Community Spotlight: Louise1128

[Quincy]

Hi everyone!

I'm very excited to announce this Community Spotlight by @Louise1128! ✨ I hope you all will enjoy reading this as much as I did! 

Tell us something about your listing

Our rental is a converted school bus on our suburban property in the pacific northwest, United States. We converted “skooliebert”(named after the best character in mom’s favorite movie Mary Poppins) as a pandemic project to use for our own family travels around the country. When we initially purchased ‘Bert”, it was a yellow school bus. All the work was done by us, and we sure learned a lot as we went. In July of last year, we finally decided it was time to share the fun and funky experience of sleeping in a school bus with others.

How long have you been part of the Community Centre, and why did you become a member?

I joined in July 2022, in an attempt to get to know other Hosts and learn from those who have been doing this much longer.

How long have you been hosting for and why did you first start?

We started hosting in July 2022 due to a shortage of rentals available in our area during a large sporting event. We also are not traveling as much in the bus now that the kids are back at school in-person, and we hated looking at it sitting unused.

When you are not hosting, what do you like doing?

We are a family of 4 who enjoy projects and travel. Both adults in the family (Louise and Dave), are self-employed and through running several small businesses, we are able to own our time and remain flexible and take advantage of adventure opportunities when they arise. Louise is a full time online reseller (jokingly referred to as ‘selling trash on the internet’) and enjoys sourcing clothing that has been cast off by others and finding it new homes. Dave creates amazing treasures from beautiful natural wood and sells them locally and on Etsy.

Do you have any hobbies? If you were to try one new thing, what would it be?

Honestly, we don’t have a lot of time for hobbies other than travel and work. The best thing about creating our own jobs is that work IS really our hobby.

What is the one thing you cannot live without?

This is a very hard question to answer. We are pretty simple folks with pretty flexible needs. Without sounding SUPER cliché; we couldn’t live without one another. Our kids are teens now, and so we don’t spend a lot of time together when home, but we love adventuring together, and it just wouldn’t be the life we love, without being together.

Where would your dream holiday be?

No one place, we love traveling and the journey of going from one place to another, and our ideal holiday would be seeing many different places and finding things to love about each of them.

Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter?

Summer in the pacific northwest, Fall and spring in New England, Winter in the south.

What would you do if you ever won the lottery?

We would purchase property and create a skoolie, tiny home, short term rental “glampground”.

If you could live somewhere else in the world, where would it be?

This answer would change based on which of us you asked, and what day you asked the question. However, since Louise is typing this and at this exact moment in time, we are dreaming of the BoothBay harbor area of Maine. Older teen is planning her own build out of an ambulance to live in after she graduates to create her own memories on the road. We are hoping that she will find her way “home” to wherever we locate ourselves often. 

Skooliebert in his current location in our Suburban yard.

The living and kitchen are a of “Bert”

Sleeping area

Several upgrades have been made since this photo, but these magical lights are controlled by switches in each room, the set the perfect tone for quiet evenings spending time together.

From our cross-country adventure in Summer of 2021

From our cross-country adventure in Summer of 2021

When we bought the bus:

Thank you so much for the opportunity to be a part of the spotlight. 

Louise and Dave (and L 15 and A 11)

[Katja202]

@Louise1128 Oh how cool is your skoolie 😎😀 love love love it! Thanks for sharing! 🌺🌺

[Louise1128]

Thanks so much! We sure do love it. 

[Bhumika]

Wow @Louise1128 ,

This is definitely one of its own kind of experience for guests! The transformation of the bus is so cool to see. Kudos to your imagination and creativity🙌😍

Can’t find what you’re searching for? start a conversation

[Louise1128]

Thanks so much. We see that we tend to attract folks looking for an out of the ordinary, quirky stay; which is exactly who would be happy there, so it works out. 

[Gillian166]

@Louise1128  very cool! love what you did with the bus, looks amazing. Thanks for sharing. 

[Louise1128]

Thanks so much!

[Ally1314]

Thanks for sharing a very inspiring story🥰👍🏻👍🏻

[Louise1128]

And thank you for reading 🙂

[Laurelle3]

@Louise1128 thank you giving an insight to your lifestyle and the before and after pictures of your  "Schooliebert". I bet you have had some wonderful family holidays tripping around. I am sure the guests will enjoy a new experience in a different space.