This Couple Has Found the Perfect Way to Travel During COVID

2020 has been one hell of a ride. The pandemic has changed the way we work, eat, and move about our day to day. It has also changed the way we travel. But while air travel sunk to an all-time low, the pandemic has fueled interest in recreational vehicles—RVs, campervans, and travel trailers. According to a recent report, RV sales are up a whopping 170 percent.

When it comes to van life, traveling duo Katie and Ben have been ahead of the curve. The high school sweethearts-turned-full-time-travelers have been vacationing since 2014, with their adventures taking many shapes and forms. “We’ve been through a lot together,” they write on their website, “awkward teenage years, college, long-distance, traveling together 24/7—and at the end of it all, we still sorta like each other,” they add, jokingly.

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This summer is W I E R D, no doubt about it, but campervan travel has been kind of amazing. We’ve been able to basically avoid as much human interaction as possible (which I never thought I’d intentionally do, but here we are). We can cook for ourselves. We don’t need to stay in hotels. We can avoid most public bathrooms. It’s kind of perfect right now. . And we’ve still found ways to do things we normally would on trips… — 🍻 We love going to breweries, but instead of ordering beer on site, we got 6-packs to-go from a couple different breweries in Jackson Hole and taste tested from our van! — 🦀 And when we were on the Oregon Coast we really wanted to sample the famous clam chowders and fish and chips along the way, so we ordered takeout and enjoyed the local specialties from inside our perfectly cozy “dining room”. — ☕️ We’re obsessed with morning coffee, so we’ve been brewing it ourselves in the van and finding pretty spots to park where we can enjoy it. . The kind of crazy thing is we bought our van in early February, back when life was “normal”. And we had been planning the purchase for about a year before that. But serendipitously this is the only way we’ll be traveling for the foreseeable future it seems. . I read somewhere that some 25 million Americans have bought a campervan or RV this summer. And if you’ve been thinking about it, let us know what questions or hesitations you still have… We’re happy to help because we know it’s a big decision. — P.S. Swipe to compare our fancy kitchen in Pearl to the one we had in our previous build. Same cute chef 🥰 but now he doesn’t have to sit while he cooks!

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“The kind of crazy thing is we bought our van in early February, back when life was ‘normal,'” they reflected in a recent Instagram post. “And we had been planning the purchase for about a year before that. But serendipitously this is the only way we’ll be traveling for the foreseeable future it seems.”

Now, they hope to share their knowledge with others, teaching the ins and outs of van traveling. According to the seasoned couple, the big advantage of van life is you can avoid as much human interaction as possible. “We can cook for ourselves. We don’t need to stay in hotels. We can avoid most public bathrooms. It’s kind of perfect right now,” they note.

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Thoughts on making big life choices… . Last year we made the decision to base ourselves more permanently in the US. It was exactly 1 year ago today that we rolled up with boxes & suitcases in Bend, Oregon. Nervous and excited. . While moving to Bend was far from the craziest decision we’ve made, it was still kind of a leap. It was a place we had only spent 2 days many years ago. A place where we didn't know a single person. . After 6+ years of essentially living out of backpacks and not staying anywhere longer than 1 year, we were hoping this move would make us feel more rooted & less transient. . This year has been, well, a shitshow. And a lot of our dreams for living in this new place didn’t go even remotely as planned. After a year, I don’t know if we honestly feel more rooted or not… . But I can say this: I'm proud that we continue to make big decisions that make us feel nervous and excited. Because the decisions we've made that people have called crazy have led to the most beautiful parts of our lives. And there have been so many beautiful parts of living here. . I once heard someone give this advice on making big decisions and it really resonated with me… . When torn between two big life choices, ask yourself, "Which decision will 80-year-old me still be telling stories about?" . More often than not, it'll be the choice that makes your heart race a little… and sometimes that’s just the push you need. . What big life decisions have made your heart race?

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Yesterday was a bad day. But today is looking better. . If you saw our Instagram stories, you know that we had our brand new mountain bikes stolen from the back of our van. Two locks cut. . It really sucks. There’s no other way to say it. We had just bought the bikes (saved up a bit for them 🤑) and were excited to get into this new hobby. It took us about a month of searching to actually get the bikes (they’re sold out pretty much everywhere because a lot of factories have been shut down). And so it stings a little more knowing we probably won’t be able to get new bikes this year. . Sometimes I process emotions by making lists (is that weird?!)… so here’s a list I made about yesterday’s incident: 1. Can 2020 just be over already?! 😭🙈 #butforreal 2. We are safe. The van was not harmed. For that, we are grateful. (And for those who’ve asked, no we were not inside the van when they were stolen, thankfully.) 3. This is such a small thing to be upset about in the midst of everything going on in the world right now. 4. But as many sweet souls reminded me in DMs, it is still valid to be upset. 5. It’s funny because people always ask if we’re worried traveling abroad, but the only times we’ve had things stolen have been in our home country 🇺🇸 6. People can be shitty. But they can also be so, so good. We’ve been flooded with kind messages, people offering to help search, and just being overall wonderful. And it really brightened an otherwise crappy day. So thank you. 7. If we get bikes in the future, we’re gonna have a badass security system on the van! 8. I hope that sharing this little not-so-pretty side of #vanlife doesn’t scare anyone away. But I do think it’s important to share the bad as well as those picture-perfect moments. Because there are definitely ups AND downs. . And yes, we have insurance. We’re crossing our fingers that the coverage is decent so we can save up for new bikes for next year 🤞🏼 . [📷 last pic of our bikes on the van 😞😭]

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