Van life: Younger Aussies shift away from traditional jobs to live on the road

Young Aussies are leaving traditional jobs and settled housing to travel around the country in vans in a trend brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Young Aussies are quitting their jobs and hitting the road in what’s being described as a Covid-inspired Gap Year 2.0.

The “blonde nomad” lifestyle has ­exploded in popularity this year with workers in their late 20s and early 30s.

Dr Nick Hookway, senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Tasmania, said this emergence of young van travellers is a contrast to the traditional “grey nomads” or retirees who travel around the country.

“We call this Gap Year 2.0. Gap Year 2.0 refers to how diverse age groups are redesigning their lives by leaving traditional jobs and settled housing to become full-time travellers in Australia,” he said.

“While travelling Australia used to be mostly grey nomads and retirees, during Covid-19 it has become more common among young families and middle-aged demographics.”

James Fletcher and Veronica Fernandez have been travelling around Australia in their Toyota Coaster minibus — nicknamed ‘Colin’ — since quitting their jobs in January.

Couple James Fletcher and Veronica Fernandez quit their jobs and decided to live and travel in their van.

James Fletcher and Veronica Fernandez are travelling around the country in their van named Colin.

James was working as a teacher and Veronica was in hospitality before deciding to leave it all behind for the open road.

“When everything happened with the pandemic, we thought: ‘We have just one life, why not quit our jobs and do our dream’?” Ms Fernandez said.

“We always wanted to have a bus and travel around so it was the perfect time, we thought money comes and goes but time never comes back, so let’s just do it.”

The emergence of working from home and remote working has allowed them to travel and still work.

The pair may have quit their day jobs but still make money by running an online retail business from their minibus.

They even have a baby on the way, who they hope to raise in the van lifestyle.

“It’s something that we are really passionate about, because it allows us to travel and explore and do our own things in our own time — and that’s a lifestyle for us,” Ms Fernandez said.

“So we obviously want to keep doing this as a family because we expect our baby’s going to learn and get so much out of this.”

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