Il giorno giusto

How our journey started - how we came to the decision to move into a van to explore nature and live life.

Finally the time has come, after months of planning and the last modifications to the van. Today is the day. It's time to leave. But a journey does not start on the day of departure, it starts well before that.

It begins when you start fantasising and dreaming about new destinations, experiences and cultures. Your mind starts wandering and thinking how nice it would be to travel more, to meet new people and hear their stories, and to explore all the richness the world has to offer. How nice it would be to have more time to devote to your passions, sports, mountain running, cycling, or simply reading a good book while sipping a cup of coffee in the morning.

How nice it would be to pick up your guitar again, after years of it sitting in a corner of your home studio gathering dust, serving more as furniture than as an actual instrument. That guitar you had bought 10 years ago and after a few months, a year at most, of enthusiasm spent learning a few chords and a few simple self-taught songs on YouTube, had slipped back into the background, out of your everyday life as quickly as it had entered it.

Reality is different

But then you come back to reality and resign yourself to the fact that there is not enough time available, that a day only has 24 hours, that most of the time is spent in the office, making sacrifices that in the future will come in handy and allow you to live well, have a family and a successful career.

After all, you also enjoy your job, you work in an industry that excites you and with a team of real, passionate people. You remember that there are many people who don't even like their jobs and you tell yourself that you are lucky to be doing a job that you are passionate about, personally stimulates you and is also well paid.

Growing up with the spirit of sacrifice and the aspiration to constantly improve, characteristics that my family and the practice of sport (especially skiing) at a competitive level have passed on to me, you unhesitatingly set about continuing your professional and personal growth.

But little by little the desire grows within you to explore, to see new things and to move away from your usual home, the usual colleagues and habits, to get out of your comfort zone. Sport and my family have fortunately also taught me this: to be open, tolerant and always seek new challenges. These are things you already do when you have the chance during your two weeks' holiday a year, but these two weeks are not enough.

Then comes that day when you decide that the moment of change has arrived, when you realise that you only have one life and that it is too short to live constantly projected into the future, spending your days locked in an office, within the four walls of your home, in the town or city where you have been living for years now. This life has given you a lot, but over the years it has also taken away loved ones who have left too soon. This has helped you understand what really matters. You have decided that you want to try to live as much as possible in the present. That morning you decide it is the right day to try to change your life. You decide to quit your permanent job, leave the rented house you were living in and move into a van. A Sprinter named Otto, your new home. Unlike normal houses it is a bit small and has four wheels, but it allows you to get around, see beautiful places and make new encounters. To wake up in the same little house, but with a huge garden, to a sunrise and a different view every day. To enjoy nature in all its immensity and beauty and to feel free, choosing how and when to move and where to fall asleep or wake up.

Plus you are lucky enough to share this journey called life with Joy. An equally open, sensitive and sporty woman. An enthusiastic woman who loves life, travelling and discovering new places as much as you do. Then everything becomes easier and the first step is taken.

Today is the right day

This is il giorno giusto (Italian for “the right day”), the experience of two life enthusiasts, who have decided to live for an indefinite period of time 'on the road' and to set up their own business working remotely and trying to make a living that way.

Il giorno giusto wants to tell you about our experiences on the road in a direct and light-hearted way, sharing our discoveries, our encounters and telling you about what makes us excited and feel good day after day. Through this travel diary we hope at the same time to convey positivity and inspire other people to live by pursuing those little things, which make you truly happy and which in their own way make you feel a sense of freedom.

Today is the day. To travel again, do sports, play the guitar or listen to new perspectives. To take that step you have been dreaming of for years, but never had the courage to take. To tell a loved one that you love them. To visit your grandparent or old friend. To do what really makes you happy.

What it is that really makes you happy only you know and it is something different for each of us, which may even vary over time. There is no right or wrong recipe, the important thing is to wake up every day with the conviction that today can be the right day.

Leave a comment to share your thoughts about this article and follow our adventures on instagram @ilgiornogiusto. - Gianluca