I just realized I neglected to write about launching my NFT Collection “Where My Vanagon Goes“.
It’s an homage to a couple of things I really love – VW Vans (see my book covers dating back to 2003 if you doubt this), Hawaii (see my home since 2001), and NFTs – I mean, NFTs just since 2019, but I don’t think anything else has ever consumed me the same way or with such intensity.
Here it is: https://opensea.io/collection/where-my-vanagon-goes
33 Photos of Oahu – Each one with My Vanagon featured in a beautiful Oahu location. The description of where she is and why that spot matters. Sale price of .1 ETH each. On Sale Now.
Pictures of my 1989 Vanagon in beautiful places on Oahu in Hawaii.. Valerie the Vagobond Vanagon aka VVV, 3V, and sometimes 3V Wonder.
Each holder of a “Where My Vanagon Goes” NFTs is entitled to a free 3-hour tour in Valerie the Vagobond Vanagon on Oahu. Offer is informal and lasts only as long as I own 3V, live on Oahu, and each NFT can be used once for this offer. Considering that when I was offering tours, I typically charged between $500-$1500 per day, this is a pretty sweet deal – and it gives me a Web3 opportunity to meet and hang out and share this amazing place with people who like my work. During my time as a guide, I was considered one of the top guides in the state and my tours can no longer be booked – but if you hold one of these – you’ll get one – in the Vanagon I’ve named 3V Wonder. This is real world utility and I think fits the essence of Web3 perfectly – a chance for creators to vibe with their community IRL.
There are 33 photos and I think they all ended up being pretty enjoyable to look at. Each of them would look great framed and on a wall IRL. I wanted to do an NFT that covered travel, real life utility, VW Vanagons, and Oahu. I’d recently acquired a beautiful but pretty badly beat up 1989 VW Vanagon, I miss (just a little bit) the joy of being a tour guide on Oahu – where for many years, I was considered one of the top tour guides. I toured with celebrities, athletes, and CEOs and developed several of the top luxury tours here when that market first opened up. I don’t miss sometimes being treated like shit by privileged people and I don’t miss the lousy tips that some of the wealthiest chose to leave (a Saudi Prince and a PGA champion both stiffed me on a tip after 12 hours of sharing my time with them) – but mostly, being a guide was an opportunity to make new friends from all over the world and all walks of life. Many of my guests became and remain friends today. You can read a few of the reviews from some of them here