Yeah, this is a worry of course. The vans aren’t cheap and they depreciate like a car so, if you quit after a year, you’re going to lose a bundle on the van.
I figure that I can check into a motel while repairs are being done. It’s also why I’m probably going to use a Ford Transit as the chassis because it’s going to be easier to find a shop to work on it than the Mercedes. I figure routine maintenance is going to be a lot cheaper too.
I have always been comfortable with my own company. Plus, as BudGirl says, I have a cat now, although I’m torn about bringing an energetic cat along in a van. It’s not like you can take him for walks, and I don’t know about letting him out to roam.
A van (see above). I can get a kitchen, bathroom, sleeping space, work space and cargo space into a 19’ Ford Transit or Mercedes Sprinter.
With an RV you know where your toilet waste is going…to a tank attached to the RV. Which means you have to carry it around with you until you do a Cousin Eddie.
We rented a camper van in Jackson Wy a few years ago (Dodge/ Mercedes chassis).
Turns out it was converted in Austin.
I had to google this because I don’t know shit about needlework.
My van will have a shower and toilet, but a gym membership seems to be de rigeur for van-lifers - for the long showers mostly. I plan to be moving around, so I have to look into mail forwarding, but Amazon will now deliver to your phone’s location (within reason), so that’s helpful.
This is really taking off post-COVID, so technology is moving fast along with it. Yes, internet service is going to be an issue, but there are ways to optimize it which is good as I hear most campgrounds have really shitty wifi.
There are a number of cell-based data services that will give you unlimited data, but move you onto their “network managed” tier after you’ve burned through 30 gigs in any given month. From my research, this isn’t too bad as it’s not arbitrary throttling, it just means you will have low priority on the network during times of high traffic.
You can add signal boosters to the van for cell, wifi and TV to give you better reception, it’s still only cell data speeds. I am hoping that the spread of 5G will improve things, but this isn’t going to roll out too the boonies any time soon. I am hoping that I will have the option of driving to a nearby town for 5G, or I can just park outside a Starbucks.
I don’t know what the data usage is of a Citrix connection. That’s on the list to research.
I think a true EV camper is a long way from being viable. Solar panels give you a trickle charge so one 100W panel is barely enough to keep your fridge running “battery neutral”. That’s assuming good sun, which means your van is parked out in it, which means it’ll heat up inside. Running the AC is what kills the batteries, so that’s the chicken and egg of it.
At least, now, the industry is getting its shit together on the electrics. Most builders now offer a proper lithium battery / inverter system that charges from the installed solar panels but mostly from a second alternator off the engine. This gets rid of the heavy, noisy, dirty, bulky generator. You can also ditch the propane by going with a hydronic system for heating/hot water - that uses electric/diesel (drawn from the fuel tank) - and an induction cooktop.
I plan on loading up my van with plenty of amp-hours and solar, so that I can avoid as much as possible having to run the engine to recharge. That gives me the option to stay off-grid longer, but that means I need a bigger fridge and more holding tank capacity, so it’s all a delicate balancing act in a 19’ van.
If you want to nerd-out on the current state of electrical systems, check this out.
I mean, if you’re cool with Amazon knowing your location at all times…
Unlimited data plans don’t usually include unlimited hotspot from your phone. Same goes for the mobile hotspot devices. If you want to use a laptop for Zoom meetings a few hours a week, that could become a problem pretty quickly.
5G won’t be ubiquitous and/or really all that useful in major cities for another 2-3 years. Shit, many parts of the boonies still struggle with 4G/LTE.
Relying on public wifi (e.g. Starbucks) would be an unacceptable concession for me - too risky for security/privacy. Sure, you can use VPNs for work and personal use, but yechh.
Looks to me like you could very possibly run Citrix on dialup, but YMMV. A 50kbps average like what some of those posters are quoting amounts to roughly 900MB for a 40-hour work week.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Citrix/comments/8szut6/1h_citrix_connection_data_usage/
The idea is to avoid all that packing and unpacking - being mobile but having all your shit permanently stowed. Also, I think owning a van is going to be cheaper than full-time AirBNB.
I know you hate these, but this one just has to be done…
Sportsmobile. It’s who I am looking at to do my van build, because you can customize it - kinda like Ikea - but it’s far cheaper than a full-on custom build.
Like they don’t already.
You can sign up for an unlimited, network managed data plan - like this one for $130/month - that doesn’t limit the number of connected devices. You can use a pocket hotspot to access, or put the SIM card into a booster antenna built-in to your rig that gives you a rolling mobile hotspot for all your shit.
Thanks! I was hoping that Citrix wasn’t a big data hog - it’s basically sending screen images to you while all the heavy lifting is done in the cloud.
I’ve wondered about the internet hookups that are advertised with a lot of new-model cars now, claiming your car is a wi-fi hotspot and selling you a data plan. How do those work?
I have no idea. It’s always seemed a little pointless, but then Nav systems are completely pointless now, but you still have to get them in order to be able to use Waze on your phone. 
Kris & I have talked about RVs, not full time, but as a way to spend a few months of each year traveling. I’d like to drive to Alaska. I’d like to spend a month driving around Montana and Wyoming. My experience with AirBNBs hasn’t been that great.
This year we tent-camped in state parks in Kansas and Mississippi, which were basically RV parks. These were not van-life people, and I got the impression that they were all from nearby, and just spending the weekend near the lake. Lots of Trump flags, but then Mississippi. Kansas. Frankly, I liked being away from them in a tent, but there was definitely an appeal to (1) being warm in Kansas, (2) having air conditioning in Mississippi, and (3) not having to fold the tent.
I think the van is probably the way to go, but for us whatever the RV is is our second car. Hard to commit to that for me. It sounds like you would own no car, no house, nothing but a handsome cat, who, I suspect, would like that life just fine.
There is nothing appealing about being in Kansas.
Some newer cars come with a built-in hotspot/LTE modem. You can also buy a hotspot (like the Spark) that plugs into the OBD-II port. But ultimately it’s not significantly different than using the hotspot feature on your phone.
I sort of doubt that. And even if you do, I doubt that you’d want to drive back.
I think the idea would be to take time getting there and back (including detouring around Kansas both ways).
That’s the part that appeals to me; drive a bit, stay a bit, drive a bit more, stay off-grid where possible to avoid cost/people. Try not to double back too much, but don’t get too caught up on the destination.
After all, as the old adage says: it’s not the destination but the journey that doesn’t stop believin’.