Married couple live in a van and travel the country full-time: ‘Wouldn’t want it any other way’

Anna McNaught and James Bonanno are a full-time, travel-vlogging couple who record their adventures on their blog, Leave The Map,. They explore national parks and attractions throughout the U.S. and Canada. McNaught and Bonanno also share parts of their journey and what van life is like on TikTok.

For example, the couple uses a collapsable solar shower that you fill with water and let the sun heat. They do their laundry at local laundromats in towns they pass through or use a bucket or Scrubba, an environmentally-friendly dry bag. To go to the bathroom, McNaught and Bonanno often park their van on camping grounds and simply use the available facilities. But in case of emergencies, they’ve also got a portable toilet in the van.

The most common question the couple gets is about why they don’t have a house. To answer the inquiry, the husband and wife shared a video in September summarizing their experience thus far. 

McNaught explained that in 2019, they ditched their luxury home for a small Dodge ProMaster and converted it into a livable space. It has a bed, kitchen and work area.

“We work full-time as travel photographers and here’s some of the things we’ve been able to do while on the road,” McNaught said. “We watched the sunset in the Grand Teton, danced in Alpine Lakes, explored waterfalls in Cypress Grove. We went sand-boarding, hiked up beautiful vistas and watched the sunset over the Grand Canyon. We also went dog-sledding, skydiving, hiked glaciers and saw glacial pools, soaked in some hot springs and finish every night with some good laughs in the van. We’ve stood under the Milky Way, snorkeled on islands, hung with polar bears, snowboarded in Canada, biked up arches, worked with some hotels and went fly fishing. We chose this life and for right now we wouldn’t want it any other way.” 

The TikTok received over 281,000 views.

“Why have a house when you can live that absolutely gorgeous life,” one user wrote.

“Cheers to you guys for living the adventure,” another said

“That’s an amazing life to live, congratulations,” someone commented.

If you liked this story, you might like to read about how one man’s mid-life crisis led to him building a tiny home.

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