What do you think about living in a van? Or what about a holiday in a caravan? Have you ever dreamed about it? And do you think it would be something for you? Or rather very light - just with a backpack, or on the contrary with all the luxury somewhere in an all-inclusive hotel? So let's read what it's actually like in that van.

A van is basically like a caravan. And in our case we made it ourselves. A great opportunity for engaging your own creativity and you can learn a lot from it! Compared to backpacking, of course you'll get further, but you just have more with you. Leaving the vehicle always means trusting the surroundings enough that when you return, it'll still be there.

It's not far from all-inclusive. When you're the one who doesn't cook. :D The other one otherwise spends longer time in the kitchen. But no maid service bothers you and to the pool, when you drive there, it's not far either. There's just less space. So when it's raining outside and you want to exercise, there's no gym here and you're kicking your little toes on the furniture...

Minimalism Training

In a van you have everything you need with you. You really don't need more and we also know that if we hauled even more, we'd be overloaded. We're balancing right on the edge of 3.5 tons, so minimalism plays quite a significant role for us. We simply don't buy what we don't need and we try to work only with what we have here. Without unnecessary things! ;)

Thanks to the size of our home, we have everything within reach. So for those who are extremely lazy, this is a dream! Kitchen almost within reach of the bedroom, it's two steps to the bathroom! For cleaning, a surface area of 5 m², which takes about 5 minutes maximum! (I haven't mopped yet...) And because everything in the van moves while driving, we have to keep it tidy and we can't have many things lying around. I don't want something flying past my head when we're forced to brake suddenly, you know!

Because we usually manage the basics very quickly, we have more time for ourselves. You discover what you enjoy and have time for it. We have time for moments together, undisturbed by anyone. And it's almost every time somewhere different. And also quite often outside! The whole world is our terrace, we just have to choose.

Amateur Mechanic

And now probably the negatives, it's not all rosy and we have lots of things secured in our van (like a bathroom and kitchen inside, not all van lifers have it like that). Important for this life is understanding your vehicle well. Trying to make it easier for it and when even that doesn't work, being able to fix it. Either you take a manual with you (see Life in a Van - a couple who was on the road for over a year and before starting nicely printed out a manual and then repaired everything according to it. Hats off, Forest! For those interested, they have Instagram, Facebook page, and YouTube channel :) ) or you have Leo. I have the second, so I'm not so afraid, but I definitely couldn't do it alone. Although I'm starting to understand it a bit too! :D

Something's Always Running Out

Another variable when living in a van is precisely that mobility. And while it brings lots of advantages, it also has disadvantages. Like the signal constantly changing - and given that our work is online, it's quite crucial for us. Worst is when in the evening already tired you arrive at a chosen place and there's 'no service'. You could kill someone and I'm already looking forward to when those satellites go up that are supposed to bring signal anywhere in the world. For now it's quite sci-fi for me.

We also logically can't be connected to any local water network. We deal with drinking water every few days and where to put waste water. It's work, but you get used to it. Same with gas, although that works out for us to refill about once a month, and diesel. I imagine that as rent and so far it's working out cheaper per month than living in Prague. :D

Mobile Power Plant

And what about that electricity? You have to think about that all the time too. I've already written several times about how little the sun was shining and we had to drive. It's still like that. It's simply easier to live in a van in summer than in winter, when in the northern hemisphere there's less daylight and more precipitation.

From all of this that I've listed, it follows that we have to conserve everything a lot. In my opinion, it's excellent training for life in this era. Conservation is something everyone should learn, both energy and water. It's really desperate when the battery turns off at night because it's dead and we just pray that the next day won't be too cold and we'll be able to start and charge by driving.

Disadvantages Are Actually an Advantage

You become aware of what life costs you and what trace you're leaving behind when you see it. Generally, this life is excellent training for the future, when our whole society is trying to find that ideal model for planet sustainability and how to live ecologically! It's just not bad to get a van at least with a catalytic converter!!! :-D

So even though life in a van has its disadvantages, even those give us so much that we can really enjoy this life!