She’s in the motive force’s seat — and he or she loves it.
Melissa Hungerford, 36, was exhausted and “burnt out” after eight years of working as a nurse. So, she decided to make a large life change: buying a van and selecting to travel across the country.
Hungerford, who ditched her day job for a life on the road, has now visited 38 out of fifty states and plans to tick all of them off by the brand new 12 months.
“I’ve all the time loved the outside and I wanted the liberty to go to places I’ve never been before,” the Montana resident told NeedToKnow.co.uk.
“Life as a nurse within the hospital involved long hours and I worked nights so my sleep schedule was slightly wacky,” she continued. “So I definitely had days where I used to be exhausted.”
Nevertheless, the previous nurse, who loves her latest life on the road, admits that it has its downsides — one being she only sees her husband, Todd, who works within the music industry, every 4 to 6 weeks.
“I miss him a lot,” she admitted. “He wishes he could travel with me but his job doesn’t allow it.”
Hungerford said she didn’t want to provide up working as a nurse completely, so decided to work as a travel nurse, taking shifts in various children’s units.
It’s something she’d all the time dreamed of doing but was “too scared” to take the leap.
“I worked with adults for 4 years before switching over and dealing with infants,” Hungerford explained. “It is vitally scary to go somewhere you’ve never been, where you realize nobody and mainly take a likelihood.”
The nurse was initially nervous on the prospect of living out of a van, so she decided to buy a totally renovated one for $75,000.
Hungerford then spent around $10,000 customizing it to make it much more comfortable.
“I lowered the bed, added cabinets, countertops and a skylight,” she explained. “I also upgraded the bathroom to a composting loo and altered the fridge [then] ripped out the shower that I never used and created a couch, like a bench.”
The nurse loves her latest digs, though some elements have taken some adjusting.
“You will have to fret about water usage, human waste disposal, trash disposal, smaller space and downsizing,” she said. “I sometimes miss having a much bigger space of a standard home but not enough to make me return.”
Hungerford encourages anyone who wants to provide the van life a attempt to go for it and be prepared for things to go fallacious — and know easy methods to fix it.
“I absolutely recommend my lifestyle! Just make certain you’re ready for it,” she warned, reminding everyone that what you see on social media doesn’t reflect the reality.
“You’ll hit your head on things or break your toe,” she said. “But the bottom line is to not let that deter you from why you selected to live this lifestyle.”
