First Pre-Departure Reflection: The Christmas Gift
S A L L Y L I N D S A Y
Van Life
I knew it would be hard to leave New Orleans to begin graduate school in Savannah. I also knew that my love for getaways, festivals, and camping would continue to grow with my new surrounding geography (and a more flexible school schedule). So, in February of 2022 I purchased a campervan!
I did my research by renting a campervan and doing the most amazing Pacific Northwest trip with my best friend — (copy our trip here)! I LOVED the experience of traversing landscapes, keeping my belongings on me, and the freedom of exploration.
Over a few month, I spent some time customizing my van. Primarily, building out new woodworking and theming the van into a cotton-candy pastel paradise. ‘Poof the Pastel Puffer’ took shape and we hit the road in July to rack up 10,000 miles of adventures before I started at SCAD that fall. We’re now on 30,000 miles and counting!
Working on the van taught me so much about efficiency planning. While it often felt like 3-steps-forward, 2-steps-backward, I have never loved anything more. A couple of my top tips:
Make it modular — this modular “grid wall panel” setup allows me to clip in storage without heavy cabinetry and also allows me to strip down to a more aesthetic wall when I’m not doing a long haul.
Prioritize projects — I would have loved to paint my mural ceiling and add my dream light switch, but putting in the blackout curtains and situating the shelf storage was far more important before pushing off!
Experience the van while working on it — I extended the bed out when my friend joined me in the van for the Louisiana Migratory Birding Festival. That’s when I realized I set the table height wrong, preventing me from accessing my clothing stored underneath. It was frustrating to redo the table installation but necessary.
Lean on friends — so many awesome, talented friends helped me out by lending power tools and expertise. Attaching curtains with industrial velcro and bungee-ing my under-table storage cubes were perfect last-minute fixes when working on a limited timeframe
Make it home — the theming I did to make Poof my happy place delights me every time. The extra hours hand-painting clouds on shelving and staple-gunning cut-up fuzzy blankets were so worth it.
If you want to understand the DEEPEST parts of my spatial planning brain, check out this snapshot of my Google Maps. THIS is why I was an Urban Studies major at Columbia, and why I am so drawn to optimizing lived experiences.
Trip planning for a few days on the road! Some city stretches on the upper left. On the bottom right, Shenandoah pins point to campsites, vineyards, and trailheads at my fitness level (no 10 mile hikes please!).
Laying out a pit-stop in Pittsburgh. I love that these Google Maps listings lets me estimate distance, cost, ambiance, and menu before I select where to go to next! I can easily take recommendations out from text messages onto a mapped visual.
The chaos that ensues when I live someplace!
TRIP GUIDeS
I have spent a lot of time researching trips/cities, and it would delight me if others would benefit from these efforts.
Some of these are several years old, so do double check these places are still open. Check out some of the trips I’ve planned in the past, below, and reach out if you have any questions or feedback!
Below is a section that shares more about my experience studying abroad in India, Brazil, and South Africa. While not part of more recent van life experiences and odysseys, I think it is an earlier glimpse into my draw to community, sense of adventure, and love for academia.
URBANISTABROAD.TUMBLR.COM
ALL ABOUT ABROAD
The IHP Comparative Cities program sends Urban Studies majors to spend 5-weeks each in Ahmedabad, India; São Paulo, Brazil; and Cape Town, South Africa. In each location, we complete independent research and engage in homestays.
The academic curriculum is combined with fieldwork involving key actors and stakeholders — public agencies, planners, elected officials, NGOs, and grassroots organizations. We spend time in different cities across the globe to better understand the interconnected social, physical, economic, environmental, and political systems affecting urban environments.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Though human needs may be similar around the globe, why does a city's ability to satisfy those needs vary?
How do people create a sense of place, of community, of urban identity?
What historical and sociocultural contexts frame the opportunities, constraints, and uncertainties of urban life?
What must be done — and by whom — to move toward ecologically sustainable cities?
What are the opportunities for political action by individuals, community organizations, social movements, and local governments to shape city life?
On the active Tumblr I have posted videos and images collected from my travels, quotations from interviews, blog posts, as well as post a series of podcasts from the field.