Meet the Vanabonds
We travel. We travel slowly. Sometimes we travel by van, sometimes by boat, and sometimes on skis but always slowly and always on our own terms. This page explains who we are, how we live, and how to explore our stories and resources.
How to Explore The Vanabond Tales
We travel and live in a few different ways throughout the year. You can explore our life on the move through:
- Van Life — long-term travel by road
- Sail Life — learning to live aboard a sailboat
- Snowmads — winter bases in ski towns
- Places We’ve Traveled — destinations that shaped each chapter
Meet Eddie
I didn’t travel much at all until I was 26, when a series of unfortunate events led me to reconsider my life’s trajectory.
In 2016, I had been dumped by my girlfriend, fired from my job, and the lease on my house was running out.
Facing moving back in with my parents, mid-twenties, jobless, and alone, I decided to listen to the message the universe was trying to send me. I took off on my first solo backpacking trip with a one-way ticket to Bangkok and a well-thumbed Lonely Planet guide.
Since then, I have traveled throughout Asia, across Russia, Europe, and my home country of Australia, and traversed the Americas.
My style of travel is, at best, flexible, instinctive, and adaptable. At worst, a crapshoot that often ends in disaster.
My long history of missing flights, getting lost, medical emergencies, getting robbed, getting poisoned, getting stranded and a couple of near-death experiences have left me with a long list of pitfalls to avoid and things to watch for in exotic places all over the world and a few good stories.
Now, I travel with my wife, Kelli, and our daughter, Nora, as we try to navigate our life on the road.
Meet Kelli
Straight out of the small town of Dublin, Georgia, USA, I fell in love with travel on my first trip to Europe when I was 17. My mother took me on a two-week trip to London, Paris, and Barcelona. By the time I arrived back in my small country town, I was already scheming to get back as quickly as possible. Luckily, I convinced my grandmother to take me just four months later.
Since then, I have traveled to over 80 countries and every continent bar Antarctica. My style of travel is quite different from Eddie’s as I rely on thorough, meticulous plans which often involve weeks if not months of research for my travels.
About Us
Despite our distinct styles, our paths crossed at a hostel in Tallinn, Estonia one snowy Christmas Eve. Eighteen months later, we decided to set out to see what else we could see. We quit our day jobs and booked a one-way ticket to Santiago to become Vanabonds.
Since then, we have driven the length of the South American continent together in our first van, a tiny Suzuki AVP we named Pablo Van Go. We have toured Mexico and a little bit of the USA in a self-converted Chevy Express named Ernie. We were contained in Australia when COVID hit in 2020 and took the opportunity to tour Australia in our self-converted Toyota Land Cruiser, Gertrude.
In 2022, we purchased a tiny old sailboat in Croatia, Whisper, and have spent each summer since cruising the Mediterranean, primarily through Greece, Croatia, Albania, and Montenegro.
Each year, we spend a few months exploring a new ski destination. so far we’ve experienced ski seasons in Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kygyzstan and Georgia.
On the 1st of August 2024, we began our most daunting journey yet, when our daughter Nora was born in Zagreb, Croatia.
We believe that a life of adventure doesn’t have to end with family—it’s only the beginning of a new chapter, and we are looking forward to showing Nora just how big and beautiful a life of travel can be.
About the Vanabond Tales
Through this blog and our vlog, we share insights from long-term travel lived slowly — by van, by boat, and through seasonal winter bases in the mountains. Along the way, we document what it takes to balance travel, work, and family while choosing depth over distance.
What began as a van life diary — documenting three journeys across three continents in three different vans — has grown into a resource for people drawn to alternative ways of living and traveling. Over time, that life expanded to the sea and, each winter, to longer stays in ski towns. From life on the road to learning to live aboard a sailboat and settling into winter bases, we share practical tips, firsthand insights, and honest reflections shaped by staying long enough for places to feel familiar.
Living this way has taught us a lot about the realities behind long-term travel: budgeting, border crossings, work routines, maintenance, and the small, unglamorous details that make a mobile life sustainable — whether on wheels, on the water, or in the mountains. Through our blog, we share not only our stories, but also the guides, destination insights, and lessons we wish we’d had when starting out.
The Vanabond Tales is for families big and small who want to explore beyond the conventional path. With experience across van life, sail life, snowmad winters, remote work, and slow travel, we aim to help others find approaches that work for their own version of life on the move.
Most of all, this space is about slow, self-directed travel — regardless of the means. About venturing off the beaten path, settling in rather than passing through, and finding joy in the journey, no matter the distance or destination.
About You
At The Vanabond Tales, we know how overwhelming it can feel to imagine a different way of living and traveling. Our readers are families and individuals drawn to life on the move — by van, by boat, or through longer winter stays — but unsure how to make it work in practice.
We help people who are:
- Looking for a slower, more intentional way to explore the world while balancing work and family
- Curious about van life or sail life, but unsure where to start or what it really takes
- Interested in longer stays — whether on the road, on the water, or in mountain towns — rather than short, rushed trips
Through firsthand experience, we share the practical details that often get glossed over: budgeting, logistics, transitions, daily routines, and the trade-offs that come with long-term travel.
We’ve been there — overwhelmed, uncertain, and second-guessing every decision. Through trial and error, we’ve built a way of living that works for us, and we share what we’ve learned to help others make their own journey feel more manageable and less intimidating.
Whether you’re planning your first road trip, dreaming of life aboard a sailboat, or considering a longer winter base, we’re here to help make the path forward clearer — and a little less daunting.allenges and obstacles preventing you from thriving in your journey, we’re only too happy to help.
Where we have Traveled
Over the past eight years, we’ve lived in some places and traveled through many others — always slowly and intentionally, by van, by boat, on skis, and sometimes on foot. Whether staying for months or passing through more briefly, our focus has been on understanding daily life, logistics, costs, and the realities that don’t show up on short trips.
From long van journeys across Australia, the Americas, and Europe, to summers spent sailing the Mediterranean, to recurring winter bases in ski towns across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Japan, each chapter has shaped how we live and move today.
Rather than listing every place here, we’ve collected the destinations we’ve lived in — and the places that left a mark along the way — in one place.
Explore the places we’ve lived and traveled
