From Rent to Freedom: Life Begins at 72, Full-Time Van Life in a 1994 Class B Van!
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 20 фев 2024
- 🔴Subscribe: / @cheaprvliving
It's never too late to chase your dreams. Welcome to the inspiring journey of a 72-year-old solo Canadian woman who has traded the ordinary for the extraordinary! Zia has decided to redefine her golden years and lives full-time van life in a 1994 Class B Van. Say goodbye to the traditional retirement routine and hello to the open road! Get ready to be inspired and motivated to live life to the fullest, no matter your age!
FOLLOW ZIA AT:
RUclips - / @chasingthemoonrv
Website - ireneharlow.com/
The bOlder Women Weekend Camping Retreat: Aug23-25th, 2024
ireneharlow.com/events/
AMAZON LINKS
🔴Miniature Fire Place
amzn.to/3uEAXuQ
🔴Bluetti EB70
amzn.to/49GCPC3
🔴Hot Logic Mini Portable 12 Volt Oven
amzn.to/49lYlwi
amzn.to/49IlOau
🔴Luci Lights
amzn.to/3OPCl4t
🔴USB Water Pump
amzn.to/3SKVPIS
🔴Compostable Camping Toilet Bags
amzn.to/3SNHDP7
🔴Berkey Water Filter
amzn.to/49EXtSZ
Be sure to check out my Amazon store, which is full of items that I either use myself, or know other nomads who use them.
My Amazon Store
www.amazon.com/shop/cheaprvli...
AMAZON LINKS - Items I Recommend:
➡️Power Stations
amzn.to/3P4S3YV
➡️12V Batteries
amzn.to/3R16srM
➡️Portable Solar Panels
amzn.to/3PzhK5z
➡️Hard Solar Panels
amzn.to/45EVXPi
➡️Gas and Dual Fuel Generators
amzn.to/3L8Ix5W
➡️Air Conditioner Units
amzn.to/3P5wAip
➡️Pop Up Tents
amzn.to/3sNkFyc
Buy anything through my Amazon Store and the commission helps support the channel. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn a small commision from qualifying purchases.
______________________________________
Website:
cheaprvliving.com
Looking for a Cool Hat, T-Shirt, Stickers and More..
cheaprvliving.myspreadshop.com
My Book- How to Live in a Car, Van or RV:
amzn.to/3LDxDWW
My Amazon Store:
www.amazon.com/shop/cheaprvli...
---------------------------------------------------------------
Socials:
• Facebook: / cheaprvlivingdotcom
• Instagram: @CheapRVliving
______________________________________
Thanks for watching!
I like her van and her little doggie. So cute. We have a housing crisis in Australia as well. My story is exactly like hers. I could afford the rent but that was all. I took the plunge and now living in my van part time and house and pet minding part time as well. I am enjoying this style of life.
Big housing crisis in the US too.
That is so many peoples problem if you pay the rent nothing left for other things.
How do you stay cool in your van in Australia?
I admire her! Fabulous lady!
Good on you for doing that. And being so brave!
What a sweet, positive lady. She makes such a young impression. I thought she was in her fifties. Love her little dog too. Wishing you 2 all the best!
I DID IT. Bought a Ford box van yesterday. Now, the journey begins. I have been dreaming of this for years. I plan to do a no build first, then build it out. So many plans and ideas are swimming in my brain. I'm looking forward to the adventures. Love this channel.
All the best and luck to you. I want to do this someday too
Sounds wonderful, I'd love to know the gas mileage on the box truck.
Exciting..it gives me courage that you and others are jumping into freedom. Thank God for Bob and other's like him that help out. Be blessed 😇
Start a RUclips channel so we can follow along!
Congratulations I hope it's going well oxox
I’m preparing myself to start caravan living once my divorce goes through, excited and scared but I need to simplify and find peace ❤❤❤
What am exciting prospect! I gave myself a year to acclimate to retirement in the Philippines. If this doesn't work for me I'm definitely coming back to the US for van life
Good luck and hope you find happiness and peace 🤗
Good for you sending many Blessings 🙌 ✨️ 🙏 and hope you have a happy new beginning 😊 🥰
To me as someone that did this all the way back to 1985, make sure you have a comfortable bed, and ventillation....
What a gentle kind soul. Wishing her the best and safe travels, thanks for the tour. Much love and many blessings
We don’t have a HOUSING CRISIS here in America. We have a GREEDY HOUSING CRISIS!
She's Canadian. This is a problem throughout the West which has been orchestrated in order to destroy us and install the globalist NWO.
Greed EVERYWHERE!!!! No shortage of greed in this world!!😢
her van is totally awesome 💅🤍🥂
Agreed!
What an adorable baby dog ❤.
🤍🐶🤎
Have to be careful with a dog like that out there. It’s food for every hawk, eagle or coyote.
Wow, she’s how old?!? Hard to believe it, she looks so young!
Living the dream living in a van sticking it to the man 👍🤓👍
Great van! I hope its a nice long-time home for you and Charlie.
Great job Bob what a sweet lady living the dream 👍
So impressed with this Lady!
Beautiful van.
I’m a 65 yr old female living on SS.
We could all find our self’s here.
Baby Boomers are here.
Inflation has dramatically impacted our retirement.
I Love nice things!
But our mental and physical health is everything.
We could all live will so much less.
And off grid.
Love and Prayers to all that read this.
❤😘
I loved listening to Zia. Thank you for your excellent story.
What an amazing and courageous woman starting her adventures in her 70's in a 30 year old van. She had the option of staying safe and stationary in her affordable apartment or throwing caution to the wind and really "living life" and touring all around Canada and the USA. (I'm sorry her travel insurance is so expensive so she couldn't stay in the US for the entire winter before returning home to Canada.)
I'm so inspired by this woman's bravery. Her van is almost exactly what I want, including that little fireplace. What a warm touch.
It is nice to see a fellow Canadian senior woman on the road. I have been moving toward the same thing and am preparing to travel full time hopefully in the very near future. I, too, am a renter and as Zia stated, while my rent is still quite reasonable, the majority of my income is spent on rent and utilities leaving little to have any semblance of a life. I am merely surviving, not thriving! I can't wait to join you all as part of the nomad community!!
What a wonderful lady. May God richly bless her and her efforts to create vanlife community in Canada. I love that little fireplace 🔥
Hooray! Fellow Canadian fulltimer! ❤🇨🇦❤
Beautiful van and beautiful soul
This is a growing problem here in the United States, and that is homebound seniors, because once they retire, they quickly find that they can’t afford to do anything but pay their bills, and they become shut ins. There’s been a drastic economic shift since my grandparents retired in the 90s that the average income new retirees don’t have the savings to be able to afford to do any activities outside of general living in their homes. Vanlife, RV life, Overlanding, these are alternative ways to live And stretch your dollar providing you’re not locked into any specific region due to health, medical or other obligations.
tell her about Sisters On The Fly….. a bunch of older women in vans and trailers that travel and hang together all over the US
Where do u find them? Facebook?
I dreamed of this starting 16 years ago-not full time but the flexibility to do whatever with a stealth van. I got discouraged the last few years but that darned hope keeps sneaking up on me.
I love the way Canadians just casually toss out, “Well, all my medical care is taken care of…” and here in the USA we either don’t get medical care at all, or it bankrupts us. What a mess. Although they have the same problem we have: can’t afford housing. Good for her for calling out both our governments to make more land available (like the LTVA in Quartzsite, Arizona). If the countries won’t do something (and quickly!) about affordable housing, they can at least give us a place to park with bathrooms, water, and garbage cans. So we can, you know, live like human beings.
Canadians pay higher taxes for health care with no deductibles. The Provinces vary with regards to what chemotherapy drugs are covered etc.
The wait for my Aunt to go to Dr and No choices! Yea "great" free coverage.😮
It's not better. Where I live we have no doctors, even ones you can pay. Brits are pulling their own teeth. In Canada they seem to think "health care" is self delete. One thing I would say, they seem to make you think you need much more crap than you do in the US. get a healthier life style and you will also be healthier.
I pay 2 sets of health care, both government mandated. I hope it will work if I ever get something bad, but for every day use, I don't bother. Expensive co pays. Not cost effective. Doesn't cover what you need, does cover expensive drugs that will just be washed down the toilet.
Medical Care is paid with a person's taxes in Canada
We in the US don’t have to pay the government a CARBON TAX to save the planet. We just can’t afford rent or buying a house.
Thanks, Zia, for sharing your stories to inspire and encourage us.
Bob, you meet the most interesting people! What a delightful lady!
I live full time in a small Class C. I think she has almost as much storage in her van. Very nice setup. I would love to get to Canada one day. My father was born in Saskatchewan and the homesteads are still there. Safe travels, Zia. ❤
Love your wanderlust Zia, and Charlie, your fur-baby, oh my ...he's such a cutie!! 🐕Luna's setup seems to work well for the travels and is very organized ...I like the cozy ambiance of the mini fireplace too (nice touch!). 🔥
Btw, it's awesome you want to organize nomadic type events to help get more awareness to build up the nomad community within Canada. 🍁
Good health & Safe travels (and lots of hugs to Charlie)! 🛣🚐 🤎🐶
What a beautiful, inspiring lady. Such a gentle spirit. Love her little dog too! 🐶 I followed her on RUclips…. just joyful listening to her. 💗🙏 Thanks Bob!
What a lovely lady. Love her van!
Fantastic! Future goal for this fellow 🇨🇦 Happier on the road as well.
Thanks so much for this video! Talking about unaffordable housing, it is a crisis across Canada, and in Ontario all they want to do is build high rises , on the the land that is available and no one can afford the rent! Homelessness is an epidemic in our country. Sad affairs when you have politicians who won't listen to us and run the country only to their advantage to make big money!
I hate that this is what the world is coming to,…. I love vanlife but i don’t love that some people are forced into it.
She has such a nice positive attitude. You can always look at challenges negatively but she has answers and I hope the government up there will listen to her a bit.
I love the Lucy light hangers. Creative! I will be making these for mine. 🙂
yes I have a luci light and a plant hanger so they will now be used as she has done. Brilliant idea.
You dont need "travel insurance" my goodness. Those lobbyists literally made her drive back into BC in the dead of winter for no reason. Even health insurance is optional as OHIP covers most. You are allowed 6 months in the US, USE IT. I am Canadian and have been down here since November.
I appreciate her thoughts and advice. Thank you for sharing this! ❤
She gives us hope!
I feel your pain. My rent has doubled in the last 6 years 😢. May the good Lord watch over you and your family and friends. Peace and Love 😊😊.
Yeah, you don't see that many people these days advocating for why it is better, or at least as good, to rent than buy. When I sold my 3rd house there was a moment where I considered living out of my van. Thank goodness I decided to buy another house. Had I lived out of the van I would be stuck in it right now I think. Doubt I could afford to buy a house in the current market and renting at these prices would make me feel like I'm being robbed constantly. And the really nice thing is that I can STILL go on long road trips and live out of the van whenever I want. Always nice to have a home base to come back to though:)
Nice video Bob, what a sweet lady and a neat cause that she is doing up in the Canada area 😎👍
What a sweet lady. I think it's awesome that people can connect like this. Salt of the earth.
Definitely inspired. Found her page for her upcoming summer event, and looking forward to following Zia on YT. Thanks for this lovely interview and tour!
Your dog looks like an adorable gremlin. Super cute. Love the fabric pattern that you selected and putting the Luci lights in plant holders was aesthetically functional! Continue inspiring!
I was thinking EXACTLY the same! Total gremlin. It was uncanny
I love this lady's outlook, and I love the van. the housing crisis is worldwide, here in the UK it gets worse every year. The UK doesn't have weather conducive to vanlife either sadly, it's very very wet here most years, but vanlife is growing. I am heading towards a static touring caravan on a small holding, with a friend and caring for them in return for the ground space. Rent is diabolical.
I love you Zia! Have been following for a while now. I’d travel to Canada to support your meetup!
That little dog with the black nose had the most cutest looking human face I ever saw on a dog...ahwww❤
Awesomeness!!! I love a few Canadian channels. Emily "The Cat VAN Lady" is one of my favorite channels!
She/s a natural in front of a camera.
I will be starting full time in April in my 1984 Dodge B350 class B.
I would have never guessed Zia to be over 55!!😳 She is so positive and has a beautiful van! Safe travels!!
Excellent !
5:32 I use my Hot Logic every day because I don’t have a microwave at home. I love mine! I also bought one for the car.
She's very pretty, like her hair too. Lovely lady.
She seems like a super nice lady! Best wishes for more Canadian ladies meeting up!
Thank you!❤❤❤
Doing Our Best !❤
Great video. Love you Bob. Thanks for showing Canadians side. Go Zia!
I love this life style !!! It’s freedom, an so healthy.Bob you look really good! Keep up the good work !!!!
That dog is freaking adorable! So cute! Thanks for sharing!
Her setup is so cute and cozy. I love the way she has everything organized the way she needs it. Blessings and safe travels. Enjoy your journey. 😊
Bob I love your channel and the folks you interview are amazing thank you for what you do. BTW I notice so many buy the Jackery solar charger. I know its a well known brand. I wish they knew there are better units of less money and last 4 time longer. The “Lithium Iron Phosphate”, or LiFePO will charge 3500 times before they start to degrade whereas the “Lithium ion” like the Jackery brand charge 500 times before they start to degrade. We have to make are funds last as much as possible right? 😊
Exactly. I don't want to deal with propane, so there isn't a big enough power station for me. 460 AH of LiFePO is enough to stay anywhere a long time, even if its raining.
72?! Beautiful Zia, proof that we only get better with age. I’m 62 & like you, had never seen the Milky Way, etc. Once our eyes are opened, it’s hard to go back to a couch/tv. I wish you well in your journey. I will be heading to the Yukon October-March to avoid the Political scene here in US.
In the U.S. there are lots of mobile homes (situated on their own land) for sale at very affordable prices. Unfortunately, if the home is older the sale cannot be financed. This needs to be changed so that people can take out a loan for them. This would provide another avenue of affordable housing.
So nice to see Zia there with you Bob, and she has a great channel too. She is such a very positive and cheerful lady who's a real inspiration, and little Charlie works hard too to entertain everyone! Thanks for spotlighting her journey as a traveller on your super channel 😃
Not only is housing an issue (we need more micro housing units), but as she said, so is health care. I travel frequently and now that I am about to hit 70, finding travel insurance is very hard. US citizen so have medicare here, but, I like to see the world.
❤ What a wonderful inspiring woman. Lovely van too. Thank you.❤
Wonderful, hope her heater gets fixed. Blessings always
I will definitely be following you, I am from Newfoundland and would love to meet up with you, l drove to Alberta last summer, my first long trip and loved every minute.
Now I feel lucky to have a wonderful, warm backdrop to live in. I’m a native Southern Californian. This is my home. My Braer patch and I’m Braer Rabbit
Great interview again and the lady is a lovely person. All the best to both of you, especially her!
Well that is one cute dog! I hear you about starting van life! 👍
Very nice van! Lucky lady.
We have a couple of large camping groups for Ladies in Australia “ Rolling Solo” and “ Ladies Camping” there are members all across Australia that have meet ups. Love the van 😊
Zia in Italian means "auntie", is Zia Italian?
What a lovely woman & her beautiful little Pomeranian "Charlie", what a little cutie. XOXO
Charlie is a doll❤️🐾❤️
Love your story AND love your cute lil dog! Such great companions ❤
Hi Zia! Welcome to the USA!😊
Very nice home on wheels!! Will be looking forward to learning more about the women meetup in Canada!!!
Great to see the thought and care thats gone in to create this minimalist and happy lifestyle.
A lesson for us all.
Wonderful! I have a ‘99 ram conversion van and I am using it for trips in the summer months for now to visit family. Not as nice as hers but making it work.
Great video and amazing woman!!
Great size van. Great build. Safe travels
Love the video! Also the puppy is so CUTE. I live in my car and just started my RUclips channel so it makes me happy I’m finding other nomads to relate to 😊
I could move right in-this would be perfect for me (and I’m sure my husband can find the perfect one for himself!🤗)!!!💕💖
Also, she is proving proper diction IS possible.
Great van, precious puppy!!!❤❤❤
GREAT LITTLE VAN SO COZY She HAS ALOT OF THINGS BUT IT ISNT CROWEDED REALLY LIKE IT
I'm a solo woman in my mid 50s. I do suburban stealth in my ProMaster. I don't have a lot of wanderlust plus I like my little part-time job that I go to everyday and I like being around my kids still. But when I'm 72 like this woman, I might be traveling like her. Like her I couldn't afford rent anymore even though I was working. I could have found a small room to rent in someone's house but I didn't want to live with a stranger. And luckily I had always wanted to try living in a van. I've been in it for 6 months already and so far no regrets!
Very brave & interesting woman. Inspires me to try a bit of traveling.
What a lovely lady. I just love Canadians and their accents. I want to know more about her dog, so sweet. I will follow her on. you tube. I liked her message at the end. I can relate. I'm 57 yo in Seattle and I can't afford rent anymore here where I've lived my whole life. With a debilitation it's hard to travel, but I will figure something out. Thanks Bob you are such a heart felt and inspiring guy here!
she has made a lovely place for herself...I love the colors and its so functional and pleasing!
What an amazing woman superb rug great energy a wonderful champion for living your best life now .... Bob your an inspiration a gentleman a gift to us all
What a sweet lady, God Bless you, I hope you can come back to US soon and see us.
Thanks for sharing 😊❤
Susie in Michigan
Maybe this will be the inspiration I needed. Great video.
What a wonderful woman with a very important message.
As an Australian who loves remote touring/travelling in my 4x4, it’s really interesting watching your videos to see how differently the same obstacles are solved across the pond for vehicle fit outs.
We tend to rely on 12v a lot more - fridge/freezers and Travel Buddy ovens (genuinely surprised these aren’t much of a thing over there!), and 240v inverters to run induction cooktops and other luxuries - and typically will have external kitchen setups.
Same with showers, those that choose to have a shower setup, will do so externally with shower awnings fitted to roof racks, and toilets are often just a shovel and special biodegradeable bog roll (toilet paper) when a drop dunny isn’t available.
Lovely lady! Nice to have a supportive family!
Thankyou for a great story. 🙂👍
yes she is telling the truth lots of people are living in tenants all because our government dont care any more and people who cant afford the expensive rent end up on the streets , its really bad and really sad ....its good see a Canadian visit you :)
Great interview! I love her personality!
Wonderful interview and tour. Thank you for sharing your home and positive outlook with us, Zia! Best of luck to you and sweet Charlie on your travels and with your new venture!❤