Nurse quits job to live full-time in converted van

Ella Dungey is joined on the road by Bonnie, her pet bernedoodle

A nurse who ditched her hospital scrubs to live full-time in a converted van said she felt burned out by her job and craved freedom.

Ella Dungey, from Colchester, quit her role on an intensive care unit and spent £13,000 buying and kitting out an Iveco van in 2022.

It now has a double bed, kitchen and shower, and has taken the 31-year-old as far as Pisa in Italy and back - a trip that took her three months.

"Your biggest concern is where am I going to sleep tonight and where am I going to get water? That's kind of it," she said.

"The rest of your day you get to do what you want with it, I just love it."

Ms Dungey, who is joined on the road by Bonnie, her pet bernedoodle, funds her nomadic lifestyle through part-time pub and warehouse work, as well as some side cash from YouTube.

She hopes to build a business creating dog leads that will one day pay the bills entirely.

The explorer has visited 14 countries in her trusty van

"Travel is something I've always loved," said the explorer, who has driven through at least 14 countries including Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.

"The more I looked into [van life], the freedom and general lifestyle just grabbed me, I was sold."

Ms Dungey said working at a hospital in London during the Covid-19 pandemic was what inspired her to make a change when she was 28.

She explained: "There was an element of burnout in there and I just got to the point where I thought 'something's got to change'.

"I thought it's time to quit the job, buy the van and start from there."

Ella Dungey said she loved the freedom of life on the road

Her travels have taken her across Europe and closer to home, driving to the Scottish Highlands and touring the south coast of England.

Also onboard her £6,000 van, which cost another £7,000 to convert, is a U-shaped sofa and pop-up toilet.

She said her family were not surprised to hear she wanted to live in a van and fully supported the move. Her grandfather even helped her choose the vehicle.

"I love the freedom of it," said Ms Dungey, who documents her travels on her YouTube channel, Roaming Stardust.

"There are challenges like any lifestyle, but it just feels so peaceful."

The number of van dwellers setting up in Bristol has increased by 300% since 2019

Van dwelling has also become a popular alternative for some people struggling with the cost of living.

There are more than 600 lived-in vehicles across Bristol, while dozens of clusters can be found in Glastonbury and Brighton.

The city council in Bristol, where numbers have increased by 300% since 2019, believes a lack of affordable housing has exacerbated the challenges it faces.

Washington Carrato, who runs The Man Van, a van hire business in London and Essex, also thinks financial pressures are turning people towards a life on the road.

He has been receiving "dozens of calls every week" from people not wanting to rent his vehicles, but to buy them outright for accommodation.

"They're motivated by cost of living pressures, the desire to be debt-free and a lifestyle shift," said Mr Carrato.

"Lots of folks are opting out of conventional housing and instead converting one of our ex-removal vans into a home on wheels.

"That trend has exploded in the last year."