Featured Weekly: Naptime

12/28/17

  It was 2pm and I was leaving my very last event as a massage therapist in 2017. I was headed up from Hyannis, MA to Portland, ME to visit my brother-from-another-mother Porta Potty Scotty. I was also planned on treating Vapor to a full synthetic oil change. She was in need of fresh fluids and I was driving by several Walmart Supercenter locations on the way up to Portland. I stopped in Seabrook, NH right off of I95 and pulled into the auto center at Walmart. "Full synthetic oil change will be a 90 minute wait, sir." said Christopher, the service tech. I nodded and told him I would be taking a nap in the car. He nodded, barely taking account of what I said. I handed him the keys and walked out to my car. Tucking into my arctic sleeping bag I wrapped myself up in my comforter, covering my head and my eyes I slip into a state of relaxation. 'Knock, knock,' I shed my comforter and look up to see a tech standing by my door. I flash him a big smile, swivel out of my bed, into my drivers seat and into my shoes. I open the door and stand up, greeting the spectacled tech."Hey man, just needed a nap. She's all yours!" He responds,"That's fine, I don't judge." The man obviously felt uncomfortable after seeing me sleeping in Vapor, my converted Honda Fit camper. I responded to his nervous statement, "no apology necessary, no reason to judge anyways. I chose this lifestyle and I enjoy it very much!" Hearing me "normalize" my decision to live in my car seemed to placate his dis-ease. The best part - the oil change only took 45 minutes and Vapor and I were back on the open road! 

Greetings from South Portland, Maine

Nick

My Reasons for becoming a vehicular nomad. (Philosophy & Inspiration)

Postdated to 04/01/2017.

  This will be a longer entry, as the content is complex, broad and philosophical in nature. I will try my best to keep it organized into groupings of thought.

  I have always been enamored by the thought of travel, and therefore have romanticized the idea of living a "gypsy-esque"  lifestyle (disclaimer: I am Roma - SJW's feel free to judge anyway). As I have grown into an adult and become seasoned, my ideas of what exactly that means have evolved, starting with a hedonistic oriented womanizing playboy, who traveled in search of sensual gratification and grand life experiences, to the stereotypical "dirty-hippie", to my current iteration of ego which is more fluid: a traveling massage therapist, who seeks free will, experiences and natural beauty on the open road. All of this to say that I have had a hard time labeling myself, or even being OKAY with the concept of labeling oneself. I tend to have many different personality traits that are stereotypical to many different character types. For example, I have an excellent sense of time, which is a trait often exhibited by type A character types. At the same time, I am very spontaneous, which is not a stereotypical trait of an type A character, but more of a free and abstract thinking "hippie." You can see why I have difficulty fitting myself into a box of any sort! For all of you Astrology fans out there, I am a Gemini sun sign...surprise, not!

  Due to my tendency to romanticize travel and minimalism, as well as my spontaneous nature, I have always "lived out of" my car - constantly moving, visiting friends, going on short trips...occasionally sleeping in my vehicle, but mainly camping outside, or crashing a couch. As I worked "adult jobs" and gained life experiences I started to realize that I do not enjoy being told what to do, when to do it - how to live my FREAKING life! This mentality translates to every aspect of my life, whether it be romantic relationships, or where I put my toothbrush in the shared bathroom of wherever I was living. After what feels like many years of trying to find a balance between mental health, work, staying true to myself and maintaining my own happiness I decided that living in a vehicle was a great way to satisfy the majority of my needs. Read Part 2 of My Reasons for becoming a vehicular nomad - where I will share what inspired me and how I started.

My first night/week (Inspiration)

 Postdated to 04/01/2017.

 My First night as a vehicular nomad was rather manic. I felt excited/free and did not sleep much at all as a result. I was at a park and ride lot on the NH seacoast. During the several weeks that followed I acclimated quite easily to living in my car. I have always lived out of my car, to a degree, so making the jump to sleeping in it full time was a natural transition for me. After the first night I stuck to sleeping in wooded areas - hiking trailheads around Newmarket, Durham and Lee, NH. Pretty soon work picked up and I was having to travel all throughout Massachusetts and as a result I became very comfortable and adept with more urbanized nomadicism, or stealth camping. You may not expect this, but I found parking garages to be a great place to sleep, so long as you rise early as the commuters start to park. A lot of my work during the months of April and May was centered in downtown Boston, so parking at a garage and taking the T in was convenient for me. As  I started to gain confidence while sleeping in urbanized areas I slept in neighborhoods, industrial complexes and parking garages. You may not expect this, but I found parking garages to be a great place to sleep, so long as you rise early as the commuters start to park. A lot of my work during the months of April and May was centered in downtown Boston, so parking at a garage and taking the T in was convenient for me. However, after a few months of parking at a rest stops, garages, Wal-marts and various other busy places work slowed to a halt and I got some quiet time. During this period I took time to explore where I wanted to be, not what areas were convenient to my work life. I found that Plum Island, Provincetown and the host of hiking trailheads I inhabited along the NH seacoast were my favorite spots to stay. 

Living in a Honda Fit

 Postdated to 4/01/2017.

 Greetings fellow humans, my name is Nick and I decided to live in my Honda Fit. I am creating this as a space to document my travels and experiences, share my thoughts and philosophies on the concept of travel/life, and to inspire others to live outside of their comfort zones and to challenge the status quo. I hope you are able to join me in my travels via this blog and are inspired to try something new, scary, yet exciting (this is for me)!

 Nick