3 Reasons NOT to do Van Life

Van life has blown up in the past decade or so to the point where if your telling someone I live in a van and travel your probably not giong to get the weird facial expressions or the questions, “ wait you live in a van on purpose”. This is a huge movement and something that we now see normalized and more excepting. And with all the photos and videos of social media there is definitely a glamorous part that we all see. Not too many people show cleaning out our own pee and shit in our toilets and cleaning out the mildewed nasty grey water tanks. Or sharing that if you have a toilet in your van you can normally high five your partner using the bathroom as they are making your scrambled eggs in the morning. All of this stuff you normally don’t see when you look at the beautiful photos and videos online. So this blog post is just another way to say if you can’t stand these things i’m about to tell you maybe this lifestyle is not for you. And that’s okay.

Constantly having to make decisions -

This is a huge one and probably the most important I think. Van life has a lot of pros and they out way the cons for sure but the cons are still harsh and can be a deal breaker for some. Constantly having to make decisions like finding a safe place to sleep each night can be exhausting if you're not staying in each place for a week or two at a time. I find that city van life is the most challenging when trying to find a good spot. Also you have to constantly be looking for fresh water and a place to dump your toilet if you have one. Not a deal breaker in my opinion but there are times where you have to drive out of your way to do these chores and that can get old each week.

Living Tiny -

If you love your own space and are a couple traveling together then this could be an issue for sure. Depending on the type of van you get really does matter how much room you have inside. There are 3 different sizes for the main vans so if you need more space or have a lot of outdoor toys and gear then the sprinter 170 extended might be the better fit for you only because its the longest. If you are traveling with your partner and need space or just like alone time then prioritizing one of you going out of the van for a few hours is going to be key. Now let’s talk about the bathroom situation. This is such a huge part of your van and some people don’t have a bathroom or even a toilet in their space. For the majority of vans you have about 70 ish square feet of living space. So if you're going to have a toilet that means you may have it placed in some unique places. You may be able to have your partner cooking breakfast and you using the bathroom and you are so close you can high five each other. For some couples this may not be an issue and for some it’s a deal breaker.

Prioritizing things you can have in your van -

Well we all know that living in roughly 70 ish square feet is very small. So this means you are limited to how many and what you have in and on top of your van. You really don’t have the space for every tee shirt you've gotten from all your vacations and all your 20 pares of shoes. You really have to prioritize what you're bringing and what you have.

I’ll give you an example. Logan and I love campfires so we bought a portable campfire. It’s great because it folds up and has a portable bag that it came with and it tucks away nicely. So you're probably thinking if it folds up small then what’s the big deal. Even when things can be tucked away and when you have a lot of things they tend to take up room when you only so much space. This is where you really need to prioritize what’s important to you and what you need to make your travels and life more comfortable.

Everything will be covered in dirt all the time- ( Bonus )

Clean, clean and more clean. This is one of the things you will have to do multiple times a day. With our van we are constantly picking up things and sweeping and wiping down all the time. Every time you walk outside you track in so much dirt. As you can see in the photo above my feet are very dirty in that picture. And that is something you just have to get used to when you are constantly outside and just walking around your campsite and if you're like me you love to be barefoot. So if things like this bothers you, maybe you should either get used to it and maybe it won’t be that bad or… this lifestyle is something to rethink.