José Antonio Núñez has been living in a camper van for eight months. Why, you might ask. Taste, posture, nomadic life? The answer is as clear as it is brutal: necessity. “I couldn’t afford a rental in CadizThey’re through the roof,” he explains resignedly to 20 minutes. And it is that the housing crisis It’s a yoke around the neck that puts more and more pressure on young people like him, who, less than a year ago, were “forced” to make a 180 degree turn and which ended up becoming a big decision: “I fell in love with this life, but it’s true that young people “We have a very screwed up future.”
Despite the peace and quiet he enjoys, unexpectedly, at 29, he criticizes the current situation in Spain. Next to her inseparable orange Volkswagen T-5, parked in front of Beliches beach, in the Portuguese Algarve, she picks up the phone. With the kindness and natural humor characteristic of the Andalusians, he stops making his “macaroni and cheese” to explain the reasons which pushed him to embark on this path. “A van should be an option, but you you must be able to have your house, You don’t have to adapt to that,” he said with a huff.
So this is the cost of a house. And the current price per square meter, under rental conditions, has increased by 9.9% since November 2024. Not counting the purchasing effort, which increased by 16.1%in the same period, according to the latest report from the real estate portal Idealista. Having your own roof seems to have become a real privilege, which is why the native of Medina Sidonia decided to look for a solution: he took advantage of the fact that he needed to buy a car to acquire a van in which to live.
Fed up with shared apartments
Until then, and for four years, he had lived alone, of course, but with a shared apartment. It was what he could afford. He didn’t like her at all and his experiences “had been bad”: “Coexistence I didn’t like“In the midst of his exhaustion, he decided one day to go on a campervan trip to northern Spain. However, he never imagined that when he returned, his life would no longer be the same as before.
“After 20 days, I only came back to the shared apartment, I saw that everything was dirty and I said ‘pfff, with how good I was…“, he explains with a laugh. And he adds: “I analyzed it and I said to myself ‘if I lived wonderfully like that, screw the roommate.’
This set of circumstances “pushed” him onto a new and unexpected path. An alternative route he hadn’t dreamed of, but one that gave him the opportunity to live with a freedom he didn’t know he needed. “I like“It’s a healthier life, mentally and physically,” he explains happily.
A great option to save
“I wake up and I see the beach. You wake up and you can only look at the wall. In the end, I do what people do on vacation,” he admits with a laugh. But that’s not all, but living on four wheels and in a small space has led him to appreciate everything much more and not fall into the materialism that characterizes today’s society: “I don’t need everything I had before. I have a lot fewer clothes. I learned to value quality above quality and focus on more fundamental things.
Their pace of life is totally different. There are surely those who have difficulty understanding it, but from now on José Antonio’s life is peace, tranquility: “I live much more slowly, without any stress. Before work, I have a coffee and take a walk on the beach“. In addition, this young man, an inveterate adventurer, can also practice one of his great passions, sport: “Physically, it has also benefited me, because being so exposed to nature, we do sports, such as surfing, running… In the end, it encourages one to be active.”
Even though he has to go to work in a physical office every day (he prefers not to reveal more details about this), he can travel around the surrounding area. “Sometimes I’m at the beach, other times in the mountains… whatever I want,” he explains. And one of the most important aspects, the economic, is not doing badly either thanks to this particular way of life: “This situation This gives me a curious dough. “I save a lot of money.”
Positive points…and negative points
The kitchen, the shower, the bed… many people think about the disadvantages of living in a small space. However, this is not a problem for him, because “there is not much more space in a shared apartment either.” In addition, as he shows in his Instagram videos, he lacks nothing: “I have a thermos water, dry toilets, 85 liter refrigerator with more shelves than in a shared apartment, kitchen utensils…”.
This nomadic lifestyle has given him a different aspect, as those who know him best often say: “I am told that I look happy, with a different aura“Some even feel a healthy envy of what I am.” However, his decision was not received very well at first: “At first it shocked everyone.”
But make no mistake, everything is not rosy either, as he himself says: “The available space, hygiene, heat or cold are not the best.” However, in his opinion, there is a much greater obstacle. “The regulations in some places like Cádiz or Conil… (sniffles). They put a lot of legislation in place, there are no areas for spending the night, there are only prohibitions“, he explains with disdain: “We are very late.”
Even though the economic situation has led him to live on wheels, this man from Cádiz is not considering buying a house at the moment: “I want to live like this, at least until I’m 40.” For now, he plans to continue living as active a life as he has so far thanks to his van. Full of adventure, joy and a happiness he didn’t expect to find in his van, but now he doesn’t want to let go. From then on, he would like to relax: “I am saving to buy land on which I can have my modular house and being independent is what I learn in the van”, he concludes with vitality.
Can you live in a van?
For all those who, like José Antonio, wish to live in a van, several aspects need to be clarified. First of all, the vehicle must be “properly parked”without exceeding the road marking delimiting the parking area, nor the temporal limitation thereof”, in accordance with Instruction PROT 2023/14 of the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT).
This applies to all parking spaces on national territory. It appears, however, that the activity taking place inside cannot transcend “outward” by deploying elements that extend beyond the perimeter of the vehicle. » In other words, sleeping or working inside the van is still considered just parking as long as tables, chairs or a shower are not deployed.
In this case, it would be camping due to the tourist or recreational nature of the activity. regional tourism regulationswhich may be different depending on each territory. All this depends on the different municipal ordinances of each locality.
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