Breakfast with Lisa & Josh #8

Welcome back to Breakfast with Lisa & Josh!

I’ve gotta say, off the top here, that van life is pretty great when most everything is working.

For the first time since we bought the van, it is fixed up enough to be truly reliable. Everything is working great - the engine, the DEF system, the exhaust… everything. The things we built were always good to go, but the van that they were built on was just a total disaster from the moment we finished our build. Now though, it’s all been fixed up, and it’s absolutely great.

And now we’re going to sell it. The only time that it’s actually good, actually working, actually able to go more than a few hundred miles without throwing a terrible check engine light. It feels really weird to consider selling it now, but we know that now is the right time.

We made a video this week looking back at the significant amount of “learning experiences” we had during our van life tenure. We learned so much, we just felt like we had to pass it along to anyone else out there who’s considering building a van and living in it full time. It’s a beautiful lifestyle, but there are definitely some things we would have done differently if we were to start all over. Which… well… I think we probably will someday.

This is it. Our last day with the van. After this, we have to get it all clean and pretty, and ready to sell. What a wild, long ride it's been. We're both feeling a bit conflicted about letting the van go now that we've had a chance to really experience it as we've always wanted to. The van is finally fixed up, working great, and now we're letting it go. I've gotta say, van life is pretty great when everything is actually working, and you don't have to worry about it breaking down on the side of the road. We’re going to miss this life, for sure.

I’m showing the van about 5 times a day to interested people - which is a good sign, but the more I talk about the van, how great it is, how much fun it was to build… regrets start creeping in. Like maybe we didn’t give it enough of a chance, or maybe we just should have dropped a bunch of money right off the top to fix it up as good as it is now. It’s a beautiful home now that we don’t have to worry about it dying a few times every day. It feels like maybe we didn’t give it a real true shot, which is quite sad.

Next up for us once we sell the van is to really focus on our year+ long round the world trip. The landscape is constantly changing in regards to COVID, travel requirements, testing requirements, and everything around traveling around Europe this summer. It’s a moving target, and right now we are barely paying any attention to it, with how focused we are on the van. I can’t wait to get on a plane and head to Europe. It feels like a dream come true.

Anyway - thank you so much for reading this, and for sharing a bit of your breakfast time with us. We really appreciate it! Next one is coming next Sunday - we hope you have a great week :)

josh (and lisa)

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