Van Life - The Ultimate Guide!
It seems crazy that it was just 2 years ago we made the decision to move into our tiny home on wheels! Those 2 years have flown past but it also feels that this life has always been for us. You can read all about it from the beginning right here - from chosing Hymie, our why, and how we made it possible. But now, being 2 years on, I feel its time for my ultimate guide to van life….
Having completed almost 2 years we have done nearly all the seasons twice over and have quite a balanced view of everything that’s been thrown at us!
As for the beginning, the first few weeks / months felt like we were on holiday from our old life, and only when a fair amount of time had passed it was sinking in that we had actually left the rat race and were living life on our own terms! My diary is always full of things I need to do or want to but sometimes it’s ok that you don’t have to achieve anything at all! This was an adjustment for me… someone who was always doing something!
When we were googling all things van life, there were some things I felt it would have been really useful to know - so I’m going to share some important things we’ve learnt along the way! Here goes on my ‘Van Life - The Ultimate Guide!’
1 Where do we park?
Wild vs campsites - What comes to mind when you think of van life park ups? Backdrops of the ocean on a sunny day? A beautiful setting sun in the mountains? What would you say if I told you that its not always like that…. in fact very rarely like that!!!
Finding places to park overnight can be a major pain because you always want to make sure it’s safe and you also dont want to get in trouble for being there. We have found the following really helpful - apps Park4Night and Search for Sites & Brit stops pubs carparks. We’ve come across some car parks around the UK trialling a small fee for parking over night which is amazing. Makes it much safer than making out on the road your only option. I really hope this works well and all councils can learn from this, rather than putting up confusing signs or just banning overnight all together. We will head to campsites if I’m working, if we need some rest and a place where we don’t have to think about moving on, or if needing to use the facilities such as showers, refill water, empty any rubbish or waste. We always live by ‘Leave no trace’ and like to leave a place better than we found it. I feel its everyones responsibility to keep places beautiful so if everyone did a 2 minute litter pick when they see a mess then wouldn’t the world be a slightly better place?
Over the last 2 years we’ve stayed in some beautiful places and some not so beautiful, quiet and not so quiet. It really can be hit or miss when travelling around the country, especially if you dont necessarily know a place. So, do your research and trust your gut feeling, if it doesn’t feel right then just move on.
2 The toilet situation
Composting vs chemical
When getting the van we ripped out the chemical toilet as we did not want to be having to go out of our way to get rid of our waste and even the thought of using chemicals was just off putting. So much to our dismay we couldn’t find a compostable loo that was 1, affordable or 2, fit our bathroom. We decided to build our own which was essentially engineered out of a mop bucket, a jerry can, and urinal separator all built in a wooden surround with the cheapest, smallest toilet seat we could find in B&Q! It has served us very well and for longer than I thought it would… but… we are looking forward to an up coming collaboration where we have FINALLY found the right compost loo! Keep them peeled in the next couple of weeks for an update around this!
3 Minimal living
Its been about learning to cherish those things that are important and letting go of what’s not. Living in any small space means you have to come to terms with having less ‘stuff’. I have to say in the beginning it wasn’t easy narrowing down my 30 pairs of trainers to just 3 or 4 but actually the more you shed things you dont need, the lighter your mind feels! Honestly, its been so theraputic!
4 Getting to be a full time freelance photographer and LIVING MY DREAM!!!!
Life has enabled me to give up my 9-5 and step into something I always dreamed of - being a full time photographer! I run workshops, speak at events, work with brands on lifestyle photography, photograph events, write for magazines, go for long wanders with my camera and spend time bobbing around in the sea… not just working but spending alot of time photographing things purely for me! Personal projects are one of my most treasured way to work on my photography and I feel I am in quite a unique position to be selective with my work, rather than it being ‘all work no play’!
5 What do we do with our day?
When I’m not working at my photography day job it’s general van chores / fixes which is almost a full time job in itself! We’ve had leaks, things needing fixing and to be honest, Carols stepped into this role, learning and being very resourceful - shes learnt so many skills! Plumber and electrician can definitely go on her CV now! haha. Every single day is different and we can be in different places at any time, mainly with my work taking us all over the UK!
6 Dealing with the winter frost / storms
Winter can be tough in a van. We have LPG gas heating which isn’t too bad at all. I’d say my top tips after learning the hard way during our first winter, essentials are big cosy socks, fleece pjs & hot water bottles.
7 Collapsible everything!
The more stuff you can pack down and therefore have more space, the better! We have collapsible tupperwear, laundry basket (doubles up to wash Buster in when we are on campsites!), sieve, whisk, draining board… probably more I’ve forgotten!
8 Where do you get water?
Taps can be found along the beach, graveyards and in most towns you will find free water refill stations. So while campsites may be the only option for your ‘big tank’ we also have a 20l and a 5l bottle for easy refills for drinking water.
9 Laundry
We’ve used laundrettes all over the country and I have a firm favourite thats for sure! Prices can vary so much and you don’t always have a choice with whats available. We had an incident with a motorway services self-serve laundry machine where it locked our clothes in, took our money then the entire system shut down and a message came up saying Error - disconnected from server! eek! Luckily after a few mins of panicking the door clicked open so we grabbed our laundry and ran! Will never be using one of those again haha. and of course when we go and see our lovely friends and family we get lots of kind offers too - you are all awesome!
10 Coffee
Leaving behind my fancy coffee machine was one of the hardest things I had to do - no joke. Im a massive coffee addict! So when I got an aeropress go I was not convinced my van coffees would live up to my expectations BUT I have to say with some decent ground coffee, its delicious. I actually love the mindful experience of brewing this way and I wouldn’t actually want it any other way now! I like to add a little agave and oat milk - how do you like yours?
11 Collapsible everything! (yes this is so important its in there twice!)
12 Condensation
Condensation is inevitable and it can be pretty horrendous unless dealt with properly. One of our best purchases was a Karcher window vac for £10 off facebook marketplace. Before this we were using towels to mop up the windows and wow what a chore that was, and then where to dry the towels?!!! no. just no. nightmare. the karcher was a game changer!
13 Seeking out what brings you joy
Spending your days doing what genuinely brings you passion and fulfilment and having the time to really discover you. This is huge, and yet seems so obvious, but how often in life do we have the time to do this when not working 38 hours + a week and then too tired at the weekends to do much apart from sitting in from of the tv? Being able to spend more time on the things that bring us happiness is one of the best things about living an alternative way of life - we weren’t put on this planet to work, eat, sleep, repeat!
14 Community
We’ve met so many people living their dreams or living alternatively and stepping away from the norms of society. People letting go of nice cars, the big house, the latest phone, chasing the next promotion, pay rise etc etc everything society instills in us around what ‘success’ looks like - being consumed by all of this are we then in turn failing to notice what’s all around us, finding the joy here in the now? Travelling around in a van makes it so easy to make friends…. ‘oh you live in a van too, want to come over for a cuppa?’ Friends. done. :)
Here’s a handful of special memories from the last 2 years ….. and we are looking forward to so many more of those to come!
Thanks for reading! I hope it might have inspired you to live a little differently, or at least consider what’s important for you to live a more fullfilled life?
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