Read This First: What is a Middle Class Gypsy?

For starters, let me just tell you that I call myself a middle class gypsy because I work a 9-5 office job, and I also live in a Bigfoot camper trailer. I suppose my entire life’s philosophy boils down to that one definition, but I think it’s important to understand how I got here, what I believe in, and what I want people to ultimately take away from this blog.

Growing up, I was a bookworm. An intellectual, a kid who loved school to the point of starting homework clubs for my friends. I loved learning, I was curious, I was sharp, and I was determined. But the older I became, the more that curiosity and passion for learning began to take their own form outside of the classroom. Starting around the 6th grade, I started to resent school because I felt that I wasn’t learning or growing there, that I was wasting my time. When high school started and I still had no challenges or stimulation in classes where the lowest common denominator was always targeted, where students couldn’t care less and were praised just for showing up, where teachers would identify a more apt student’s intelligence but not encourage it, I knew that there was no way that I was going to spend four years of my life there despite the fact that that was what one “had” to do. Dropping out of high school after the 10th grade despite being an honour roll student was my first major rebellion against the system, and it’s one that many people still don’t understand.

After I left school, I worked in the door-to-door vacuum sales industry for two years. I moved out of my parents house at 16 (out of desperation for independence, not because I wasn’t happy at home– my parents are as loving and supportive as it gets, and beyond). I lived in a nice apartment in the downtown core of my city. I worked my ass off all day and explored all night. I was supporting myself and having the time of my life, and I didn’t give a second thought to the condescension I received from my high school friends who said that I would never be able to “make it in the world” without a high school education. I already was making it, and by that point, I had begun to define myself as somebody who lived for the little things in life anyways. I lived for mimosas and bacon on Sunday mornings, for beautiful sunsets, for brilliant musicians performing on the street, for fascinating conversations with new people.

I continued to sell vacuums and then cars, and then, after coming out of a devastating and rough personal relationship with a troubled man and enduring a chaotic aftermath, I decided to get rid of my belongings, leave my job, and travel indefinitely around the world. It wasn’t about running away; the full-time, slow-travelling, nomadic lifestyle spoke to me on such a deep level. Experiencing and exploring all of the cultures, natural wonders, food, music, art, and lifestyles on this planet– I couldn’t ask for a more fulfilling set of challenges, I couldn’t ask for a better way to feed my passion for living. But, right around the time that I was getting ready to leave, after I’d bought a backpack and chucked my furniture and gotten out of my lease, I met somebody. I won’t get all sentimental here, but I knew that I would regret leaving this man behind for the rest of my life. I knew he was it for me. So, instead of hopping on a plane, he and I hopped into the car and moved to Toronto. We lived in a motel for a couple of months while we got settled into new jobs, and then we signed a lease on a nice suburban house. That lease is now ending, and we’ve bought ourselves a four-seasons Bigfoot camper to live in on somebody’s farmland instead. Camper life is going to be a simple life, one that will allow us to take as many trips as possible and then return home to campfires and hammocks and twinkly lights, one that will allow us to continue to be the conundrums that we are; working 9-5 jobs, living in a camper like gypsies.

For me, life is all about the experiences, the adventures, and the loved ones who you get to share it all with. I get my education by reading, observing, exploring, and by simply living to the best of my ability. While many have suggested that I get a formal education as a “back-up plan” or “something to fall back on”, I doubt that I ever will.  What keeps me comfortable is knowing that no matter what happens in my life, no matter what I lose, this incredible world full of all of its magic will still be out there, ready to be explored. That’s what I have to fall back on– an incredible planet that I’ve only touched a morsel of so far.

I want to try and convey to anyone and everyone reading this blog that you can create your own set of philosophies, that it is possible to live the life that you want to live, even if it doesn’t make sense to anybody else. That you don’t have to choose between conventional successes and wild adventures. My blog will cover camper life, regular life, travel, exploration, and a million reasons why you should follow your passions every single day. Act on your daydreams. Make it happen. Forge your own path, and don’t ever look back.