Van Life: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
One and a half years ago we finished converting our Sprinter van. It was a dream come true and a lot of hours of work went into making our van feel like home. We first got a taste of van life when we were traveling in a van in New Zealand. After we came back from traveling in New Zealand, traveling and sleeping in the back of our 4Runner or constantly setting up the tent with our one year old daughter suddenly lost its appeal. It was doable but we kept thinking how awesome and comfortable it was when we had our van Taco in New Zealand. In other words we got ruined and there was no way back. It was time to look for a van here in the United States and learn how to convert it to our families needs.
Fast forward a few months later we went on our first road trip in our recently purchased van iVan. It was still in the works and we had just the bare necessities installed but it was already an awesome experience. Rain or shine we had our comfortable space to hang out in.
One thing we really enjoyed when traveling in New Zealand was how comfortable van life was with a little baby/toddler. We could just pull off the road anytime and change diapers on our bed, feed her and fix some food for ourselves. It just made our life on the road so much easier and more comfortable.
As time went by we finished our van and filled it up with all the necessities such as composting toilet, sink, fans, windows, desk, built-in stove, awning, solar shower etc. We even have a small portable projector that we use for movie nights in the back of our van or outside when the weather is nice. Needless to say, traveling has never been more luxurious and comfortable for us.
The most amazing part is that we are able to park our van and camp in some of the most amazing places, and have spectacular views right outside of our home.
We camped in the mountains, deserts, forests, by hot springs, by the ocean, and by the most beautiful overlooks. We just feel pretty lucky and grateful for our lives when we get to park our van in such beautiful places and have all the comforts no matter the weather.
I am sure you are all now sold on traveling in a van. Is van life as amazing and romantic as it looks on social media? Not gonna lie it’s pretty awesome traveling in a van BUT what about living in a van full time as a family? I bet you are here to hear more about the not so pretty aspects of traveling in a van and all the challenges we personally experienced during our van life journey. Needless to say there is always another side of the coin whether people talk about it or not. Don’t take it as a negative blog post. Its purpose is not to scare you away from traveling in a van. I hope it will help you to have the right expectations from the get go, and show you that even because I can do it so can YOU. Let’s dive into it without further adieu.
Now, before I begin let me make another preface here. I am simply sharing from my own experience and talking about my own “truth”. There are a lot of variables with van life, and the way it works out for you very much depends on your own personality and needs, and also family dynamics if you are traveling with a family.
Years ago even before we went to New Zealand my husband was talking about traveling and living in a van full time. Back then I said that I would never live in a van full time. I like my personal space and solitude so I always thought I would go crazy if I lived in such a small space with others. Yet, about a year ago we got rid of our rental and moved into our Sprinter full time. It was worth giving it a try plus, most importantly, it was financially wise. Owning and converting a van is a big investment. We knew we would be traveling a lot anyways so it was pointless spending so much money on a rental that would be vacated for the next few months anyways. This way we were able to save money on paying rent and put our van investment to good use.
Every time we set out on a big trip we feel a lot of excitement and stoke. It’s just so fun to be on the road again and see all the new places, but personally, after a month or two the excitement slowly wears off for me. I become tired of traveling and moving around all the time, figuring out where to go, where to do laundry and fill up on water. Sounds like small things but it does affect me and I feel the need to slow down for a bit and stay in one place.
I also found that it has to do a lot with our family dynamics. We all kinda function differently and have different needs so there is a lot of working together and figuring out things. I like to take it slow and easy, have lazy mornings cooking and doing yoga, driving only couple of hours a day, and being in one place for a while. While my husband goes along with my flow, his adventurous spirit likes to be on the move when we are traveling. Then there is also our busy little girl that normally plays outside unless the weather is not good. She also needs her space to play, run and jump around to burn off that energy. The outdoors couldn’t be a better place for that and it’s also one of the reasons why we do it. The only thing is that one of us needs to constantly have eyes on her when she is outside because she is still very little. It’s not that big of a deal and we figured out how to take turns while we are cooking or getting some work done.
So there is a lot of figuring out how to function together and a lot of compromising. But the more you do it, the better you get at it. I found that “van life” is more like a skill you can master over time.
Another challenge for me was being all together in a small space. In all honesty, there are some things you don’t even know about yourself until you find yourself in certain situations. I definitely learned so much about myself. I already kinda knew that I would struggle with this one before we started, but I really didn’t know how much it would matter and how it would affect me. I learned that I really like my space when I cook or get ready for the day, and it can apparently drive me nuts if people keep invading it. I also like my personal space while using a toilet but it’s also not always possible to kick everybody out of the van.
Outdoors, luckily, almost always comes to the rescue. Most of the time we try not to be cooped up in our van all together and utilize beautiful space and places outside. It works out nicely that way but it’s also not always possible because some days the weather is bad and we are sitting it out inside, other days we are traveling through and just park on the side of the road or a random parking place with no play space outside. Those days we just learn to be extra nice to each other and give each other as much space as possible with a busy toddler. On those days toys, books and a tablet comes to the rescue plus a good audio book for parents.
Constantly moving to new places, new climates and doing different activities can be disruptive to having a daily routine or maintaining healthy habits. I found that if I use these changes as an excuse and don’t cook or eat healthy it affects my overall mood and wellbeing. At its own turn it ends up even affecting our family dynamics and moods. No matter how tempting it might be NOT to take a break and keep diving instead of cooking a healthy meal, it always pays off to prioritize eating healthy especially in the long run. Planning ahead and prioritising is a big part of it as we don’t always find ourselves near stores with fresh produce. Also taking even a little bit of time for some exercising and stretching wherever you might find yourself makes a huge difference. It might be weird exercising in some random parking spot with other people around but it’s all about that resolution and self-discipline. It is a big work in progress for me and it doesn’t come easy, but it feels so good to do so and transforms my day.
Another challenge worth mentioning is getting doctor/dentist appointments and receiving mail. In all honesty, we neglected getting doctor or dentist appointments for about a year. It takes time and effort to find a new physician or dentist, getting established with them, and scheduling visits. It wasn’t something we wanted to prioritize so we just didn’t do it. Looking back, I would say that it wasn’t the smartest idea for us, so I would recommend selecting an area where your family or friends live and getting established there even if you don’t have an actual place to live. We often would rely on family help in Utah and get a PO box for regular mail while the big packages would go to Jake’s parent’s house. There is always a bit of figuring out how to do it but I’ve sent packages to an Airbnb address or friend’s houses. You just do what you can but people and friends are normally happy to help.
Last thing we struggle with is getting our work done while we are traveling. I mean, this is more of a personal struggle with self-discipline(again) and time management but van life definitely doesn’t help with it either. Our biggest challenge and excuse is not having good service most of the time. Most beautiful remote places that we normally seek and enjoy usually don’t have good or any service, so work just get piled up. In the end it also comes down to being more focused, but we like to play outside too much and have hard time staying focused with these distractions. What helps is planning and scheduling work hours ahead of time so that we are already committed and were planning on it.
Now let’s talk about van life things and situations that are really hard for me to deal with when they happen on the road. You probably already heard some stories of vans breaking down in the most inconvenient locations. Well, it happened to us too.
Probably one of the biggest lessons I learned is that having the right expectations makes a huge difference. Hope for the best and plan for the worst. With any vehicle, it’s not a matter of IF something is going to break but a matter of WHEN. We were pretty fortunate for a while to have “smooth sailing” but we couldn’t avoid it after all. Well, I know it doesn’t sound very optimistic but it’s just part of the game and all the other cool experiences make it worth ten fold.
Keeping this in mind, take extra care of your vehicle and find a mechanic you trust that would check it in detail before big trips. Also learning as much as you can about your van and potential issues would be very helpful too.
Our van broke down while we were in Baja California, and we were stuck in a random little town for good 10 days. For a few days we were stuck outside of a mechanic shop just waiting for them to open and take a look at the problem and give us a verdict. After that it took several days just waiting for the right parts to arrive, and even after all the work the mechanic couldn’t fix it completely as we needed more specialized help. Not only waiting for the van to get fixed was demoralizing but we also had to drive 700 miles in limp mode (at 30 MPH) until we got to a mechanic in San Diego, California. It wasn’t fun when it happened but now we can look back and laugh about it as it was just a part of the adventure. It actually allowed us to explore the little town we were stuck in very well. We found some awesome tacos, horchata and churros, and now we will plan to stop in this town for a meal instead of passing it by when we go back to Baja again. We sort of have an emotional attachment to that town.
Here is another little accident that happened around the same time. You wanted to know more “real moments” so here you go. On our way back to San Diego we also made the not very smart decision of buying some churros from a vendor while waiting in line to cross the border. I ended up getting sick and having explosive diarrhea in the middle of the following night while we were parked on the side of the road by the mechanic’s shop. Thank goodness for our composting toilet because there was nowhere to run to otherwise. So here you have it. Sh*t happens, literally :D.
If you get to meet and talk to other van lifers everybody has their own “adventure stories”. What happened to us are just small bumps on the road compared to some of the other situations. Luckily, we never got in a car accident or had our van broken into. Of course, we always have those different variables in mind when we travel. It’s good to be mentally and physically prepared, and know that things like that might happen. We embrace it as a potential variable but to us it’s still worth traveling in a van because in the end you will remember all those amazing adventures you had and places you’ve visited, and laugh about the mishaps that happened.
Are we still traveling in our van full time? No, we don’t. We still do a bunch of trips in our van but we ended up getting a rental again. We decided that for our family it is nice to have a base place where we can come back in between trips and change the pace of life a bit. It helps us to balance it out, and for us it’s worth the extra money we pay for rent. Of course, in the future we would like to build or buy our own little place so that we wouldn’t need to pay rent all the time. In the meantime we go between our van and rental and it’s alright with us.
I don’t think that it matters how you do it. You do YOU and live the way it works best for you and your family. Most importantly, is that you live fully and do what brings you joy. Just know that it’s not always pitch perfect but it’s still worth it.
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About Me
Hi, My name is Natasha Moon. I am a blogger, photographer, traveler and an adventure mom. I consider nature and experiences in the outdoors to be a much needed therapy for me and my family. I hope you can find inspiration and motivation on my blog.
