Last Man
My Passion Stuart Meaker’s big white Sprinter van.
LEFT:
A man. In a van. Stuart Meaker getting to grips with the fit-out. BELOW: The dream vehicle. Fully loaded.
I
t’s massive, not far off the size of a motorhome. And the idea is to completely refurb it, build a bed, add a little kitchen and a shower, basically to be completely off-grid. The solar panels charge as you drive along, and I will be living in it for a while, just to go through this whole transition after cricket, get some travel in and see the world. I am in a position where I don’t have any responsibilities so I can afford to go and do a bit of travelling, and you don’t always get that chance. In the first lockdown, I was obviously a bit bored at home and I came across this couple on YouTube.
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They’ve done trips in a van around the States, Canada, the UK - they’ve taken it around Europe, they’ve taken it to Morocco. It looks unbelievable. The idea is to start my own YouTube channel, and then hopefully do a couple of big trips, one is from Lord’s to India in time for the IPL, stopping at all the associate nations: Netherlands; Italy; even for the Europe Cricket League. And to do a documentary to show how cricket is growing across Europe and the world, then finishing in India, showing how this is the pinnacle of what cricket wants to achieve. It is different: if it works, it works; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. But I’ll have had a
The idea is to start my own YouTube channel. Stuart Meaker
wicked time travelling the world. I’ve always loved the outdoors and camping, as a boy I would go fishing down in Dorset. I’ve always loved the freedom to roam and be outside, I guess that’s the South African in me. Recently, I knew I was not far off the end of my cricket career. I’ve always thought, ‘What the hell do I do?’, and I still didn’t know really. So why isn’t this something I can do and travel around a little bit for a while? I’m not going to lose the van even if I decide to come back and get into a career. It’s something a bit alternative.
