Life in a Van

Here are some of our top tips for living in a van for an extended period of time. 

Practice

Prior to our departure we tried to prepare ourselves for life in a van together by reducing our belongings; selling things we didn’t need and recycling/throwing away anything we couldn’t sell. As anyone who has ever tried to do this before moving house will tell you, you will feel like you have reduced your belongings by a significant amount only to find that, come moving day, you fill the moving van up to the top with what looks like box after box of junk. Still, the mind-set of reducing your belongings to only those things you really need has helped us as we don’t find we want for anything. You will have fewer clothing choices, fewer hair and beauty products and fewer entertainment options but from our experience – you don’t need that many.

Proximity

We live in incredibly close proximity to one another. Keeping the place tidy and everything where it should be is a good idea. Traversing from the north wing of the van to the southern wing requires passing each other. If one is standing then the other has to wait to pass. It is likely that you will touch each other in the process. Fortunately for us we don’t mind that however if one or both of you are in a bad mood then touching each other can easily become “erm, say excuse me?!” or even “why did you push me?” It is wise to consider each other’s moods and resist antagonising each other more than necessary. A cheeky fart can easily ruin dinner. I always remember something my father in law said at my wedding – “forgive easily”. It is a very good piece of advice.

Toilet

If you are lucky enough to have a toilet/poop cupboard in your van then you need to know what it can and can’t handle.  You can put what you like down ours but only if you are prepared to have it thrown back out the gaps in the toilet shutter when you go over bumps – mostly when the holding tank is getting full. We now cling film across the bowl when moving. Sticking to a liquids only is a good rule as it reduces the use of toilet paper and is easier to power hose away when spillage does occur. As for going to the toilet – give each other space. Perhaps listen to some music or sing loudly in the front seat with the windows open. And remember – don’t try going when the vehicle is in motion unless you like bathing in your own excrement.

Emptying the toilet at dump stations can be a right laugh as well. When entering a campsite people often ask us whether we need to dump. They are referring to the emptying of the tanks, not overly personalising our visit. Check that the exit pipes are fully connected before opening the valve and maybe wear some rubber gloves. We keep disinfectant on hand as well to clean the pipes and ourselves with afterwards. Our pipes leak a little which means we get a nice little stream of foetid piss trickling past our feet whenever we empty the tank. Laugh as much as possible or you will cry.

Driving and Navigating

One of you may be more confident at driving and/or navigating. In our case I am happy to drive the perilous mountain roads whilst Emma is fairly confident shouting at people from across the freeway. Personally I find the freeways here to be disgusting as people drive in as close proximity as possible to you and will undertake and overtake with such speed and ferocity to make you all but wonder how any American road user is still alive - Emma has enough road rage herself to act like a local asshole. We got a satnav with our van which we use mostly for getting to locations around towns where our maps don’t detail. For any city to city driving always cross reference with your maps though. As I will discuss in our California section of our blog, not checking the map can lead you into some places you do not wish to be.

Your van is bulky as well, give every manoeuvre space. Get someone out the vehicle to back you in or out. Emma is still learning that if I can’t see her when she is outside the vehicle then she is no good to me. I am still learning to drive on the right hand side of the road. It’s quite a rapid learning curve though.

Entertainment/Electrics

A laptop is great for when you are perched in café and checking your emails etc but unless you have hook-ups when you are camping then your battery will run flat in no time. In most campers you have two batteries – one for the starter/driving instruments and one ‘house’ battery for internal lights, water pump and fans. All this 12v energy is great for powering small electronic devices so if you want to watch movies or tv shows then put them on your phone and buy a small set of speakers to plug into. If you have no 12v outlets in the back of the van you can buy very cheap 12v cigarette lighter sockets and wire them to the house battery (there are only 2 wires – one positive, one negative and you can’t electrocute yourself). I keep a small reel of electrical wire and electrical tape to hand so I can wire the 12v outlet anywhere I like and make repairs to any of the other electrics. We also have a jump starter which has a 12v outlet and a USB outlet as well which is ideal for powering our phones and e-books. Sure the screen is small but we have hundreds of hours’ worth of TV shows which we can choose to watch when the sun goes down at 8pm and we aren’t ready for bed. Same goes for music – a vast and varied collection is a great idea to have, but get it on an iPod or something as they can be powered from a USB or 12v adapter.