Sally lives everywhere, she roams Europe like a migratory bird. She parks her caravan in Greece, Croatia, maybe Spain or Portugal. Thanks to OnlyFans, the 26-year-old can afford her life in the middle of nowhere.
Sally lives in nowhere. She has no fixed place, no place to return to. Not a familiar smell of an apartment waiting for her after a long journey. She can’t come home because she has no home.
At least if home is defined as the parent generation did. The Boomers. A house, an apartment, a place, firmly anchored, close to the workplace. The longing for the manageability of a life, manifested in the idea of how life should be. Sally couldn’t be further from that.
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Sally lives everywhere, she roams Europe like a migratory bird, following the seasons. “Mostly when it’s warm,” she says. 26 years old, a sandy-haired, almost invisible being who speaks in a firm voice, as if resting from a long, arduous life.
Presumably, her life hasn’t been easy up to this point either. But she only hints at that, speaking of problems in puberty, drugs and growing up too early, too quickly. The escape from home, it sounds, was also an escape from herself.
Greece, Croatia, maybe Spain or Portugal too, these are the places where she parks her caravan. And with it yourself.
“Sometimes on the beach, sometimes on official campsites,” says Sally, laughing as she explains the difficulties when the car gets stuck in the sand or the proximity to people from this camper scene is too close. “It’s a separate circle of people that exist in Europe. You recognize each other. You’re there for each other,” she says.
“If I don’t want to be alone, I don’t have to be alone,” she explains. She’s one of those new, digital nomads who doesn’t travel with a tent, in a caravan, along rivers to find fertile land.
Sally travels across this continent with her wagon and some dogs. She knows no boundaries. She does not know whether she is a real EU citizen. “But I definitely correspond to the idea of a borderless European citizen,” she says.
This works because Sally always has her apartment with her, she lives this life that many people aspire to. And even more dream of it.
Campervans, converted VW buses, vans converted into one-bedroom apartments are a trend, not only on Instagram but also in real life. The under-30s in particular dream of this life on the streets. What they mean by freedom is what frightens the old: no roots.
“I live in my trailer and I’ve never felt happier than I do now,” says Sally. What she means is clear: get by with little, need little, be independent, be alone. Throw yourself out of this hastily spinning merry-go-round of a capitalist society. “And just see what happens.”
Sally is happy, but this life is a nightmare for parents. Concerned about their daughters and sons when they move to distant countries and then in a caravan at that.
“My mom thinks it’s great,” says Sally. She would support you in everything. She emphasizes that a lot, also because Sally earns her money, well, unusually. “I used to do porn, too,” she says. “But today I do OnlyFans.” On the platform, users can buy content from influencers, some of which is pornographic, in return for monthly contributions.
Thilo Mischke was born in Berlin in 1981. He works as a journalist, author and TV presenter. He has received numerous awards for his journalistic work, for example he won a Bavarian television award in 2020 and was named “Journalist of the Year” in the “National Reportage” category.
The direct contact with the model, the proximity to the naked person, ensures success. And Sally is successful. In good months, she earns mid-four-digit amounts. “That’s enough to live in the camper, that’s more than enough,” she says.
She could earn more, but she doesn’t want to stress herself. She didn’t leave the merry-go-round to re-enter it. But it doesn’t matter how she earns her money. Whether she’s modeling, naked or clothed, earning the money to live this life doesn’t matter.
Most important for Sally is the fact that she can just live like that. Always on the go, never stuck anywhere, her dogs with her and the feeling of knowing she no longer has to do 9-to-5. Probably never again. That gives her peace.
