Charlene Formosa and Chris Borg live in a studio flat on wheels. Their bijou home is a 2009 McLouis Tandy 650 sitting on a Fiat Ducato chassis.

What makes them different is that they are constantly on the move, not in Malta but around continental Europe.

The Maltese couple are among a growing cohort of young people ditching the confines of the 9 to 5 and adopting “vanlife” – converting vans into homes and travelling wherever their mood takes them.

Before the summer of 2021 both had jobs in Malta. Chris, 34, worked for a bank, with a growing side hustle in photography and videography, while Charlene, 32, was in human resources for a Valletta legal firm.

During the week Chris would work at the bank but on weekends, public holidays and during his leave, he would travel to Europe for photo shoots, focusing on hotels.

Besides the flying, there was a lot of driving to the various hotels and resorts that commissioned Chris for their marketing visuals. “We loved the drives in the mountains, forests and being in nature generally,” he says.

The spark for what would become their new lifestyle was a trip to Slovenia in 2018 when they rented a small campervan and loved the experience, despite, as Charlene recalls, it being “November, and it was so cold, and this tiny van had no heating”.

It whet their appetite for the nomadic lifestyle and they decided to adopt it on a full-time basis.

Making the decision to drastically change their way of life wasn’t difficult. “We loved our life but wanted to spend more time in nature and to see more of the world,” says Chris. Additionally, “living in Malta felt overcrowded, especially with the heavy traffic and oppressively hot summers”.

Their Fox Terrier, Holly, now nine, was another factor. She was left alone in their flat when they were at work and was looked after by family during their trips.

“Our trips were rushed because we felt bad about leaving her behind,” says Charlene. “Now Holly is able to enjoy travelling with us, instead of being locked in an apartment.”

Making the leap

They began looking for motorhomes in 2019, but the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 slowed the process.

After a year of research, they eventually found one they wanted online – in France. Buying a motorhome in Malta is not only expensive, but the insurance and duties are steep.

The couple used a French brokerage firm to inspect the vehicle and soon were on their way to Paris to collect Tandy, their new tiny home on wheels. By now they had sold their flat in Fgura, resigned from their jobs and readied themselves for full-time van life.

Although Chris and Charlene were by now fully committed to the lifestyle they were about to adopt, their friends and families “were a bit confused and didn’t understand what we were embarking on”, says Chris. “Now, after three years, everyone’s got used to our way of life and some family members have come to stay with us in the van.”

Their first few months of van life took them to central Europe, where most of Chris’s clients are. “At first, we thought we were just going to circle around Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Czechia and Slovenia,” explains Chris. “And then we discovered YouTube, and we started filming our adventures.”

In February 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine. “We put our travel plans on hold and made our way across Slovakia to the border [with Ukraine] to help out in any way we could.”

“We bought food, water, baby food, nappies and some toys,” adds Charlene, and these were all distributed to refugees at various border crossings.

Filming their travels

Since then, they have divided their time between travelling to new places for their YouTube channel, Travel Tales, and doing photo and video shoots for customers in the hotel and tourism business, which is their main source of revenue.

“When I first started off in photography, it was a bit scary that it would be my only source of income,” confesses Chris. “But now I make more money than I did at my old job.”

Chris can now afford to “work for only four or five months a year”, although he admits the hours are long and there are no “days off, lots of planning and responsibility… Taking a risk and believing in yourself is key”.

The YouTube channel, with 6,410 subscribers, has become another income stream. Every Sunday evening the couple post a video of their recent travels. In 2022, for instance, they were in Turkey, last year they drove to France, crossed the Channel to the United Kingdom and drove the fabled NC500 around the north of Scotland. In early autumn they drove to the Balkans and explored Montenegro and Albania.

“You have to factor in many variables when planning where to go,” explains Chris. “Where we need to be at a certain time for a job, travel time to the job location, the weather and costs.”

Breakdowns also happen but fortunately these are infrequent, and Chris acknowledges he’s had to learn to be a mechanic as well: “I used to drive a Honda but this is completely different. I’ve learnt a lot because of the number of kilometres we drive. We’ve driven about 65,000 kilometres since we bought Tandy.”

Lake Salda, Turkey

Missing pastizzi

Life on the road has its high and lows. The most unpleasant experience they had was having to make unforeseen repairs in Germany. “It was quite costly, and we also had to live in the van, parked in a Fiat garage for a week.”

One of their best experiences was watching the sunrise in Cappadocia with the sky full of balloons. “That was amazing,” Charlene says.

The couple generally avoid cities and big towns in favour of the countryside. This is where they feel they meet “the real people” and enjoy their hospitality, such as overnighting in a cabin in Montenegro with a local family.

The lows are missing family “and pastizzi” adds Charlene. Neither has been back to Malta since July 2021 although they keep in touch with video calls.

“My brother had a baby whom I haven’t met yet,” says Chris. “Another time there was a surprise party for my father’s birthday, and I could only watch it.”

“Sometimes it’s really hard and we have days when we really miss our families,” adds Charlene.

However, they don’t dwell on what they’re missing, but on the future.

For now, the couple have no intention of having children; this allows them to have “rough plans for the next five to seven years,” says Chris. “We don’t want to travel to the US or Asia with Holly because it can become difficult with both the travel and the regulations. Since she is nine years old, our current plan is to keep touring around Europe.

“There is so much more to see. We also want to revisit some countries and then after that we’ll see what’s next, be it with our van, a new van or something else.

“Life is short, and we need to make the most of it,” says Chris. “Travelling and spending time in so many places help you understand how different people live.

“You realise that every place has its positives and negatives, and we love the fact that we get to split our year accordingly. When we are in, say, the Balkans we miss the perfection of Austria, Switzerland and Germany, and then when we are back in western Europe, we miss the freedom and craziness of Albania or Turkey. Like this we get to live our lives to the full.”