De bloggar om husvagnslivet i USA

Want to know more about caravanning in the US? Swedish Stephanie lives with her family in a caravan in the USA and writes the blog iCaravan. In addition to being well-written and filled with nice pictures, it is interesting to follow life in a caravan in American culture. It is exciting when someone dares to choose a slightly different way of life! We were so curious that we decided to ask Stephanie a few questions.

Table of contents

How did you and your family end up in a caravan in the US?

We both wanted to stay at home with the children and watch them grow up. With a house and all that entails, we couldn't make a living from our business alone, so her husband worked shifts.

By selling the house and leaving, we were able to reach more destinations to sell our products while reducing our costs.

What does your life look like today? Where do you live with your caravan and how do you support yourself?

We live everywhere and nowhere. We sell rubber stamps (for card making and scrapbooking) and make a living travelling around the US to trade shows. We plan to do 25 this year and over 30 next year. We move around a lot and at one point this year we will have a fair nine weekends in a row.

Can you tell us about the caravan?

Our caravan is an American model, a so-called "5th wheel". You hook it directly onto the truck bed instead of having it hanging behind. It is just over 12 metres long and almost 4 metres high. When we chose, we had some important criteria. We wanted a double bed and we wanted an extra room that we could turn into an office to store our computers and to accommodate the company. Below you can see the floor plan.

What is good about caravanning in the US?

Most of it! We love having the house with us. In the past when we have done fairs we have stayed in hotels and it has (for obvious reasons) never felt like home. Now we often stay at the exhibition centre and we come and go with the children as we please.

We love the freedom, seeing new places and meeting new people. We live small which favours the children and the contact with them. It has enabled us to live together as a family without having to have mum or dad away most of the time.

What is challenging about caravanning in the US?

What both my husband and I find most difficult is our poor connection. Watching a YouTube film is an impossibility and being able to call home to the family from Skype is not always a given. Being able to have a video conversation with your children's grandmother in Sweden or grandparents in Canada is just forgettable. Otherwise, it's like living in a normal house, the kitchen is a bit small, but it's possible.

What is it like to live in the US compared to Sweden? What cultural differences do you think are most noticeable?

Religion is the most noticeable difference. Depending on where you are in the US, religion can get very crazy. We have had a few embarrassing incidents where we were expected to say grace and other things. Everyone takes for granted that you are a believer. Something else that is scary is that every other person carries around weapons and everyone thinks we should have weapons in the caravan, something that both my husband and I are against because we come from countries where it is illegal.

What are your plans for the future? How long will you stay in the caravan?

We have no idea if this is what makes it so liberating. We don't live by an already written book, every day is a new blank page. We will do this as long as we enjoy it but have said we will give it at least 1.5 years. If we notice that it somehow affects the children negatively, we will end our journey, but I don't think it will. When we are "done", we are currently leaning towards moving to Sweden, if we can support ourselves there.