Their dream lifestyle sat in the driveway for five years before a major health scare suddenly made the timing right.
“Mortality was the catalyst for all this change. Two ambulance rides to hospital from work. The boss looked at me at my desk and said are you OK? He basically said we are ringing an ambulance.”
At only 45 years old Philip James’ symptoms were a mix of anxiety, high heart rate, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, possible clotting in his legs and stress.
“I started looking the symptoms up and saw that they are all related to sitting at a desk all day. I wasn’t stressed in that there was a lot of pressure I was stressed in the sense of I just wasn’t enjoying the work.”
Working as an electrical draughtsman meant many hours very busy on a project or many hours awaiting the arrival of a project. All these hours were spent sitting “chained” to his desk.
“You couldn’t get up out of your desk and go and wander into town you had to stay in your seat.
“I ended up at the doctor with stress levels that were through the roof which was causing all my health issues. I got sent off to somebody to manage my stress. Basically we came to the conclusion that if I didn’t change job it was going to kill me.”
After talking with a stress lady it came out that what he really wanted to do was jump in the bus and travel with his wife Cindy and their children as they had discussed for many years.
“She sat me down and asked how much I earnt? How much do you need to live? Let’s work out how long it will take you to save it. She set the date and said this is when you are going!
“It took an outsider to say hey you can do this but this is what you need to do to make it happen. When we saw the bank account filling up we got really motivated then and said right let’s just go for it!
“We ended up saving two and half times of what we originally planned. We found when you have somebody help you make it become a reality or see it become a reality it became tangible.”
Philip’s wife Cindy adds “We’ve never been brave enough to quit jobs and then we had kids. I went I am definitely not doing babies in this bus. Then every summer came around and we would say right we really should do this but we never got around to it. The next summer came and we said it has been 5 years we have had that bus for.
“Then he was contracting and was let go from his job at one stage. We moved back into the bus then but Ziva was 3 months old and Judah was toddling. We were not prepared at all for that. It was a horrible four months.”
A lot of thought has since gone into accommodating five year old son Judah and nearly four-year-old daughter Ziva in the bus. One issue still eluding them is how to get them to stop playing and go to sleep.
“I think the only challenging thing I find at the moment is the kids being in the same room together at the end of the bus. Pretty much every night it is a mission to get them to settle down and go to sleep as the wind each other up. But I don’t think that is any different to living in a house where you have them sharing a room,” says Cindy.
Philip adds “In saying that when we did that first trip in the bus they did start to settle in a bit more. I think that what it is we have had a lot of changes being here that is why I am itching to get travelling again. As crazy as it sounds we get into a better routine when travelling. Routine is living your life every day as you want. You find that you start create patterns as you are doing things.
“As we have been living here going to Nana’s house and going to everybody’s houses and with it being so hot our routine has changed. This is only our second night back in the bus and they were really excited to be back in the bus last night.”
Cindy explains since getting the new bus Philip has been working hard to install a shower, toilet and running water into the kitchen and this has meant sleeping in houses instead of the bus.
“It has been a bit tricky with tools and stuff having to be in here as well. We have been sleeping in a house. Once we get back into our routine and take off I think they will settle in again. We just cruise and go with it.”
As well as “being a jack of all trades and a master of none” Philip designs websites to support their travels.
“The work scene is steady. Just talking has opened doors for website work. We do a lot of bartering. We are getting an A frame built in exchange for a website. That is also how I paid for my HT course.
“We just find that it wasn’t intentionally part of the lifestyle but just more of the opportunities really. Because you are meeting so many more people. Also the beauty of travelling is we can offer low prices as we don’t have the overhead costs of running an office. We don’t have to be in the same town to complete the work so we can move on and as long as we have internet access still communicate.”
Living in the bus has meant looking at life from a different angle. Normally quite private Philip and Cindy now live their life in full public view. Their lifestyle change caught the attention of the Seven Sharp Team who came and interviewed them airing on TV One October 15 2015.
“After appearing on Seven Sharp our lives have almost become more exposed as people began to recognise us. This has been a good experience as we have connected with so many people that have felt able to share their stories and dreams with us after hearing ours. A big part of our motivation for this journey is to engage with others.”
Cindy’s new role is teacher. She has chosen to use the “unschooling” method to work with her children as they discover the world around them.
“The idea is that it is child led learning. So the children come up with up something they are interested in. You just run with it and just encourage them to learn stuff about what actually interests them. There are so many little experiments you can do, go to the library and find some books or find someone to talk to who knows about it or go to the observatory or something like that.
“At this stage while they are young I am all for the unschooling. We will reassess things as they get a bit older and see how their learning is going. We will still home school them.
“We have been advised by lots of people doing home school and unschooling that you just have to go with the flow. If you are too strict and rigid with routines and musts then that is where you start to fall off into the deep end. The idea is just to cruise and learn off everyday life.”
Philip and Cindy have already embraced the travelling lifestyle as normal. Philip is quick to add that he has gypsy blood flowing in his veins as he has always lived a restless life.
“I think this is what has been my fight. I have always had a hankering for travelling. We have moved 11 times in 8 years. That should be a tell-tale sign that we are not very settled people. Travelling for us just fits our personalities perfectly.
“It is the whole thing that I was not happy as I don’t think I was doing what I was supposed to be doing and now I am. It just seems so normal and natural. It didn’t take long to settle into to be honest.”
The James family plan on the travelling for the foreseeable future and have already experienced some huge benefits of the kindness of strangers on the road.
“We had our small bus for several years and our original plan was we would travel for a year and save up to upgrade to something bigger. We had our wish list of what this bus would like. Suddenly this bus came up on TradeMe. We said to the guy we were travelling and would come down to see him. He and his wife had seen our story on TV.
“He had sort of got over his bus as a project as it had been taking so long. The wife just wanted to get out and start travelling. They said we will do you a swap.
“The new bus didn’t have shower or plumbing in it so I have learnt all about plumbing. That is how we ended up with this.”
While at a plumbing store getting parts another encounter with a customer lead Philip to discover he was a retired plumber.
“This guy behind me goes what are they for? I said I was trying to finish off a shower in our motor home. He replied ‘I am a retired plumber, put those back and come with me.’ This is just a few days ago. He took us up to his place. He had a box of bits and pieces that we needed he lent us his crimping tools and things. He said ‘I’ve been plumbing all my life and you are the first person I have ever lent tools to.”
The new bus has been a learning curve for Philip and Cindy as they have done all the “first time” things like attach the awning.
“We arrived here we had never put the awning up. Next thing someone is wandering over with a mallet as I didn’t have anything to belt the pegs in with. Then someone else comes over and helps us thread it through on the side of the bus as we were having trouble threading it through. People just sort of converge and help each other help which is really cool. You just get that everywhere everybody has got that attitude, a real community attitude.
“We have made more friends in the last four months than we have in the last four years. One comment was made to us was I don’t think I could give up my friends. The thing is we hang out with them for a week and then we head off somewhere for a couple of months. We stay connected through social media and stuff but when you reconnect it is just like you haven’t been apart.
The couple realise that not everybody suits moving into a bus and travelling around NZ but the principals of it are the same for whatever that persons dreams might be.
“It’s like we have found that some people we talk to look at what we are doing and they don’t see the whole 7 year process that we went through to get to where we are now. “With any dream or passion in life there is going to be that cost and that process to go through or I just don’t think you would do it justice. Some people just assume they are going to wake up tomorrow go and get a bus and quit their job and everything is going to be rosy.”
Cindy adds “It is a hard thing to get your mind around but it’s actually true. You just have to take the first step and get started on the process!”
The make of their bus is an Isuzu journey and Philip explains they play on this on each new vlog they make as they document their journey around NZ.
“I think ‘Enjoy the journey’ fits quite well with what we are doing. After working on The Last Samurai as a stand in for 3 months it stirred an interest for film making. Since I’ve always enjoyed good documentaries I thought it was about time to have a go at making one myself.”
The James’ Family are documenting other families living the travelling lifestyle like themselves.
“It seemed fitting to make a documentary about work stress and chasing your dreams since that is what we are doing. My message is to inspire and encourage others to follow their dreams. Families can contact us through Facebook or if they spot us travelling come and talk with us.”
You can hear about the James’ story here:
http://tvnz.co.nz/seven-sharp/stress-gone-family-ditches-rat-race-live-in-house-bus-video-6402417
Follow them via their website, Facebook or sign up to youtube:
www.youtube.com/thebusnewzealand (Please subscribe to our channel as it is free to keep up to date with what we are doing.)