After a good solid month of searching for the right van on Craigslist, I finally decided on a 2011 Mercedes Sprinter in Orlando, FL. My mom’s husband Elmer was a huge help here. I have no idea how many hours he must have spent trolling posts on the internet, but fortunately for me, he seems to love doing it! As an added bonus, since Orlando is only a few hours from Fort Meyers, Elmer and my mom were able to check out the van and bring it back to their house. Sweet!
The only question remaining was how to get the van from Orlando to my home in Boston, MA. Flying down and driving it back seemed to be the cheapest option. A one-way flight to Fort Meyers is around $100. Two nights in hotels would run about $200 and gas would be pretty comparable. However the prospect of racing 1500 miles alone in a van over three days seemed pretty unpleasant. On the other hand, shelling out $1200 for transport also didn’t seem awesome. After waffling back and forth and must deliberation with transport services, I finally found one for less than a grand. Done deal. iVan joins the adventure!
