Surfboard baggage fees can be extortionate can’t they?

When Pro Snowboarder Austin Smith flew down to Mexico for a mates Birthday the airline slapped him with a _ fee and he was so disinclined to pay it again on the way back, he decided to buy and convert a box van instead. We’ll let him pick up the story from here…

“I loved my week here. So I started thinking: What if I came more often? I didn’t want to spend $450 on surfboards each trip. What if I had a storage unit where we could all leave stuff? What if it was mobile? My buddy Carson’s dad keeps his Subaru at the airport packed full like a clown car… One quick search on Craigslist and I saw it. It was one of the only “trucks” listed and it was listed a dozen times — desperate seller. What would the DMV be like in Mexico? Do I need a special license? Insurance? Mmmeehhhh I’ll figure that out later, so I bought it for $4,000 and we were camping in it that night. It was a little hot in there, everything was melting. We were going to need insulation, a fancy cooler, a rooftop deck, lights, floors, beds, and a dirt bike. Definitely a dirt bike. I thought the build would take 3 days, but it took 2 weeks once Tyler put down the camera and picked up a hammer.

Just eight more trips the truck will pay for itself in baggage fees. #vanlife has obviously trended but you only see or hear about people in their $100k sprinters. This truck isn’t anything special and I’m not a great surfer and maybe that will resonate and inspire others.”