Looking to get into van life, but not sure how to build your own?
A Vancouver couple who've documented their travel adventures on social media since the pandemic inside their unique - and mobile - home are selling their unusual tiny residence on wheels.
It's an ambulance. Or, more accurately, it was an ambulance. It's no longer equipped with medical supplies.
Instead, it's equipped for living as a cozy little home with a cabin vibe.
"It was our response to high rent costs, COVID, and the desire to live nomadically," Raychel Reimer-Hurley tells V.I.A.
Getting into the nomadic life
Raychel and her husband Nick met in Vancouver in their early 20s, eventually moving in together. In 2017 they were living in the Riley Park neighbourhood.
"We were working what anyone would call our dream jobs," she says, both employed in their ideal fields. "They were good lives on paper."
However, the cost of living was wearing them down and they were living paycheque to paycheque.
"We decided we wanted to do something different; we decided we wanted to get out of the rat race," she says.
That decision resulted in them selling most of their belongings and moving to Cambodia for a spell. They caught the travel bug and started a YouTube channel to share their experiences and tips. As part of the travel influencer world, they saw someone living the van life. They decided their next mission was to follow in their tire tracks.
Building a vanbulance home
The roaming couple continued their nomadic life and ended up in Ontario in 2020; the pandemic led to layoffs and a return to B.C.
Having already saved some money, they bought the 2011 Chevrolet ambulance for $6,000 from a guy in Maple Ridge who was buying them from government auctions with the idea they'd make good homes once customized.
They took it out to the Okanagan, couch surfed, and got to work; in eight weeks they'd built their home.
"It kinda felt like we were Mickey Mousing it together, but, in retrospect, that's how every van conversion is," Raychel recalls.
In some ways an ambulance was easier to convert than other vans, she explains, with 90-degree walls, already partially insulated walls, and an electric system.
In other ways, taking an unusual vehicle and modifying it had its own challenges.
In the end, they turned the life-saving medical vehicle into an 80-square-foot home with solar panels running the home's electronics (the vehicle engine is separated), a bed, a kitchen area, a toilet, and all they needed for everyday life.
"The day it was done we were on the road," Raychel says.
Nomadic in North America
Since then, the couple has travelled all over their "backyard" as Raychel calls B.C. and Canada. They've visited 15 states (spending a significant amount of time in places like California and Arizona), worked a variety of jobs (from film sets to a hotel to being an office temp), and finally made it to Mexico last year.
And they've turned a lot of that into another revenue stream via social media as themselves and under the Not Luxe brand, focusing on travel and van life on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. It fits for Raychel, who's been making videos since she was four and went to school for film.
"I realized people were really curious about living in an ambulance," she says, noting it became obvious after one of her early videos on TikTok got a lot of attention. "It became a fun thing for us to do."
Now social media is her main job, while Nick works seasonally elsewhere and helps out.
"It's a crazy little life we had with all those little things," she says.
Selling the vanbulance
They just got back a few weeks ago after nearly five months in Mexico. With that off their bucket list they're looking for a new challenge, one their unique home can't go.
"I've never lived in a place for two-and-a-half years," she says. "I've never lived in an apartment for more than a one-year lease."
Right now it looks like New Zealand in September of 2023, with plans to buy and build a new van home (something a little bigger so the six-foot tall Nick can stand upright) and continue Not Luxe there.
"We love helping people get on the road; you don't need a lot of money to travel," she says "We'll probably never stop sharing our journey and doing what we do, living nomadically."
But that means selling their home for the last two-and-a-half years. It's listed right now on Facebook.
"It runs like a bee, we've loved it," adds Raychel. "We're excited to sell it to someone who will continue their adventures."
