Film Producer Living & Working in a Camper Van – #VanLife Traveler
Film Producer Living & Working in a Camper Van – #VanLife Traveler
Julien is an entrepreneur and video producer from Montreal, Canada who lives and works in his camper van full-time.
In the last few years, road tripping in campervans has become a popular way to travel on a budget, and many people are taking the trend one step further by living the van life full-time to save money and to enjoy the special freedom and flexibility that a life on wheels can offer.
While living and travelling in a van can be a cheap lifestyle, it’s certainly not free. We caught up with our friend Julien from Go-Van http://www.go-van.com/ while we were on Prince Edward Island (PEI) in August 2016 to find out how he’s turned his awesome camper van into a mobile office so that he can be a digital nomad and earn money on the road.
At 30, he sold his first business, an online skateboarding magazine called 33mag, and invested the money he made in a condo, but he preferred to travel as a digital nomad in his 1989 GMC Vandura camper van looking for adventure and good surfing.
The freedom he experienced on his trips in the van, and the people he met on the road increased his passion for the van life and inspired him to start his second business: the Go-Van website, where he shares road tripping stories from fellow van dwellers, and videos about his travels.
To finance the Go-Van project, Julien needed a business model so he started creating video content for brands and tourism bureaus while he travelled.
When he’s working on the blog, applying for contracts and planning his upcoming video projects, his mobile office is very simple. He uses a cell phone to create a wifi hotspot for his laptop, and he has a bag full of hard drives with his video footage.
To power his laptop and cell phone, he’s got a couple of house batteries that can be powered by the van’s alternator, or by the solar panels on the roof.
When he’s producing a new video, the van turns into a full-on mobile production studio. For each week-long video shoot, he hires 1 or 2 videographers to live and work with him in the van, along with all their camera gear.
There’s usually two people sharing the bed, and a third person sleeping in a tent outside.
One of his first video contracts was for a Quebec-based camper van conversion company, Safari Condo, in 2015 that led to a long-term partnership with them that allows him to use one of their super functional camper vans year-round.
Now that he has all the comforts of home on the road with him, like running water, a shower, and a kitchen, he’s been able to make a big change in his life by renting out his condo and transitioning to living and working in the van full-time, which allows him to enjoy his passion for travel, camping, the outdoors, and adventure.
The one challenge that Julien sometimes finds hard with this lifestyle is being away from friends and family. But aside from that, the more he learns and experiences on the road, the easier this extreme lifestyle becomes.
Check out the Go-Van website http://www.go-van.com/ to keep up with the latest van life stories from around the world and follow them on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/go_van_com/ for some amazing van life inspiration.
A special thank you to Naulé for sharing his song, Motion, with us (first song in the video). It’s so good! See his social media links in the credits below to listen to more of his music.
Thanks for watching!
Mat & Danielle
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STAY IN TOUCH!
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Blog: www.exploringalternatives.ca
Facebook: /exploringalternativesblog
Instagram: @exploringalternatives
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COMMENTS
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CREDITS
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Music & Song Credits:
The first song in this video is Motion by Naulé:
– Song: Naulé – Motion
– Spotify: smarturl.it/MotionSpotify
– Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/naulemusic/motion
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/naulemusic/
All remaining music in this video was composed, performed, and recorded by Mat of Exploring Alternatives.
Filming Credits:
Mat of Exploring Alternatives
*A few video clips, drone shots, and photos were provided by Julien from Go-Van.
Editing Credits:
Mat and Danielle of Exploring Alternatives
the narrators audio and voice is so annoying it makes me so mad and i don’t know why
The van are so good. I liked it😁😊
what is the name of the company that you got the van from , i would really like to consider purchasing an identical van!!
Where does he go to do #1 and 2 especially,lol!
you can take a shower nationwide, just sign up for Planet Fitness $9 and you can shower and gym everywhere,plus you can bring friends also lol
I dont get that pop top. A fixed hightop would have been much simpler
Very beautiful van, indeed
Aren’t there companies you can work for, handling calls long as you have a cell and laptop? Like you don’t have to have housephone landlines phone?
You Guys are amazing! You actually inspired me to FINALLY start my Youtube channel about Growth, Minimalism and Self-Development. Keep it up!
👍❤️👍😎👍🤡👍
My advice to anyone, for what it’s worth: Stay single, stay away from Doctors and learn something new each day, and live in a van with a good shower and toilet !
LOVE this one 🙂
Super cool idea. Especially inviting other film crews along with you. Very nice!
This must be a cool way of living.
Over the last couple of weeks I have watched many of these different videos about living in camper vans and small recreational vehicles. It’s not terribly appealing to me as a fulltime thing, but it would be cool for long road trips. Most of the time I pack up my van with some clothes and a little bit of photography gear and go for a few days at a time. If it’s not too much trouble I would like to ask some of you about some logistical challenges regarding this lifestyle. 1) If you don’t have a fixed address then which jurisdiction do you pay your taxes? I’m assuming that in the U.S. personal taxes and deductions and eligibility for some social programs differ from state to state as they do in Canada from province to province.2) Where do you register to vote? Or do you forgo voting in federal, state and municipal elections?3) How do you maintain your driver’s license and vehicle registration? This would also vary state to state or province to province.4) How do you explain your residency and employment status to financial institutions like banks? Does this nomadic life make it more difficult to get personal loans, lines of credit and credit cards? 5) In terms of healthcare do you ever run into any issues receiving treatment? It would be very difficult to have a regular relationship with a general practitioner. In addition in Canada our healthcare is provided by the provincial government. If we require treatments out of province or out of country we can incur out of pocket expenses. Does the American private healthcare system allow you to seek treatment at clinics or hospitals in each state without additional out of pocket expenses?
With wife prob need a bigger van
What van is that?
Omg when he pulled back that curtain just wow
👍✳️👍✳️👍✳️
sick house van office!
Can u hire me as a cook hehehe I’ll do all the entertaining while you do your stuff 😜
I’m more interested in stealth Camping
im a photographer and this is what im going to do!
i love the interior o the van with the surf board on the roof
These people are hd conformists. Mainstream music overpayed hivemind
That camper van is gorgeous. He really lucked out with that partnership!
Love this!!!! Featured our bus on Dylan Magaster’s channel, would love to meet up with you guys someday too 😊
Love from Pakistan _:)
This van is my dream van rlly
Good story and editing!
Fantastically designed van. Who made it?
Best van I’ve ever seen
The data bills alone must be crazy…?
Great video and very inspiring. Question? What is the exact year and model for this van ur using? Also…how long is this van from bumper to bumper. How high is the van from ground to roof?
I wanna live this life.
I feel like he is sad inside for not being able to catch up with family and friends ☹️😥
I want to see a 3 wheeled hybrid powered with a slide. 900 watt of solar panels to dump power into the AC. STORE SOME BUT DUMP as much as possible into small chest freezer , hot water heater if you want to keep warm at night.
3 wheel classes as a MC , insurance is $111 a year vs 504 for a car. Top speed 55 mph.
Living in a van down by the river. Chris lied to us.
All of his poler stuff is so sick. My friend has a nap sack and I have one of their backpacks and they are amazing n
Is this guy hitting the gym and getting punched in the jaw how Sylvester Stallones are made?
these things are so expensive though
great van
God enough of this baby talk trendy music already! Cool can though.
Super nice van!!❤️❤️
If he used a 12 volt charger for his computer, It would use less energy on his batteries.
What kind of refridgerator is that? Can’t find online
A producer and you dont know you’re not using film? Where’s your darkroom and splicing machine?
I’m a screenplay writer. Tell your van-subject that I have a screenplay for sale. If he finds a buyer I will compensate up tp 10 percent of the yield!
How much a car like theat cost ?
What kind of roof is that? Looking for a retractable roof and this one looks awesome.