and we actually ended up stopping at Mount Hood for the night.
So this is our campsite.
I can't believe we're like on a plane right now.
I know.
So we are currently on the Oregon coast.
It is really beautiful.
It is really pretty.
No!
No!
After about three months on the road, I think it was safe to say we'd adjusted to our lives as nomads.
There we were, official van lifers, experiencing all the potential this lifestyle has to offer.
Every morning on the road started off somewhere new.
And every night ended somewhere completely different.
So cool the weather.
It's just like a little opening up to the sky here yeah, holy actually, though.
We're like right in the middle of the silhouette of the trees.
That's insane.
It's peaceful here though, in the forest.
Some nights we'd actually even just spend in random parking lots.
Though This is how it's done, kids.
Damn.
Which then occasionally led to angry security officer knocks in the middle of the night.
Getting kicked out.
This is private property and we don't allow overnight parking.
As you can see from this footage, we really couldn't get settled in anywhere.
Her environment was constantly changing.
It's so uneven, from the fields in Montana to the beaches in Washington, even the mountains in Oregon.
This is our home for the night, guys.
Mount Hood.
We were living our dream life, full of travel and adventure.
In some ways, though, this lifestyle ended up being unexpectedly challenging for me.
I kind of just feel like I'm disassociating a lot because we're always in new places and we're kind of just aimlessly driving.
There's not really a plan.
We're in the middle of fucking nowhere.
And I'm just like, what the fuck are we doing?
Why are we here?
I guess I had always just thought traveling was supposed to help you find yourself.
So it was confusing when suddenly I felt the most lost I've ever been.
I wouldn't trade this for anything like there's not really anything else I'd rather be doing.
But I also feel like I don't really know what I'm doing at all.
And that's kind of a scary like. daunting feeling, I guess.
For the first time in my life there was really no certainties in my external world.
So I was really forced to start searching internally for a sense of certainty within myself.
It's just like so exhausting dealing with myself and like my thoughts.
Maybe what I didn't realize in this moment is that van life was actually challenging me to figure out who I am at my core, away from all societal pressures attachments expectations, things or places.
Who was I even really anymore?
Another day, another drive.
I will say the driving was the one real consistency in our day-to-day routine.
Maybe at the next co-op too, let these people pass.
Yeah, I'll definitely see them.
Oh.
Fuck!
Bro!
They are fucking... Holy fucking shit!
Can't talk to them so I can get their license plate.
What the fuck?
Holy fucking... Bitch!
My god Yeah, he was riding our ass and then when he sped past us, He knocked off like our entire mirror on the side of the van and he just drove off.
Yeah, like what the fuck he like intentionally did it almost.
No, he like swerved in.
Oh No, I don't think anything else.
He just swerved in so fast and like hit us.
What the fuck?
It's about to pull off and let him pass.
Yeah.
And he fucking just does that.
Fuck it.
What I understand is the vehicle came out, the pass went by you.
As it went by, you struck your mirror and then continued on without stopping.
Since they did not stop after striking you and exchange information required by the law, I'm going to do a close report.
I'm also going to do a low report.
We're going to do our best.
I say probably you'll never hear from me again.
So unfortunately the driver was never found or held accountable for the damage on my van's driver's side mirror.
But I guess in hindsight, I'm just thankful this incident didn't end up worse.
And luckily it was actually a pretty simple fix.
Dude, this would really work actually.
Actually, yeah.
The new mirror is looking okay.
It's looking decent for what it's been through.
I definitely can't say I would have ever expected something like this to happen during van life.
But maybe that was the lesson in it all.
Everything that was happening was kind of like this huge mystery.
But not necessarily a mystery that needed to be solved.
At some point I started to become more content with not knowing what was gonna happen or where we'd end up next.
So we found this really cool abandoned train in this little town off the side of the road.
So sick actually.
Rather than just focusing on all the uncertainty, I now find myself embracing the obscurity of everything.
And once I was able to accept and surrender to whatever mysteries this life on the road had to offer, that's when I truly started to feel the most free.
I have no idea where we are right now you Now because most of this first leg of the trip we traveled the state of Washington.
We spent quite a bit of time living off-grid in the forest.
Oh my god!
We made it!
We're here!
We're in Washington!
On the top of the world Yesterday was rough.
We didn't think the sun was going to come out today.
It said it was just going to be cloudy all day.
But there it is.
There's the sun.
It actually came out.
Oh my god.
We should.
Let's do it.
This is so scary.
I feel like we experienced a whole lifetime of memories in the state of Washington.
I've never felt so connected to a state and its scenery before, so I guess thank you Washington, for being so welcoming.
Oh, hell no.
Oh, my God.
No.
Oh, my God.
Wait.
Dude, no.
Back in 2020, while I was saving up to buy and renovate my van, I did this project, where I made and sold apparel using Shopify, which is actually the sponsor of this video.
They sent me this hat and everything.
Basically, if you didn't know, Shopify is an easy to use on one commerce platform that made it really easy for me to manage and do all the fulfillment on my orders when I was doing this whole project on my own.
Literally, I'm not even kidding.
I probably wouldn't have even had enough money to like buy Spiffy and do the whole van builder renovation if it wasn't for Shopify and this whole apparel project.
So if there's any other creators out there, I definitely recommend checking out Shopify and using them to help you turn your projects and visions into reality.
They power millions of different businesses and entrepreneurs in over 175 different countries, and all the different features Shopify offers just make it super convenient to take on the process of building your whole website and running a business.
So yeah, if you're interested, go to shopifycom, slash heyxnatalie or click the link in the description to get a 14-day free trial.
And thank you so much again, Shopify, for sponsoring this film.
How do you think van life has impacted you so far?
Is it how you expected or is it different?
It's hard because there's so many things.
I know, there's so many things to consider about it.
There's so much that ended up being so much better than I expected.
And then there's so many challenges that I did not expect us to have during van life.
I think one of the most important things van life has shown me so far at least is how...
Great.
The little things can be.
Oh, I see.
Just having a warm meal.
It's like luxury right now, I feel like.
Or warmth in general.
Yeah, like warm water.
It's like... Even water.
I know.
Like...
Just all those small things that I used to take for granted like two months back.
It's now like they just feel like so much more rewarding getting, because it's like we don't have them every day.
Intentionally putting ourselves in this position where we almost had to have a deeper appreciation for the small things sort of created this newfound sense of life's purpose because there was just so much value now placed in the simplicities of living.
Is it now that we constantly are just like in new places, around new environments, constantly.
There's no way to really like identify with any of those things or attach ourselves to any of those things.
We're really like forced to figure out who we are like at our core, and that's not always like the prettiest thing.
Sometimes, when there's like a lot of thoughts that come up, Just making the most of the circumstances or the situations is something that I really feel like we had to do.
We can't really go out and do anything without getting completely soaked.
So we're kind of just spending the day in the van.
We've had no AC, no heat.
And like when we want to go out and film, sometimes it's raining really bad or the wind is really bad and we literally can't do anything to control it.
It's just out of our control.
Like, right now the fucking tide is coming in.
Yeah.
And this shot is about to get fucked up.
But we just, like, have to kind of, like, surrender to whatever happens, happens.
Oh, my God!
Dude, no!
So much of our lives were now dictated by things completely out of our control.
It's snowing!
The only control we had was how we reacted to whatever situation we ended up in.
Basically, if we hit a curb right now, our entire water supply for the night is about to like go spilling everywhere.
Yeah, fuck that weekend.
We were out of water, and we poured the rest of our fresh water in this pan.
Thinking we would have enough to make a mac and cheese.
Yes, but it was not enough to make our fucking mac and cheese.
This was just one of many uncomfortable situations we experienced on the road.
Drive normally.
Bro, we're driving with a fucking bowl of water.
But I would definitely say most of the discomfort came from how insanely freezing it was almost everywhere we were going.
I'm fucking freezing!
I'm freezing!
Run!
We haven't even made it to Montana yet, and I'm already freezing my ass off.
It's so fucking cold, actually.
The heater does not work in the van.
Bro, I woke up last night, or like I was like halfway asleep and I wake up to you like And so because we were constantly in the cold, we got pretty sick at one point and actually had to stay in a motel for a few days to let our bodies recover.
This is a janky ass Thanksgiving.
Most people have like a whole family around them and shit.
We're only two people.
We're only two people.
Even though this might look a bit depressing, I think it honestly might have been the most appreciative I've ever been to have something as simple as heat and food.
We have not had a microwave.
And so love.
This is literally the most advanced meal we made since we started van life.
Okay, true.
Which is kind of fucking crazy.
And it was all thanks to a microwave.
Yeah.
Ironically enough, it was almost like the less we had, the more we became thankful for.
The best microwavable Thanksgiving dinner ever.
Happy Thanksgiving.
I definitely think all the discomforts of this lifestyle were ultimately worth it though, because now I have all these stories and memories to look back on.
Really putting everything into perspective, I feel like I can confidently say living out of a van has been an adventure of a lifetime.
We created a life on the road together.
A life that goes beyond any footage or photos I was able to capture.
Really no amount of words, I say, could fully encapsulate how profound these experiences have been for me as a person.
But I will say, in a lot of ways, it's all shaped me into the person I've always wanted to become.
We did it.
I've like dreamt of doing this ever since I was like 15 years old.
Someone who's proud and comfortable within themselves anytime anywhere, no matter how uncomfortable or uncertain my external world may be.
Someone who challenges themselves to grow and push the boundaries of my comfort zone.
I think the point of van life is kind of like to go out of our comfort zone and meeting up with like a bunch of strangers is very out of both of our comfort zones, I think.
Something we both really struggle with is having social anxiety like really, really terribly.
It's like really paralyzing to talk to people that we don't know that well and like go out of our comfort zone in that aspect.
But I feel like the only way to really like try to overcome anxiety, or take a step in the right direction to overcome it, is to actually like face it head on.
I feel like I've become someone who's actively seeking the full potential of this human experience.
I made it.
Here's the first leg of van life.
I guess you could even say I finally feel like I'm starting to become borderless.
Yeah.
Well, guys, I just fell from the back of the ladder.
I'm an absolute fucking dumbass.
It's not the first time it's happened to you.
Fuck me, actually.
There's actually no hose.
And there's no forest.
Literally.
Literally.
Where the fuck are we?
She locked herself out.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
Dude, that is not rice.
How did we fuck up rice this bad?
Just a small girl in a big world.
Eat your vegetables.
Yeah.
