Tag: campervan

Jobs for the Traveling Climber: Architect

Careers for Climbers (Series)

In this interview series we talk with people who spend their time traveling and climbing, while still holding down a steady income. From nurses to coders, writers to outdoor guides, we want to show that you don’t have to go full dirtbag to live the itinerant life. Because contributing to your 401k while seeing the world doesn’t sound so bad.

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Name: Gili Keselman

Job: Architect

Gili in his Fortress of Solitude in Balfour, Canada. Photo courtesy of Eva Capozzola.


1) What do you do?

I’m an architect who designs buildings and spaces in Tel Aviv and its surroundings while living in a van named “Air Force Bum” deep in the beautiful Canadian Rockies.

I specialize in 3D modeling and visualization. My work requires powerful hardware that I [carry with me] and move around inside robust pelican cases. When I go to work it looks like I’m carrying a sniper rifle. You’ll find me sitting in random cafes and bars at all hours of the day, which may or may not lead to some weird Halloween experiences. 


“Architecture doesn’t necessarily mean a life of adventure. I had to work hard and make scary choices to build the situation I’m in today.”


2) How did you first learn about a career in architecture? 

As a teenager I was curious by every topic possible. From economics to math and physics to computer science and art. It was impossible to choose only one thing, so I chose to study architecture which combines a bit of everything.

I studied at the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) in Haifa for five years, and then worked in Tel Aviv for Bar-Orian Architects, a typical 9:00-19:00 office job.

Architecture doesn’t necessarily mean a life of adventure. I had to work hard and make scary choices to build the situation I’m in today; combining my passion for the mountain lifestyle with architecture, and most importantly, feeling free and in control of my own schedule and life.

Right now I’m in the process of building a company that will allow its workers the same freedom.


3) What are some of the perks of working remotely? 

I get to ski and climb mountains. Before being a “professional ski bum,” work took the majority of my focus. It would take over any discussion with my friends and it seemed to be the center of my life. We lived to work.

Today, work is just something I do between adventures.

I work to live, so the daily focus is shifted to discussions about epic adventures instead of salary and concerns about retirement. Working for 9 hours straight from a bar in the middle of the night seems like part of my adventure, and I love every minute of it. 

“This is how my little van house looks like on an average day for just over a year now. Best year of my life!” Photo courtesy of Eva Capozzola.


4) What are some of the challenges?

I still have a full time job. Getting to choose my hours and location is awesome, but I still have to make sure all deadlines are met. Israel is 9 hours ahead, so often it means I need to work in the middle of the night. Living in a van means I have to work from the only place which is open at night – a bar! 

There might be a Halloween party going on around me as I struggle to finish a tight deadline, and my clients are counting on me. It’s serious enough that if you screw up once you might never get work again. These are multi-million dollar projects we’re talking about.

One time, a beer spilled on my laptop causing it to shut off for days. My little laptop shutdown caused delays, and can never happen again. Today, I have two super powerful laptops and several backup drives, just to make sure work never stops. And that’s part of the challenge: work never stops.

I need to be available and ready to work, without distinction of weekends or nights or overtime or the security net of being an employee. I’m a freelancer, so work [may be] good today, but might not be here tomorrow. All that said, it’s a small price to pay to be able to play in the mountains.  


“I didn’t want to wake up one day at age 80 to look back at my life and be disappointed by not going after my dreams.”


5) What motivated you to pursue this role? How did you decide to take things on the road?

I felt like life must have something more to it than security. I felt numb in the office and eventually got to a point where I chose adventure over security, and I paid for it with harsh results in the beginning.

I quit my job without having any plan other than going to live in the mountains and try to find a way to get by. I didn’t want to wake up one day at age 80 to look back at my life and be disappointed by not going after my dreams. This perspective helped me see life as a daring adventure and not as an experience to be cruised through safely.

I lost all my savings pretty quick without a job (not having the ability to work in Canada without a permit). I left the comfort of a house, a job, a routine, security, and I ended up tearing my ACL in a bad ski accident. I was left broke, injured, having to come back to Israel for surgery and a year of recovery. Despite it all, I kept positive.

Ice climbing in the Cline River Gallery. Photo courtesy of Eva Capozzola.


I remember thinking, “If this is the worst it can get… I’ve got this!”

There was nothing to really fear. I kept appreciating the fact that some people have cancer and I don’t. That’s a real problem in life, not losing a job or some savings. So after recovery, I did it all again!

This time, I had experience in regards to what to expect. I approached my old boss and asked to work remotely. I also got a van and transformed it into a home. Having the ability to sustain myself financially within my adventures changed my life. I wasn’t making a lot of money, but I was living life to the fullest.


6) How has your life changed since you started this?

I could die tomorrow, and I’d be okay with it. Because I feel like I’ve lived.

Every day of the past 3 years has been the best day of my life. I found love in the mountains, I got permanent residency in Canada, and now I’m building a life of adventure here. Looking back, there was no risk. There was nothing to lose and a life to gain. Taking risks pays off. 


7) What does a “typical” week or month look like?

It’s hard to find a typical month these days. Life keeps evolving, changing and moving places. I’ve spent the last 6 months living in a dry cabin in Alaska with no running water or a toilet, but with fast Wi-Fi that allowed me to work.

Now I’m in Canmore, Canada, living out of my van as I combine work alongside rock and ice climbing. In two months, I’ll be in Golden, BC, for ski season. Living out of a van in winter is pretty extreme up here, where temps get down to -40C. Me and my girlfriend live together in my tiny van and have this tiny wood burning stove we named “rusty.” We [make sure to] find time to chop wood, to keep us alive during the freezing nights. And we have to cuddle to survive. I think it’s very good for any relationship: forced cuddling.  

To answer your question, in a typical day we might start by skiing or climbing and then get back to working from a bar. It’s pretty simple actually. 


8) What do you wish you knew when first starting out?

I wish I knew about Van Life! It’s the single greatest adventure and way to live cheaply anywhere. 


9) What is one lesson learned from your journey so far?

Big risks pay off. Whatever you think you have to lose, is nothing really. You have your legs, and your immune system, and your eyes. Those are the real valuable things in life. Anything else is just a story. And why live in a boring story?

Every day I work to make my story an epic adventure, and it got me to places and people who will be in my heart forever.

“Home is where your heart is ❤️” Photo courtesy of Eva Capozzola.

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Thanks, Gili!

You can follow Gili and his van-based adventures on instagram @freegili.


Feature photo courtesy of Eva Capozzola.

Jobs for the Traveling Climber: Communications Manager in Development Aid

Careers for Climbers (Series)

In this interview series we talk with people who spend their time traveling and climbing, while still holding down a steady income. From nurses to coders, writers to outdoor guides, we want to show that you don’t have to go full dirtbag to live the itinerant life. Because contributing to your 401k while seeing the world doesn’t sound so bad.

…

Name: Nico Parco

Job: Communications Manager in Development Aid

Wonder what’s off to the right? Photo courtesy of Nico Parco


1) What do you do?

You could call it a number of things. Simply, “aid worker.” Or if you want to get more specific, I am a communications manager in the development aid sector. I often say I am an NGO writer. 


2) How did you get into the development aid sector?

I moved to Ethiopia on a whim, thinking I would continue the same work I was doing in the tourism sector in Santiago, Chile.

In Ethiopia, I discovered the aid sector, and began volunteering on an HIV/Urban Gardens project as a technical writer. Everything took off from there.

I have been in the sector now for nearly 10 years, and I absolutely love it.


3) Why did you decide to start living in a van? 

The @riding.a.rainbow project is only for 10 months (May 2019 – April 2020).

A campervan road trip is something that both my wife and I have been wanting for a while, and since we realized we shared this dream, it would be foolish not to act. When I landed a full time contract in Bogota, Colombia, we knew it was our chance to cover South America.

With two kids, I do not plan to live in a campervan full time. In fact, our plan is to move back to Moab, Utah in 2020 (I was born and raised in Ogden). 

Rainbow in Huanuco, Peru. Photo courtesy of Nico Parco


4) What are some of the perks of this job?

Working in the development aid sector allows you to travel on two levels: Short-term and long-term contracts.

I do both, and have been sent to various countries (Somalia, Uganda, Zambia, Lebanon, Botswana) and lived in three countries long-term (Ethiopia, Liberia, Colombia).

Living in a country is different from just traveling. It allows you full immersion in the culture, language, and customs, and also affords you more time to properly explore the country. Being in these unusual places also lets you check out rock climbing in a different light. 

For example, while living in Ethiopia, I led a crag development project with a bunch of climbers from around the world (US, German, Israeli, etc.). We bolted a beautiful face right outside of Addis Ababa, the first and still the only real crag in the country.

Or my favorite, the time I was sent to Lebanon to create content for an economic strengthening project funded by USAID (US taxpayer money). The program was promoting rock climbing in the village of Tannourine, a paradise of Mediterranean-style limestone. This is probably the first and hopefully not the last time that the US govt put money into rock climbing for “nation-building.”


“Happiness has less to do the amount of possessions one acquires and more to do with the ability to be with friends, family, and practice your culture (religion, language, customs) freely.”


5) What are some of the challenges?

Life as a contractor can be a double-edged sword. Sometimes you have to wait weeks or months for a contract. On the other hand it’s really nice to have down time between jobs, [which allows you] to travel, to be with your family, and of course, to climb.

There are the usual challenges as well, of getting used to a new place, finding friends, learning the language, getting over the homesickness of the last place you left… typical immigrant lifestyle stuff.

“This was the first place I came across that made me dream about this trip in the Rainbow. And now it is where we spent our anniversary, so we have more inspiration in the coming years. Thanks Laguna Paron for your beauty, your power, and for being our inspiration.” Photo courtesy of Nico Parco


6) What motivated you to pursue this career path?

I started my “career” as a journalist in Spanish language, and worked for 6 years (Spain, Texas, Chile). Once I discovered the aid sector, everything changed.

The hours, the pay, the joy of the job. I have nothing against journalism, but the conditions are horrible.

Still, journalists perform one of the most important functions in today’s society, and we should be thankful there are people willing to sacrifice so much for so little. I have only the utmost respect for them.

People like Trump, the powerful men who say reporters are the enemy of the people, are really saying, “I hate reporters because they expose all my wrongdoings to the people.” 


7) What does a “typical” week or month look like?

If I am long-term, I am typically working in an office. I am the one responsible for reporting back to the US govt what the program has been doing with its money. It’s a key position that combines research, writing, and marketing.

I would travel once a month, visiting the program’s activity sites, interviewing beneficiaries, and taking photography or video. I curate the program’s blog such as at usaidlrdp.exposure.co.

When I am doing short-term consultancies, I am at a home base (either in Utah or Chile) and traveling for 2 – 3 weeks at a time. Sometimes I work remotely but the real value I bring is being in the field gathering stories, content and creating attention grabbing pieces that shine light on the programs.


8) What do you wish you knew when first starting out?

I was lucky that I got in through the back door. Typically, an aid worker will go through the hoops of Washington, D.C. and work for several NGOs and implementers before getting the chance to live abroad. I did it differently, which may or may not work for others.


9) What is one lesson learned from your journey so far?

A few things:

1) Development aid is an industry of soft diplomacy, especially from a USAID perspective. It is also important in its role to improve health and education around the world.

My first job was in the HIV world, and if it weren’t for large international donors, millions of Africans would be either dead or in way worse conditions. In some regards, development money is really all they have to rely on. I believe Western countries have a historic “debt” with Africa and other parts of the world.

Aid is one small step to repair the damage caused by colonialism, neo-liberalism, hyper-capitalism or whatever you want to call it. The US annual budget allocates less than one half of one percent to humanitarian and development aid. Trump tried to axe the budget, but USAID is a diplomacy tool that is bipartisan.

2) I have learned that happiness has less to do the amount of possessions one acquires and more to do with the ability to be with friends, family, and practice your culture (religion, language, customs) freely without interruption.

“When I designed the Rainbow campervan, I named it such because we are making the trip of a lifetime, riding on a rainbow. The rainbow represents dreams, magic, and beauty and that is what we are looking for. Recently we found the rainbow mountain, some geological magic to add to our many stories on the road.” Photo courtesy of Nico Parco

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Thanks, Nico!

You can follow Nico and his van traveling family on instagram, @riding.a.rainbow. You can read more about Nico’s thoughts on life, the development aid sector, and climbing in general on his website, nicoparco.com.


Feature photo courtesy of Nico Parco