A mum-of-two sold all her possessions to live in a campervan and travel the world – for just £30 a day.
Kath Cross, 49, has now travelled over 25,000 miles on epic adventures through the Sahara desert, Europe and Scotland.
Along with her partner, Stuart Hall, 48, she’ll have toured 20 countries in just four years by the time they get back from their current trip to Montenegro.
Though their spending plan varies slightly depending on which country they’re in, the pair say on average they spend around £900 to £1,200 a month – cheaper than Kath’s old rental in Cardiff.
Kath already has a successful copywriting and freelance business, and is able to work remotely, while Stuart, a truck driver, works on their short return trips back to the UK, to top up their income. The pair share their adventures on their Vanavigation Instagram page.
They budget around £30 to £40 a day for their lifestyle – with half spent on fuel.
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‘It was a choice’
Kath and Stuart met back in 2021 in a South Wales walking group, when they bonded over their shared love of nature and the outdoors. They hiked over 105 peaks in the UK during their first year of dating.
Then, when her daughters left home in 2022, Kath felt like it was the right time to achieve her ‘lifelong dream’ of visiting Africa.
‘I’d had an idea that when my kids left home I wanted to drive to the Sahara,’ Kath, from Cardiff, shares.
Stu already owned a 7.5m Mercedes Sprinter campervan, which the pair had enjoyed a holiday to Scotland in.
‘We didn’t kill each other and got on very well!’ Kath laughs.
So that winter, Kath says she decided to ‘downsize my life’.
She continues: ‘My kids had left home, my four-bed rental was too much for me and I just didn’t want it anymore.
‘It was taking every penny that I earned just to keep the rental going, but we knew we could live cheaper on the road.
‘The more of my stuff I sold the more free I felt. When you have a mortgage, a car payment, you are owned by society, fixed because you have to stay where you are and pay your bills.
‘A lot of people are scared of the big adventure, but Stu was up for the idea and so we drove to the edge of the Sahara desert and haven’t looked back!
‘It was a choice we made between one life and another – and we don’t regret a second of it.’
‘Life is a lot cheaper’
Their fully-equipped campervan boasts a shower, toilet, king-size bed, sink, and a fully working kitchen with an oven, gas burner.
So far, they’ve driven 3,000 miles to Denmark and back, 7,000 miles around Spain and Portugal, 2,000 miles to Scotland and 8,000 miles to the Sahara.
They are currently in Montenegro, a journey which saw them drive through France, Italy, Albania, Greece, North Macedonia and Kosovo.
Their next stops are Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia and France.
But visiting so many countries isn’t as expensive as you might think,
Kath explains: ‘Life really is a lot cheaper in the van – you don’t need two wages.
‘We were away for 101 days and our average spend was £1000 a month. This is less than my rent used to be in Cardiff.’
However, the pair say they don’t live like they are on holiday – and mostly cook in the van, only paying for a few activities a month.
‘As fuel prices have gone up we have just slowed down,’ she explains. ‘We just drive a bit slower and make a few less stops, which means we extend the trip really.
‘When you’re in North Macedonia and paying 130 a litre for diesel, there is no point rushing back to pay whatever horrifying price it is in the UK at the moment.’
‘You can’t dream yourself into this life’
Kath and Stu’s Sahara trip has been one of their many highlights, which also included their visit to the Atlas mountains in Morocco, Kosovo and Denmark.
Stuart, from Southampton, says: ‘We drove to the edge of the sand dunes and were drinking coffee out of own mugs from home.
‘Then we opened up the curtains and there were 40 camels outside. It was totally surreal.
‘I had only ever been on package holidays before.’
Kath said they also loved their visit to the Atlas mountains because of the scenery and people they met during their trip and volunteering.
‘There are communities there that have nothing, and they just want to help you,’ Kath says.
‘We helped a guy stuck in the snow and he wanted to take us to his village, which had 66 houses and a mosque. His family made us food and drinks and the kids in the village came to meet us and it was only a few months after the earthquake.
‘It was so special connecting with the local communities.’
The pair are strong advocates for following your dreams and travelling the world in a mindful and sustainable way.
Stuart says: ‘We choose to step lighter on this earth. My big diesel van has much less of a carbon footprint than a three-bed house where people leave the lights on!
‘We don’t buy new stuff, we wear clothes until we can’t wear them anymore and we live light on plastics. We love this life and we learn so much about people.’
Kath says: ‘You can’t dream yourself into this life, you have to make intentional decisions to get here. You have to let go of other things to get here.
‘We left the rat race, and we’re really glad about it.’
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