Search the Community

Hey everyone wanted to stop in and say hi! I'm Scott and originally from Phoenix AZ. I've been traveling full time in my 2012 Nissan NV2500 for about 3 months now with my girlfriend! My girlfriend and I built out this van for about 3 months on the weekends while we worked, which came out to about 32 days of solid hard work. A little bit of a story for you. I used to work at the Nissan Proving Grounds (test center), so I can say I'm a fan of the brand :) . I was a Chassis Technician and worked directly with the Engineers to develop pre-production and post-production models. It was honestly a dream job! But ever since moving to Arizona, I've been addicted to traveling. Either it'd be backpacking into the Grand Canyon or flying to Peru to hike, I was hooked. So after many months of talking with my GF, we decided we wanted to do some sort of long term trip. Owning lots of Toyota's in my life, we almost decided on taking my 100 series Land Cruiser and building a bed frame then just sending off across the US! But we knew we wanted comfort and a place to work. Ultimately, we decided a van is the best idea. I refused to buy a Sprinter- I think we all know why lol. I also didn't want to drop all my savings on a Transit or Promaster. My first choice was an NV but they're actually hard to find for a good price, because they were always out of state and sold very quickly. So, the search went on for about 4 months. Finally, we found a 2012 NV2500 with 80k in San Jose. Booked our flights and flew the next day. It was a security system van and the owner of the business was selling all of his vehicles to downsize. This is when the build started. Over the course of 3 months we planned and drew out our build. Knowing I couldn't keep my job and travel full time I had to face the truth, so I put in my 30 days in March and said goodbye to what I call my family. This was a big decision since job security is big to me. But I knew I wanted to travel while I was young, so I made sure to stick to my gut. We gave my apartment complex a 30 day notice of leave, paid our fees and either donated or threw out what we didn't need in our life anymore. Let me say, having less crap in your life is a great feeling. April 1st hit and we said goodbye! We made our way through Arizona into Utah, then across Utah hitting all the National Parks. Cruised up the California coast into Oregon and now we're waiting for the mountains to thaw a little in Washington to start exploring! My GF and I document our travels on Instagram like any millennial haha. Thats where most of our pics go, including a lot of pics and videos on the build! We both have highlights on our feed if you'd like to check out the build process. We don't have many good pictures of the layout and we really need to get on it. But I'll try and include some here. If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask! I sometimes suck at replying, but I'll do my best. Also IG message is good. Instagram @scottyreichard Instagram @dani_the_explorer (none of my photos will upload despite being small file size and JPG. Any help?)