West Kelowna residents Lyndsay Fillier and Braden Taylor have been living in their van for more than four years.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Lyndsay Fillier
May 31, 2021 - 6:00 AM
A pair of nomads who decided to hunker down in Mexico for a few months during the pandemic have returned to the Central Okanagan and are publishing an e-book about their travels in a van.
In a typical year, West Kelowna residents Lyndsay Fillier and Braden Taylor will spend a few months in Mexico before working summers at resorts and rental companies in West Kelowna. They’ve lived in a van full-time for more than four years.
READ MORE: West Kelowna nomads decide it’s safer to stay in Mexican wilderness than return to Canada
This year, the pandemic posed some challenges with travel, but the pair decided in March 2020 that it was safer for them to stay in the Mexican wilderness about 200 kilometres east of Mazatlan as COVID-19 spread around the world. At the time, Mexico had a lower case count than Canada.
They stayed in the country from February until June and rushed back to Canada in order to quarantine before work began in the Okanagan, Fillier said. They travelled as far as Mexico City during their four-month stint, keeping to rural areas.
“When we’re travelling in the van, we always are trying to find places that are out of towns and cities because street camping is not ideal…. So we’re always seeking out secluded places to stay, which was actually handy during a pandemic,” she said.
In Mexico, some towns had roadblocks set up to prevent travellers from entering but they never had trouble finding food and supplies when needed, Taylor said.
After coming back from Mexico, they stayed in West Kelowna until the fall. Then they lived with friends and family in Ontario before coming back to the Central Okanagan in February.
“We spent all winter putting the finishing touches on the e-book,” Fillier said.
They have no desire to give up van life and the pandemic has only made them want to travel more, as they’re seeing their friends to the south travelling in their communities, she said. The book doesn’t detail their experiences amid the pandemic but offers advice for readers on how to adjust to van living, as well as what their first year looked like living in a van.
The e-book will be officially released this Saturday, May 29 and it's free, but donations are accepted. Fillier said to find out the biggest challenge to living life in the van, you’ll have to read the book.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Carli Berry or call 250-864-7494 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2021