If it wasn’t for the curved roof or the large steering wheel and driver’s seat in the front, Rob and Robin Schannep could be standing in a luxury apartment in Brooklyn says Jesse Klein
There are hardwood floors, a side table and a corner sofa that wouldn’t look out of place in a minimalist’s modern apartment.
But it’s not an apartment. The Schanneps live in a 300 square foot aqua blue school bus with their five children, exploring the rural United States. The four kid-sized bunk beds with sliding doors that fill the middle third of the bus look like a Japanese pod hotel. It’s slightly claustrophobic when they walk through the tiny hallway. Then there is toilet and shower followed finally by the parents’ queen bed. Each separated by a floor-to-roof door.
The Schanneps are part of the explosion of people who have chosen to give up a traditional house and move into vans or buses full time —known as it’s Instagram hashtag Vanlife. With the rise of remote work, skyrocketing housing prices and millennials’ love of travel, Vanlife has become a bohemian revolution. Search the hashtag on Instagram, and you will find photo after photo of millennial couples with their feet framed by their bed, a van back door and the beautiful vista just beyond their toes.
But the Schanneps, with their five children, represent a very different side of the Vanlife popularity: families who have decided to bring their children along for the ride, raising them on the road.
