How to Work Remotely While Living in Your Car

How to Work Remotely While Living Out of Your Car

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My current job was remote even prior to the pandemic. I chose a remote job in a quest for location independence; I wanted to design my entire life around travel, and most wage slavery makes that impossible. Previously, I had tried seasonal gigs at hostels and national parks in order to travel and save money via employee housing, but this comes with its own set of obstacles regarding health insurance, minimum wage, and personal privacy. As a “digital nomad” I now have more flexibility to uproot whenever I want without constantly changing jobs. If you’re reading this, I hope you’ve found your way to this lifestyle too!

My first “test drive” at working remotely while traveling was a road trip to hike in the North Cascades. I was there for a month, so living out of my truck allowed me to carry all my hiking and camping gear from place to place and to save money on accommodation. On my work days I would post up somewhere to complete my shifts and on my off days I would hike my little heart out. 

I enjoyed that trip so much that upon return, I fully pulled the trigger. Within a couple weeks I found someone to take over my apartment lease, I put all my things in storage, got an iPostal address, and set off to do car-life full time. I originally wrote this post from the Smoky Mountains, and I’ve updated it periodically from the Organ Mountains, Guadalupe Mountains, Big Bend, Moab, etc.

It’s been necessary to update this post often as I continue to hone the best strategies for working remotely while living out of my car. Over time I’ve been able to go more off-grid, while in the beginning I sometimes used co-working spaces and short term rentals. Below you’ll find a variety of options depending on your style.



Digital Nomad Car Camping Strategies: Where to Work?

The top concern for a digital nomad living out of their car is being able to clock in for work without issue. You may often be visiting remote areas like national parks, Bureau of Land Management land, or even just small towns without much cell or wifi signal. I’ve come up with a few strategies which I cycle between depending on a variety of factors, including time of year, the cost of local housing/campsites, proximity to local trails, and how good the local cell signal is.

Campsites

Working remotely from campsite
Charging my laptop with Jackery solar panels at a free 14-day BLM site in Moab, Utah

To find places to park, I most often use FreeCampsites.net, The Dyrt, or HipCamp. My setup is self-contained, so I don’t need hookups or extra amenities (although they are a perk; the RV campground I used in Marathon, TX when basing myself near Big Bend National Park had a lot of amenities). Therefore I refuse to overpay for a site, and these resources help me find free or affordable ones.

Prior to choosing a site, I need to consider how private it is and how strong the signal is going to be so I can use my wifi hotspot to work. I can check signal using the Verizon Coverage Map to see if the area has at least 4G coverage. Privacy is important because my job requires that I talk on the phone to customers all day long, sometimes nonstop. The constant ringing and chatting could annoy fellow campers, roommates, or neighbors, so unfortunately I can’t just post up anywhere I want. People often suggest cafes, libraries, or hostels, but public places like this will not work for my job. During really busy seasons at work, I’m even hesitant about developed campsites like KOAs. By contrast, the campsites (or yurts, or treehouses) on HipCamp are on private land.

Use my referral code THEDETOUREFFECT to get $10 off your first HipCamp camping trip!

My favorite type of campsites are Bureau of Land Management dispersed sites, which you can park on for free for up to 14 days. Long-Term Visitor Areas allow even longer stays with a cheap permit! When I first started out with truck life, I was hesitant to use dispersed sites because I worried so much about wifi signal and keeping devices charged. I grew bolder over time, however, and now they’re my first choice. I once stayed at a site in the middle of nowhere between the Guadalupe Mountains in Texas and Carlsbad in New Mexico for a week, and at a site near Dripping Springs outside of Las Cruces for two weeks, and most recently BLM sites near Zion and Moab, Utah. I’ve had great wifi access via my hotspot and no trouble recharging my laptop via solar panels (more on that below).

Usually I will save the coordinates of a handful of prospective BLM sites in my phone prior to arriving at a new destination. I try to arrive at least a full day before my next work shift so I can drive around testing the signal at multiple sites if needed. If the first one doesn’t give me as many bars as the Verizon Coverage Map or The Dyrt suggested, I can try the second or third spot.

You can use some features for free, but The Dyrt PRO allows offline access and more advanced search features and map layers. Sign up for a 7-day free trial of The Dyrt PRO here to find campsites.

On my days off from work when all I’m doing is driving around to different trailheads to go hiking, I am more likely to use backcountry campsites that are remote enough to have no signal, shared sites with other campers, or to just park at a Walmart or Cracker Barrel. Whatever you do, do not park and sleep overnight in a parking garage. I tried this once because I found some that were free on nights and weekends, but it is extremely hot in there and people’s car alarms go off all night for no reason.

When trying to stealth park, the key is to act like you’re allowed to be there. Confidence will go a long way. I’ve read anecdotes from vanlifers that when they first start out, they’re very timid about being noticed, but within a few months or years they’ll have the doors wide open, sitting in plain view cooking up a meal on the stove in front of everybody like it’s no big deal.

Here are some other websites and apps you might use to find free or cheap campsites:

Coworking Spaces

One drawback of working from campsites is that on my off days when I go hiking, I have to leave my laptop and other valuables in the car while I’m on the trail. Trailhead break-ins are a thing. Obviously I don’t put valuables right out in the open where anyone could look in my window and see them sitting there, but I still have paranoia. To assuage my fears, on my North Cascades trip I even hiked with my laptop one time. The extra weight was not enjoyable. Another time I drove very far out of my way to leave my laptop with an acquaintance for a few days while I was gone hiking, which costs gas money, time, and effort. I thought one solution might be getting a lockable safe, but then you also have to contend with the heat or cold that takes over your vehicle while it sits out in the elements all day, and those things are bad for your devices.

One solution is to rent a coworking space on a month-to-month basis. Many coworking spaces even have private offices available, which is perfect so that I don’t annoy everyone else in the shared open-plan part of the office with all my phone calls. I can have guaranteed wifi, electrical outlets, access to a printer, mail-receiving services, a sink to wash dishes, and sometimes even free coffee and snacks! I can leave my laptop locked in my private office while I’m gone, and then hike with abandon.

At night after I clock out, I can then park wherever I want in town that’s free without worrying about whether the site is going to have wifi signal. Sometimes I’ll even just go park in a suburban neighborhood nearby the coworking space. Nobody questions me since I’m in a truck, which is more stealth than a van. Even if they see my license plate and know I’m not local, they might just assume I’m in town to visit a friend who lives in that neighborhood.

The main drawback to this is the cost, depending on what town you’re in. If your job does not require frequent phone calls, though, you could just pay for a desk in the cheaper shared space instead of reserving a private office.

If you do stay at a developed campsite such as a KOA, they might let you lock up your devices somewhere in their offices, and then renting a coworking space is unnecessary.

Short Term Rentals

Working remotely from an RV
Working remotely from an RV I found on AirBnB

Since I do stop to get AirBnBs every once in awhile, you might accuse me of not being a car-living purist. You’d be correct. I’m a full-time nomad and my first priority is travel.

AirBnB is obviously the most popular place to find a short-term rental for a few weeks or months. You can choose a place with wifi access and normal amenities, like a kitchen! You can both live and work out of an AirBnB, leave your valuables there while you’re out exploring, and you have the trust factor of AirBnB’s vetting process. However, AirBnB has gotten increasingly expensive in recent years. It’s sort of a slap in the face to give up your apartment lease in order to travel out of your car, only to still end up paying the same cost of your original rent or more (it’s nice though that AirBnB has extended stay discounts; they are still not as expensive as hotels if you’re doing a long stay).

The resources travel nurses use to find short term housing, such as Furnished Finder, are a great alternative. The rooms available for rent are often much more affordable than AirBnB, and availability for strange timeframes can be easier to come by. You’ll want to double check with the host whether the demands of your job will be ok – is it a problem if you use the wifi often? Do you have strange hours that might affect the other people in the house? They are used to hosting travel nurses, so be upfront about your unique situation. I used Furnished Finder for the first time when I wanted to stay in Bozeman, Montana for a few months to explore Yellowstone and other nearby parks, and it was a great experience. I found a basement floor apartment with multiple rooms all to myself that was fully furnished. It’s like a more trustworthy Craigslist.

You can also find short term rentals or sublets on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, but of course it’s important to be thorough with your vetting of these hosts and property owners since these platforms are not as thoroughly monitored for scams.

Extended Stay Hotels are another place to look. When you book a room at some hotels for multiple weeks, there is an extended stay discount. Personally my experience has been that even with the discount it’s still much too expensive, but depending on your location you might find a good deal.

My most recent piece of advice when it comes to short term rentals is to never book a place with bad cell signal just because the host swears the wifi is strong enough for your remote working needs. I’m currently at an AirBnB that I knew would have no cell signal, but it was marketed as being great for remote workers. I thought I could just do wifi voice calling. Once I got here, it turns out the wifi is good enough for the work I do on my laptop, but wifi voice calling does not work whatsoever. When I try to speak to people on the phone, they either can’t hear me or the call drops completely. Every day I drive out to the highway where I can get cell signal and I work from my car using my wifi hotspot, and at night I come back to the AirBnB to sleep. If it hadn’t snowed the first few weeks and been super windy and generally miserable outside, I’d say this AirBnB was a huge waste of money.

If you’re looking for accommodations to work remotely from and aren’t sure if you can trust attestations that they have “good wifi”, ask the host to send you their Speedtest score.

Trusted Housesitters

I’ve not tried this method yet, but Trusted Housesitters seems like a great choice to accommodate a nomadic lifestyle. I follow plenty of travelers online who housesit as a way to see the world cheaply. In exchange for a free place to stay, you’ll petsit or housesit for somebody who is temporarily gone from their home on vacation. If you’re an animal lover like me, this is perfect.

The drawback I anticipate with this, is that I may not be able to leave on hiking or backpacking trips on my days off. If the objective is to petsit, then you obviously can’t just up and leave the pet while you run around exploring. If it’s an active dog then you could conceivably bring them with you on day hikes, but only if the trail in question allows dogs. Many national parks do not. If it’s an older dog or a puppy, it’s not healthy to bring them on strenuous hikes. So, as a hiker I have been reticent to try this strategy, but depending on your travel priorities it might work well for you.

Another way to trade labor in exchange for free housing is to find a Worldpackers, Workaway or WWOOF host. Usually this would involve farm work, elder or child care, gardening, cleaning or flipping beds at a hostel, or some other kind of construction or housework. These options work better if you are not a digital nomad, in my opinion. If you are a seasonal worker who saves up at one gig and then gets a few months off, then you could do Workaway during your “off season”. If you need to be able to clock in for your “real” job though while also committing your time to volunteer work in exchange for housing, you could have a conflict of interest. You’d need to be very clear with your host in advance about your time constraints and daily availability.

Digital Nomad Hotels/Hostels and Vanlife Co-Ops

More and more companies are cashing in on the surge of digital nomads by creating systems to facilitate our lifestyles – as they should. It’s a smart move. I’d much rather see this type of solution-oriented thinking as opposed to increased crackdowns on nomadic habits.

If you’ve ever Googled the word “nomad” in your life, then undoubtedly you’ve been the target of ads for Remote Year ever since. This is an all-inclusive company that handles your travel itinerary between countries and provides working and living spaces along the way. It is expensive. If you take the itinerary-planning out of the equation, you might stumble across Selina Hotel, which is a chain of accommodations around the world that provides living space with built-in coworking space. I love to see it! We are starting to witness something similar when it comes to parking spaces. RV campgrounds treat car campers like lepers, but digital nomads who are car campers or vanlifers are ready to spend money on services that support their lifestyles. New companies looking to accommodate us include Van Life Campgrounds and Kift.

If you’re interested in ditching your car or van for a bit and traveling abroad, you might like Nomad List. Input your criteria and it will help you choose a city that is nomad-friendly based on stats like internet access, safety, and affordability. Just keep in mind that there are rules regarding remote work in other countries. “Digital nomad” doesn’t actually mean you can work from anywhere. I explained this more in my “How to Solo Travel Full-Time as a Nomad” post, where I compare what types of jobs and visas would enable you to work abroad.

Reflections

On my trip to Washington, I switched my location once or twice a week so that wherever I was working from would be closer to the trailhead or section of the park I planned to hike during my next days off. This was fun for the purposes of that one trip. I once stayed in a converted school bus I found on AirBnB, and in a treehouse on a farm I found on HipCamp! Some of the free campsites were perfect, like the car camping lot in Leavenworth where RVs and campers are allowed to park overnight for one night (in the gallery below I took a picture of someone’s cool tiny home camper that was parked next to me).

However, this was too exhausting and expensive to maintain. Bouncing between sites so often can be emotionally draining. Some camp hosts want to be entertained by you or invite you to their Bible study or whatever, and most of the time I just want to use their land to crash out. When you have a free housing exchange like WWOOF or Workaway I can understand creating more of a personal relationship with the host, but in a paid situation I’m not always looking for new friends or to learn some kind of new cultural experience, I just need a place to sleep. Especially if I’ve been hiking all day, I am tired. I think of that scene from Mad Men when the assistant complains “you never say ‘thank you'” and the boss replies “that’s what the money’s for!”

Since that trip, I have relied more on 14-day BLM sites and my Jackery power station, and I did the coworking space strategy once (you can read how this panned out in tandem with paying $45/month to park and sleep at an RV storage space in my Digital Nomad Guide to the Smoky Mountains).

In slow seasons at work, I’m also opening up to the idea of more developed campgrounds like the one I stayed at for a month in Marathon, TX as my gateway to Big Bend. I was able to park far enough away from other campers to where I didn’t feel self conscious about the phone calls. At $15/night, it cost more than a dispersed site but was much less expensive than an AirBnB.

Views from HipCamp, AirBnB, and free campground spots I utilized in the North Cascades; one had a private beach!:

Most-Asked Questions about Car Living

How do you shower when you live in a car?

I have a gym membership at a chain that has facilities around the country. Some people have a solar camp shower, which is unnecessary for me at this time. Or, sometimes if I’m staying at a more developed campground, they have showers.

How do you get mail when you live in a car?

Options include a PO Box, a UPS Box, or a mail forwarding company like iPostal. There are pros and cons to each. Preferably you want something that is an actual physical address that is not distinguishable as being a box number, since you usually can’t use a PO Box for banking purposes. When you get a UPS box or iPostal address, you get an actual address.

You want to pick a service that will collect and forward your mail to you wherever you might be (if the place you’re camping/staying doesn’t have an address, you can do General Delivery to the nearest post office). Be sure to also check your state’s rules about what they will accept when it comes to a voting address. I took someone else’s advice and got an iPostal address because my friend didn’t personally have an issue using this for voting, but I got a notice that my county in Arizona will not accept the iPostal address. This link says I could have used a PO box, but that wouldn’t work for banking. Perhaps I should have gone with a UPS address, but the iPostal option was cheaper and had more options when it came to mail forwarding services. Note that additional fees do apply each time you have them forward something; this is also true of UPS.

I need to call the county and get it sorted out; either they will allow an exception when it comes to the iPostal address, or I will have to switch to UPS.

Pro-tip: when choosing from the list of addresses iPostal might give you, pick one that includes international shipments if you think you’ll be traveling abroad. When I was in Wales I wanted iPostal to forward something to me there, and they said my Flagstaff Arizona iPostal address would only work for domestic mailings. There was a different Flagstaff address I could have chosen if I wanted international forwarding to be included 🙄

How do you keep warm when you live in a car?

I sleep on top of a sub-zero thermal sleeping bag which is super cushiony, and have a light blanket. When it gets cold I ditch the blanket and slip inside the sleeping bag. I’ve not car camped in severe winter weather yet. I plan to drive to warm areas of the country during winter time since I’m not a big snow person. If I do ever camp in colder temperatures, I might consider a Mr Heater, although I am hesitant to lock myself in the truck with noxious fumes.

Do you get lonely being nomadic?

I don’t think I’ve ever felt lonely a day in my life.

How do you keep safe while living in your car?

I carry a variety of weapons, lol. I also have a Garmin InReach Mini spot tracker for emergencies, plus my NOCO Jump Starter Power Bank, a portable tire inflator, an offline map subscription to GAIA, hiking essentials like a water filter and bear vault, I do plenty of research about the locations I visit, and I’m always doing a gut check. If I feel unsettled about something, I give myself permission to bail.

What do nomads do about health insurance?

Since I am not working for myself at this time and instead have a remote job working for a company, I have health insurance through my employer and I can visit doctors all over the country as long as they’re in-network. If you are freelance or working for yourself, it can be tough living in the United States where we don’t have universal health care. Obamacare can be quite expensive. State health insurance can be very affordable depending on your income, but you will only be able to visit doctors in your home state.

Travel insurance providers include medical emergencies and evacuations in their plans. Getting this type of insurance (I like to use Travel Insurance Master to compare different plans) could provide peace of mind, but some providers won’t let you buy a plan for domestic travel in your home country, or, for instance, World Nomads stipulates you must be at least 100 miles from your home.

A lot of climbers, hikers, and outdoor enthusiasts use Spot Insurance. Spot starts at $25 a month and covers you up to $20,000 each time you’re injured. I’ve recently heard other nomads recommend SafetyWing’s “Nomad Health” and “Nomad Insurance” products, but they will not cover you for very long in your home country and are designed for nomads who are abroad most of the year. Genki is another similar service.

Tin Can Living are full-time RVers who can help you figure out an insurance plan over at “Health Insurance For RVers: What You Need To Know About Full-Time RV Insurance”. And finally, Brent and Michael are Going Places, a digital nomad couple, have a great article “How Does Heath Care Work for a Long-Term Traveler?” laying out all the various insurance options nomads might consider.

Solo hike Peak District

I Have Never Felt Lonely as a Solo Traveler

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When people realize you’re a solo traveler, they often try to take your solitude away from you. Why can’t they grasp we’re solo on purpose?

Best Products for Working Remotely from your Car

If you’re interested in my full setup, including how I’ve outfitted my truck bed in terms of insulation, lighting, and sleeping comfortably, I go in depth about that in my Truck Bed Setup post. In the current post I’m focusing on the “working remotely” aspect of living in the car.

There are sales going on for some of the gear listed below. I list the latest discounts here.

Verizon Jetpack MiFi 8800L

When I first bought my Verizon MiFi hotspot before I moved into the truck full-time, I gave it a test run by trying to use it from a campsite in Sedona. While it was able to connect, the speed was way too slow to accommodate my work. With this disappointing experience in mind, prior to my first remote working trip in the North Cascades I was very paranoid about whether the hotspot would perform up to par at all the locations I planned to work from. So, before booking any accommodation, I always checked the Verizon Coverage Map first to see if the area had at least 4G coverage. I also asked camp hosts if they thought I would have good wifi signal or not. The hotspot was able to get great signal at every single place I worked from during the entire trip! Not being able to clock in and out for my shifts went from being my biggest fear, to the least of my worries. Since then it has performed well at BLM sites around the country, though I always look for reviews about cell signal on The Dyrt first.

Obviously everyone has different concerns and requirements depending on what their job entails. Mine requires that I answer a ton of emails, have access to a sales booking system, and take lots of back-to-back customer queue calls. It does not require that I download, upload, or stream a bunch of media. When I bought the jetpack, I got the Unlimited Plan plus 15gb of high speed monthly, because the customer service agent told me I shouldn’t need more than 15gb if I don’t have to handle media. However, within two weeks, I was getting warning messages that I was about to run out of my 15gb. I suppose it still would have worked after I ran out (“unlimited”), but it would not have been high speed anymore. Since I had such a good experience with the jetpack thus far, I got scared that things would take a turn for the worse if I ran out of high speed, so I upgraded to 30gb.

If you show up at a campsite you thought would have better coverage, it’s not the end of the world. While I’m out adventuring, I often take note of how many bars my iPhone has, because it will be reflective of how well my hotspot would work in that location. I file this information away in my head for future reference so that if I’m ever looking for a spot to squat, I know that area will have coverage. One time when an AirBnB was having wifi problems, I drove out to a random pull-out spot on the side of the road and worked from there in my car for the day because I remembered the area had good signal when I drove through a few days prior. You could likely do this in any neighborhood or parking lot that looks safe.

Alternatives: Starlink and Peplink Max Transit Duo

A friend suggested I check out the Mobile Internet Resource Center on Youtube for more ideas on how to stay connected while traveling, which is a pretty awesome roundup of all the most current options. I’m interested in the idea of the Peplink Max Transit Duo, which will use multiple different cellular data plans (say, Verizon and AT&T). That way if one fails in any particular location, it will automatically switch to the other. These things are expensive though, and I’d also have to buy another cell data plan (I only have Verizon), so I probably won’t invest in that yet. I hope we’ll see this become more ubiquitous so we can watch the prices go down! There’s always Starlink as well, which is becoming very popular for vanlifers and RVers.

*Summer 2022 Update: I am currently abroad and prior to my flight, I asked three different Verizon customer service agents if my hotspot would work in this country. They said yes and not to worry. It does not. Do not plan on relying on this device when crossing borders. If you’re signed up for my Monthly Location Independence Newsletter then you recently received my recommendations about portable wifi for international destinations.

Jackery Portable Power Station

Jackery power bank solar panels camping
Working remotely from a BLM site outside Las Cruces

At first I tried every possible method under the sun to avoid having to cough up the money for solar panels and a Jackery power bank, but in the end it became a necessity. I didn’t want to be limited to only booking developed or private campsites with outlets, and a cheaper power bank device I bought from another brand ended up not working at all and I had to return it.

The Jackery rules, and the solar panels work like magic. For some reason I assumed they would be a huge hassle and require constant troubleshooting, but I’ve not had any issues. We are so blessed to live in an era of history where technology like this is available to us. The Jackery setup enables me to work remotely from the truck indefinitely while squatting at Bureau of Land Management sites in the middle of nowhere.

You can charge the power bank itself with a regular wall outlet, but the idea is to hook it up to two solar panels for charging. As long as you have sunny weather, you’re in luck. If you expect some rainy days, just make sure to pre-charge the Jackery beforehand. I have been very impressed at how many laptop recharges I can get out of one fully charged Jackery; I think I could recharge my laptop maybe 10 times before it drains the Jackery and I need to hook up the solar panels again?

Note the Jackery comes in multiple sizes and price points. The 240 is cheapest but you probably need at least a 500 if you are charging a laptop. If you want something even more powerful, there’s a Jackery 1000, 1500, etc.

While a large initial investment, a power bank and solar panel setup is the true ticket to location independence, and, for me, freedom.


Working from the road can be a blast if you feel confident in your setup! If you’ve lived nomadically while working remotely from your car for any length of time, what are some car camping products or work-related strategies that have served you well? I’m particularly interested in everyone’s favorite internet and electricity solutions. If you haven’t tried working remotely from your car yet, what concerns are holding you back?


Related:

BearVault Canister
BearVault BV450 Food Container
GoalZero power bank
GoalZero Flip 24 Portable Charger
Doodie Bags
Reliance Double Doodie Waste Bags with Bio-Gel
Garmin InReach Mini
Garmin InReach Mini
Power generator for car camping
Jackery Portable Power Station
Car camping stove
Coleman 2-Burner Camp Stove

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How to Work Remotely From Your Car

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18 Comments

  1. Adrian LE says:

    Very informative!
    I work with a company right now that offers fully remote as an option and I’m really eager to get out on the road. I’ve been considering doing seasonal work, but you brought up some great points that I kind of overlooked such as health insurance and other benefits.
    I appreciate you providing a list of potential places to work from and how to plan a stay in an area. I will be revisiting this site once I start planning to head out.
    Thank you!

    1. Awesome, thanks Adrian! That’s exciting that the company is set up in a way that will support you working from the road. We are pretty lucky! I hope you’re able to get out there soon. Regarding seasonal/freelancing/etc, i.e. situations where you don’t have insurance through an employer, I did recently hear a lot of people suggesting SafetyWing for insurance, but it’s mainly for people who travel abroad, it doesn’t protect you in your home country.

  2. It can be hard to get yourself organised on the road, but it’s good to have your own moving home to call a base. When I was remote working while travelling, I had to take ‘days off’ from travelling and find a nice cafe with WiFi to work from.

    1. Yeah, it’s kind of like having a "bugout bag" but it’s actually my entire home lol. I wish I could work from cafes, it’d be so much simpler to find suitable places. Maybe one day if I don’t have the phone element anymore. I am thinking I will rent private offices at coworking spaces though

  3. I absolutely love this – hearing all the nuts and bolts about how things work. I work from home and sometimes the road, and like you, I find it exhausting to be constantly moving around. I have a similar plan – to stay in short-term vacation rentals for a month so that we can really explore an area. I still own a house, though, and I’d love to hang onto it.
    *
    Also good to know about the Verizon hotspot. I always wondered how reliable they were!

    1. Exactly, the paranoia of not knowing if you’ll find a place that’s suitable to work from is too much. I like that you’re going to do vacation rentals! I think it makes a lot of sense, as long as it’s possible to find ones that are reasonably priced

  4. The mosquito net makes so much sense to me, yet I would’ve never thought of it. jaja And the fairy lights are definitely a must!

    1. Right? I actually didn’t think of it either, someone on instagram recommended it when I was creating the setup! I love asking other travelers on there for advice

  5. MK Dymock says:

    What an amazing adventure. I’m more than a little jealous. These are great tips for when I follow the dream.

  6. Yeeees! I am so happy that this lifestyle is working out well for you so far!

    Just FYI as the food thing always annoys me too even after a week of rehydrating food… We have a cooler and big re-freezable ice-blocks that we re-freeze whenever we stay somewhere with a freezer. I found it works okay, but you have to be really careful with fruits and vegetables. If they are too close to the ice, they go off really fast (or they go a bit moldy from the extra water vapour compared to what they’d have in a fridge.) It just means you have to buy fruit/veg a bit more often compared to when you live at home…

    p.s sucky fan is sucky. But somehow I am not surprised that Susan bought all the options, tested them and sent back the bad ones. Why do I never think of smart ideas like that!? That girl is a genius.

    1. That seems like a better idea than the ice blocks that will melt, to just get the re-freezable ones. Maybe I’ll do a combo of both, only buy real ice during times I expect to be away for awhile and unable to re-freeze. Good to know about fruits and vegetables, I hadn’t thought about mold! I might just have to only eat them on-the-fly, like just buy one apple at a time and eat it right there after I buy it.

  7. This is a great list. My job became remote due to COVID, and it’s looking like we’re going to stay this way forever. It’s opened up so many doors for me and I’ve traveled more these past 18 months than ever before!

  8. It was great hearing how you pulled off the North Cascades adventures. Keep up the adventures . So much respect for your methodical approach to working out the details.

    1. Thanks Steve! Even though I consider myself spontaneous, I think I do actually have a lot of "Type A" tendencies that come out in these planning phases haha

  9. Bob Cranwell says:

    Great stuff Claire !
    Obviously didn’t put too much strain on you and little doors kept on opening as you went.
    There are good 100W flexible solar panels mebbe portable for camp (?) A couple of 2×2 blocks (with stops each end), on the truck sides could give you a plywood table !

    1. Thanks Bob! Yeah I think researching solar panel strategies will be fun, trying to figure out how to mount it and everything

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