1. Adding a Second Nature to Your Vehicle
   No need to buy a second vehicle dedicated to travel (RV, trailer, etc.). Just a removable Roadloft camper conversion kit for my everyday vehicle (minivan or SUV). It’s the key to simplified vanlife.
2. Cutting Acquisition and Recurring Costs
   Compared to buying a recreational vehicle, I’m saving thousands of dollars every year. With a thorough analysis, I’m truly saving a small fortune—check out our article for details. We often forget about the steep depreciation of an RV, along with the recurring costs of insurance, registration, maintenance, and storage. Not to mention the 2 to 5 times higher fuel consumption or the current sky-high financing rates.

3. Reducing the Cost of Road Trips or Weekend Getaways
   Last year, Samuel and I shared in another article the detailed costs of a dream one-month trip to the American West. Over 10,000 kilometers. Grand total: $20 per day per person, without skimping on anything. You can find that out in this article. 
4. Lowering Fuel and Camping Bills
   On this trip, we followed the same route as Class A, B, or C RVs, crossing the same landscapes. In fact, even more easily, as the flexibility of our minivan allowed us to access some areas of national parks more smoothly and also to sleep anywhere for free. No need to search for or reserve campsites. Total spontaneity.

5. Adopt the 90-Minute Rule
   The final ingredient of our recipe to laugh at inflation while continuing your weekend escapes: make a list of natural sites, places to visit within 90 minutes of your home, as well as music festivals and other top entertainment spots according to your tastes. We tried this exercise. The list is so long that we still have many years left to complete it.

   Along the way, new favorite spots pop up during these getaways. We return to them, adopt them, and end up neglecting large parts of our list. 😉 Prepare your own list, and a whole series of nearby destinations will reveal themselves as easy opportunities for escape close to home. By the end of the weekend, you’ll feel as refreshed as if you’d traveled far away. Your body, your mind—and your wallet—will appreciate the minimal time spent on the road.

6. Keep 20 Essential Items in Your Roadloft-Equipped Vehicle
   One of the key secrets to our simplified vanlife formula lies in spontaneity. Deciding to leave on a whim, changing the destination along the way, living without a schedule, driving as we please, and easily finding a spot to park for the night—these are part of our winning recipe for short or long-term trips.

   That’s why we always keep 20 inexpensive items in our camper-equipped minivan, so we’re ready for spontaneous departures. In less than 10 minutes, we’re on the road.

Responding to Inflation with a Clear Mind, Full of Sweet Memories

“Live your dreams, they know the way” has been our motto since the beginning of this project. Incorporate these six ingredients from our recipe to make your dream come true, despite the weight of inflation.

You’ll travel light, simply, and easily. You’ll return with your body and mind refreshed, free from worries and full of sweet memories.

Check out our short article with this list of 20 items to always be ready to go. You’ll also find links to the articles mentioned above on kit vs. RV acquisition costs and the dream trip through American parks. Safe travels!