{"id":343920,"date":"2021-09-24T23:27:39","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T20:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/gabby-petito-tragedy-shines-light-on-van-lifes-dark-side\/"},"modified":"2021-09-24T23:27:39","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T20:27:39","slug":"gabby-petito-tragedy-shines-light-on-van-lifes-dark-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/gabby-petito-tragedy-shines-light-on-van-lifes-dark-side\/","title":{"rendered":"#Gabby Petito tragedy shines light on van life&#8217;s dark side"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Gabby Petito tragedy shines light on van life&#8217;s dark side<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n        <\/aside>\n<p>When Nikita Crump, a popular van-life blogger, discovered that she had the exact same white Ford Transit van as Gabby Petito, she shuddered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a sense of knowing your living quarters have identical bones \u2014 identical square footage,\u201d the 30-year-old Crump told The Post from Yosemite National Park. \u201cI felt like I probably would have eventually met her had this not h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ened, because I go the extra mile to connect with people who have the same vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The van-life community is reeling from the homicide of Gabby Petito, the 22-year-old Long Island native who never returned home from a road<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a> with fianc\u00e9 Brian Laundrie. Petito\u2019s remains were found in a Wyoming campground on Sept. 19, and Laundrie, a person of interest in the case, has gone missing. On <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social media<\/a> over the summer, Petito posted smiling photos of herself and Laundrie in front of beautiful landscapes, but such photogenic moments seemed to have concealed darker truths about her life on the road.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/gabby-petito-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Petito posting on Instagram from Canyonlands National Park on July 30, calling the experience &quot;tranquil&quot; and writing that she that was &quot;so happy to be there...&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-19570807\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/gabby-petito-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/gabby-petito-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/gabby-petito-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Gabby Petito, posting on Instagram from Canyonlands National Park on July 30, called the experience \u201ctranquil\u201d and writing that she was \u201cso happy to be there\u2026\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Van life has gained steam amidst the pandemic, with young people untethered from office work and looking to travel by car. On Instagram alone, there are 11 million posts tagged #vanlife, many of them featuring young, nubile travelers in front of beautiful scenery. But those in the community are quick to note that the lifestyle isn\u2019t all it\u2019s Instagrammed to be, and that a dangerous underbelly lurks beneath.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople say, \u2018You\u2019re living the dream, you have the best life.\u2019 And it\u2019s like, \u2018No, there are struggles,&#8217;\u201d said Crump, who\u2019s been roadtripping for about two years and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@nikitaraschell?lang=en\">has 1 million followers on TikTok<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s not all happy-go-lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 5-foot-5, 115-pound Crump, who mainly travels solo, has endured a number of incidents with creepy men making crude comments and threatening her, leaving her scared for her life. She sleeps with her keys within reach, should she need to make a quick exit.<\/p>\n<p>About a year ago, she was shooting a video for BuzzFeed when a sketchy guy appeared to be circling her van and then sidled right up to her and asked her itinerary. After finishing the video, she fled while watching over her back. \u201cI looked at every single vehicle and person to make sure it wasn\u2019t him,\u201d she said. \u201cI contemplated calling the cops but didn\u2019t know if that was dramatic and a waste of their time. In hindsight, I absolutely should have called them.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/billie-web-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=682\" alt=\"Billie Webb, 22, discovered van life a year ago and had a close call with a middle of the night menace. \" class=\"wp-image-19570838\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/billie-web-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1023 1023w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/billie-web-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=682 682w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/billie-web-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=341 341w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/billie-web-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\"\/><figcaption>Billie Webb, 22, discovered van life a year ago and had a close call with\u00a0a middle-of-the-night menace.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>More recently, she was traveling with another young woman, Billie Webb, a 22-year-old from Indiana. They were both parked in St. Louis and Webb forgot to cover the van\u2019s windows at night. At 2 a.m. she was awoken by a knock. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis guy takes out his genitals and rubs them against my window,\u201d recalled Webb. The two made the quick decision to immediately drive off. \u201cIt was one of the scariest experiences I\u2019ve ever had in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other van-lifers note that they are constantly on guard. Sunny Flaherty, 24, who has been on the road with boyfriend Jordan Summerlin, 26, for the past five years, recalled a terrifying incident a few years back. She and a caravan of friends were huddled around a campfire in the Arizona desert when a menacing man approached the group. He whipped out a machete and \u201cthreatened to burn down the buses in camp,\u201d she said. The group quickly fled. \u201cWe have a rule that if any one of us had a weird feeling, we would all leave,\u201d said Flaherty. \u201cI still use that rule to this day to stay safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fending off creeps and psychopaths is hardly the only worry. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/amber-van-life-2-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Amber, author of Always the Adventure, calls van life &quot;tough,&quot; but &quot;worth it.&quot; \" class=\"wp-image-19570871\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/amber-van-life-2-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/amber-van-life-2-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/amber-van-life-2-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Amber, author of Always the Adventure, calls van life \u201ctough\u201d but \u201cworth it.\u201d\u00a0<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of Subject<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cDuring the day, there\u2019s a subconscious stress on your shoulders \u2014 you\u2019re worrying about where you\u2019re going to shower and use the bathroom that day . . . or if you have a flat tire,\u201d said Crump. But creating content for <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/NikitaCrump\/featured\">YouTube<\/a> and other sites demands that she put on a happy face. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s challenging and strange to have a job that expects you to be this chipper person all the time,\u201d said Crump. \u201cI\u2019m not always in the mood to film me and show parts of my life \u2014 it\u2019s stressful and annoying and feels a little icky. It\u2019s one thing to work in retail and be chipper while at a register, but it\u2019s different to be in your space and falsify your happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Amber, author of the popular <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/alwaystheadventure.com\/vanlife\/vanlife-reality#reality6=\">Always the Adventure<\/a> blog, concurred. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/thenomadicsunny-2-1-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Blogger Sunny Flaherty has been living her best &quot;van life&quot; with her boyfriend for the past five years.\" class=\"wp-image-19570910\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/thenomadicsunny-2-1-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/thenomadicsunny-2-1-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/thenomadicsunny-2-1-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Blogger Sunny Flaherty has been living her best \u201cvan life\u201d with her boyfriend for the past five years.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">@thenomadicsunny\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cVan life can take a toll on your mental health if you\u2019re not good at managing it,\u201d the 27-year-old Montana native told The Post.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[It] is so trendy now, but most people don\u2019t . . . post the bad days,\u201d added the blogger, who asked not to use her last name for safety reasons. \u201cYou look at the van-life hashtag on Instagram, and it\u2019s all these beautiful beach pictures. You don\u2019t see the nights at the Denny\u2019s parking lot because you can\u2019t find anywhere else safe to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She recalled one instance where she and her boyfriend of six years had to dig out their 6,000-pound van from red clay in the New Mexico desert with no cell service. \u201cIt was one of these more intense life situations, but we got through it,\u201d said Amber.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/gaby-petito-brian-laundrie-van-mising-32-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Gabby Petito and fiance Brian Laundrie posting idyllic shots of their cross-country adventure this summer.\" class=\"wp-image-19570944\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/gaby-petito-brian-laundrie-van-mising-32-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/gaby-petito-brian-laundrie-van-mising-32-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/gaby-petito-brian-laundrie-van-mising-32-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Gabby Petito and boyfriend Brian Laundrie shared idyllic shots of their cross-country adventure this summer.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Such instances and van life in <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> can be especially taxing on relationships. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019re in a small space with someone, it\u2019s a recipe for disaster,\u201d Flaherty said. \u201cIt can definitely be hard to do with a partner. Imagine when your car breaks down and you have no place to live.\u00a0There are times when you\u2019re just sleeping in a Walmart parking lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Amber, who has been traveling with her boyfriend for the past two years, related to the police body camera footage of an emotional dispute between Petito and Laundrie taken in Moab, Utah on Aug. 12.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe footage is realistic.\u00a0I get it \u2014 I get those really stressful days when nothing\u2019s going right. You just had a bad week, and everything\u2019s going wrong,\u201d she said. \u201cThings can feel like that and you can end up on the side of the road crying.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/billie-webbb-2-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Billie Webb had &quot;one of the scariest experiences I've ever had in my life&quot; with an unwanted intruder last year.\" class=\"wp-image-19570986\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/billie-webbb-2-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/billie-webbb-2-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/billie-webbb-2-copy.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Billie Webb had \u201cone of the scariest experiences I\u2019ve ever had in my life\u201d with an unwanted intruder last year.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">courtesy @billiewebb<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She cautions those who are thinking about hitting the road themselves: It\u2019s not all desert vistas and sunsets over mountaintops.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople go into van life trying to run away and think it will be an escape from life. It\u2019s not,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a different way to live it. It\u2019s high highs and low lows.\u201d\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/09\/24\/gabby-petito-tragedy-shines-light-on-van-lifes-dark-side\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Gabby Petito tragedy shines light on van life&#8217;s dark side&#8221; When Nikita Crump, a popular van-life blogger, discovered that she had the exact same white Ford Transit van as Gabby Petito, she shuddered. \u201cIt\u2019s a sense of knowing your living quarters have identical bones \u2014 identical square footage,\u201d the 30-year-old Crump told The Post from&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":343921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/09\/nikita-crump-3-copy.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[116491,76068,116052,33423,49],"class_list":["post-343920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-9-24-21","tag-blogger","tag-gabby-petito","tag-instagram","tag-youtube"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}