A young British couple are touring the world in a bus they turned into a home and fund their lifestyle by selling their handiwork.
Harri Cook, from Berkshire, and Nicky Horsley, from Surrey, first met each other at a Halloween party when she was 17 and he was 16, and they soon fell in love.
They moved to Southampton together to go to university and after graduating in 2020, decided to take some time out before jumping into the world of work.
At the end of the first coronavirus lockdown and inspired by videos they'd seen on Youtube, Harri and Nicky decided to convert a minibus at his family home.
They bought the vehicle second hand for £5,400 and ploughed £5,000 into renovating it, turning themselves from DIY novices to handy people in the process.
The couple learned how to insulate the van, lay down carpets, install ceiling cladding and wood panelling, tint the windows and essentially turn an empty van into a little home.
What followed was a glorious trip around Europe in which Harri, 22, and Nicky, 23, spent three months living free and easy in countries including Spain, Portugal, Croatia and France.
When Harri and Nicky got back to the UK they realised something that would allow them to continue living the van dream for much longer than they expected.
A buyer paid them £17,500 for the converted minivan, meaning the original vehicle, all their materials and three months of travelling was covered.
"That's why we decided to do another one," Harri told the Mirror from outside a coffee shop in San Diego, California.
"The profit we made easily covered our spending when we were travelling."
This time equipped with a good deal of experience and know-how, they installed a double bed, seating area, pull-out table and kitchenette - among many other features - into a Peugeot Boxer Campervan Conversion.
They managed to sell it for £11,000, landing them with a profit of £6,000.
The success encouraged Harri and Nicky to pursue a long-held ambition of moving to the US.
"We flew to California just four weeks ago, bought the first school bus we found, converted it on our Airbnb host’s driveway," Nicky explained.
"We converted the whole thing in a country we’ve never been to before…in just 30 days including the time it took to find, purchase and gut the ‘skoolie’."
The couple bought the iconic yellow school bus a Chevrolet 2012 with 96,000 miles on the clock - from a second hand trader for $10,000 (£8,000) and spent £5,000 converting it.
The end result is by far their roomiest and highest spec vehicle to date.
"We have ended up falling in love with the bus," Harri continued.
"Length wise it's pretty similar, but there is a lot more room width wise. Two more extra seats width. It's huge when you see it, a totally different environment.
"Depending on gas prices, the mile for the gallon is awful, we are planning on going up the High Way One all the way up. That's LA, San Fran, Portland, Vancouver in Canada, and then turn back around."
Ahead of the big trip Harri and Nicky are staying in San Diego, capturing and editing videos about their van life for Youtube, and sleeping in the vehicle on the beach.
They've found Americans to be particularly friendly and interested in what they're up to, and keen to speak to them about UK based Hollywood smash The Holiday.
Nicky said: The Americans actually love the bus. In San Diego we were washing the outside of the window. About six people approached us. They were really interested in where we're from."
