6 Years Living In Her Car Why?

welcome back to the in my element podcast we have a very special guest today we have Rosa from Life in my elements and we're super excited to have a conversation with her and discover how and why she's lived in her Honda Element for the past six years Rosa I'm just here for the coffee he bribed me I did I brought I bribed her all the way from Washington yeah yeah you bribed me to La which says a lot which is um some really good coffee though I mean Washington's better yeah you always say that I will continue to say that because it's true I disagree we'll we'll let the we'll let the comments decide who has better coffee or Seattle I mean I feel like the comments are gonna be on my side I disagree I think this is my channel and I'm gonna be putting my people to go watch it so subscribers [Laughter] conversation about coffee though it should be because coffee's pretty good so six years in a Honda Element why that's the title why tell me your life story right now in four minutes in four minutes we've done that we've done that five minutes or less so it all started when I was born no I'm just kidding um just why in general yeah like why why did you start because I got drunk okay don't most stories start with because you got drunk the good stories do right usually they start with hold my beer while you tell a story while you're drunk about that time you were drunk um yeah I know so I was living with Jeremy who regardless of what the comments said had a boyfriend at the time and was not my partner he was my roommate and yeah we drank two bottles of red wine maybe that started why I haven't drank much red wine since we drank two bottles of red wine and watched a documentary about nature planet Earth things like that and kind of started talking there's a lot going on in the world at the time this was back in 2016 2015 a long time 2016. when we first started talking about it yeah and I he wanted to change and I wanted to change we were both being really stuck uh he had two jobs I had three jobs all we did was work constantly 80 plus hours a week and so I think we just needed a change and I think alcohol helped Inspire us to come up with what we were going to do and for him it was move all of his stuff in a smart car to California so he drove his smart car across the country when anything that would fit in it that's all he took and for me it was uh just giving up quitting everything and I felt like the easiest way to travel on a budget and see the country and kind of experience new things was by choosing a car and so I went with that and my ex now partner at the time actually already had a Honda Element so I was comfortable with it I knew what it was and I had driven it before and it also shows up in like the top 10 cars to live in on most lists now you're gonna make that video the top 10 cars yeah I didn't actually know it was like a car you could live in and every time I was like top 10 cars to live in Honda Element would just pop up I was like Hey and they were a little easier to find back then a little more affordable I got mine 66 000 miles after my trade-in of my Mazda I think I paid 11 000 for it 11 000. oh my God like these days that car is going to go for like 20 almost 09 four-wheel drive um it was 66 000 miles one owner no accidents did you ever consider doing something like like a bigger van like did you feel like you needed more space or anything like that never I think they're also just like I didn't watch YouTube or anything back then so there wasn't besides YouTube I know there's some people who have been doing it for a long time but there just wasn't that much information I didn't know anything about the lifestyle I didn't know anybody in the lifestyle so I didn't want to start off and dive like I didn't know van life or I didn't want to dive into it with this huge Grand build I thought I was going on a six month road trip like my first build was Walmart crates and like a tiny bed like I didn't think I didn't think it was gonna work out I guess we should mention like where are you from like where did this all start where am I from yeah yeah well um I was born in Philly but [Music] [Laughter] Ellie homies what's up west coast East Coast representative no way dueling Coast right here Los doyers Los doyers I don't know what he said it's the Dodgers oh the Dodgers oh hell no I'm sorry Dodgers really here's the Dodgers I mean if I'm gonna pick a team it's going to be the Dodgers because I'm from LA I mean I knew you've had a lot of you know bad life decisions but that's that's the new one I've heard of Phillies Phillies are actually good you know are they well we did make it to the world are you guys lost though right we did lose but uh we made it what did you guys do not much I don't know anything about sports I just like it's just bullshitting he has no idea what's going on I just like to tease Rosa he couldn't even tell you the Dodgers record and I couldn't anyways I am from Philly however [Laughter] um we moved out to the the boonies when I was a kid because the school deadline to start was um in August and I was born in September so we moved so that I could start school early so when you moved into your Honda Element elrond elrond where did you go like did you stay in Pennsylvania what happened first day quick shout out to our sponsor Heroes hot rods thank you so much for supplying us with the swivel seats they're super awesome and if you want to add the swivel seat to your Honda Element be sure to check out the links down below so I got my car in July of 2017 and left August 5th I should know this oh that's coming up August no I already had my oh at the past yeah did you forget what month we were in yeah it's August 24th um anyways sorry yeah so I left the fifth or the sixth I really can't remember and I went to Connecticut and said goodbye to a bunch of family that I have in Connecticut and then I went up to New York and visited the Wegmans in Ithaca because I worked at Wegmans in Pennsylvania I don't know if you're from the East Coast you know Wegmans I was like what is it if you're from the West Coast you don't know Wegmans Wegmans is basically like a better Whole Foods better Whole Foods well I mean yeah Whole Foods is trash compared comparatively I don't go to Whole Foods I have no loyalty to Whole Foods so I have loyalty to Wegmans but they're not out west but anyway so I went to Ithaca saw the Wegmans hung out by the Finger Lakes for a little bit and then I swooped around and this in 2017 August this was around the time of the solar eclipse that was happening the full solar eclipse so I booked it out to Nebraska and for the solar eclipse and saw it and then I think I went to Colorado and then I went down to Nashville and then I went back to Pennsylvania and then I went back know that I went down to Florida oh wow I spent some time in Florida and then I went back up to escalator for Christmas and then I lose track of that was like the first five months can you take us through like that that first night in your car by yourself after like making the decision oh okay I mentioned it briefly on my channel I think I I didn't have a good start to car life uh there was a lot of crying I think there was a lot of fear I'd basically you know given up everything I knew and everything I was comfortable with and I just I think you think people pay more attention to you when you're living in your car like you think people are noticing you and they're not so the first few months it was a lot of just you didn't know I didn't know where to park um apps like I Overlander and things like that I don't even know if they were as prevalent or even existed at the time I knew free campsites.net kind of but there just wasn't that much information I didn't know like I would park in apartment complexes I was I stayed much more urban yeah in the beginning because I felt like safer being around people which is weird to think about now but I cried a lot and I wanted to go home a lot and the only reason I didn't is because I told everyone I was going so I didn't want to go home with my tail between my legs and prove everyone right when they told me that I was gonna be back and I was making a mistake and I was going to regret it so I felt like if I went home I would prove everyone that they were right so I kind of I guess out of spite stayed and yeah after six months I realized oh no now I'm never going back so it was about six months in where you started to feel like more comfortable well it wasn't it was like more like four months but I'd given myself a six-month road trip it was six months through a year is what I was planning on doing and that's why it was such a simple build but yeah after after six months I think I realized I'm not just doing this out of spite anymore I'm doing this because I genuinely love it and I put so many miles in my car in the first year so yeah it sounds like it like Nebraska uh Tennessee I like drove back and forth across the country from like West Coast to East Coast I think like four times in my first year so going back to that like documentary that you were watching was it like a like a road like you're drunk okay okay no it was like one of those you know um like the planet Earth ones that are like narrated by or whatever but was it about like the Americas and like no it was just like pretty places I don't remember I was very drunk there's a lot of red wine I [Music] Black Friday so I had to go meet up with my dad to get new cell phones at the Verizon store and I was very hungover Frank's like what's up I'm like I'm gonna live in a car so how so like the eclipse LED you to Nebraska yeah so I was originally going to go to Oregon for a festival but I decided that was a little too much see so like what what I'm curious is like how do you side decide where to go next like um yeah I guess I had the eclipse and then everyone never shut up about how beautiful Colorado was so I was like all right I guess I'll check it out and then I went and then I really liked Colorado when I first went because it was the only it was like kind of the most western state I'd been to so I was like there was nothing prettier obviously I've changed when I know that obviously what do you mean I don't like Colorado anymore I think every western state is prettier than Colorado while California is great I would include Eastern California the Sierras and east of California do you not see this beautiful ocean right here this is amazing not a big ocean person it doesn't really do it for me uh we we just came back from Mammoth Lakes we did much better it was it was really really really nice and I had never been to I had to introduce the Cali boy to the fact that Mammoth Lakes is not just a ski Town well I mean that's I guess that's the beauty of like living out of your car and having that freedom to just go anywhere and anywhere you have this ability to explore anything you want essentially and to be fair I did work in Death Valley for seven months and I also lived and worked in Lone Pine for three months so I've spent a lot of time just in that part of California I guess that brings up a good question is like how do how did you fund these travels like starting off and like continuing to do it for six years just keep emphasizing six years um well to start off with I had a ton of savings because all I'd done after high school was work constantly and when you work that much you don't really have time to spend money so we got my first apartment when I was 19. and just worked and basically had the apartment to sleep in for six hours a night and then go back to work so I had a lot of savings I think when I left I had probably over 30 000 30 or 40 000 saved and that was after buying my car and outfitting it and everything like that so because I just paid outright cash for my car just wrote a check but uh yeah left for the first I would say year Well I left in August for the first year of travel I just traveled and lived off my savings and didn't do anything else and then once it started getting down to I still had like over ten thousand but once it started hitting that point I decided I discovered cool works so seasonal work at different national parks state parks things like that had no idea it existed and once I started looking into that I saw Death Valley and I thought it had a really cool name [Laughter] I make very impulsive decisions I was like Death Valley I could live there life in Death Valley amazing it's a YouTube video right there it's a good title it is actually so you know I applied immediately got the call back got the job which should always be a warning if you immediately get a job with no pushback you know that means they're desperate and I showed up I believe in July of 2018. and it was 116 degrees when I got there would you like recommend that someone who's like interested in trying like does seasonal work to start off with well no I also say if they're interested in trying like van life or car life whatever would you recommend that they have like that sort of safety net of savings so they can experience that travel well I'd recommend they try seasonal work first okay yeah um because that way you have a place you you can have like employee housing is usually provided if you want it you're given three meals a day you have a job but you're also in the middle of a national park with other people who have probably been doing the lifestyle for a while or are getting into it common interests you're able to work but then also go hiking afterwards so it's kind of a way to ease yourself into the lifestyle I think easing yourself in is actually better than just throwing yourself in head first because I've met just a lot of friends over the years who have just Dove head first into van life or car life and they get burnt out within the year they realize it's not what they thought it was going to be um and they didn't like it as much as they thought but they put so much money into it they felt like they had to keep going so I feel like there's an easier transitional way to get into this lifestyle which is probably seasonal work because then you don't have to worry about having that big safety net because I feel like a lot of people they're like I want to start off but I don't have savings and I don't know how to start and I'm worried about spending all my money and this way you don't need savings because you're going to be making money because you're going to have a job but it's just going to be a job in like one of the most beautiful places in the country sounds great I love Death Valley is the best job I've ever had hands down so you've worked at many different national parks national parks and also just I would work because I Subway was my first job so I would work at Subway at like I worked at the subway in Lone Pine and I worked at the subway in Olympia and then I've worked at like Death Valley Glacier like different national parks and stuff like stuff like that so so you know I what do you do with all this free time that you I would imagine there's a lot of time just like driving in the road and like you know like listening to podcasts or whatever but when you when you settle on a location for a little bit like how do you spend your days I'm not good at staying in one place okay this is yeah I decided Well I get bored I see so like specifically because people ask me this on my channel like do you ever find a campsite you really like and just stay there for a week or two weeks and no first of all because most of the campsites all of the campsites basically I'm staying at are free campsites so unless you leave your stuff like you're not guaranteed the spot when you come back and after getting my stuff stolen a few times I just I'd rather just find a different spot so yeah no I don't I don't stay in one place usually one or two nights is Max for a campground and I hike I guess pretty much every day um yeah listen to watch a lot of YouTube hang out go to I don't know it's not that exciting of a life I think it's just the ability like it's just the freedom to be able to go where I want like I wasn't even supposed to be in California I flew back to Seattle and then there was the Honda Element meet and then I was like well I have nothing better to do might as well go to California and then now I'm in La I don't know how that ended up for the coffee it's definitely not for the company absolutely not though if I see my gal it will be worth it I hope you get to see Miguel I'm here for Miguel Miguel is a element lifestyle and he runs a YouTube channel yes and he's awesome he's awesome and he's basically like the the element goat he's like he knows everything about Honda Elements his Honda element's super sweet tomato tomate tomato we're in SoCal tomate I'm not Hispanic so I'm saying tomato no he's awesome he's really um like kind of I feel like like welcomes everyone into the community he really really he makes everyone feel at home he really does yeah because I only went to my first Honda Element Meetup last month and I'm hooked yeah there's something interesting about like the Honda Element Community they're very very welcoming it's a small community you just need to have a Honda Element that's the barrier directory yeah they're hard to find too is there some is there anything that you miss about like having like let's just say it call it a home like a stationary home I mean like I guess it's nice to have access to a bathroom but also having such access to a bathroom sometimes when I'm in like when I'm staying at someone's house or I'm house sitting or I'm staying at my parents house it's like I know I could shower but I'm still only gonna shower maybe once or twice a week because while it's there I don't I don't know my brain doesn't correlate like it's there and you can shower whenever you want it's like no I'm conserving water I shower once a week maybe twice how how do you shower on the road uh well there's obviously gym memberships okay okay um I think you have Planet Fitness too no no no you have the bougie I've got the bougie gym yeah I forgot he's a SoCal boy he's very fancy well I work there so it's like and you are usually in California yeah yeah you are much more yeah I'm like settled I I take like little spurts like I'll go to like little adventures and I'll come back and work a lot and then I'll go on an adventure my job is very flexible yeah it's interesting how you really got into this lifestyle for very different reasons very different reasons very different reasons and we do it in a very different way yeah it is interesting and I've always I've always kind of envied the the person who just like goes and they're just like I'm gonna travel everywhere and I'm just gonna make it work somehow there's like a hike three states over and I'm like that looks nice tomorrow let me let me hop in and just go this and I think that's the beauty of this like lifestyle is that there's just this intense sense of Freedom yeah and and comfort like this this is comfortable like being inside of here and not worrying about whatever maybe I worry less because I'm a guy yeah but I also think specifically with the Honda Element because people do ask about repairs and such I think having a car that is easy to work on for basically any mechanic very cheap to fix yeah and extremely reliable really makes a difference because I hear so many Horrors stored I hear so many horror stories sorry can you say that again I hear so many stories this is an inside joke sorry it's just because I'm from the East Coast so I say horrible instead of horrible so anyways what was I talking about Bagels Bagels listen East Coast will back me up I got the West Coast on my side that's what's up I mean it does like West Coast Best Coast does sound like kind of rhyme also you're admitting it no well I think West Coast is prettier Western United States is prettier than the Eastern United States was I talking about the Honda Element uh reliability yeah because there's tons of stories especially with like Mercedes Sprinter vans things like that where they're just or even any like more newer vehicle that has all the electronics and everything they're just so expensive to fix totally and especially with some of them like a boss or something you can't just pull up to a mechanic and they can work on the bus so I think it having a car that's smaller reliable can go anywhere fits in anywhere stealth camping's a lot easier makes a huge difference I couldn't imagine doing this like in a bigger vehicle and feeling like I don't have to get my front seat and worry my car is ever going to start like my car is going to start yeah and it's just going to get me where I need to go I've never had yeah I'll run I'll Run's the best so how um do you go about like making friends on the road do you oh well they have to have so the only reason we're friends step one well that's actually the only reason we do know that's true more I mean why else would I talk to you besides Ellie she's not here for for me it's for Ellie it's for Ellie Ellie and elrond just you know they they go to this house I think I like the blue on Ellie better I think and I got the moon roof yeah I don't want that though because that's just another window I'd have to cover up and be worried about someone like breaking in you could also see the stars at night it's pretty sweet I can just say go outside my car yeah but then you have to be outside your car yeah the whole point of car life is not your car but it's so comfortable that you don't so I I did have this experience when I was gifted a car to borrow for a van to borrow for the week yeah and I went to Sequoia National Park and I found myself just like hanging out inside like I had Netflix on my iPad I'm like and then halfway through I was like this is dumb I'm in Sequoia National Park like I need to be outside of the van it's an apartment on Wheels it really is and it doesn't you don't need to go outside because you're so comfortable inside it's like why go outside so that's another nice thing about car life is it while it is my home in My Sanctuary it kind of pushes you to be like okay I'm not gonna just hang out in my car totally I'm gonna go hiking I'm gonna go see things socialize apparently I've never socialized this much before so making friends oh yeah I'm not good at that I'm good at like meeting people and I guess making friends I'm not good at maintaining friendships I don't think I place a lot of value in it I'm working on it I'm trying to get better I think the element Community is helping a lot why do you think that is um I think because it's easy when you have something that you care so much about and love so much and then you see a community where there's just hundreds of people who care as much as you do and are as excited about a vehicle as you are yeah and also because there are meetups all the time it's kind of there's always some like when's the next meet up you're always like going towards the next Meetup it's not like you have to plan it out and be like okay are we you're going to be in this state in this month and I'll be in this state in this month like can we coordinate something six months from now where we might be in the same place but then also like the weather changed so I'm actually not going to go because that's usually how it works out for me yeah because I mean if you don't if you don't know Rose's Channel we haven't talked about it yet but Rosa has a YouTube channel if you didn't know but um she does like she just released a video about staying in the desert at a time it's your fault what do you mean is my fault I wouldn't have been there if I hadn't been hiking Whitney with you well I mean you did that of your own accord and you I didn't tell you to stop there where it's 100 it was 100 everywhere like from Bakersfield to Ridgecrest there was nowhere to swim you could have stayed in San Jose or San Francisco and just made the drive I was already right near Bakersfield because I'd been at the hot element Meetup well that's Caravan that's your fault they were going back to SoCal I didn't have a choice yeah the the extreme weather thing oh no I'm taking him on a winter road trip oh man negative 20 let's go no no I've never experienced negative 20. yeah we got to get the SoCal boy out of SoCal how do you go about like dating while you're in your Honda Element I don't anymore um no I've had a few relationships yeah since I started traveling um usually like Parky relationships what is that like so parkies is what we call um ourselves when we work in National Parks okay so we have a Facebook group parkies and it's just seasonal workers basically and usually you know seasonal workers dating each other seasonally and then they leave someone leaves in the middle of the night because you're not a true Parky until you've dipped out of a job at 3am and not giving notice I've heard about this through other people done it twice Glacier well Glacier was because I overslept and then I was like well to my shift might as well just quit and then Bighorn national forests in Wyoming was because um the mountain had opened back up and the road had been closed for so long and I just needed to leave the mountains were calling and I must go no I was on the mountain and I couldn't get off the mountain because the weather was so bad that they'd closed the access down off the mountain oh my God so I'd wanted to quit for a while so then I just put all my stuff in my car at 3am and High tailed it down the mountain I didn't even give notice I just left um which is not what you should do but with this kind of work with some jobs it's kind of the only way to go about it yeah because they'll guilt you into staying oh yeah and I'll say yes like we're family yeah no I'd already been guilted into staying another two weeks so I was like I need to leave or I will never leave but yeah I don't know I think with dating and relationships on the road I think unless you're thinking I think usually they're very transient and you assume at some point they're going to end they're not usually dating for in my experience dating for commitment and a life together it's usually two people in the same place at the same time and then when they're not in the same place at the same time anymore that's it say Lobby yeah I mean I had like one kind of more longer relationship on the road but that I call my coveted relationship that was basically literally just during covid well quite a few of us yeah I think a lot of people had coven relationships we met March 2020. he was in his car I was in my car I was headed to South by Southwest in Texas I think he was going to a concert in Colorado and his concert got canceled South by Southwest got canceled so it was kind of like well guess we'll go to Utah now but I think a lot of people kind of experienced coveted relationships felt like the world was shutting down and it just felt safer to be with another person totally I could imagine you were in your element I assume and they were like shutting down campgrounds and all national like all natural spaces they shut down the beaches here yeah they were just like going outside no banned bad but I think yeah so that was like kind of my experience I think my longest experience and I think it was really um I think I I really struggle with traveling with another person because I like to do what I like to do and I like to do it when I like to do it and I don't want to have to ask another person if they're okay with it well I mean hence like you living in your cars like you you love your freedom so yeah yeah I love the ability to just feel I've got it's kind of inherently I guess sort of a selfish lifestyle in some ways because I'm choosing my own Freedom over any responsibilities or any commitments or anything like that so yeah I'm probably not like the most reliable person but then I also will drive 18 hours to just see someone so you know give and take but then I might decide I don't like them and then I'll drive the 18 hours back I was like oh well I gotta go guys I gave it a shot but yeah why do you want to talk about your dating experiences uh while living in an element you mean well because I think it's very different because I've been in an element but traveling a bunch whereas you've been living in an element but more location I feel like it's probably easier in a way because you're not always leaving true true yeah so I guess I guess for me selling my coffee also like selfishly I I feel like like my passions take priority over relationships you know you can choose yourself first I'm gonna choose like what I'm passionate about over the relationship so if I was to like order things it'd be like my passions Tango Tango um which we did a podcast recently I'll leave a link down below um where we talk with like a Tango podcast anyway if you guys want to check it out leave it there but yeah it's gonna be like my passions first which also includes like my work and stuff and then my family and then like a relationship if I have a dog the dog might be first I don't know I was gonna say I was like for me it's probably like I would probably still put family number one if something happened to my family I'm out like I will choose my family over car life I will choose my family over sure yeah any person any other person who's not my family like something happens to my family I'm going back to the east coast and I'm done like that's that until they're okay but then then it's me and what I want to do and then and then it's outrun now Elrod might be above me like you are one you guys like well you guys up there and then like relationships are pretty low down like I'll choose a lot over a partner um and a lot of people like maybe I don't know maybe it's because I haven't met the right person yet or anything like that or maybe there isn't a right person who knows or a right person for the right time in your life but it changes I don't know yeah have you have you ever been in love yeah romantic love well yeah family love my dogs if this is something you don't want to talk about no no I I think I think I've said I'm in love I think I've said the words I don't know if I've ever actually felt it I think I've I think the people I've loved the most are like not the people that I've even been in relationships with I think with most relationships it becomes almost like a settling comfortability um I think I've always had one foot out the door I've always been ready to leave and I've never actually like really given like my heart to someone I've always kind of protected it and been ready to bounce the minute that I wanted to selfishly in many ways and I think that's why for me now kind of with dating I don't think I'm ready or willing to get into any type of committed relationship until I would be looking to settle down because I don't want to like have to like I wouldn't want to have to go through like breaking up again or a breakup like it's just not worth it like I can hang out with people and it can be chill but it doesn't have to be like dating like in a really committed relationship until I think I'm at that point in my life so I'm I'm curious then like did this this one foot out the door situation happen before you were like in your Honda Element has it always been this way okay every relationship I've I've ended every relationship I've ever had I've never been broken up with I don't know what that feels like I'd love to know what that feels like so I can scream sing breakup songs in my car more accurately no I think again like I've always had one foot out the door and also usually with a lot of relationships like the first the second guy I broke up with he was again no I was planning on breaking up with you in a couple months so like interesting I just will do it first you know like it's obviously the relationship's dying but like you don't want to have to be the one to break up with someone you want the other person to do it right right just take the take the pressure off of you right so you could be the sad one you know well I think that that kind of speaks like highly of your character a bit because it's like if you're if you're not happy I'm not dragging it out yeah it's like you got a bill and we've all been there I'm sure where you're like he's saying something a bit longer than you should because it's comfortable and blah blah blah then you start resenting them yeah yeah so you want to leave before you like resent the person you're with you want to leave with the happy memories and feel like you've learned something and grown as opposed to like hating the person because you loved them enough to date them yeah so yeah I mean you I loved every person I dated I just don't know if I was in love with every person I do I did I had love for them if that makes sense yeah so like how do you how do you feel like the the Honda Element contributes to like your your overall happiness oh my God I mean I feel like elrond has become just like also a main character on my YouTube channel yeah I just feel like he's like a comfort blanket I don't know he just I feel safe in him I don't feel like anything's gonna happen to me I think he always gets me where I need to go even if he's running on his last legs and I know he needs work he's always gonna just get me where I need to go so I feel like just security wise and just like he's I get back from a hiking trail and I see elrond and it's just like you literally give him a hug you should go like this and like rest her head against well because I see him and it's like oh I'm home right you know and he's right there and I'm home and I know I'm safe once I'm back with him so I think there's just you know six years longest relationship see I can commit it's just got to be the the right it just has to be a car something that's reliable not going anywhere no I'm putting it stays put when you tell it to stay put yeah you're very controlling I'm controlling hahaha I think I like being in control of my life uh obviously feeling out of control obviously one you're different you like being in control no I mean it's it's super it's super similar right it's like I have the same sort of Freedom that you have I kind of have the ability to do what I want whenever I want I can go dance all night and get to see you dance tonight are you excited you've seen videos you said I could bring wine and watch so I'm pretty high she's here for the booze and the coffee alcohol and the coffee and the entertainment the people watching it's it's really fun yeah like the Tango experience just like watching like people dance and yeah it's a lot of fun well it's nice having someone actually show me around La because otherwise I would never show up yeah so do you have any uh plans to like Explore More in this area no no sorry was that too fast she's got any plans going straight back to the east coast man I'm Audi 5000. no um where am I going after this wherever you want I always go to Washington I'm house sitting dog sitting so um before we had some questions from your Channel right oh just like questions I hadn't answered yeah do you need me to remember them well I mean just you give us like a vague idea um it's been like an hour well let's let's start with this like how do you how do you stay safe as a solo female Traveler [Laughter] well I mean females females I travel I live in my car by myself it's always like guys that are like oh how do you feel safe it's like well you're part of the problem yeah sure but I mean like that's also something that if you are not comfortable talking about safety wise yeah I mean I think a big thing for me is I'm never posting where I am when I'm there so like when I'm posting YouTube videos or I'm putting stories on Instagram I'm always delayed YouTube videos probably by a couple weeks Instagram stories at least a few days like I'm never where I am when I post it because I think that's like one of the main things I think when people are very online and they're posting or dropping videos or Instagram posts when they're at that spot like to me that's like okay you're literally just giving your location to the world so that's a big thing uh so when you see me post I'm not there so because I've gotten comments being like oh you have to be careful about sharing your location and it's like no I I post these videos when I'm already in a different state so I think that's really important to kind of delay the timeline a little bit um I have a stun gun oh nice I have like taser pepper spray heavy object to hit someone with that I sleep with us yeah I usually if I'm parking somewhere in a campsite I'm parked already so I can pull out yeah in case something were to happen um it's also just kind of gut like I've gone to campsites and set up even just recently when I was filming my six years on the road I was at a campsite it was completely empty I was filming the video and then someone pulled in and just pulled into the camp like a guy by himself I'm sure he was fine but he pulled in two sites next to me and there was 50 sites in the campsite and like maybe it was just a really good site but then to me it's like okay well now there's another person and they pulled in basically right next to me so I'm just gonna leave so it's like situational awareness yeah kind of just trust your gut if you feel uncomfortable leave if there were other people probably would have stayed but if it's just me and one other person and they're right next to me and they saw me because I was outside my car filming that's another thing like if I'm sleeping at rest stops and stuff like that I'll typically get ready at a different rest stop and then I'll drive 30 miles to the next rest stop so I could just get in the back of my car and I don't have to get out and use the bathroom and show that I'm by myself show a car I'm getting into everything like that so it's just kind of like little things and I really haven't had like I had like two instances of someone trying to break into my car but they were just you know people like that didn't have a home and they I think you know they had their own things going on and I just kind of like beeped my horn and I think I scared them more than they scared me and then they left so it hasn't really ever been it's because I'm not in the city well I've I've also had two instances of people trying to break into my car is it in the city because for me it was in the city yeah it was in the city exactly yeah everyone's like isn't it so dangerous out there by yourself I'm like is it more dangerous mostly in the city yeah yeah yeah but I think it was the same situation like they're just like trying to get my stuff or something yeah I was like sleeping in the back and I think I scared them exactly yeah because they didn't realize that someone was in the car and then they just kind of like waved and walked away there's a whole story where I chase this guy down in my element it was a whole it was a whole thing wait what yeah yeah it was the whole thing like he hopefully learned a lesson that day like I just dipped we don't we don't play in L.A I'm like all right I leave like right to the mountains I go words of wisdom for future van lifers um I mean like I said earlier give it a test drive don't don't dive head first into the lifestyle and do the giant converted van or bus and then just like hit the road having never ever done anything like that ever before because generally you might love it like it might work out everything works out or you get burned out you realize it you don't actually love the lifestyle as much as you thought you would and then you have to go home and now you just have this giant converted van that you hopefully can sell and you hopefully don't lose too much money but I think any just type of test run I mean any vehicle really you can sleep in yeah take it out on a road trip totally do a thousand mile road trip however much time you can get off work give it a try sleep in your car see if you like it and then and then start thinking and even that that week or two weeks is gonna kind of show you what you need and what you actually are going to use in your vehicle as opposed to what you think you need things like that like our backpacking trip I brought so much stuff oh my God you got so much food I did I weighed way too much food so like damn something I wanted to start like asking everybody is like when do you feel in your element when do you feel most in your elements well not when I'm an Ellie I'll tell you that you love Ali I love Ellie but I'm in love with elrond okay so now we know your first love is elrond I guess so yeah yeah um when do I feel in my element yeah that you mean not literally not literally like right another way to phrase it would be like when when you feel most alive I think we talked about this like I woke up you know I think it was a few weeks ago and I just kind of I had you know I went on a hike I was at a really beautiful campsite I was just sleeping in my car and you woke up and I realized like yeah no my life you know I don't think it gets better like happiness to me is just having my car some food coffee not as much as you need it but coffee um yeah just my car hiking beautiful places food like I don't yeah I guess that's when I feel most comfortable like this right here is not where I feel most comfortable like being in close proximity to a lot of other people but yeah just I feel the most in my element when I'm literally was there was there anything about like that Campsite in particular that like made it special or is it just the the whole experience yeah I mean there are better campsites and worse campsites um no it's just the experience it's like when we woke up and soaked in Hot Springs surrounded by cows you know that was really really something about like the hot spring and like the ocean the the snow caps yeah my mind's on the road yeah but like the snow-capped mountains and those two like van lifers popped in and Jonah what's up Jonas and James Jonas and James Jonas and Jade that was fun it was a fun experience and just uh like and it's just like weird moments where if you tell someone who never done this lifestyle lifestyle kind of are like wait that is exist there's just a tub built in the middle of a field with natural hot water going into it and then the cows also drink out of it like how bumped my car woke me up oh that was so cute yeah so I think it's just experiences that you know I think getting to live them is really fun and it's to the point where I've been doing this for so long like I don't even think it's interesting to my family anymore it's just like oh there's Rosa she still lives in a car and that's it so I think it almost has lost its um excitement and stuff even for me in some ways I've become very jaded it's like this is a normal day like literally in your life I'm like oh the clouds aren't right the hike could be better you know so do you have um any like short-term future goals that not just for like the YouTube channel just in general like things that you want to see or do I mean big news is I am doing a new conversion on my cars I'm now I guess saying it for the first time on my channel on a channel sneak peek um I don't know when I'm hoping at the latest uh sometime in the beginning of 2024 I think I am going to be doing full redo of el rod we've uh this is what happens when you hang out with element people you gotta get the heroes swivel seats no I really want simple seeds like like genuinely this thing is awesome no like genuinely it's literally the best look at look at this this is amazing this is the best this is why I want it because I like I am going to be traveling with people sometimes so I would like to be able to sit with people which I currently can't and I just I feel like it's time you know my first iteration for two years two or two years this iteration for for years I feel like you know a new new era of elrond you know yeah show them some love I I don't even I feel like it's not just a new era of elron because it's you guys are so attached I feel like it's a new era of Rosa well it's like now what do I want like how because I designed it for what I wanted at the time in 20 19. yeah so now in 2023. now you're gonna have to have the ability to like not just sit for five six someone like this you know currently my conversion if you're like taller than me basically you can't drive my car my beds for five six or shorter you have any questions for me well hmm so I have questions for you think about it like what are you gonna be open to answering I was like no we already talked about your oh did we talk about your dating life you kind of didn't answer oh so you're going to use this opportunity to Corner me oh yeah oh no he's really good at avoiding questions I'll ask him something and he'll be like we'll Circle back to that it's a talent of mine and then like a month later he's like I can't remember that question but no I think yeah because you were saying how you weren't really putting relationships first because I was we were talking about the difference between dating on the road versus kind of more in a sedentary location but you had a similar experience you're not really prioritizing relationships right now are you I I I'm not I feel like I prioritize my my passions first and I feel like by doing so someone who sees that as like being an attractive trait will just kind of like come along for the ride you know but you are actively dating yeah yeah for sure like you go on dates I go on dates yeah you know and it's not it's not bad dating in the element honestly like it's it's it's fun so you don't get judgment in L.A no no because the thing about it is like the people are either into it yeah or they're not right about quick yeah exactly it's like hey this is what I do and some of them are like oh that's cool that's adventurous that's fun or the other ones are like you live in a what you want a who and I'm never gonna message you again and that's fine that's exactly what I want I don't I want I want to attract the people who are also attracted to me and that's something I I it took me a while to learn because you all you always kind of want what you can't have and you like kind of pursue people who do you have no trans words because they're literally not interested I guess who doesn't love the chase right right the best part let's be honest so like that's that's something that I've learned in recent years the more mature version of Stephen who's just like oh okay well they didn't like it that's fine like I'm awesome and I'm gonna find someone who thinks I'm also awesome and whatever yeah you've told me I'm getting this is the best version so far so thus far yeah it's so so far so good yeah you still have a lot of issues so it's a good thing you got something to work I don't know what you're talking about I said that was a straightforward answer for you yeah dating apps I meet people in person as well which do you prefer in person obviously you know and it's just like those it's those cool like spontaneous moments that like like flirtatious gays I guess that you oh yeah you love the what are you talking about I don't know what you're talking about it's called it's a tango thing it's called cabaseo and that's how you yes you were talking about you don't like right so like in in Argentine Bongo when you're uh Tango when you're inviting someone to dance you give them the eyes the cabaseo the you know you look at them the gays the gays and just like do a little something like this and look at she did it naturally right I was telling Mindy and Mindy's like what sorry ninth element she's on YouTube too I was talking as I guess Stephen was telling me that like you don't ask someone to dance in Tonga or tongo Tango Tango Tango sure you just like stare at them and then nod your head and he's like what you guys are talking about me behind my back um well you'd laughed so we couldn't talk to your face you dipped and gone to like Glacier with with the gang you know speaking of that this is a really cool like YouTube Honda Element Community oh yeah you know it's it's me it's you it's the element lifestyle yeah there's Ready Set element um there's herbs herbs herbs there's a ninth element and then there's that the Anna Uncharted the newer she just got an element but then there's also like the OG's element life um oh element van life isn't that what he calls it now he's element life what's his name he was like the OG yeah yeah it's not not Sage but Sage oh well Sage yeah yeah oh Sage uh Brian has a YouTube channel too but he they both I think have Chevy Astros now but they started off Sage was my first Honda Element friend um why am I blanking on his name this is whatever element like Jason no not Jason Nate Nate Nate yeah that's Nate yeah no there's a really interesting I mean obviously I just kind of like I have an element and I have a YouTube channel but I just kind of feel like am now part of the element Community after going to the Meetup last month like I don't think I I like I had an element and I always had element friends but I wasn't really a part of the community until the Meetup and now I'm just it's fun and it's great it's growing which is interesting you know yeah I think my favorite part of the meetups is actually usually the Caravans afterwards where we all go camping together like the camps are really fun yeah because I feel like the Meetup is so like you're just saying hi to everyone and hugs and meeting people and talking about the elements but then you get to kind of like relax afterwards with the group it's a better part so for when everyone tries to drive together down the road so stressful awesome I think are we good now I think we're good talk enough about your personal life I don't think so well if you got more questions would it be too intrusive we could do a podcast about you later I'll come up with a list I'll interview you for your own channel and if you guys have questions please leave them down below in the comments so then we can answer those questions for you whether about me or Rosa be sure to check out Rose's Channel or elrond or Ellie Ellie that's right I call okay this is the thing he doesn't talk about his car enough I compliment elrond all the time and he's a main character on my channel I'm learning a lot I give Ellie enough love I I'm learning a lot about how to give love to your car yes from from you so thank you for that you don't need to think that you just need to I'm just doing it for Ellie really Ellie poor baby poor unappreciated baby anyways what were you saying you were like ending the videos yeah I was like we're doing a good job so I interrupted you I was doing a fantastic job now now my click-through rate or like my retention has dropped after that moment if they're still here they're still here if they made it this far they ain't going anywhere awesome okay cool be good we done I think I'm Gonna Leave the ocean now let's go take a dip that was not part of me I I brought all the gear so you did actually bring the gear are you actually gonna go swimming um not yet we're gonna go back go back to redact go back to my redacted uh We're not gonna talk about it all right let's end the video how do we end it um I feel like you have a very professional ending and I'm like my videos just end so yeah here's my professional ending thank you guys so much for watching I really appreciate it be sure to subscribe down below um check out Rose's Channel I'll leave the link down in the description and why not we'll leave all the links to all the Honda Element YouTubers so you guys can check them out thanks for watching peace I'm being Miguel

Channel: Stephen Aldaco

Views: 29,462

Keywords: honda element, life in my element, rosa life in my element, 6 years living in my car, 6 years living in a honda element, van life, honda element car camping, car camping, solo van life, living in a car, how to live in your car, solo female travel, solo female car living, adventure travel, car dwelling, solo travel, house on wheels, rosa, living in my car, tiny home tours rosa, tiny home honda element, tiny home tours life in my element, 6 years of car living

Id: vVUuk5YHAc8

Length: 54min 22sec (3262 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 10 2023