What have you learnt about van life so far? Leave a comment below to share your experiences.
By Pip Waterhouse-Biggins
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Driving A 41 Year Old Banger Around France, Spain And Portugal
Pip Waterhouse-Biggins (Monty The Ford)
Van life has exploded in popularity, transitioning from a niche lifestyle choice to a desirable and cheap way to live. As a family of four (two humans and two dogs) we have been living full-time in our yellow tin can for over a year. In January 2020, we decided to take the van on its biggest adventure yet.
This is what we learnt along the way...
Can you REALLY camp for free?
Yes! In our eleven weeks away, we didn’t stay at ANY campsites. What you want from a park up will influence whether wild camping is for you. For us, we love to get amongst nature, so often we spent the night in a forest car park, a viewpoint with panoramic mountain views or we’d settle by the coast. Not many of these park ups will have facilities - that’s the beauty of them - but it does mean that you will have to plan when and where you fill up your water tank. France is great - they have public water taps everywhere. In Spain and Portugal, it’s not so easy. Download the park4night app and use google earth to scout out potential spots, and be flexible. Even with all the planning in the world, occasionally you may find yourself at the end of a dirt track, with no view, a dried up lake and a ‘no camping’ sign!
Write down what you spend
In our first week of the trip, we were so distracted with the excitement of travelling that we didn’t write down what we were spending. Every time we filled up with petrol, we’d pop into the supermarket to buy a few treats (by treats I mean Grimbergen - our favourite beer). When the ‘holiday haze’ lifted and we started to track our finances, it become clear that if we continued on our beer-and-junk-food bender, we’d be coming home a month earlier and a stone heavier. Writing everything down helped us to budget more effectively, making our pennies go further.
What item could we not live without?
Our split relay charger…this is a MUST have for all vanlifers. In simplistic terms, this neat gadget will charge your leisure battery when the engine is running. So if you are moving little and often as we were, it means that you will always have power for your electronics. And if you are running low? Leave the engine running for a few minutes. Sorted!
Be prepared to get your hands dirty
Just like a house built with bricks, they’ll be little things that go wrong along the way that will need fixing. If this happens (and unfortunately it will) keep a cool head, use your phone to research the problem and formulate a plan. We were amazed at how many people helped us in our hour of need, often complete strangers. Reach out to the community online, discussing a problem and sharing knowledge helps to get you back on the road sooner, and keeps you sane too.
Leave no trace…
As travelling by van increases in popularity, it’s more important than ever to look after our beautiful planet. Bag up your rubbish, empty grey waste correctly and don’t overstay your welcome. As a rule of thumb, we stayed at most spots for one to two nights. This gave us plenty of time to explore the area, enjoy the views and continue onward with our journey.
Welcome to a brand new blog series, where we feature creative Van Lifers and small business owners who make and create things ON or FOR the road! First up lets get to know the story behind Tiny Ventures...
Weight is one of the most important yet overlooked factors of a van build out. Below I share my top tips on ways to consider reducing those kilograms!
When it comes to choosing your toilet, we would highly recommend the Simploo Composting Loo , not only is it a more ecological choice compared with chemical loo's, it actually looks like a household toilet thanks to the sleek modern finish.
Are you wondering where to fill up your water when living the full time van life? Below I share my top tips! My first pointer here would be to have a water tank that is over 70L to ensure you aren't having to fill up too often (especially if you are planning to be off grid for a few days at a time) You'll still need to preserve your water as much as you can, so try not to keep that tap running unnecessarily and invest in a stop/start shower head, if you have a shower set up in your rig. The most obvious one is to fill up at friends and families, in between adventures or before setting off, this is probably the easiest way to obtain water! Keep a long water hose in your van, so if you spot a tap on your travels you are well prepared! On the road look out for these at fuel stations and services, not all of them have taps so I personally like to do a little dance when I find one (this is optional) A not so obvious one (and one that is probably best to use in a low water emergency) is a jet wash or screen water fill up point in fuel stations, you just need to make sure there are no chemicals or soap added to these! Oh and be prepared for some funny looks from people if you do try this method - if in doubt just smile and pout! Make friends! This is super easy in van life because the community spirit is so SO strong! There is a whole host of support out there both at park ups or online, so if you are stuck just ask around! I found that country pub owners were particularly friendly and kind enough to let us use their outdoor taps, they often have these for doggos, so after a spot of lunch take the opportunity to ask - the worst they can say is no! Lastly there is the option of a campsite, you could make use of the paid facilities and fill up your water, lots of people we know plan to do this once every few weeks for a night or 2!
Vanlife Legends Bee & Theo from The Indie Projects have just released an inspiring guide book, all about their experience of travelling through the breathtaking Nordics! This book Travel The Nordics literally couldn’t have come out at a better time for me! I have just purchased a new van, ready to build out in the coming months, and Norway / Northern Lights being TOP of my travel bucket list! Reading this book has completely solidified the fact that I just have to go, and now even better I can feel fully prepared with the practical advice of The Indie Projects! I CANNOT wait to get on the road and experience all of the amazing sights that Bee & Theo share in this book, but this time with my very own eyes!
Laura, Carly, their daughter Agnes and Roy The Dog make Rainbows On The Road - an Adventurous family who have travelled far and wide in their super unique home on wheels! They have absolutely nailed alternative living, and they are a great inspiration to us and many others! Let's find out their TOP underrated travel destinations below in the blog they have written for us all to enjoy!
The awesome Claire & Luke from Van Life Straya have just completed self converting a Sprinter Panel Van into their very own FULL TIME home! We have throughly enjoyed watching this fun couple during their van build. Australia is near to our own hearts, so we have definitely been following this one extra closely! Let's dig a little deeper...
We really enjoy watching your travels on Instagram - but life is certainly different right now, and you are currently in Spain on lockdown due to the Covid-19! How are you adjusting to this? Were you unable to stay in the van over there? Yes, we're currently in the south of Spain near Almeria and have been here for around 9 weeks now. We decided to rent an AirBnB about two months ago to wait out the lockdown rather than staying in the van as it felt safer and gave us peace of mind – as well as not having to worry about emptying the toilet and having access to long hot showers every day! We spent the first week of lockdown in the van but because the rules were so strict here with heavy fines (up to 2000 euros!) being threatened to anyone out of the house without a valid reason – and rules against having more than one person in a vehicle - we were constantly looking over our shoulder and felt really on edge all the time. On top of that all caravan parks and the majority of aires or motorhome service points closed too so finding water and grey and black drop-off points was really tricky. It's not quite how we imagined spending the Spring months, that's for sure, but we've tried to stay positive throughout it all and will just have to adapt our route plan accordingly, as and when things start to resume some normality and country borders begin to open again. Lockdown restrictions have eased slightly now, so we are leaving the AirBnB to move back into DeeDee this week and drive to an animal sanctuary near Valencia who have offered us to park on their land whilst we volunteer with them to build their new rescue centre. That should keep us entertained for the rest of lockdown (hopefully!).
What inspired you to get a van? April's parents bought a caravan a few years ago, and after using it for a year or two we decided having a fixed base for weekend trips didn't work for us. To go on a weekend trip meant that we would have to book Friday's and Monday's off of work as we would spend Friday driving to our campsite and setting up and Monday packing up and driving home (you can't really go anywhere with a caravan hooked up to you). We'd pick a campsite in a central location to the places we wanted to visit, then we would spend the weekend traveling anywhere from 2 to 3 hours each day from our base location and then return at night. A camper van gave us the freedom to spend more time exploring as our home would be with us all the time - and it also meant that a weekend trip was literally a weekend trip, so no extra time off work, meaning more trips!
Tip #1 - Only you know your dog! There's a whole raft of people out there that will give you every reason under the sun why van life is or isn't a good idea with a dog. Trust me when I say Piglet is her own dog! She travelled with me to work everyday since she was a pup so being on the road isn't an issue for her. She loves getting in the van and heading off; new places and smells are her idea of heaven (well, that and any kind of food!) and she's incredibly sociable with people. Only you know what your dog enjoys and what stresses them out and that's the best way to know if van life is right for your dog or not.
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