Starting Vanlife in Taiwan
Thinking back to my suburban high school’s graduation ceremony and our valedictorian standing high up on the podium giving the same old tear wrenching speech while quoting, Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken… I wondered, how many people actually went on to take the road less taken?
Our valedictorian certainly did not, after her heart warming speech, she did exactly the opposite of what she encouraged us to do. She took the road most commonly taken, went on to a good university, met a boy, got married, and she’s now living the Suburban girl’s American Dream, kids, picket fence, and all.
I’m not hating on her or people who choose to live like her, I believe that everyone has their own idea of success and happiness. With that said, I finally came to the realization that the road many of my peers took was my Road Not Taken, and that I wanted something different, and so here we are.
Hello People! What’s up? I’m Shannon and Vanlife GoGo is my online series for sharing about my Vanlife Adventures! I recently bought a Volkswagen Caddy and over the next few months, I’ll be working on converting her into the perfect little camper van, then taking her on adventures all over Taiwan.
As someone who grew up overseas in the USA, speaks Mandarin Chinese as her second language, and is a Vegan… I think we’re going to encounter some interesting situations that hopefully once I experience, I’ll be able to share about and help anyone else avoid! Additionally, I truly believe there’s so much to Taiwan that is hidden away and does not have the proper online information available, so I plan to change that by documenting and sharing everything I learn online.
Oh and, when I go on these adventures, I plan to bring my dog Vinny along for the ride! So if all that sounds like something you’d like to follow along, then be sure to not only subscribe to my blog posts here on Medium or on My Website, but also be sure to follow me on Personal Instagram, my Artist Instagram and Subscribe to my YouTube! *Links below
A Little About Me…
Anyways, before you come on this adventure, I guess I should introduce myself a little! I’m a Taiwanese American born and raised in Southern California. I’d describe myself as someone who’s got an old soul, is very free-spirited and spiritual, and loves being creative. I studied Visual Communications from FIDM | Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and I have 7+ years of Visual Production Experience. I am super stoked though, that for the first time ever, I get to apply my content creativity skill sets to my own platforms and for my very own project that I’m super passionate about.
Currently I have been Vegan / Plant Based for over a year, and I find it so amazing and could never go back to being an Omnivore! No sir! Since being Vegan is so very much a part of who I am and how I live, it is safe to say that my content will tie into and promote the Vegan Lifestyle. My life goal is to be a philanthropist one way or another, so I definitely plan on becoming more involved in Humanitarian actions these coming years. Some interests and hobbies outside of Nature and Traveling include drawing and illustrating, tarot cards, writing, crystals, yoga, meditation, and herbs & essential oils! Additionally, I’m a huge believer in Cannabis and while I am not able to smoke or consume it here in Taiwan for legal reasons, I’m a huge advocate of the repeal on its prohibition here in Taiwan, and all over the world. #420 Baby!
All in all, I’m someone who wants to live as naturally happy and fulfilled as possible. Enjoying life, seeing the world, and helping people are three objectives of my heart and I am just so excited to start Vanlife and be more active in content creating because in a beautiful almost destined way, these seem to all tie together perfectly under this one umbrella.
What Inspired Me To Choose Vanlife?
The first time I heard about Vanlife was through Pinterest. I started seeing these beautiful converted vans and aesthetically pleasing designs and was mesmerized. Prior to that, I had only known the more negative connotation of “he lives in his car” and never fathomed that it could be this adventurous and exciting lifestyle. From there I began consuming more and more content from various platforms such as Pinterest and Youtube. While I loved Vanlife content, a part of me always thought that it was far from reach and it wasn’t until recently that I realized the only thing holding me back from living a Vanlife Lifestyle, was the action of making a decision.
I had recently resigned from my job as an Augmented Reality Content Producer at a tech-startup in Taipei, Taiwan in order to spend more time at home, which I’ll explain more about in the next section. I felt that I needed a job that wasn’t so time-restricting as I found myself constantly away from home with no spare energy to enjoy family time and to be creative for myself. The Free-Spirited Personality inside of me was slowly burning out and with that, my happiness seemed to be hanging on a thin thread. I was drowning in all these different responsibilities, and in the end I just had to choose family and freedom over career and money.
Once I finally resigned, my new found freedom suddenly became almost a burden, the fear of the unknown took hold of me. Luckily, I realized that in order for me to feel fulfilled later on down the line, I needed to be proactive and manifest into existence the life I truly wanted. Since I always dreamt of being an Online Content Creator and Influencer, was always interested in Vanlife, and I currently had the financial and personal freedom to adventure, I realized it would be a sin to find an excuse or be lazy and not make it happen.
Around The Island In A Van
Long story short, I moved to Taipei, Taiwan around 5 years ago, to accompany my mom in taking care of my ailing elderly grandma. I’ll share more about that experience in a later post, but this situation plays a big role in how I make my choices. While ideally, I would love to live full-time in a van and travel around the world, my main joy in life is being able to spend time with my grandma, and make her last years of her life as blessed as possible. This limits my Vanlife to shorter trips within the island of Taiwan. Which after doing some research, is totally fine! *Also with the current 2020 Pandemic, traveling abroad is a no-go anyways.
Here in Taiwan, there’s a phrase for adventuring around the island, it’s called 環島 Huan Dao, which literally means “ Circle Around The Island” and it is a task train riders, backpackers, cyclers, vagabonders, and now Vanlifers alike can tackle. Which makes Taiwan unexpectedly the perfect place for me to dip my toes into Vanlife.
For those of you unfamiliar with Taiwan, we are a Mandarin Chinese speaking island with our own government and economy.The island itself lies within the Tropic of Cancer, and depending on the region, climate ranges from Subtropical (Northern & Central Areas), to Tropical (Southern Areas), and even Temperate (Mountainous Areas). To me, this just means that Taiwan is full of various scenic places to visit! From amazing ocean sides to glorious high mountain tops, all the way to streams and grasslands. I want to explore it all.
Luckily, I’ve already accomplished the first and most important step: making the decision and taking action. Buying a van was a huge deal, which I’ll share more about, but now I’m just waiting for the car to officially arrive and be mine, convert it into the dream camper, and GOGO!
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this post.
I’m sincerely looking forward to sharing my adventures, and building a community with y’all!
Instagram: @SHANNILY — www.instagram.com/shannily
YouTube: www.youtube.com/shannily
Originally published at https://www.shannily.com on July 18, 2020.