Nay sayers
Just because you are houseless does not make you homeless.
If you tell people that you are planning to live in your car or a van lots of them will look at you like you are crazy. I've read online comments from people who openly suggest that to do so means that you must be either crazy, antisocial or worse.
What a lot of people don't relise is that there are thousands upon thousands of people living in motor homes and camper vans around Australia, and probably several million in the United States. Similarly there are thousands of people who have lived or camped in their cars for short to long periods of time in their lives. It may not always be something people do willingly but it is by no means unheard of or crazy.
If you're down on your luck, lacking a job and money but having a car then of course you will make do and live in the car as it is probably the most secure option available to you. A car can be secure, warm, weather proof and a source of comfort.
You can expect that many people will try to talk you out of living in your car, van or camper. If they can offer realistic solutions that's good. If people are able to provide you with accommodation, a place to park your vehicle, a job or other realistic assistance put your pride aside and accept it. If they don't or can't offer viable, realistic options then they are pretty useless aren't they.
Getting over the stigma.
For me this was pretty hard. When I first started to live in a van I did it out of financial necessity and the desire to stop paying rent to a deadbeat landlord who would reguarly invade my space by illegally entering my flat. Though there were many places in town that I could have parked quietly and unobtrusivly, I found myself on edge unless I was parked in a caravan park. Even in Europe I prefered to stay in caravan parks even though they were eating up my money.
Here is what some other people have to say about it:
"I started out when I was still in High School. My friends thought my Van being my bedroom was the kewlest thing on Earth."
"I have ALWAYS spent as much time as possible camping. It's just who I am. I started camping with my family at 6 months old and took my daughter camping for the first time at 5 months old. The year of 9th grade I camped by myself almost every weekend. Then I branched out into every sort of outdoor recreation. My first live-in vehicle was my VW bug that I modified with a bed in the 70's. It has just been a string of interesting dwelling-capable vehicles ever since.
I homeschooled my daughter and we spent half of every year on the road, exploring this continent. Heather, my daughter, is 24 now and a carpenter in Austin, TX. She has already converted two of her own vans to live in. Her current one is a VW bus that's painted pink ;-) She just flew to Florida and camped with me for 4 nights before going back to work. We camped in a WalMart lot, an apartment complex lot, Sam's Club lot and the airport parking lot. She enjoyed it and we spent 2 days at Disney :-)
My relatives have always thought of me as a bit of an oddball, but brag about me anyways. Most have indicated they wish they could be like me on occasion. The longer I live, the more jealous they get ;-) At my 20th high school reunion I had just got back from a 15,000 mile trip across and all over the US. It almost made some of my classmates weep. They were stuck with high mortgages and car payments and conventional lives. Maybe by the time the 40th reunion rolls around, there will be other folks becoming fulltimers. Too bad they had to miss the last 20 years!"
- Wendy the Wanderer
" I was weird long before I lived in a van, and people either think I'm really awesome and wish they could do what I'm doing or they avoid me. I keep moving, too. It makes social relationships less complicated. :-p"
- Tara
