out easy!
Much love to you guys xoxo
When traveling did you only know English or did you know every language you were traveling??
Thank you for sharing your story, it’s very inspiring.
Hey Cat! Mainly just English. We went on a week Spanish course in Guatemala which helped through central and South America. And we learnt the basics and numbers in Indonesia which really helped to barter. Other than that we only really knew hello in each country!
Thank you that is very helpful i plan to start next year. Was your family supportive of your decision or it did not play a huge part in the process?
Your welcome 🙂 oh yes very supportive family, very worried, but their happy that we’re exploring the world while we’re young and able!
Thank you for all your comments and sharing your whole experience. You both are a success in my eyes and very brave. Thank you again.
Oh my gosh we love your blog!
Thank you so much guys!!!
Hey all, my wife and I have a home in SW Florida and would love to host you all as we are about to build out a Sprinter van and start our life on the road in the next two years. Would love to hear about you. Invitation is open.
Hey John, thanks so much for the offer! Sounds like a great plan you have, life on the road is as good as it gets! We’ll try and get back in contact with you at the end of the year when we aim to be in Florida 🙂 Many thanks, Lauren and Craig
You two are such an inspiration..we loved meeting you both. I found myself thinking….. Chance fixed the van too quickly ? ha ha ha…safe travels to you both, hopefully with no more troubles ! Send us a message if she fails you again before you are able to leave our territory 🙂
Hey Karen! Was so great to meet you both and thank you for all your help. We are going to the scrap yard today so will see what goodies we can find! Hopefully be back on the road this afternoon!! Wahooo! Thanks again 🙂 Lauren and Craig
HI Lauren and Craig, it must be a very nice and unforgettable, unpayable lesson of life to travel 8 years in so many countries. We’ve seen a bit of North and South America, Canada, Australia, South Africa and South of Europe. Now we have a 10 years old son who likes travelling too but who has to go to school too :-(. We went 2 weeks ago to ICeland, hopefully you ‘ve visited it already ! We wish you good luck on the next trips !
best regards, family De Wit from Belgium
Hey! Sounds like you’ve seen ally of the beautiful world too! No we haven’t been to Iceland yet but it’s high on our list, it looks incredible! All the best, Lauren and Craig
if you both ever find your way to NYC or the North East coast, our family would gladly host you if wanting to see the culture (we are married with 7,6, and 5 year old 😉 in southern CT about 45 minutes from NY! What a great way to live life…
Hey Matt, thanks so much for the offer, that area isn’t on our rough route but we’ll bare it in mind if things change! Very kind of you!!
Just stumbled on your YouTube clip – and good on you. Yep, life is too short to leave it till retirement. We won’t all make it and as you say, if you do you won’t be able to enjoy it! We are the middle ground, worked first (but secretly planned and saved), and then quit at 36 – and now at 44 back in a house (and a small campervan) and still travelling just with a really good life/work balance. See http://www.doyourdream.co.uk – anyway – WHERE ARE YOUR ADVERTS!!!! I came here to click a few of your adverts to contribute to your beer fund! 🙂 Every little helps you know 🙂 Best wishes R&M
Hey!! Thanks so much for the kind words. Your plan sounds pretty damn foolproof, living the good life ay! What do you mean by adverts? I only have the basic free WordPress sight! Care to enlighten us? A beer sounds very appealing right now haha we are sweltering and mosquito bitten in the Canadian badlands! Lauren and Craig
Hi guys, I’ve just had a look at your amazing adventures and I’d love to talk about a project I’m researching for a travel brand, it looks like you are in Canada now? is there any chance to talk between today and tomorrow (london time)? let me know! thanks Sophia
Hey Sophia! Sounds great, I could try calling but it all depends on where and when I have free wifi, emailing would be a lot easier, do you have a website? And a phone number too if I manage to call? Thanks, Lauren and Craig
thanks for the quick reply, I can send you an email with a few more info, where to? I’m afraid I can’t disclose the brand website now but please call me if you can, I’m on Skype:sophia.luvara or FaceTime and what sup 07950556487. Looking forward to talk wit you!
Hi guys, I just discovered your blog since I’m thinking about traveling this way too 🙂 (at first having a place to sleep while I don’t have a place to rent. 😉 I love the backpack- hitchhiking-couchsurfing way since I’m still doing it alone but … why not trying a campervan soon 🙂
I’d like to ask you a tiny question because I don’t realize what it’s like on the long run :)… Would you have preferred a van where you can stand up inside, or is it really not so important… ? Have you heard people complaining about it, making the van less “stealthy”, more gas, slower,..I don’t know :)… would be great to have your insight 🙂 Thanks a lot… I loved your Canadian pictures… It is really appealing those lakes.. wow thanks 🙂
Hey! We’ve never had a van you can stand up in and it doesn’t bother us. You get used to kneeling! I think there could be some extra charges at times (especially in europe) for having extra height on bridges/tunnels/ferries. I’d love a van we could stand up in but equally we cope fine without. I wonder if getting the van into standard mechanics might be more difficult with a higher roof? I’m not sure though! Anyway, good luck and happy travels 🙂
Hi 🙂 Thanks a lot for answering.. and so quickly too, I suppose you have more to explore in real life than virtually 🙂
Thanks for your insight. Happy to see you cope with everything. It is encouraging. I’ll follow your blog & tips 🙂 cheeeers
Hi Lauren and Craig just want to say you two are inspiring! We (husband and me and 13 year old) have just come back from two weeks campervanning in the Canadian Rockies and it was fun comparing our Instagram posts with yours… We have only bought one motorhome so far a 1978 GMC (the Scooby Doo van!) that took us round the east coast US and Nova Scotia over a long lovely summer, but done lots of month long trips from the US to Norway to Namibia (www.thegmcproject.blogspot.com). And we are dreaming about getting an over lander for much longer trips in future years. Keep up those inspiring travels; we’ll be watching you! Philippa and Richard and Tom.
Hey guys! Thanks you so much, your trips sound fantastic, Norway is one of our favourite countries but we’d love to head to Africa one day, and what a great adventure for your son too! Have you seen the German over lander style campervans? They are pretty crazy beasts! What’s your Instagram page, I’d love to see your pics too! All the best, Lauren and Craig
Hey Lauren and Craig, happy travels! we’re on Instagram @philippanews and my son is @thesupertomster
I have been following you for a while, along with a few others. When I see your name pop up in my inbox with a new post I always get excited to see the new adventure. I love seeing and reading your post. I had to stop and say I appreciate you sharing all this with us and that there are many of us out there that you have inspired and love seeing your story. Because of you I have made the jump my wife and I are moving into our van at the end of this month after months of preparing, our journey just starts but I hope to do and see half of what you guys have done. Cheers and hope to meet you one day on the road!
Hey! Wow, what a lovely message to read, thank you very much! It means so much to us that we’ve inspired you to set out on an adventure!! How exciting!! So what’s the plan for you two, where are you heading to? Happy travels, Lauren and Craig 🙂
Your very welcome. At this point, we don’t truly have any plans other than getting out of the rat race. We will probably follow weather for awhile until we get used to it. Not sure how you guys did the snow in that van, it looked very cold. Our long term goal is to hit all the States, Canada, Mexico then down South America and back. After that if we still have an itch in our feet we may just have to follow in your footsteps and do the world tour. Cheers you two!!
Wow!! What an incredible trip! I think South America is becoming a lot more common (but still very rare at the same time) and safer to travel through in a van. I wish we’d been brave enough to explore those countries in a camper. Have you heard of Hasta Alaska? The guy has a YouTube channel and bought a VW in chile and has driven it to Alaska so you may find that of interest. Yes it can get very cold in the van, a good duvet, thermal underwear and hot water bottles are the key! I look forward to following your adventures 🙂 All the best, Lauren and Craig
Ps how can I follow your adventures haha? Let me know if you have Insta or a blog, I can’t seem to click on your name and find a page. 👍🏼
Sorry for the delay, things have been in a huge turmoil the last week or so. 6 days and we will be living in our van!! So many things to sell and do and build. I went way overboard and bought a sprinter type so we can stand in it, so building it out has been quite the adventure in itself. Almost there, working on the solar power this weekend so we can have lights and a fridge next week.
Anyways, so i found you via an interview you did with Exploring Alternatives. I have been following your blog since. To be honest this is the first blog I have ever followed and have not really had the time to look into how to make my own. After seeing how you can document your journey here compared to others I do like it and plan on learning once I get time to actually research it. But currently I have started a You Tube channel named “The Gallivanter”. I have yet to make it public since I have not had time to do any video editing to do any post. But i have been making videos of the van build and of us selling everything so I have started the content just not posted any yet. Once we hit the road I will find the time.
We have kept it under wraps for a long time since we did not want our jobs to find out we were leaving, so we only let our family know. But we went public almost 2 weeks ago now and the last working day is this coming Tuesday. So its almost time.
I have watched a lot of Kombi Life (Hasta Alaska) on you tube. They just finished their Alaskan adventure as well. They have a good channel with alot of good info
The other blog I fell in love with is SprinterVanDiaries.com. Though I relate to you more as a person when I read your blogs, their life style with the Sprint van and the dog is going to relate more to my situation. But they don’t get me to laugh like you do when I read your blogs and your interactions with other people (like the guy with the big belly today, lmao).
I will hit you up again when my page is up and public:)
A sprinter sounds like a great choice! We met a couple traveling in their sprinter the other day and it was so nice to see inside one, it was HUGE! I wish we’d showed them Daphne first as she looked tiny afterwards haha. It will be a perfect sized home on wheels for you, we were very jealous when we walking through their van and had loads of space above our heads….and then we showed them Daphne with us kneeling on the floor…’this is how we walk through our home’ 😂. I hope you managed to get everything sorted in time, it’s a horrible time when you have to sell and organise everything. We’ve had a lot of awkward first nights in new vans with bin bags stuck up as curtains, I hope you had a more classy start to vanlife than us! Anyway ENJOY the adventures! If you have any questions hit us up and I look forward to seeing your videos.
Hey. If you look at your South Dakota pictures. The one picture of the rock profile and the sun shinning through it. You can see your eyeball on the mountain. LOL. Its quite funny
Haha in seeee! How weird is that!!
Hi Lauren. Looks like Greece is treating you well. Hey i wanted to drop you a line i finally have my blog up and running. We spent the last few months in the van but staying with family for the holidays while we adjusted. Well check us out when you get a moment, not much content yet, just started but it will get easier. God i have not written anything in a long time.
I have 2 questions for you.
How do you get your pictures from Flicker to here? I have tried a few things and cannot figure out how you do it.
Also you have mentioned before that you have video. Do you have a Youtube channel? I am starting mine
Hey guys! Great to hear your living life in your van now! So with Flickr you click on the photo you want, then click the sharing arrow in the bottom right and click copy url, go back into your blog or notepad (wherever your writing) and paste it where you want it. And that’s it 🙂
Yeah we have a YouTube channel but we don’t use it much at all. I have a bunch of footage to put together from our 2016 but don’t have a laptop on us now so will have to wait till we get home in May… Might start a new channel as most of our old videos are so goofy 😂
Send us a link to yours when it’s set up 🙂
Awesome. Thanks for the help, worked like a charm. We got the Youtube channel up and finally got a introduction video up. I have yet to put any of the 100’s of gigs of video I have to edit on it yet but we finally have some subscribers.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT0_HPUMJ2st4evfTe1lDKg
I can easily see the 2 of you having a goofy channel, alot of people like to watch that. That does not come to easily for me, but we started it to help us remember our adventures and also if we happen to get a few dollars for it all the better. Talk to you later!!
Came across you on IG…… Fabulous adventures. Great to see people who have decided, and more importantly followed through, on living life to the full.
We’ve lived in B.C for the last 8 years, in the heart of the Rockies / Purcells and love seeing fellow Brits experience Canada.
Safe travels, and if you ever find yourself over near the East Kootenays region, be sure to give us a shout.
Have a great one,
Steve
Train Hard, Live Easy
Thank you very much for the lovely comment! We visited that sort of area on our previous trip to Canada in 2010, I remember lots of fruit stalls and autumn foliage 🙂 Thank you for the kind offer and hope you continue to enjoy living in such a beautiful area of the world! Lauren and Craig
We love your stories. We also want to travel for a longer time. We want to start next year in Canada and America maybe with a van. How did you register you van without a home adress
Hey sounds good! Where are you from? When used a friends address when we travelled Canada. For this trip we used the hostel in Alaska and that was fine. If you have a friends address to use that always helps. But we were allowed to use hostel to register van and for insurance too! Happy travels!
We are from the Netherlands. We are preparing for a long travel period. So the one thing that is unclear or us is insurances. Is it that easy to go to a hostel and ask them to register a van
We are from the Netherlands. We are preparing for a long travel. But information about insurances is hard to find. Can you just ask a hostel to register the car for you. Do you know if you have to insure your car in every country you will stay in?
Where are you travelling, round Europe? You don’t ask the hostel you just go to the registration office and use the hostel address when you sign the documents! Well that’s how we’ve done it 🙂
We are still preparing for our journy and gathering information escpecially about insurances. How did you travel trhough Europa als by van. And how did you manage the insurance for rthe van. You do not find information about insurances on the internet if you do not have a home adress. Did you insurance per country or just one insurance
We bought insurance for the van in England. It covered all Europe countries except Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia I think. We were living with family when we did the van conversion and bought insurance so used that home address. I think you can buy insurance at the border to each country so I heard but we didn’t want to deal with a foreign speaking insurance company. Hope that helps and happy travels
Your adventures are inspiring! We have just started to live the nomadic lifestyle too in New Zealand, we blog about our experience at http://www.goingnz.com keep doing what your doing guys!
Thanks so much guys! Make sure you head to the catlins area, lots of wild beaches and little penguins!!
Hi – are you interested in speaking to the BBC about your adventures? Please email me to discuss.
Hey, possibly…do you have a name/email address to contact you on? Thanks Lauren and Craig
Hello, we’re a radio program in Seoul, South Korea and would love to do an interview on your adventures. Please email us at efmthismorning@gmail.com if you’re available for this. Thank you!
Hey guys,
You two are literally an inspiration!! I know everyone says it, but seriously. You are living life the right bloody way!
Working 9-5 in Worthing at the moment, saving for an adventure starting in USA. Just had a few questions for you…when you were applying for working visas, did you apply for jobs before this or was it a case of getting the visa and then finding a jobby once you arrived at the place?
Did you just turn up to bars and ask if there were any vacancies or did you apply for jobs online?
Also how do you go about buying your vans? Mostly interested in how you went about this in USA as this is our first destination! Are there any websites you can recommend? any tips? We were originally looking at renting an escape campervan, but quickly realised it would be silly to do that unless we were having a 2 week holiday.
I am so grateful for any answers you can give me! Our adventure is all a dream at the moment, but seeing you guys travelling around living the dream really gets me focused and excited. You have convinced me it can be done. Thank you so much!
Hey! Sounds like an awesome trip and nice to see a fellow Sussex citizen exploring the world! We only had working holiday visas not ‘working visas’ and we would just hand out cvs to bars and restaurants once we arrived. I did manage to find a waitressing job online before we went to New Zealand but that was a one off. Buying vans, try to avoid dealers! We use Craigslist, gumtree or the local papers. Yes buying is much better than renting a van. How long will you be in USA for? Is that just travel or working? And if working then I think it’s very tricky to get a work visa without having a sponsored job. That’s why we’ve never been able to work in the states. Look forward to hearing more about your plans and so happy that we’ve helped inspire you to do it!! All the best, Lauren and Craig
I have tried to send this like 3 times xD hopefully this one makes it!
Ahhh thank you so much for your info!! We are planning on heading to USA for around 3 months-or however long we can get a visa for/afford. Would like to do Florida-California via Colorado and a few other places. Not planning on working there, it will be our first trip so plan to chillax and live the van life dream. Would like to sell the van and then head to Indonesia for as long as we can/afford etc and then on to another country where we would like to get a working visa possibly oz?
Thanks for that, i will have to start looking! Have you had to do much converting or do you tend to buy vans already insulated, basic bed etc?
Thanks again : )
Haha oh no sorry guys! Yes I received all 3 messages but I have it set so I approve messages before they show on my page. We entered USA on an ESTA visa waiver for three months, so after Alaska we spent 6 weeks in Canada and tried to get another 3 month ESTA which they were very reluctant to give us, thankfully we got one but they said normally you should have to fly home to get another ESTA. Some friends we had got a 6 month tourism visa which I think costs money. Just bare in mind it can take a while to buy/set up/sell the van. Most vans were already insulated we just took the chairs out. But we did do a full conversion once which was fun but took a few weeks and luckily is was back home for our Europe trip, so we had family members tools. I would try and get a pre insulated one like a passenger van as its a lot easier, just gut the seats and pop a bed in! Beds can be made easily from wooden pallets for a cheap easy fix. Indonesia is a super duper country! Very cheap and we spent 2 months there. Hope that helps
Hi guys,
I work in PR and currently for a company producing an innovative new selfie stick. I’d love to chat to you more about the product and maybe get a sample out to you to use and give us your comments on.
What’s the best way to reach you?
Thanks,
Dean.
Hi Dean, sounds great, we’d be happy to sample your gear for you! Can you give me your email address and I’ll get back to you via email! Thank you, Lauren and Craig
Hi guys,
Looking forward to receiving your email.
🙂
Dean.
Hi Dean, I emailed you a few days ago, I wonder if it’s gone into your junk? Let me know if you haven’t received it and I’ll try again 👍🏼
Hey!
If it went into my junk in afraid I don’t have it anymore.
Would great if you could resend it…
Thanks a million!
Dean.
Just resent it Dean, if you still haven’t got it give us an email via my new contact page on our blog:
http://www.nonstoptravelling.wordpress.com/contact
Many thanks, Lauren and Craig
Hello again. Thanks for all your info! Would love to stay in USA longer than 3 months but sounds tricky! How did you go about getting van insurance? I will be 24 if we go next year so guessing that will add on some $ but don’t really have any idea how much it will be. Any ideas? Also don’t know a whole lot about cars/vans, usually rely on our family friend mechanic atm! Suppose I will have to start learning, don’t want to end up with a van that dies on us 😦 thanks again guys. Can’t believe all the snow you have had in Greece, must be an awesome sight! No signs of snow in Sussex 😦
Hey Katy, we went with State Farm for our insurance. We insured Craig as the main driver and it cost $650 for 6 months! It’s reeeeeally expensive. And then we didn’t have windscreen cover and had to pay $550 for a replacement windscreen when it got smashed. So it’s well worth getting that as extra cover. Just trust your instincts with a van and the person selling it. If I makes a funny noise or the persons story as to why their selling don’t add up then it’s probably a bad van. We had a Dodge Ram 1500 van on this trip and had a few issues with it, but our last van in America was a Chevy G20 van named Beatrice, she had no issues and was much bigger in size! Also ask locals for a trusty mechanic, they will have a regular person they go to and trust and then you can go there and be like ‘hey, Janet suggested you!” Good luck!
It’s a small world… Just been watching campervan youtube vids and came across yours. You know that weird feeling of familiarity, well I was having that. When the Nissan Vanette camper came up it was all made certain. We met, chatted and camped by the roadside, adjacent to a lake in Capel Curig, Snowdonia in 2015 I seem to think. Craig was cooking ‘was it’ spag bol on his cooker set up on a patch of grass in full view of any traffic that passed by… Stealth camping it wasn’t hahaha. We were in a white Toyota Hiace import camper…, me the Mrs and a little white Westie pooch. Obviously you’ve met a lot of folk on your travels so not expecting you to remember. Just interesting to hear and see of you again after a couple of years have passed by. Hope alls gone well since. Good luck with all your next life chapters… Rob 🙂
Hi Rob, Wow, what a small world indeed! Yes we remember this exact day and meeting you guys! Haha can’t believe you spotted Pablo the van from a YouTube video, she was such a great van! Are you guys still travelling around in your Toyota? All the best, and thanks for getting back in touch with us!! Lauren and Craig
Hi Lauren. Soz for the late reply (work getting in the way 😦 ) Yes suprised me, laid in bed one morning seeing your camper again lol. We still in the Hiace, no plans or wishes to change to anything else. Gonna paint it stealth drab olive green from the off white one day to blend in with the UK countryside lol. All good fun eh! Will keep me eye on what you both get up to. You never know we might cross paths again one day on our travels. After this chance encounter I wouldnt say it’s impossible lol. Cheers guys…
Oh the olive green sounds like a good choice! And we’ve found that white vans really attracts flies/mozzies etc. Glad your still enjoying campervan trips and yes who knows we might bump into each other again one day! Thanks for getting in touch with us and all the best for you guys!
Inspiring couple
Thanks for the lovely comment!
Hey guys,
I’m planning to travel and live in a van for a couple of years chasing the summer. Starting in South Spain across Europe during spring-summer, towards South East Asia during Autumn via Indonesia and arriving in Australia for the winter and New Year’s Eve (which is summer there) to come back to South Asia in Spring and Europe in the summer again and back again 🙂
Now, my question is how to cross from Europe to India in a safe way? (Russia, China or the Middle East are options that you would consider to travel across?) I’m asking you because in all of your years of experience traveling the world, have you came across of anyone doing that route? Any advice would be super helpful.
Many thanks and happy travels 🙂
Alex
Hi Alex, sounds like a fun trip! We’ve never shipped our vans across to other continents. We normally have one van for one continent and travel around for 6 months to a year and then sell it. So it could be very expensive getting it from Asia to oz? Also not sure about a good route as we’ve never been that way…although a campervan trip to the Middle East is an option we’ve been discussing for our next trip.
I watched a documentary a couple years ago and tourists weren’t allowed to drive their own van through China – if I remember correctly. So might be worth checking that out.
Also the distance your planning is MASSIVE! Totally awesome route but it might be quite optimistic to traverse that route in that time frame and back again, it might be better to slow down and do it one way? To give you an idea we spent 6 months driving from Alaska to Florida.
Also how much do you like the sun? Clearly enough to chase it 😅 but Australia in the summer is unbearably hot and we really struggled living in a station wagon there, sleeping with all the doors open and having hand size spiders in the car.
Keep us posted on your plans! Sounds like quite an adventure! 😀
Thank you so much for your super nice reply 🙂 yes, I have been told to consider the idea of selling / buying a van between continents (from EU to Asia) but I would love to custom make one and travel for as long as it last. Can only imagine how hard must be to swap vans, specially if you get emotionally attached.
From Asia to Oz I have read of people doing this route via Indonesia using ferries hopping between islands (I was in Bali and Australia back in February and met a few van travellers that have drove to Bali from Oz).
Re: China, yes I have also heard that you are not allow to drive there without a Chinese license / number plate .. and the Middle East sounds a bit scary to me
I know, the route is very long (and yes I’m always over optimistic as I tend to dream big) 🙂 but the time frame can be flexible – as I’m sure that there will be places and people that will extend my stay at times. However, crossing from Europe to India is the only one thing I have no idea how to achieve yet.
And yes, I’m aware of the strength of the lovely Aussie sun down under (been there already) although didn’t saw many spiders it’s a very good point to consider too 😀 hopefully I will have Air con inside the van available.
Im planning to vlog on YouTube the entire journey next year, starting from the day that I will purchase and pick up the van, through the custom build and daily travels, so I’ll keep you updated once will all have started!
Many Thanks again 🙂
Alex
Hello, Lauren and Craig. Very nice. I envy you. We are travelers but we have too many countries to visit.
Amazing, just keep continue. We expect new stories from your travel. Best regards!
Thanks so much! We certainly shall, we have two more months in Norway and then we’re off to Central Asia 😁
wouw.. look forward to read your blog. cheers
Thanks so much! Hope you enjoy them ☺️
Following! After checking out some of your blog posts, can’t wait to read more! What an exciting lifestyle.
Thanks so much for following our adventures!
I’m planning on doing long term camper van living while touring the entire US. Can we get in contact about some tips and tricks on the electrical and ins and outs?
We haven’t had to do electrics on any of our vans. We just use the interior lights and an inventor to charge our phones and camera batteries so you’d be better searching online for help on electrics. Have a great trip
Hey Lauren,
I saw your post on GLT and have just read your blog intro. What an amazing life you have built for yourselves. I didn’t realise about the working holiday visa thing until I was too old. I’m 32 now and saving up to go travelling. When you work, do you only work in the UK and Europe, or are you able to work other places in the world too, to get some extra cash? I’m not sure I’ll be able to save enough money, since renting is so much here. Take care xxx
Some countries now allow you to be up to 35 years old so you may still have time. Craig is 36 now so we just have Europe and the uk left to work in.
Wish to hit the road again!