Have you ever thought about leaving it all behind for a life on the road? Kevin Cadorne, 38, and his wife Olivia, 32, did exactly that, choosing a nomadic lifestyle with their three children in a bus called Iris.
Kevin previously worked in mechanics, manufacturing and then for the Interior Ministry, while Olivia’s background is in floristry and an organic food store. The couple met in 2012 in Savoie and soon built a family together, welcoming Elyne (now 10), Nathéo (six) and Hanaë (four).
“Back in 2019, Olivia was saying it would be great to have a caravan so we could enjoy family holidays together,” said Kevin.
“Her parents gave us their old 1979 caravan that hadn’t been used for years and it took about 18 months to rebuild the interior, but we enjoyed the process.
“Olivia became focused on this idea that we could live in less space with fewer belongings, freeing ourselves to give our children a life discovering nature.”
Kevin and Olivia with their childrentime2escape
This coincided with the Covid pandemic and homeschooling, so a plan for an itinerant lifestyle started to take shape and they looked into buying a vehicle that would be large enough to live in as a family.
Introducing Iris
“We spent several weeks looking for the right kind of vehicle,” said Kevin, “then in January 2022, we saw an advertisement on LeBonCoin for a magnificent burgundy bus that had been a tourist coach before running local and school routes. It’s an Irisbus, so naturally we named her Iris.”
Kevin and Olivia wanted to avoid a traditional bus layouttime2escape
The coach is a 2003 Irisbus Iliade RTX, measuring 12m long, 2m55 wide and 3m60 high, with a 360bhp Renault DCI 11 engine, a six-speed manual gearbox and large storage holds.
“We wanted to keep our solid wood furniture and avoid the corridor-like layout that is common in converted buses. Above all, we wanted light and space, that’s why we have lots of windows and no tall furniture.
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“While we were working on the interior, we met a huge number of nomadic families, all lovely people, some of whom gave us a huge amount of advice and help,” said Kevin.
“I’d been a freelance photographer for a few years, so we filmed our progress and uploaded videos onto social media as Time2escape, connecting with other like-minded people. We knew we’d made the right decision when we saw our children take ownership of their space: they feel comfortable in the coach and, for us, that’s the most important thing.”
Admin and obligations
Fellow nomadic families gave advice on remodelling the interiortime2escape
The family left their rented accommodation in April 2021 and have had no permanent address since.
“We were very apprehensive about our tax domicile and our mail, but in the end it worked out well,” said Kevin.
“We have relatives in Pont-de-Beauvoisin (Isère), so our mail is sent to the town hall there and we collect it when we’re passing through, or someone does it for us.
“For homeschooling, we needed authorisation and annual checks to ensure we’re teaching the curriculum. We also have a council inspection every two years to check that the children are under good medical care and that homeschooling is still justified.”
Given the size of the bus, Kevin also had to get his HGV licence (permis catégorie C), requiring two weeks of intensive training at a cost of €2,500.
Life on the road
“Nomadic life did not start smoothly!” said Kevin.
“You have to live differently, but we quickly adapted. The idea is to change location at least once a week, to stay a few days in the towns that welcome us, and we always do a bit of shopping in each town. It’s important to us to contribute – we tend to buy our fruit and vegetables from the local market gardener rather than to go to the supermarket.
“As for parking, well, you can’t just park a 12-metre vehicle anywhere, but in France there are plenty of car parks where we are accepted. It’s up to us to adapt, not the local authorities, so we plan all the logistics involved in each journey, such as emptying grey water, refilling water, and getting diesel at a station that accepts HGVs.”
The family have to plan stops where they can refill their water suppliestime2escape
The family returns frequently to the area between Savoie and northern Isère to visit relatives and pick up their post, although high costs mean that they cannot envisage settling there in future.
“Right now, we’re making the most of our experience,” said Kevin.
“Iris has just over 600,000km on the clock and could easily do twice that. When the time comes to return to a more sedentary lifestyle, it will probably be in a timber-framed home somewhere, still pretty modest and hopefully self-sufficient. We’ll see!”
Costs at a glance
Purchase price for the Irisbus €1,500
Solar panels €8,000
Windows and laminate panels €8,000
11cm-thick polyurethane foam insulation €2,200
Complete water system €4,000
Including all the materials, the couple estimate the total investment to be around €42,000.
