Social media influencers give van life a considerably deceptive picture. Their profiles make it look dreamy, filled with attractive-looking folks hanging out worry-free in picture-perfect areas nonstop. Promoting that fantasy is a good way to get a bunch of likes, which in flip is the quickest option to get model sponsorship and begin earning money.
However, I’ll be the primary to inform you that they aren’t displaying you the complete image. And if they’re, they definitely aren’t residing that fantasy life-style full-time. Really residing in a tiny area, day in and day trip, 12 months a 12 months, is not any cakewalk. It may be an incredible journey, and it may be loads of enjoyable. However it additionally comes with some harsh realities and classes you’ll inevitably be taught the exhausting manner.
We did, no less than. My spouse and I lived full-time out of our van for over 2 years, touring throughout North America. We met so many individuals who started van life enthusiastically, solely to burn out and promote their vans after just some months.
The truth is, we seen a niche within the full-time van life neighborhood. There have been those that’d solely been of their van for just a few months and people who had been touring for years. Not many individuals fell in between.
We’ve since shifted to part-time van residing. We’ll nonetheless hit the highway for a month or extra, however we’re now not full-timers. And it appeared a disgrace to let all of our hard-learned classes about van life go to waste.
So, listed below are 10 of the hardest classes that we realized whereas residing in a van full-time for two years. When you’re critical sufficient about this life-style to purchase a van, it’s best to no less than be clear about what you’re entering into. Possibly then, you’ll be higher ready for the tough realities that include it.
Learn how to Dwell in a Van, Knowledge From the Street
1. Watch the climate fastidiously — an inch of rain can strand you within the desert
On one ill-fated journey, I seen some incoming climate within the forecast whereas I used to be looking for a campsite. I used to be a bit hesitant concerning the first website I selected, but it surely didn’t seem like critical climate. This was New Mexico, in spite of everything. I figured I’d be all proper.
I used to be mistaken. The storm dramatically overperformed, dropping essentially the most rain in a single day that the Albuquerque space had seen in a few years. My van’s tires bought hopelessly caught within the mud.
Lower than 2 months later, I seen one other large rain system, this time within the Tucson space. We’d booked a website in a close-by campground that featured paved roads, flush bogs, and sizzling showers. However as we approached Catalina State Park, I made a last-minute choice to disperse camp as an alternative, in an space not far-off.
Once more, we have been flooded out, and once more, we (together with over 100 different campers) have been stranded. It took over per week to depart Catalina State Park.
One of many nice allures of residing in a van is your proximity to the pure world. You’ll be able to get up, open the sliding door, and stroll into the forest or desert. Nevertheless, when the climate goes south, you need to be very conscious of the place you’re tenting. We bought off the hook simple. Floods can destroy autos or get them far worse caught than ours did.
2. Discovering lovely campsites will be difficult and worrying
Tenting in lovely areas with beautiful views is finally your entire level of residing in a van. However discovering these idyllic spots can’t solely be difficult, it’s additionally usually worrying.
Generally, after we would arrive at a campsite we’d deliberate to remain at, the truth was a lot completely different than anticipated. There could be trash dumps, the positioning might be unexpectedly closed to tenting, or it might be filled with different campers. Moreover, planning arrival and departure instances will be worrying, too. Particularly on vacation weekends, there’s critical stress to reach earlier than the crowds.
Dispersed tenting is often extra plentiful however presents challenges of its personal. Once I arrive at a vacation spot, typically, I’ll spend over an hour scouting and flagging potential tenting areas.
Some carefree van lifers declare they by no means plan the place they’re going to camp and even after they’ll arrive. However in my expertise, that’s good option to find yourself sleeping in a Walmart parking zone. And after some time, sleeping in heaps begins to really feel much less like tenting and extra like being unhoused.
3. Be certain that the bathroom is depressurized earlier than opening it
In case your van has a cassette bathroom, make certain to drag the deal with out to depressurize it earlier than opening the lid. When you’ve pushed up in elevation for the reason that final time you opened the bathroom, it might probably change into pressurized. Then, once you open it, a fantastic mist will erupt from the bowl.
Don’t ask my spouse how she realized that one.
4. Simply because your telephone says ‘LTE’ and even ‘5G’ doesn’t imply you’ve gotten sufficient information to work from it
The variety of bars that your cellphone shows and even the excellence between 5G and LTE means nearly nothing relating to the precise information speeds your cellphone will present.
When you plan to work out of your cellphone hotspot in a particular campsite (and even on the town), run a “velocity check.” Open your cellphone’s internet browser and go to OpenSpeedTest.com. That permits you to decide what precise web speeds you’ll get in that location. The extra usually you run this check, the extra you’ll notice that the variety of bars your telephone exhibits is just not all the time correct.
You’ll additionally notice that in the event you’re on the sting of a cell community (like most campsites out within the forests and the mountains), you might also have excessive speeds at one minute and nothing the subsequent. It’s no marvel that StarLink has been revolutionary for full-time van lifers.
5. Don’t clear ice build-up from a freezer with a pocket knife
Most mini-fridges embody a small freezer. Nevertheless, they have a tendency to build up ice, particularly in humid environments. No matter you do, do not try and chip the ice out of the freezer with a pocket knife. As a substitute, flip down the fridge/freezer’s temperature, enable the ice to soften a bit, fall off the perimeters, after which scoop it out by hand.
Whereas I efficiently chipped the ice out of my freezer with a knife for over a 12 months, someday, my hand slipped, and the tip of the knife punctured the liner of the freezer. I realized the exhausting manner that the coolant for your entire fridge/freezer runs beneath that liner and that there was successfully no option to restore the liner and even substitute simply the freezer. As a substitute, we had to purchase a brand-new freezer-fridge combo. And it was not on sale.
6. Issues break — and also you discover a option to deal
Whether or not it’s a broken mini fridge, a damaged aspect mirror, or bashing your oil pan on a boulder, one factor is for certain — shit goes to interrupt. And then you definitely’ll must discover a option to take care of it. Whereas some fixes will be made with duct tape and gumption, others require a store and specialised instruments. And that’s going to value you.
Whereas residing in a van is supposedly “reasonably priced,” it may be a shock to go from not paying lease for months to spending 1000’s to repair a serious mechanical subject. To organize for these bills, it’s a good suggestion to both price range a month-to-month quantity for repairs and/or preserve a wholesome emergency fund in your financial savings account.
However even in case you have the cash to repair the issue, merely discovering a store that may do the work after which becoming it into your journey schedule is commonly daunting. That might imply planning months prematurely to get to a dealership. Or, within the worst-case situation, you’ll have to lease a resort room or Airbnb whereas your van will get repaired.
7. You’ll be able to (and sure will) concuss your self on a cupboard
Even for the shorter folks amongst us, a van is a cramped area. If it’s packed filled with tenting, biking, and journey gear, it might probably really feel downright claustrophobic.
Whether or not you bang your head on the nook of a cupboard or on the roof whereas attempting to stroll into the van’s cab or sitting up rapidly in mattress, ultimately, it occurs to everybody.
8. Friendships are difficult to construct and tougher to take care of
… however you’re assured to fulfill many wonderful folks alongside the best way!
Freedom and neighborhood exist on the other ends of the spectrum. You’re selecting to surrender the neighborhood and shut relationships by roaming the world and never committing to 1 location. There’s nearly no manner round this actuality.
The truth is, many ex-van lifers we’ve spoken with cite this as one of many principal causes that they’ve stopped touring full-time. Till you’ve spent years wandering by cities solely having superficial conversations with baristas at espresso outlets and the native bike mechanics, you don’t fairly perceive what it feels prefer to consistently be on the skin trying in.
In the identical breath, it’s additionally true that you just’re assured to fulfill wonderful folks alongside the best way. They might be rad locals, however most of the time, you’ll discover that you just bond with different vacationers who stay the identical manner you do. Whereas these relationships assist make this nomadic life-style livable, the kind of neighborhood you construct as a nomad differs significantly from what you’ll discover whereas residing in a city.
9. Van life holidays are nice, however coordinating two full-time work schedules will be difficult
Work challenges have been one of many two most important elements that prompted us to cease the full-time van life. Sure, we each labored full-time distant jobs for over 2 years on the highway. However towards the top, the fixed schedule coordination, wrangling conferences, coping with the aforementioned web points, and basic work stress all took their toll.
Our favourite van life moments have been after we may take trip time and easily journey, journey, and roam the continent.
Tenting on the banks of the Rio Grande and looking out throughout the river into Mexico, driving by the depths of the Alaskan bush, swimming in hidden lakes in British Columbia, climbing mountains in Colorado, straining our necks as we regarded up on the towering redwoods in California — these are the moments that made van life worthwhile.
The reality is that there’s a dramatic distinction between attempting to carry down a job and stay in a van and the carefree wandering that #vanlife influencers declare they get pleasure from (however not often do).
10. Medical care, full cease
Getting outdated(er) sucks. Whereas I hope that I nonetheless have a few years of journey left in me, the tough realities of coping with fragile human our bodies are extraordinarily difficult whereas residing a nomadic life-style.
Being a nomad means not having a main care doctor or a dentist — even in the event you left one behind in your hometown once you moved into your van. As a result of, often, when one thing occurs, you’re 1,000 miles away from them. Pressing care visits can solely get you thus far, particularly in the event you discover there’s a critical subject that you need to take care of.
Whether or not meaning a protracted bout of weekly bodily remedy, dental appointments that have to be scheduled weeks prematurely, referrals to specialists (which most emergency room medical doctors can’t furnish), and even scheduling and recovering from surgical procedure, the necessity for medical care can rapidly cease you in your tracks.
It did for us.
However it doesn’t imply that it has to cease you ceaselessly. There are innumerable methods to take care of this harsh actuality. You could possibly take into account adopting a hub-and-spoke technique, whereby you proceed to stay in your van full-time however keep a hub that you just return to usually for medical appointments.
If it’s a critical subject, you could possibly select to lease a home for just a few months (or a 12 months) to take care of no matter drawback arose earlier than persevering with on.
Hardships inevitably come up. The query is: How do you select to deal?
The selection to stay a nomadic life, cut back your possessions to solely what can slot in a van, and hit the highway in pursuit of journey is a radical life selection. It’s predicated on rejecting the established order and pondering in another way. Even when life will get troublesome, that doesn’t imply that you need to give up, promote your journey car, purchase a rental, and resign your self to a cubicle for the remainder of your life.
As a substitute, the challenges that you just’ll inevitably face are invites. They’re invites to follow your out-of-the-box pondering and problem-solving expertise. They’re alternatives to seek out artistic options or reimagine your life-style to mean you can overcome the longer term challenges you’re positive to face.
A rewarding life isn’t a life bereft of issues. A rewarding life consists of dealing with attention-grabbing issues head-on and fixing them in artistic methods. And to me, that’s van life in a nutshell.
