Someone who wanted to have some fun found an old American bus on eBay right before the first lockdown. It would have a big effect on how people lived. The 70-seater bus, which had been through a lot and was very worn out, finally made it to the forests of west Wales nine months later. The bus has been completely changed into a charming small house that would look great in a magazine for expensive homes.
It doesn’t look like a converted bus anymore; it looks like a little cabin on a beach far away. There is a full bathroom, a comfy bed, and a little, shining coffee maker on one of the shiny oak tables. Talib Saleh and Chloe Massey, who own the bus and call it Bluebird, worked on it because they loved it. They know a lot about the globe because they are good photographers and like to travel. They wouldn’t trade their trip for anything in the world.
Chloe and Talib are both photographers and run a business that turns camper vans into homes. They are 26 and 28 years old and can afford to live in a good house without a loan. “We are inspired by the romantic” makes it easy to see why they did it.
The couple remarked that living a creative and sustainable life and working on the projects we love is a goal that may be reached.
The best part is that they can just turn on the engines of Bluebird and leave whenever they want. They also have a little wood burner that is excellent for keeping them warm in the winter. It used to be a bright white bus, but now it’s a dull off-white. It still sits on rented land by the River Cleddau and farms. The place is not far from the small town of Lawrenny.
Because it was raining in Wales, they had to find a means to make enough solar power. When they build their simple home, their patience has also been tested. Chloe said, “We have learned what hard work is,” and they have turned the body of a gigantic whale into a cute small house. They met while studying photography at Middlesex University.
Talib from Norfolk and Chloe from Somerset both said that the photography class was uninteresting. They all exited and went their separate ways. Talib flew to London a few years later to see Chloe give her graduation speech at the University of the West of England. That’s when they fell in love. They began their life on the road by driving a modified van around Australia. They quickly realized that the only way to stay alive was to go around the world.
Chloe was particularly fascinated in the idea of living in a camping van so she could be closer to nature. She claimed that she and Talib worked in Sri Lanka only three and a half years ago since they wanted to travel and learn through photography. We were road photographers, and we made extra money by snapping pictures of hotels, workaways, and cafes. Because we were poor, we lived simply.
We made sketches of what we saw in India and the Himalayas, like people and locations. We built a modest camper to live in when we got to Australia. We had no idea how important this way of life would be to our story. They wrote an excellent narrative. Their Instagram feed is full with pictures of beautiful, empty beaches, lush green jungles, and the worn-out expressions of people they met along the way.
You might wonder why they chose to go to a Welsh woodland after seeing so many lovely sites. Chloe says, “We really fell in love with Australia.” We might go there one day. I think we came back mostly because we were both interested in the rest of the globe. As photographers, traveling and working on projects will always be a big part of our lives.
We have always had aspirations and goals, but looking back, we had to go back to start our camper van conversion business, Indigo and Olive, which will now help us in many ways. When we first closed the school bus and started turning it into a home, we already knew we wanted to live near the water while we were in the UK. The Pembrokeshire beach is quite gorgeous.
We liked how friendly everyone was when we got here, and right now we can’t fathom living anywhere else in the UK. It’s amazing how they were able to handle everything on their own and make their little house look so nice. The style costs a lot. Chloe says they knew they wanted a tiny house, so they saved up and stopped building to work.
We spent a lot of money on our project because we wanted it to last and we chose high-quality materials and appliances. That being said, we probably spent as much as we would have on a down payment on a house, and we don’t have a big mortgage to pay off. If you have a plot of land, free or salvaged materials, and time to sort everything out, I think you can build a tiny house without spending a lot of money.
Indigo and Olive are so skilled at what they do that they now make money turning little houses into homes. Chloe said, “We taught ourselves everything.” The bus project, in particular, brought up new problems and demanded new talents. We learned through videos and a lot of practice. My dad, Mike, has been a big help because he knows how to fix things.
We are used to it now, and we know that these skills will let us do things we never thought we could. They are doing a lot of little things in the globe. They will start shooting pictures again when they have time. Chloe explains, “We have been converting things for the past few years, and now it is our job to take pictures.”
We still work for customers we choose and for our own pleasure, but we’re quite happy to have some time to take pictures for ourselves. We are both quite worried about it and are doing everything we can to find a way to fix it. Is it really as good as it sounds and appears to live without a job or a place to reside? Chloe says that the journey isn’t over yet: “I think the best thing to say is that we are living out our dreams as we try to reach even bigger ones.” We shall never be ashamed to admit that we had a high goal and reached it.
