A 27-year-old woman has shared her unconventional life on wheels, having opted to abandon her home and traditional 9-5 job in favour of so-called ‘van life’.
Nicole Keefe, who previously struggled to even get by monthly on her limited salary as a fashion photographer, now insists she can’t ever imagine returning back to her former structured life.
In 2023, after her car was written off, she purchased a £8,500 converted Ford Transit Van and decided to embrace an entirely new normal, abandoning her ‘unfulfilled’ and ‘miserable’ career for a life of travel with her dog, McCartney, a nod to renowned photographer Linda McCartney.
Having previously gained a degree at Coventry University, she had been working full-time as a photographer in a fashion studio in Washington, Tyne and Wear.
Far from the high cost-of-living expenses she had previously become accustomed to, she now spends just £650 a month on fuel, gas, wifi, a gym membership and van repayments.
The best part, though, she insists, is that it has enabled her to ‘become the best version of myself’, embracing a confidence and freeness she never thought possible.
Speaking to Manchester Evening News, she said: ‘I spend about £650 a month – that’s less than I ever spent on rent and now I have more choice on what I spend my money on.
‘I used to live month to month, I couldn’t have a social life and I couldn’t just buy myself anything.’
Ms Keefe, who believes she would ‘almost never’ have been able to afford her own home had she remained in her previous job, now works as a freelance photographer, social media manager, alongside helping businesses with their content creation.
All of this, she does, while travelling on the road with her beloved canine by her side. Explaining that she no longer feels ‘trapped’ by work and is far from lonely, Ms Keefe has visited Snowdonia, Warwickshire, alongside some of the most picturesque parts of Scotland.
When visiting different locations, she simply parks her leopard-print esc mobile home, equipped with a kitchen, bed, air fryer, and even solar panels, in 24-hour car parks on the roadside.
She maintains close contact with her friends, family and long-distance partner via FaceTime, and embraces a simple way of living alongside her dog who, she says, adores the ‘routine’ and can be easily left alone in the van with a steering wheel lock.
Alongside positively enhancing her self-confidence, the unique lifestyle change has also aided her online presence, with her social media account, @thevanclub_ accumulating more than 4,500 TikTok followers, while she also has up to 1,800 followers on Instagram.
When first making the unconventional move in 2023, Ms Keefe initially continued working her 9-5 job remotely, all while living in the van, before later picking up a campsite cleaning position that she discovered in a Facebook group designed for other nomads.
Basing herself in Dorset for three months, she then moved on to work as a barista in Winchester before eventually commiting to her freelance lifestyle.
And, far from having any regrets, she insists that she has zero plans to abandon her life on the road, hoping to remain living in her ‘discreet’ van for the next four years before she eventually turns it into a working office.
Reflecting on her unwavering love for her quirky home and life, she remarked: ‘I’m more confident and feel so free but settled. I can’t see myself ever really going back to a 9-5 job.’
While unusual, Ms Keefe’s decision to live on the road is not entirely common. In 2021, there were up to 104,000 households living in caravans or other temporary structures in England and Wales, amounting to up to 0.4 per cent of all UK households, according to the ONS.
Meanwhile, a 2024 council report indicated that Bristol could be the UK city with the highest number of people living in vans, with an estimated 800 residents living inside between 600 and 650 vehicles across the city.
Marvin Reeves, mayor of Bristol at the time, said he believed the rising numbers were not, necessarily, always due to a lifestyle change, but could be attributed to rising costs of living and poverty rates.