Annoying travel ‘bugbear’ prompted Aussie couple to pack their entire lives into a van | Exclusive

It was a simple observation that led this young Aussie couple to completely change their way of life. 

Priya Sharma and her partner Sid Madiwale were travelling through New Zealand when they noticed something they had never seen in Sydney. 

“Everywhere people were van-lifing,” she tells 9Travel, “There was just a ridiculous amount of vans on the road”. 

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So the next time they returned to New Zealand, they did as the locals do and rented a van, and in the process they discovered a comfort they had never felt before while travelling.

Priya’s number one bugbear while travelling was dragging suitcases around hotel rooms and back to cars, inevitably forgetting something.

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But with the van, “I never had to pack or unpack. All of my stuff was in the van”, she says. 

“We could stop and just be in the most beautiful location ever, have a cup of tea, cook breakfast. It was truly the most simplest things about it. I felt like I was more in the moment, because there was so much I didn’t have to worry about.”

Even when the long-term couple returned to the little Queensland mining town where they both worked as explosives engineers, the idea persisted.

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Their rosters meant they would have seven days of work followed by seven days off, and previously they would rent “very average” motel rooms in larger cities to have a getaway. But their newfound discovery had them instead investing $8000 on a starter van.

“That way we would drive along the coast. We wouldn’t have to worry about booking a hotel. We just throw everything in our van,” she explains.

The process showed her just “how much I would not need a home.”

Their humble abode stores a lot more than you would expect, with the pair packing their summer and winter clothes, hiking gear, formal and Indian attire, kitchenware, and even their suitcases so that if they find themselves whisked away on an overseas adventure, they can do so on a whim.

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“I thought I would need more, and I don’t. I think that’s the biggest surprise when you live in a van,” says Priya.

As they settled into the new way of life, Priya began documenting the “renovations” they would do to the van to make it more like home on TikTok, where they gained a substantial following. 

Eventually the couple were able to quit their day jobs and become “digital nomads”, roaming around the east coast of Australia while documenting their adventures. 

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows though, especially when it was raining. 

Their first van was “really miserable to live in” when a sudden shower would hit. The couple weren’t able to enjoy the creature comforts of a rainy day –  like a nice long hot shower or a hot meal – since their cooking station was outside and they had a tiny shower.

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When they bought a new van, they made sure to utilise what they learned from the first time.

Their new van is fitted with an induction cooktop for safety, all of your regular kitchen gadgets like an air fryer, adequate counter space, a TV, and even internet.

Most of all, it was “important to us that Sid and I can sit and eat dinner together, so we have two little seats facing each other.”

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Despite being in close quarters with Sid – who is not only her life partner of 13 years but also her business partner, with the pair selling her Dad’s Special Spice Mix around the world – the couple don’t tend to get on each other’s nerves. 

“Historically, whenever partners work together, there’s a lot of clash… (but) I think because we had so much time where we were forced not to see each other… it’s our normal,” says Priya.

“I couldn’t imagine it any other way. I couldn’t imagine only seeing my partner for a few hours of the day. And that is a huge privilege, that we do get to spend all day together.”

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