• grue@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      28
      ·
      9 days ago

      No they didn’t. Now they’re just called “#vanlife” and cost a lot more.

    • Fallibilist@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      8 days ago

      What the hell are you talking about? Converting a van to a camper has never been more popular than it’s now.

      • BeardedBlaze@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        8 days ago

        You’re confusing today’s influencers taking you on a trip of them converting a van VS being able to walk into a chevy dealership and walk out with one, and it actually being affordable.

  • Ricky Rigatoni@piefed.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    9 days ago

    Last I heard vanlife is actually really gentrified especially after the used car pricing hike during covid.

  • BauerBender@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    9 days ago

    My best friend lives in Pacifica, CA. Lots of people living in vans, and honestly it seems like a simple way to live.

    • Agent641@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      8 days ago

      I did it involuntary for 3 years.

      It can be extraordinarily stressful and unpleasant, what with high temperatures, the toilet situation, and parking stealthily in an elephant sized vehicle that is the opposite of stealth. Getting messed with by gronks, and moved along by authorities.

      Having said that, your outgoing costs can be very, very low, the cost of travelling locally is low, and you have all the comforts of home wherever you go. It was a good way for me to save a shitload of money in a short amount of time

  • Manjushri@piefed.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    8 days ago

    Waterfront property in this climate? Once a century floods are happening weekly. On any given day you could wake up living, however briefly, in a van in the river.

  • AmidFuror@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    9 days ago

    If you do that, I’m gonna bunk with you, buddy!

    We’re gonna be buddies! We’re gonna be pals! We’re gonna wrassle around!

      • Lodespawn@aussie.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        9 days ago

        Thanks, I dunno if that was particularly iconic but that’s definitely where this post comes from

    • MightBeAlpharius@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      9 days ago

      It’s from an SNL skit from ages ago - I only know it because my high school band teacher referenced it enough that he had to show it to us so we’d get it.

      Chris Farley plays a motivational speaker whose whole schtick is basically “[don’t fuck up your life] or you’ll end up LIVING IN A VAN, DOWN BY THE RIVER!” Over the course of the skit, it becomes apparent that his angle is less “don’t fuck up your life and have to deal with a tough recovery,” and more “don’t fuck up your life and end up living in a van like I currently do.”

      • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        8 days ago

        It was a play on inspirational speakers and life coaches. Experts, who ended up as inspirational speakers and life coaches.

  • Maeve@kbin.earth
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    9 days ago

    Crazily, I know someone who walked away from a profitable business to do just that.

  • d-RLY?@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    9 days ago

    I was excited to quote the sketch when my friend decided to live van life a long time ago. But he was too young to know about it (I made sure to show it to him before he left). Then he ended up taking a job for a rafting/tubing company for the summer. He actually did end-up “living in a van down by the river.”