Top 5: Greatest (and Worst) Things About Van Life So Far...

 Hey Y'all!

We've been full time at this van life thing for almost three weeks now, so long enough to form opinions that I'm sure will change over time (haha).

We've come to love some aspects... others not so much.

So here's our top 5, in both categories.

Our Top 5 Greatest Things About Van Life:

1) Always having everything we need (or want) with us at all times. 

If we want to change shoes for this hike, need a band-aid, need a drink, sunscreen, found a cool spot and want to take some pics- just pull out the camera. So simple.

2) The ability to go (almost) anywhere, anytime.

We've hit up parks, and stayed for the day, because as we stated in reason #1 we've got everything we need with us, and the van makes getting in and out of most locations very easy. It's so simple to wake up, and hop in the drivers seat and go.

3) Seeing others out on the road, and having an instant acquaintance.

Neither of us are big people persons, but we all have a social needs meter so to speak. Having a commonality with others and learning from their experience fills our social need.

4) Far less screen time.

We both enjoy winding down the evening with some mindless scrolling, or watching YouTube. However we are too busy during the daylight hours to sit and stare at our screens for hours on end.

5) Enjoying the sunrise/sunset.

We were either not awake yet, or too busy watching TV, or just living inside (as opposed to mostly outdoors) to really seek out nature.

Worst Things About Van Life:

1) The potential for light or noise from others/traffic.

We've not come into any big issue yet. The brightest night was a Walmart parking lot, and while it was VERY bright, we both felt safe, and slept fairly well. The most noisy so far has been adjacent to a truck stop, but we got used to the noise of their idle pretty quickly and slept extremely well that night.

2) More maintenance on the vehicle.

 We've put more miles on the van much quicker than before. We're on our second oil change, and set of tires* so far . We use more gas running even simple errands (because it's much bigger and heavier than either of our cars were). Other routine maintenance things will need done more often. For us it's a trade off from housing and the bills associated with that.

*The first set of tires was used, and we'd have been able to go a lot longer on them pre-van life, but we also weren't traveling then.

3) Other people nearby.

Again, we've yet to really have any issue, but we're always alert and aware of others nearby. 99% of the time other people don't even pay attention to us, or us them- unless they give off a vibe we don't like. Then we move.

4) Space is very limited.

Staying organized is a must. Even then if we each have a few things out, there's no room to move and it feels like everything is a mess. So we put things away, and repeat the process over and over again. It's constant clean up and reorganization.

5) Bad Weather.

If it's a torrential downpour, thunderstorm, or other inclement weather we're kinda stuck. (Amanda's anxiety can't handle driving through huge thunderstorms for a long period of time). So far this hasn't been an issue since we're still local we hang out with family/friends. In the future we'll plan them to be errand days- like laundry and grocery, or lazy (watch a movie, play a game) type days.

What are your greatest/worst things about van life? Share in the comments below.

Thanks,

The Outlands