Vanlife - anyone here do it?

Fair play to you......... please do a regular PH update of your travels.

Firstly - good luck to you and enjoy your travels.

I did Vanlife when it was simply called “Fulltiming”. If you do a search on here using that phrase, you’ll find my Blog which I kept up to date with all the trials and tribulations of two years of living in a van whilst getting divorced and then meeting my new partner (now wife and Mother of two of my three kids).

I started out in a Hymer A Class (6.4m jobber). It was compact, comfy but cold in winter. I then upgraded to a 9m, 7t Concorde Charisma which was basically a flat on wheels. Personally I think I’d struggle to live in anything smaller if I went back to it. It wasn’t nearly as restrictive as many would have you believe. I did the NC500 in it several times and many a narrow lane/isolated spot overnight.

I have a brand new panel van conversion now and love it. Don’t spent nearly enough time in it, mainly down to having three kids, wife and house to look after. I often look back on fulltiming fondly but digging a bit deeper, it’s easy then also to remember just how bloody hard it is sometimes. Making sure you’ve planned for water, fresh and dropping grey. Emptying toilet. Fixing things (including getting truck repaired)! when you’re on the move. Something will always break or need sorting when you’re at your most vulnerable or enjoying yourself.

I had some great experiences and would kill for 3-6month sabbatical to travel widely. But I struggle to see the lure of vanlife unless there’s a significant driver behind it. For me it was that or homelessness.

Anyway, enjoy - best of luck and feel free to ask questions if you have any.

I've just come across this thread and I'm actually looking to do this very soon.

I've camped before but never tried living in a motorhome so it's all going to be new to me and I have little knowledge of campervan equipment so I'm going be learning the hard way!

The van I want is well specced for he budget but it will need a little customisation as I WFH most of the week.

The biggest worry is electric and water usage along with entering certain car parks as the van is a high topped Mercedes,

It's going to be a big change but I think I need it and if it doesn't work out then I'll just look a getting a studio flat or similar. Currently I just can't face with the prospects of being stuck in a flat most of the time and with a van I'll have more of the outdoors to enjoy.

I will take a good look through this, thanks!

Taking the vlogging element first, there are a lot of people out there doing this. What makes you different to drive lots of traffic to your channel instead of others.

As others have said, if you just do a search on #vanlife on Instagram then there is a plethora of accounts out there of attractive single women who do tasteful bikini shots etc, the ubiquitous obsession with cold water swimming (I guess it's a way of getting a wash) that they all seem to have, and a general mantra of "yay, look at me living my best life with all my freedoms" but not honestly reflecting on the aggro of finding somewhere to camp, where to get water and (what none of them ever seem to come clean about) where to empty their loo, if they aren't using regular campsites.

It's a crowded market for vloggers. Unless you are young, female and easy on the eye I think you will struggle to gain any traction with followers.

I wish you well just for the fun of doing it, but just don't expect you to make any money out of it.

Here is some interesting reading:

https://alwaystheadventure.com/vanlife/vanlife-rea...

https://www.calltoadventure.uk/journal-entry/whats...

Extreme motorhoming adventures is a good channel as they go hiking or mountain biking in interesting places.

Plus i like the fact that for his Mrs every activity seems to be done to get a aperol sprtz.

The earlier advice to get insurance quotes (fully covered for everything and for full-timing) before you embark on this endeavour is not to be ignored. The quotes go into 4 figures when you are full-timing and have everything declared. In my part of the country you can rent a studio flat for nearly the same sort of monies.

As for vlogging for an income, the golden rule for any kind of online money-spinner success is to NOT do it with the intention of making money. The success stories are nearly always from those who started vlogging because they have a genuine passion for whatever their hobby is and enjoy producing the content without any intention of it making money. These people are the 'naturals' and their passion comes across in their content, which is what grows their followers, eventually leading to opportunities to make a bit of money from it as a bonus.

When you do it the other way round, setting out with the intention to make money right from the start, this comes across in the content and people can see it. The content is forced and not organic. You can see this on 90% of the vanlife channels who all do the same 'tips and tricks', 'how to's', 'biggest regrets', 'things nobody tells you about vanlifing' videos where half of it is them yapping on and on about the same dull st that's been done 1000s of times before by other channels, and the other half of their video are just filled with ads for SkillShare and NordVPN.

As mentioned by others above - vanlife is pretty much dead now. It exploded when the covaids was in full swing and everyone went out and bought a camper and did the "look at me and all my freedoms" youtube shizzle but after experiencing the realities of a couple of winters freezing their tits off, some big repair bills for the van, a break-in or two when they were asleep parked up in the middle of nowhere, most have now realised that it's not as glamourous as all their vanlifer peers made it out to be and have since sold their van and gone back to living with their mum and returned to their old day job at McDonald's

Also, as someone who did it for a while in the past and been looking to do it again for different reasons, another thing to note is that many of these vans for sale are absolutely knackered mechanically, especially the ones from full-timers as most of them bought them to save on living costs which means they've been run on a shoestring and not maintained, hence why ebay is absolutely flooded with them.

You say you want a Sprinter camper/conversion for £20k. That puts you right in the era of Sprinters that rotted faster than a 1970s Cortina. It might look in good nick top side, but stick your head underneath and you'll probably be in for a shock.

I'm not saying don't do it. If you have that itch then it needs to be scratched. Living in one full-time definitely has a lot of plusses if you're happy in your own company and enjoy the freedom, but you definitely need to rethink your income plans as "my content will be better than everyone else's" is destined for failure I'm afraid, unless you're female, 20, cute, look hot in spandex and are happy to show plenty of skin in your videos.

Full-timing also requires a back-up place to live ideally as your van will breakdown and no garage can work on a vehicle the same day. Everywhere will be booked up for a week before they can get you in, and then parts won't be available as they've been on back order for weeks. During that time you'll need somewhere to live as your van will have probably been recovered and dumped in the corner of a yard temporarily, which means a) you probably can't live in it because it's on a secure site and b) even if you could, you'd have no access to power, water and washing/toilet facilities so you'll need to pony up £60+ per night for a Travelodge.

Receiving mail is another issue. You need a working address for vehicle docs, ID, NHS, tax, insurance, bank card renewals when they expire, etc.

It's my intention to retire and go exploring in a Sprinter conversion in the next 5-10 years. I already do long road-trips in a big 4x4/SUV for weeks at a time, but currently I "overnight" in hotels which limits where I go.

I will build my own from a Sprinter - well, kind of build my own. There's a few things I will commission from others - engine and 4WD/portal axle conversion for example. I've a pretty large budget - comparable to some of the prices you'll see at the top-end of commercially-converted vans but I want something much more custom including a powerful non-computer-controlled engine (OM606), super-cold-weather resistant tanks, dirt-track and shallow-river-crossing capable... that sort of thing. It needs to be both tough and road-side repairable. I am a competent mechanic - in fact the toughest decision I'll have is which tools to leave behind.

I've already done the entirety of Europe and Scandinavia in both sports cars and the current truck, and as discussed in the "drive to Japan" thread, my original intention to drive to Australia is problematic thanks to politics in certain regions, so I've just decided to ship the van to Canada and explore "the Americas". I'm not sure how long I'd be allowed to stay but if I could get approvals, I should be able to drive from Canada to the southern tip of Patagonia in 5-6 years without missing out on anything. I honestly have no idea what I'll do after I finish and that scares me a bit as I've been so focussed on retiring into this kind of life for about 15 years now. My imagination runs out once I've done this.

There are some bucket list items along the way like riding a rail bike on the deserted railways in south America, waking up in Monument Valley, stocking-up and seeing how long I can survive in the extreme winter in northern Canada and/or Alaska before having to dig myself out and move-on, and swimming in every named sea I encounter en route from the Arctic to the Southern Ocean. I have a list with over a hundred things to do and see.

I have been to four motorhome shows at the NEC over the last 2 years but none of them really cater for my needs, however I would advise anyone trying this sort of thing to check out these shows because you will have opportunity to see what commercial companies offer. There's some great stuff out there - more attuned to conventional travel locations in more "holiday" climates but if nothing else you might rule-out what you don't want (solar, as mentioned above - it's far better to charge your batteries off the engine if you don't plan to stay anywhere for long), and you'll get a realistic view of the costs of things. My build will be around £120K which I will fund from savings and possibly downsizing my house although I'm working hard right now to pay that off so that I don't have to sell it.

I bought a Sprinter a while back and stashed it in storage until I had time to start work on it. Thing is, I've haven't yet started work on it, and I have seen better vans since I bought mine so I will likely sell the one I've got and buy a better one. I bought the current one in haste really, wanting to show myself I'm committed to the idea but for a small amount more money I could have one that's newer, rust-free and dent-free. Mine's OK but... I want to start the build with almost a clean-sheet, and in my head a clean shell is what I really want.

I've got most of my layout sorted - that was where the NEC shows helped. I definitely want a transverse fixed bed above a garage area. I'm short but despite that you can get blisters to extend the width of a Sprinter for a transverse bed. Problem is, they're not insulated and can't be insulated so I'll make do without them.

I need space for a bike, two spare wheels/tyres (large ones) and a load of tools. I had thought I could hang things off the back but then I noticed how most "overlanders" make their vans look like something from Mad Max, and how cool they look, attracting people to have a closer look. Apart from my slightly larger wheels, I plan to leave mine plain so as to not draw attention to myself. I don't want a white van but I will paint it a plain colour (there's a anthracite/black one around the corner from me which looks nice yet inconspicuous). So, I will stash both the wheels and the bike in the garage area. I will also have as few windows as I can get away with... none around the bedroom, and the van I currently have doesn't even have any in the rear doors which I like. Skylights and vents will draw-in enough light when I'm inside with the doors closed.

Oh yeah... need room for a dog too.

Travelling to countries in the Schengen area for up to 90 days in a 180-day period

You can travel to more than one country in a 180-day period. How long you can stay in each country depends on whether or not it’s in the Schengen area.

The countries in the Schengen area are:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Your total stay in the Schengen area must be no more than 90 days in every 180 days. It does not matter how many countries you visit. The 180-day period keeps ‘rolling’.

To work out if your stay is within the 90 day limit, use the following steps.

Check the date you plan to leave the Schengen area on your next trip.

Count back 180 days from that date to get the start of the 180-day period.

Add up the number of days you have already spent in the Schengen area in that 180-day period (you can use the dates stamped in your passport showing when you entered and left a country).

Work out how many days you will spend in the Schengen area on your next trip. Add this number to the number of days you worked out in step 3.

Check that the total number of days is not more than 90.

You need a diesel heater as all vanlifers have diesel heaters.

Diesel is readily available and using a diesel heater means that you won't be relying on exchangeable Calor gas bottles which are not available in Europe or hard to find refillable LPG which is disappearing off fuel station forecourts.

Our van from a major van manufacturer/converter has a factory fitted diesel heater and I am happy and confident with its installation.

I would not be happy with a diy installed diesel heater. Apart from the fire and fumes rink some installations seem to involve making a hole in the diesel fuel tank or having a reservoir of flammable diesel fuel stored in the interior of the vehicle.