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SPECIAL FEATURE: VAN LIFE
Van Life:
COUPLE TRADES THE DAILY GRIND FOR LIFE ON THE ROAD By Kenneth Sturtz
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avaria Crego’s 9-5 job was grinding her down, making each day feel like “Groundhog Day.” She and her husband Justin, married the year prior, grew up in Central New York, but had seen little of the country. They wanted to travel to the national parks, visit the Pacific Northwest and explore Canada. Although they enjoyed their jobs, they just wanted more time. Justin’s job in information technology services afforded him five weeks of paid vacation a year plus sick time. Savaria’s job as a drafter and designer for a building automation company provided just 13 days of paid time off. “There’s just so much more to explore and 13 PTO days just wasn’t enough to be able to do all that,” Savaria says. They found themselves living for the weekend. They took hikes together, explored parks and went to concerts. There were wine tastings with friends and semiannual camping trips. Savaria taught herself crafts and was getting certified in yoga. Justin belonged to a CrossFit gym. But they decided if they were ever going to trade Central New York’s rolling hills for rugged mountains and shimmering deserts they needed to make a change.
October 2020 2020
Over several months of research and discussions they hatched a plan to buy a van, leave their jobs and spend a year exploring the country. Savaria and Justin stumbled on the van life movement on Instagram. An amateur photographer, she was pulled in by the endless stream of breathtaking landscapes shared by “van lifers.” Nearly 10 million posts are tagged with the hashtags #vanlife and #vanlifediaries. Living and traveling in a customized van might be an attractive prospect, particularly with millennials, but it can also be expensive. Customized camper vans can cost upwards of $100,000. Savaria knew they couldn’t afford that level of expense, but after some research she realized that with a little more saving they could afford to inexpensively retrofit a van and spend a year traveling.
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