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Caravanning for everyone

Forget travel agencies. Blend work and holiday for a whole new experience. Travel without an organised schedule. It costs just a bit of effort and knowing your life priorities.

Freelancing

There is more and more freelancers. Thanks to omnipresent Internet, many people can work from wherever. And what can be surprising – it does not have to cost a fortune. Travelling, for work and for my personal life, is my key source of inspiration of self-improvement – it can boost you as well.

Digital Nomads 2014

Freelancing brings several crucial benefits. You don't have to be scared of your boss’ lapses. Ratio of free time for traveling and family is determined by efficiency of your work. And finally, taxes – as an employee you pay almost half of your money back to the state. As a freelancer you pay around a quarter. You can save the difference or spend it on traveling.

I am not tempted by a fixed wage and illusion of safety. Many times I experienced that an able person on his own can make 2 to 4 times more than if he is selling his skills to a regular employer. This is not for you? Forget about this sentence. Fear of failure is for everyone, but if you can go through it, the reward is worth that. I have come through this many times.

Ondrej in Thailand

Ondrej in Thailand

Tomas in Asia

Tomas in Asia

How to do it

Freelancing is not for everyone. If a friend asks you “Lets have a brew” and your response is universally the same: “OK. But this is the last time.” you may be happier as an employee. But if you love freedom – whatever it costs – start to work on yourself. Today.

Beer illustration

The key part is to have your life priorities and expectations sorted. There are thousands of distractions every day, that lead us astray. It is important to define your goal. And make every decision aligned with this goal. It can be material sufficiency, big family, being top in your field or just a mortgage paid earlier. The goal can be a life easy ride and ability to help others – see charitable deeds of Bill Gates.

Life goals are often determined by availability of funds. Banks, shops and to some extent loan companies will always make money on those, who do not care about value, but always pick the lowest price. Therefore money is a symbol of freedom (my Czech article). If you don't have them, you are loosing freedom of choice.

Others have made it, you can do it too

I don't want to be just subjectively positive. I would like to introduce opinions of people who I influenced with this blog, or who inspired me in my caravan experience.

Martin and Lenka

„Freedom. Out of the stereotype, away from normal life. Lots of new experience, solutions of interesting issues, inspiration, bigger picture, knowing new places and people. All of this I expect from travelling with RV – we have been on just one trip so far, and it was just great!”

Jakub Polák

„I am a pilgrim. I can visualize end of Pulp Fiction movie, when Samuel L. Jackson says, he has felt the touch of divine hand (during a gunfight) and that he would be a pilgrim until god stopped him at the spot, where he wanted him to have. I feel the same. Traveling enables me to relax more and experience the present more. What is happening along the way is your mirror. Accept it. All in all, the more you accept your fear, the more you relax and accept the free fall of your life. Let go and jump. The fear is just excitement held back. A clear impulse driving you through your life. Just believe in what you feel! — Writing from Špindlerův Mlýn, where I spent this season as snowboarding instructor. Another stage of my Way.“

Milan Zemánek

1. There are no two camps alike — you can find camps with premier services and staff placed in a beautiful environment, where you can feel completely safe. 2. Kids are totally excited by travelling. All day out, surrounded by nature, water and clean air – they are remembered in every camp. 3. In general, caravanists are great band of people. Smiling, able to help, nice to children. 4. With caravan, our kids always have a bit of their home with them. In fact they have their home with them  – home on wheels. 5. Thanks to the fact we have bought the caravan, we go for a trip much more often, than if we just rented it occasionally 1-2x a year.. There is always an opportunity to go for an adventure! A we don't let them slip away :-).”

 

Work habits

If you want to do your work better and earn more, start with yourself. Improve. Stop saying I can never do this, but say How to do it to make it?. Positive thinking is rare in our country, so there is an opportunity to excel. In USA it would be harder, everyone thinks positively there.

Apple garage

Still no sack of gold? Work harder. A lot of successful entrepreneurs started in their garage and had crazy working hours. It is called delayed consumption. If you have to have an expensive car today, you miss the opportunity to have yacht next time.

The hardest thing for me personally, was to kill the habit I can't and to delegate activities efficiently. If you make it through this bushes, you find a promised land.

Machette illustration

Simply I can't delete from your vocabulary

Since me and my family got on board of our caravan, much has changed in our lives. I am putting more into every working minute. All in all I work less – around 6 hours a day. Value for clients is higher. Everybody reaps the fruit. My family, my job and myself.

Thanks to caravan therapy, we eliminated bonds to not needed stuff and focused on experience and relationship with people. We left the meaning of life as understood in general public: Build a house, have kids, pay your mortgage and die. Eventually, Adéla Banášová likes this as well. Have you ever measured how many resources and effort you have to invest into maintenance of your house, flat, garden or a car? We try to minimize or outsource this.

You will always hear negative opinions. Isolate from them. Don't follow politics and daily news but invest remaining time to your life and to what really matters for you and your closest ones. Forget I can't and find your own genuine way how to leave bad habits and get the right ones.

I will keep fingers crossed for you!

Illustration of Evolution

Illustration inspired by Hakan Forss

And finally, a great comment from Zuzka Bartůšková

Very well written article. Especially, where Vita is saying that we are all prone to fear. And almost anyone can go freelance without big entry costs. And that the freedom is worth the risks. Nowadays you have no safety or security as an employee as well.

And I will add: I like my flat and one place, I don't like traveling and for me life in a caravan is similar to life in a refugee camp. Holiday is a leisure, when I stay away from computers and cell phones, so my head can relax. And it does not have to happen in an exotic country. I prefer the beauties of Czech republic – thanks for hints to Luboš Moravec.

I like organization, order and clear rules. I don't earn twice the amount as an employee (I earn a bit more). I don't work 6 hours (I am workaholic so I like to work more ;-)). I am much more satisfied being freelance than I used to be as an employee. Because the rules I want to follow, I set them myself according to my opinion, no one is setting them for me. And when I see an interesting thing, attitude, idea, I can simply try it and I don't have to go around and ask for permission and I don't need to listen to the answer, that for 20 years we have been doing it this way, so no innovations. I can make fun of taxes and accounting (we could not have done it as employees because taxes are serious things), I can try many technical features, attend to as many workshops and trainings I can fit in my schedule and budget and I don't have to explain what good is marketing or gmail workshop for an accountant 😉

And yes, during the workday I am on FB, looking at pictures pussycats, because nobody cares about my working schedule. Nobody cares that I go shopping in the morning and write article in 3 AM in the night. I can go to fruit and veggie market and get fresh milk from a truck from a farm and go to all the little shops that close at 5 PM and do much other stuff in places, that are open when employees are at work, I can avoid queues and shopping freaks 🙂 I have lunch whenever I want to and have lunch as long as I want to, and if I want to have a beer for my lunch, I go for it (except when I am driving afterwards). I can drink alcohol during working hours, breed cats and wear track suit.

I don't have to spent time with someone I don't want to. And this is my version of freelance freedom.

By Vita • March 2014

Vita, co-founder of Camperguru, and his family traveled around Europe for over a decade. Starting with a caravan trailer and later upgrading to a more maneuverable van, they partially raised their children on the road. Vita is the co-founder of Camperguru and contributes to camping in Europe with his maps and other freebies. He is always willing to help with all things camping.

Check 68 Verified spots at Camperguru by Vita.

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