Vanlife - anyone here do it?

[2HFL]

Threeracers said:

Happy to share a photo or two and yes, I do have an instagram page called; travelswithmytruck

This one was taken last year outside the largest underground airfield in Europe on the border with Bosnia.



This was laundry night at a small campsite just south of Geneva.



And a drone shot of the truck on the Outer Hebrides in April last year.



I can’t think of any real lows. Perhaps storage? You need to cut back a bit and be mindful of your weight limit. Muddy wet dogs in winter possibly? But then an open log fire soon fixes that problem.

It can be lonely but really only if you choose to be alone. I find the camper van community to be very friendly so if you want to engage with someone it’s fairly easy to do so. My partner joins me for bigger trips, sometimes flying out for part of the trip or getting a train. One of the apps I use is FrancePassion which is a great way of finding free stopovers in France and meet some very interesting people. It’s about Euro30 per year and collates a collection of about 2200 sites of people who make, bake, brew, cure or cook things and allow you to park for free for one or two nights. Some offer fresh water or grey disposal but seldom black. I think there is an expectation that you will buy something from them but it’s certainly not an obligation. Just being polite and engaging with them is enough and it’s usually fairly easy to engage with someone who is passionate about the things they produce.

I do understand s2sol’s concerns about security when leaving the van, it’s a bit of a worry and you cannot help feel a bit vulnerable, perhaps less for me being behind a big steel door but if they want to get in I am sure they will. Even if you don’t have a dog a dog bowl with some water outside the door and a sign saying beware of the dog on the door can help. And a top tip for solo female travellers is find a grubby pair of size eleven work boots and leave them outside the door too.

Regards

Mark

Hey Mark, that’s a very cool looking vehicle (awesome drone shot too). You must get more than a few looks when you roll into town somewhere!!

[S100HP]

2HFL said:

Hey Mark, that’s a very cool looking vehicle (awesome drone shot too). You must get more than a few looks when you roll into town somewhere!!

That's the sort of van you need to aim for if doing it permanently imho, not those van conversion things.

[r3g]

S100HP said:

That's the sort of van you need to aim for if doing it permanently imho, not those van conversion things.

You could achieve the same by buying a £5k 12 tonne fridge truck on an Iveco/Merc/MAN chassis before they ship it off to Africa. If you pick a split compartment one then you'll already have a door cut out in the side to access the frozen compartment and with it being a fridge truck, your living area already has insulation on all 6 sides 10x better than anything 'proper' camper or MH you could buy. And being on one of the above chassis' means that parts are plentiful both here and across the continent.

Sure you'd have to do your class C licence, but looking at the side of the wheels on that old army truck I'd think that's plated over 7.5 tonne so you'd need a C licence to drive that anyway.

The disadvantages are obviously the sheer size of them. Maybe not much of a problem on the continent, but over here in the UK good luck finding a camp site that will let you through the gate with a truck. The other major disadvantage being the mpg which will be in the low to mid teens. That gets expensive real fast if you like to do a lot of travelling.

[jasonrobertson86]

This is an amazing thread. There must be many here thinking of doing the same. One thing I have seen is 'home sitting/pet sitting' websites for people who want a break and a bed/get some washing done.

[Threeracers]

r3g said:

You could achieve the same by buying a £5k 12 tonne fridge truck on an Iveco/Merc/MAN chassis before they ship it off to Africa. If you pick a split compartment one then you'll already have a door cut out in the side to access the frozen compartment and with it being a fridge truck, your living area already has insulation on all 6 sides 10x better than anything 'proper' camper or MH you could buy. And being on one of the above chassis' means that parts are plentiful both here and across the continent.

Sure you'd have to do your class C licence, but looking at the side of the wheels on that old army truck I'd think that's plated over 7.5 tonne so you'd need a C licence to drive that anyway.

The disadvantages are obviously the sheer size of them. Maybe not much of a problem on the continent, but over here in the UK good luck finding a camp site that will let you through the gate with a truck. The other major disadvantage being the mpg which will be in the low to mid teens. That gets expensive real fast if you like to do a lot of travelling.

No, it’s not been uplated so 7.5 tonne and C1 is fine.

I chose it because I wanted to go off piste a bit so 4wd was particularly important to me. The Bedford is very capable off road and rated as able to climb a 1:1 gradient and traverse a 30 degree slope.

Interestingly, although it does look a size the footprint isn’t very large. I am only 7 metres long so very welcome in all UK campsites. I am a member of CAMC and CACC who are both more than happy with it. Quite honestly I think they like something a bit different. I haven't yet had a campsite pit stop where at least one person hasn’t come over and introduced themselves and had a chat.

Last biggish trip was 3200 miles to Montenegro in October and she returned an average of 16.4 mpg over the trip. That’s more economical than my road car. I cannot recall exact numbers but I think it was roughly £1,500 of diesel over 8 weeks which worked out as about £27 a day. That’s fairly cheap for staying in some rather interesting locations.

Mark

[boxst]

If you don't mind me asking a silly question: My YouTube algorithm seems to think that I now want to watch about van life -- the question is how many people get raped/injured and/or killed?

Some of the YouTube ones are quite attractive young women on their own in the middle of Mexico for example....

[S100HP]

This is one I watch. She knows what she's doing.

[jasonrobertson86]

S100HP said:

This is one I watch. She knows what she's doing.[

There are several like these, apparently.

[PurpleTurtle]

The sensible advice for female vanlifers is to only post content on their social channels once when they've departed the location, so that pervy blokes don't rock up to "say hello".

[Red9zero]

PurpleTurtle said:

The sensible advice for female vanlifers is to only post content on their social channels once when they've departed the location, so that pervy blokes don't rock up to "say hello".

Most seem to do that, but Youtuber Ameinavan had some chap appear with a bunch of flowers while she was filming after spotting her van.

Edited by Red9zero on Thursday 30th May 16:05

[themoog75]

I have a mate who lives in his Zafira. Has done for almost 2 years now, absolutely loves it and has made it work for him. Have to admit, the option of having 90% of my wage going into my pocket whilst working fulltime sounds appealing...but then I think I'd rather do what he's done and reduce my hours to 20 a week (2x 10 hour days) and have the other 5 days all to myself.

[r3g]

themoog75 said:

I have a mate who lives in his Zafira. Has done for almost 2 years now, absolutely loves it and has made it work for him. Have to admit, the option of having 90% of my wage going into my pocket whilst working fulltime sounds appealing...but then I think I'd rather do what he's done and reduce my hours to 20 a week (2x 10 hour days) and have the other 5 days all to myself.

Each to their own, but living in something that small and unsuitable would be my idea of hell. I think an XLWB Sprinter/Boxer is the smallest you want to go to for full-timing to have some semblance of comfort and space to move,

Edited by r3g on Sunday 2nd June 10:41

[themoog75]

r3g said:

themoog75 said:

I have a mate who lives in his Zafira. Has done for almost 2 years now, absolutely loves it and has made it work for him. Have to admit, the option of having 90% of my wage going into my pocket whilst working fulltime sounds appealing...but then I think I'd rather do what he's done and reduce my hours to 20 a week (2x 10 hour days) and have the other 5 days all to myself.

Each to their own, but living in someone that small and unsuitable would be my idea of hell. I think an XLWB Sprinter/Boxer is the smallest you want to go to for full-timing to have some semblance of comfort and space to move,

It's what you make of it at the end of the day I guess. I've always been happy with very little possessions wise, and have always been someone who enjoys walking off into the woods with a small tent, sleeping bag and absolute minimal kit for a week. I'm not necessarily sure that stating the biggest van you can get is the smallest you'd want to go is something I agree with. I mean, of course that may be true for some folks...but personally, I want to live as simple a life as possible, free from all the bills that have to be paid and all the work required to do so. And, while I'm paying around 70% - 80% of my wage out every month, I'm not in a position to save for a big van. I hate feeling trapped and/or controlled...always have done.

So...keep putting in 50 hour + weeks for the privilege of giving most of my money to other people, or strip everything down to the essentials, work a lot less and have more left in my pocket every month is the decision...and the choice for me is the latter. If it means a year of living in a people carrier then I'm absolutely fine with that!