Editors Note: Kelsey and Jamie would like to keep their last name confidential for privacy reasons
Kelsey, 26, and Jamie, 24, had a dream to travel the world. The solution was to convert a school bus into their new drivable home.
“There were a lot of different things that inspired us,” Kelsie wrote via email. “I actually met Jamie in England when I was studying for my master’s degree and playing basketball there. We would save up and travel around Europe, so I guess we just caught the travel bug and wanted to continue traveling from there on out. I’m in quite a bit of debt from my student loans, so having a mortgage and traveling wasn’t really feasible. Jamie had always wanted to convert a school bus into a tiny home, so it just made sense.”
To start the process, the married couple bought a 2001 Thomas Freightliner School bus. After looking online at a couple other buses being sold, they finally found the perfect one, previously belonging to a local school district, from an eBay auction.
Kelsey’s parents allowed them to convert their new-found-home in their Connecticut backyard.
“We’ve done absolutely everything by ourselves from the cabinets to the electricity,” Kelsey wrote. “We looked up everything on YouTube and learned that way. The only time we needed any help was when the roof collapsed during the roof raise. Our friend had a jeep and helped us lift the roof back onto the bus, it was pretty crazy!”
“It was definitely a lot harder than we thought,” Kelsey said. “Looking back, it’s amazing to look at everything and remember all the blood, sweat and tears that went into building it!”
In fact, the whole process of converting their bus to their new home was documented by video and posted on their YouTube channel, Kels And Jay.
“We started converting the school bus last March and finished about eight months later,” Kelsey wrote. “It has given us the time we needed to save up.”
Their desire is to take their home all around North America. Though the coronavirus has put a halt on that, they are still living in their newly-made, tiny home on wheels. In fact, they have been doing so for the past three weeks.
“We can be off grid,” Kelsey said, “so we’d really like to spend a lot of time out west just enjoying nature. We don’t really have any set plans, but that’s probably the best part!”
As they follow their dreams, constantly spending money on hotels, motels or airbnbs is one thing to cross off their list. To add onto that, they will live full-time in their tiny home. For their nomadic lifestyle, being able to bring their home with them is truly a dream come true.
When asked for the total cost of the conversion, Kelsey said that it was $26,458. This included the bus, new tires, new brakes and everything from tools to decorations.
With a permanent solution to achieve their dreams, Kelsey and Jamie have also adopted a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.
“We need to use all biodegradable and eco-friendly soaps now, for when we empty our grey water tank,” Kelsey wrote. “It’s also made us live more of a minimalistic lifestyle, because we only have room for so many items on our bus.”
You can follow their journey on Instagram (@kelsandjay), on TikTok (@kelsandjay) and on YouTube, Kels and Jay. On TikTok, Kelsey describes in two parts how they ended up where they are now (part one, part two)!
“It definitely isn’t a lifestyle for everyone,” Kelsey said. “There are, of course, some sacrifices involved, but if you are sick of mundane routine and interested in saving money while also traveling the country, I would definitely recommend it!”
