Australian millenials live in vans instead of renting

For most 20-something-year-olds, life follows a reasonably predictable path.
Graduate from university, get a full-time job, move out of home and begin the monotonous cycle of working life.

But a collection of free-spirited Millennials who believe ‘rent is slavery’ have started a new (and much cheaper) movement – living, travelling and working out of custom-made vans.

Instagram page ‘Vanlifers’ documents the envious lives of a growing group of people across the globe who have chosen to move into vans to escape the hustle bustle of city living.
From the idyllic mountaintops of New Zealand’s north island to South Australia’s picturesque Great Australian Bight to the Northern Territory – the page is filled with young Australian travelers living out a care-free, nomadic lifestyle on a tiny budget.
Their vans, or sometimes decommissioned school buses, are usually immaculately redesigned and kitted out with fully-functional kitchens, sleeping arrangements and wardrobes – with insulation for the colder months.

Tom O’Connell, 27, originally from regional Victoria, bought a second-hand Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van just over a year ago and has lived in it ever since.
‘It’s become a movement and it’s amazing, I think,’ he told Domain.
‘Maybe it’s a backlash to property prices and people feeling restricted to staying in one place.’
Mr O’Connell, who works as an outdoor education guide that requires him to travel in and out of Melbourne, said the van gave him a level of flexibility that a rental property would never have allowed him.
‘But also, rent is slavery. Rent is so expensive, especially if you want to live where things are happening,’ he told Domain.

Other Australian ‘vanlifers’, who often have hundreds of thousands of social media followers living vicariously through their stunning posts, appear to do little other than explore.
Social media personality Elise Cook runs an online blog detailing her experiences travelling Western Australia in a van with her partner.
‘I feel like being on the road allowed us to tap into a slower gear in how we live and think, and we also realised how little we need to be happy,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘A little over a month ago we packed up our house, got rid of as much “stuff” as possible, put some of it into storage, and moved into Scout.’
‘The plan is to spend the next year or two moving around Australia. We hope that it will be a time in our lives of exploration, inspiration, and motivation.’
NSW couple Tyler and Millie revealed they had travelled 20,000 kilometres across four states of Australia after just five months in their Volkswagon Caddy van.
‘We have been freezing cold, stinking hot, soaking wet, and everything in between; all the while with a huge grin on our faces,’ the loved-up pair posted online.
Sydney man Liam said he ‘wasn’t ready for a suit and tie’ after graduating from university so he bought an old school bus, named it Bilby and totally renovated its interior so he could take it on a road trip.

Source: dailymail