what is vanlife?
van-life
noun
someone who lives full-time or part-time in a van or vehicle of choice.
When people think of vanlife, usually what comes to mind is a parked van somewhere along the ocean. You wake up and open your door to a beautiful sunrise and waves crashing against the shore. Or, maybe a desert setting. A remote parking spot somewhere in the desert, watching the sunset on some sandstone towers.
While these scenes can be accurate, often times they are rare. What people don't post on social media is the many random parking lots you sleep in. What you do when it rains outside. What if you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night??
On this site, I'm going to highlight a few tips and tricks that I've found helpful during my "vanlife" years. I don't want to sugarcoat anything. Vanlife is not for the faint of heart. It will not be all sunshine and rainbows.
However, even with the ups and downs, if you've been thinking about trying it, I highly recommend going for it! Even if it's just parttime. You will learn things about yourself that are hard to learn from any other experience.
tips & tricks
Leave no trace!
I can't emphasize this enough, if you don't give anyone a reason as to why you shouldn't park somewhere for the night, you'll have a much easier time finding places you won't get asked to move from. Always leave the place just as you found it, if not better.
Ideally, if you have a set up that you can park and not even get out of the vehicle, that is the best scenario.
Get a battery station!
Have some sort of rechargable battery station with multiple charging ports. Figure out what items you will be having to recharge the most, and get a portable battery to charge those. I use a small portable generator that charges through my car’s V12 port, and it powers my lights, my fan in the summer time, and recharges my electronics that need charging. It also has a solar panel if I need to charge it that way.
3 month rule
I have a 3 month rule for keeping things in my vehicle. If I’ve had an item in my car for 3 months and have not used it or worn it, I get rid of it. This is usually done with clothing because I still have not figured out how to not have too much clothing while living in a vehicle.
It’s really easy to see how much stuff we accumulate over time that we don’t even need.
If you gotta go, you gotta go!
You’re not always going to have a bathroom readily available, or be somewhere where you can releive yourself outside. Make sure you have some sort of system ready when nature calls! Bottles for #1 are great, and if there’s a #2 emergency, large ziploc bags do the job!
Best case scenario though, try to find where there are public bathrooms and plan accordingly.
Have a goal.
If you are going to embark on vanlife, set some goals for yourself. What do you want to get out of it? How long do you want to do vanlife? Do you want to do this so you can save on rent and pay off some bills? Or is your goal to travel the country?
Wandering around soul searching is also fine, if that’s what you want. But going into it with a goal in mind could help you stay focused and not get discouraged when things get tough.
