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<\/a>Stephanie Murray watches the sunrise from the roof of her 2003 Ford van, which she purchased and converted into a camper van named Lola.<\/p><\/div>\n
The people Murray met were as diverse as the types of vehicles they drove.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the couples I spoke to worked remotely in IT, another couple ran a blog and one of the other vanlifers was making money from a book he\u2019d written. They\u2019re a pretty talented bunch,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Murray was out to discover their motivation for giving up conventional lives and choosing this mobile lifestyle.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur society is oriented towards people who stay in one place, and van nomads help to call that way of thinking into question.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have encountered so much kindness on the road,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople have welcomed me into their homes and helped me with my van, with no expectation of anything in return. And while the vanlifers I interviewed took up this lifestyle for a variety of reasons, they were united by a desire to choose their own path, rather than the one that\u2019s handed down to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murray discovered that van life is about slow mobility and choosing scenic roads over direct routes such as interstate highways.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked what the difference is between tourism and this and they said their schedules aren\u2019t based on hotels or finding places to eat,\u201d she said. \u201cTheir travel is more open and less structured than tourists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murray\u2019s faculty supervisor and the graduate program director of Geography at Brock, David Butz, believed Murray\u2019s research was novel and important, given today\u2019s mobile society. He said Murray becoming a van nomad herself was pivotal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis strategy \u2014 and life choice \u2014 gives her research an unusually strong experiential and autobiographical component, which is rare in \u2018mobilities\u2019 research, and which adds to the distinctiveness and potential significance of her findings,\u201d said Butz. \u201cWe also felt Stephanie\u2019s unusual project, while logistically complicated, was worth supporting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murray is grateful for the backing she received from Brock.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis research changed the course of my life, and it showed me that it\u2019s possible to turn your passion into a groundbreaking research project,\u201d said Murray, who still calls Lola home.<\/p>\n
She has discovered that the romanticism of the #VanLife culture, which many only see through Instagram, isn\u2019t always the reality of life on the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does appear a lot more idyllic than it is,\u201d she said. \u201cA few of the vanlifers I interviewed talked about how Instagram makes it look so perfect. But if you look past that perfect photo, they\u2019re often saying things like \u2018my van broke down today, but look at the view.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Her research also taught her that a nomadic lifestyle isn\u2019t for everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes a particular mindset to live in a van. People like their routines, they like to be comfortable,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are times living in a van that you really call this way of living into question. But being in this community, it helps you realize you\u2019re not crazy. It\u2019s so reassuring to know this is a viable way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
With her master\u2019s thesis successfully defended, Murray will graduate in the fall, but she\u2019s not done with van life just yet.<\/p>\n
Knowing how expensive it can be to fix her own vehicle, Murray has enrolled in a diesel mechanic course at Fanshawe College for the fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been debating upgrading to a small school bus,\u201d she said. \u201cI just can\u2019t picture a life where I don\u2019t have the option of picking up and going.\u201d<\/p>\n