WHEN Laurie and Chris Brown first met through Tinder seven years ago, the couple were both renting separate flats and hardly had the time to ever explore beyond their local area.
Just before the pandemic hit in March 2020, the married couple, from Darwin, Australia, took the plunge and swapped city living for life on the road.
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Laurie and Chris – who are currently expecting their first child – had been considering the move for some time when they stumbled upon a 1968 Austin vintage bus for £5,500 online.
The mum-to-be said: “Chris and I had been in Darwin for a long time and we really wanted a change of lifestyle.
“We had always been interested in tiny homes so we decided to give it a go.
“The bus is like a hotel on wheels and we adapted so well to tiny living.”
For the next 18 months, the couple worked to transform the dated van into their dream home – and one where Chris could run his lighting business from.
Laurie continued: “The bus has an industrial and cosy feel. We used as much second-hand material as we could when completing the renovations.
“It took us 18 months to fully complete the transformation of the bus.
“It has all the mod cons. We have a microwave, shower, air conditioning, a toilet and a washing machine.
“At the back of the bus we have the toilet and shower area, we then have our bedroom, and then towards the front of the bus we have the kitchen area,
“We don’t need a seating area as we sit outside most of the time.
“Our favourite thing about our life on the bus is that we can just be wherever we want. We have total freedom and no ties.”
What’s more, the dramatic change in their lifestyle means the couple are now saving £800 a month.
The mum said: “Our living expenses are considerably lower now too. Instead of paying £240 [$450 AUD] per week for our rent, we pay a maximum of around £26 [$50 AUD] for sites.
“So we are saving over £800 [$1,500 AUD] just on rent each month.”
Needless to say, the mum has to be picky about what baby stuff she’s getting in for the new arrival.
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She added: “Due to the limited amount of space we had to get rid of lots of stuff.
“But then you realise you don’t really need it anyway and you just had it for the sake of it.
“We can’t wait to continue our travel plans after the baby arrives.
“For us, we believe that home is where you park it. We have everything we need on our bus.
“We have solar batteries which also mean we can go completely off-grid, but the only downside to that is we can’t have long showers which is a bit of a first-world problem.
“It’s also a good job that Chris and I get along so well. But we love our way of life!”
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