So I guess I live out of a van now.
The morning we were first getting on the road, there was this essence of limitless potential.
The amount of preparation and planning and everything that's gone into this has been insane.
Keep going.
For the first time in my life, I had no actual real plan or idea what was about to happen.
Where I was going to end up, who I was going to meet, what situations I was going to encounter.
But regardless, everything just kind of felt like it was this built-up series of events.
Maybe after all, everything had actually aligned in the way that it was supposed to.
All leading me to exactly where I was, in that unforgettable feeling of momentary bliss.
This does not feel real.
How have you felt the first day finally being on the road after a year of this being talked about in the works?
How does it finally feel to be on the road?
I feel like, even after just the first day of being on the road, I have so much less worries in my life.
Honestly, it's just really rewarding, or like it's just like really surreal to see all the like hard work starting to pay off.
There's like limitless potential too.
Yeah, it feels so like rewarding, even though nothing like major has happened on the trip yet.
It's the potential yeah, just like finally being on the road, experiencing everything that we've been talking about for like the past year.
Literally the past year we've just been talking about it.
It's all just been talk.
It kind of felt like it was never going to happen.
And now we're like actually here at our campsite for the night first official day of van life.
This is the camp spot from the night guys, our home for today.
We're about to test out the kitchen area for the first time and make our first ever meal in the van.
Oh my God, it's going.
There we go.
If I could just... Our soap doesn't work.
We got everything else to work in the van aside from this damn ass soap.
Throw it at the wall.
Maybe that will help.
So yeah, our new lives on the road had officially begun.
Two choices.
This is so exciting.
The reality of cooking in a van.
And not only was this the start of everything that I had ever dreamt of, but I also realized I was watching my dreams turn into memories.
We are currently camping in an empty parking lot tonight.
This is our life now.
It's an otter!
One of the main reasons I could even fulfill my dreams of traveling and doing van life is because of the apparel I created and sold using Shopify.
While I was saving up for a van back in 2020, I decided to make a website with Shopify's easy to use all-in-one commerce platform, which made it really convenient to start up the whole website and manage my orders while I was doing this whole apparel project.
I was also just fresh out of high school, so I hardly had any experience in selling and fulfilling orders prior, but thankfully, Shopify provides all the essential tools needed to start and grow your business.
If there's any creators or entrepreneurs watching who are interested in starting up their own business, I definitely recommend using Shopify services.
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So yeah, feel free to click the link in the description to get a 14-day free trial.
Thank you so much Shopify for sponsoring this film.
The van is all the way down there and we just hiked all the way up here.
Although we had just left home in some odd way, I think, anywhere and everywhere we went started to kind of feel like home.
Even in the most random, unfamiliar places we would have never expected to end up in, Good morning.
We slept here last night next to a train track thing.
It was a little bit sketchy.
There was people shooting down below us and we thought we were gonna get shot on accident or on purpose.
Who knows, they're shooting again.
There's two like random people down there and they keep shooting guns.
So we are hiding behind this everything that we can find.
We just wanted to make food.
And now we're literally getting shot up.
Fucking hell.
Man life.
You should definitely try it out.
10 out of 10 recommend.
Oh my.
Like it was already a struggle to find a camping spot tonight.
In the fucking door.
And we were just like starving driving here.
And then the second we get here.
Getting like fucking abducted by aliens almost.
Yeah.
Wait, let's just scream and get our rage out right now.
Three, two, one.
And because there was no real expectation or plan to abide by, it really created so much potential for new experiences and possible outcomes.
I can't believe we're like on a plane right now.
I know.
This is fucking crazy.
It's beautiful.
I feel like normally when I've gone on little trips and adventures and stuff, or just like when I'm traveling, I'm never able to fully settle down or like actually enjoy things and feel at ease, because i always know the trip will come to an end and i'll have to like go home eventually.
But living in the van so far has just kind of given me this sense of peace and calm, because i can just go anywhere and ever i want and it wherever i am, i'm basically home, or it feels like i am.
It's just been interesting though, because I've never been on like a road trip or an adventure that doesn't have a destination.
Like, obviously we have a general route of where we're going, but for the most part we're kind of just like embracing wherever we end up at the end of each night.
Just climbed a janky ass rooftop.
Don't know how we're gonna get down.
It's really pretty though, like the sunset and the sky, holy shit.
Worst case, if you can get down and I can't, you drive the van up right here and I jump on the van.
Oh my God.
I think the whole van bold too just made me feel very stuck and emotionless honestly, because I was just kind of in like the same mundane routine almost every day.
But now it's like even the past, like few days.
Being on the road, i feel like i've experienced like a whole lifetime.
I've seen so many new things and like felt so many new things, and i think that's one of the most important parts about like life is like feeling all the different emotions, even like the uncomfortable ones, because it hasn't been like perfect, like we haven't even showered in the past, like four or five days.
But i feel like it's worth it because we get to go on these adventures and experience these incredible things.
Like i'm on a fucking plane in the middle of the forest right now how insane is that?
Welcome to flight 505.
You're currently You're currently getting ready for a fat ass crash.
Can feel something, Can feel something, Can feel something.
So, as insane as this location was, I don't necessarily think adventures should just be defined by the places you go or measured in distance, but rather the unexpected series of events that lead us to experiences we could have never imagined or planned to begin with.
Oh boy, oh boy.
Um, shit.
I think we're gonna have to get someone to check it out today.
Shit.
Fuck.
We were literally out there, Matthias was driving and we almost rerouted someone.
So we just pulled in here and now the van won't turn on because we had to slam on the brakes really hard.
So we ended up meeting this stranger who kindly offered to help us out.
Thank you so much.
This van is so nice, guys.
I don't know how like we got so lucky before we drove down chucking your automatic transmission fluid level.
I think you want the engine running with it in neutral, so we'll wait till we're completely done.
All right, wipe that off one more time.
Yeah, you're just going to have a small coating of oil.
I'll wipe it down with the bowl.
This guy was honestly probably one of the nicest human beings I've ever met.
Thank you so much, man.
No problem, man.
We wouldn't have known what to really do.
We probably would have been stuck here all day.
I support adventures.
Where are you headed?
Everywhere.
Just kind of on like a cross-country road trip.
Oh, awesome.
Yeah.
Check your oil frequently.
Yes, for sure.
Less in the room.
And then somehow we ended up in the O'Reilly's AutoZone parking lot until like 1 am waiting for the van's coolant system to drain.
Looks like it's draining.
I feel like today really reminded us that we can't really plan everything.
Yeah.
There's always like obstacles.
Yeah, like it's not an adventure if every step of the way is planned out.
That's just like a fucking to-do list at that point, you know?
And even if that place is O'Reilly's parking lot, you still gotta just make the most out of it.
Even though this whole day was just so odd and unexpected, I think it happened to be one of the most memorable experiences, because everything somehow actually worked out with the van.
And before I knew it, we were getting back on the road.
What are the fucking odds?
Dude, this day.
This fucking day.
This fucking day.
Oh my god.
This day.
Somehow we're getting back on the road.
I guess maybe, after all, some adventures don't end at their planned destination, or even have a destination at all.
We've been in the forest for only five minutes, approximately.
Yeah, what if it was, like, some Boy Scout?
Like, Papa, what's that bird?
And we hear, like, look, there's Titanic.
Jack!
Jamie!
I haven't let go.
Do you actually not know how to merge?
I know how to merge.
But, like, how many times have you done it?
Um, never?
No, genuinely, I'll be fine.
What do I do?
Drive between two cars.
Wait, you actually don't... How many times have you merged?
I have merged before, in Norway.
I've driven a few times, like, on the merging roads.
Hell yes.
I'm on the road.
We're on the road again.
I put it on backwards.
No, it's the right way.
Just put it down.
Yeah.
Go for it.
It's not even raining, of course, now that we put these on.
The rain kind of stopped as we put these on.
I am flying one passenger today.
His name is Eddie.
You can't forget all of these.
Oh.
Oh my god, how could I forget?
This one's name is Keith.
Greg.
This one's name is Keith.
This one's name is Keith.
And the last one's name is... Keith.
Imagine the train comes now.
You just fucking get shooken off.
What are we trying to do even?
Shit on our dicks.
O'Reilly.
