A British couple who struggled to find work after graduating during the pandemic now live “off the grid” in a yellow school bus in the United States.
Harri Cook, 23, and Nicky Horsley, 22, both graduated from the University of Southampton in 2020 and had a hard time finding jobs when the UK was just off the block.
The couple, who have been together for six years, bought a YouTube-inspired Ford Transit van and used it to explore Europe.
Back in the UK, they caught the travel bug and each took a temporary job to save up for their next big purchase: an iconic yellow American school van.
The couple also embarked on a mini-project to convert and resell a Peugeot Boxer at a profit of £5,500.
Harri Cook, 23, from Ascot, and Nicky Horsley, 22, decided to travel the world after dropping out of college and entering a tough job market.
The couple bought an old school bus and rebuilt it for a total of £12,000. They now live on the bus and travel along the west coast of the United States.
Harri and Nicky had no DIY experience when they started converting vans, so they turned to YouTube for tips and are now experts in the field.
Nicky, who was pictured on the bus, said the couple always knew they wanted to be together forever, but decided to see the world before settling down.
Nicky said: “We saved money from selling the Boxer and the part-time business and used it to buy the bus for the £8,160 ($10,000) all taxes included.
“A 96,000 mile 2012 and well looked after.”
After the couple bought the bus, they spent an additional £4,080 ($5,000) to convert it into their new home, costing just over £12,000 ($15,000) in total.
After the remodel was complete, the couple began cruising up and down the west coast of the United States.
“We live rent-free, no parking money, and we’re completely off the grid, so we don’t have to plug it into a power outlet,” Nicky said.
He estimates they spend a little over £800 a month on food and bus fuel and don’t have to pay rent.
The couple, who spent a month converting the bus, travel the west coast of the United States and park in a different location each night.
The couple positioned chairs, tables and other devices using YouTube video tips and past van conversion experiences.
The couple installed a solar-powered shower in the van, but they also share a gym membership in case one of them wants to use the gym shower.
Harri (left) and Nicky (right) say they met wonderful people during their travels along the west coast of the United States and love to spend every day at the beach.
When the couple bought their first van, they had no do-it-yourself experience, but did take instructions from YouTube’s van-making videos.
So the couple put their new skills to the test and built their own cabin in the van in Harri’s family’s backyard in Ascot.
During their quarterly European tour, the couple documented their journey on their YouTube channel and quickly monetized their videos as they gained more subscribers.
When they returned to England, they realized that there was a high demand for converted vans and they sold their beloved Ford Transit for £17,000.
“We get negative comments from people who claim to be funded by my mom and dad’s bank – it hits us hard because people always think our families pay for it, but they don’t pay anything,” Nicky said.
Nicky and Harri were refurbishment specialists when they moved to the United States after repairing two pickup trucks and spent a month working on the vehicle at an Airbnb in San Diego.
Now they live the life of a van and say they take each day as it comes and fall in love with the area they are in.
“Our family has been very supportive – at first they were a little taken aback and thought it was probably only for a few months. But the more seriously we take it, the more professional we become at creating content that appreciates it so much and sees us happy,” Nicky said.
“I don’t know if some people think we’re going through a quarter life crisis, but as a brand we’re focused on growing and making a few hundred pounds a month creating content.
Nicky says the couple had no experience converting pickup trucks and when they started their first project they had to watch YouTube videos to see how it was done.
While the converted school bus is currently the perfect home for Nicky and Harri, they hope to sell it once their American adventure is over.
The couple tends to prepare lunch and dinner in the van to save money, but they usually go for breakfast at a cafe.
The top of the bus has solar panels for electricity, meaning the couple lives completely off the grid.
“We do pretty much the same thing with Amazon and eBay affiliate links, and we always say our third source of income is converting and selling vans.
“We’ve been together for six years and knew we would be together – we want to see the world before we settle down, so we started backpacking in Southeast Asia and came across the van while searching.”
She added: “We looked online at all these people with skoolys that looked incredible – they were huge, larger and more hospitable, so we thought we’d go to America and try to build it ourselves.
“It was a little scary because there is very little research you can do when it comes to buying a vehicle with an American tourist visa and insurance.
“Everything fell into place when we got here, we found the perfect car dealership south of San Diego, and we got this school bus two days after we took off,” Harri said.
The couple uses their social media accounts and YouTube channels to record their lives on the go and give other people tips on how to enjoy life.
“The first month we stayed in an Airbnb just outside of San Diego that was owned by a former military man named Nelson who said we could turn our bus into his own driveway, so we lived with it for a month and converted the school bus into four.smoothing.
“This was my first and Nicky’s second coming to America: being in a foreign country with different prices and different stores was completely new to us.
“We got off the bus and then we started going a little bit west and fell in love with the beach between San Diego and Los Angeles.”
He added that they now spend every day at the beach and with a comfortable daily routine, they get up early and go to a cafe for breakfast.
They keep lunch cheap and usually pack the groceries into the van before parking in a “nice place” in the evening.
“We share a gym membership so we can do a little gym session and take a shower or use our solar shower, then we’ll get back on the bus and cook dinner – we have a two-burner stove for the house and a full fridge,” he said. †
“We went to bed early and got up early – the van has no curtains yet, so we go to bed when the sun goes down and wake up when it rises.”
Source: Daily Mail
