From the very first moment we saw the motorhome, something was already there. The walk around, stepping inside, looking at the details… it all felt a little magical. An immediate sense of connection. Or maybe better said: love at first sight.
It didn’t feel like we were buying an RV.
It felt like we were meeting our next home and adventure.
And with that came the question: what should we call it?
To me, naming a child is one of the hardest things. I always think about how they’ll carry that name, its sound and its meaning, for the rest of their life. Naming a “vehicle,” though… seemed like it would be much easier.
So the three of us sat down together and started bouncing ideas with absolutely no filter. Some names were serious, some completely ridiculous, some carried deeper meanings, and some made us laugh hard. It felt light and intuitive… very much like ourselves.
The names stayed there, scattered across the dining table. For three days we kept coming back to them, repeating them out loud, sitting with how they felt. Little by little, some faded away and others lost their spark. Somewhere in the middle of all that, we started reading more about Going Merry… and things slowly began to click into place.
For those unfamiliar with it, Going Merry is the name of a ship from the anime One Piece. But it’s much more than just a ship. Going Merry is the first companion of a crew crossing impossible seas while chasing their dreams. The ship endures storms, battles, and damage that sometimes seems beyond repair, and still, it keeps going.
In the world of One Piece, a ship that is deeply loved by its crew can slowly become something more than an object. Almost as if it develops a soul and spirit of its own. A relationship that goes far beyond function.
And that was exactly what touched us.
Because deep down, it didn’t feel like we were choosing a name for a vehicle. It felt like we were recognizing a relationship.
Going Merry, from One Piece
When Miguel brought up Going Merry, it immediately felt right.
And as you can imagine, when two Brazilians say “Going Merry” with our accent, it might sound a little like “Going Mary.” Then our own Portuguese version naturally appeared: Vai, Maria.
And somehow, that felt right too: the name is not literal, it’s about feeling.
Giving a name to our new home on wheels changed everything. What could have been just a vehicle started becoming layered, textured and alive. A mobile home. A space for crossing through places and cultures. Part of the adventure itself.
Maybe that’s why the name arrived so naturally, lightly, without pressure, just recognizing something that had already been there all the time.
And if, in the anime, the Going Merry helped its crew cross oceans and face the unknown, we like to think this one might do something similar for us too
Kilometre by kilometre, we’ll learn together. About sharing space. About navigating. About living on wheels. And about finding the courage to keep moving toward our dream.
Going Merry.
Carolina Ribeiro de Almeida
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