Outland Adventures

  This, But Better: Redefining the Life You Thought You Loved We all have our routines. Our cozy corners. The habits that we convince ourselves are just fine . But what if “just fine” isn’t fine anymore? What if you could take everything you love about your life—and level it up? Welcome to “This, but better.” It’s not about burning it all down and starting over. It’s about fine-tuning. Enhancing. Evolving. It’s swapping that cluttered apartment for a tiny home on wheels. It’s trading endless commutes for early-morning hikes. It’s taking your passion for crafts, gaming, makeup, or campfire cooking—and finding a way to live it fully . Take What You Love and Expand It Love nature? Why not live in it. Love your hobbies? Make them your lifestyle. Enjoy quiet nights in? Turn them into star-filled nights under canvas or the roof of a shuttle bus you turned into a sanctuary. “This, but better” is about refusing to settle for the default settings. Real Talk: It’s Not Always Instagr...

 Hey Y'all! How is it December already?! Did your November fly by as well? Let us know in the comments below. December: 3rd Tue- Our Thanksgiving Video- Our First Thanksgiving in the Van 5th Thu- How Are We Enjoying SC Video- Hatcher Gardens, Spartanburg SC 10th Tue- Get To Know Us, Q & A 12th Thu- Campground Reviews: Pine Ridge, in Roebuck Woodsmoke, in Irmo Outside Inn, near Orangeburg Video- Walnut Grove Plantation (Roebuck, SC) 17th Tue- New Year Travel Plans 19th Thu- Our Favorite Features in the Van Video- DITL VAN STYLE, Updated Van Tour 24th Tue- Merry Christmas! 26th Thu- Our First Christmas in the Van Video- Christmas Carriage Ride in Small Town SC! 31st Tue- Happy New Year! Thanks, The Outlands As always, if you have a blog or video idea let us know!

 Hey Y'all! You seemed to enjoy the style of our last blog, so for this one we're going to keep that up. Today we're talking about travel days, and navigating  the chaos they can bring... 1. Introduction: A glimpse into the adventurous yet unpredictable life of van travel Outland Adventures, travel blog, is excited to bring you an insider's perspective into the chaos and excitement of travel days in the van life. Known for affordability and flexibility, van life has gained popularity in recent years, especially among adventurous individuals seeking a unique travel experience. Join us as we explore the challenges and rewards of traveling across the United States in a van, and discover why this unconventional lifestyle is capturing the hearts of wanderers worldwide. 2. Preparing for the chaos: The importance of thorough planning and organization When it comes to embracing the van life and embarking on epic travel adventures, proper planning and organization are key. While...

 Hey Y'all, Here's a short list of the things we do to occupy our time on rainy days! 1) If the rain isn't too bad, or it's not going to continue all day, we don't change our plans at all (if we had any). 2) If the weather is otherwise nice, and not too windy we'll hang out under the canopy. We'll either read, play card games, watch nature happen, take photos, or just play on our phones a bit. 3) In town chores, rainy days are great for gym & shower, and/or laundry, as well as restocking supplies. We'll try to make a day of it, start out at Planet Fitness, get that done and find a local laundromat, then check out the grocery store, followed by whatever other errands we may have. 4) Indoor event/activity. If we come across a cool (bonus points for FREE) indoor event happening, we'll check it out, even if just for a short time.  We really like Facebook for finding events we would otherwise miss. Just recently we went to a water ski show, in the rai...

 Hey Y'all! When picking an adventure, first we start with a location: https://outlandadventures.blogspot.com/2024/06/how-do-we-decide-where-to-go-next.html After we've decided on a destination, we'll agree on a budget for that location, and search free stuff first. Athens, AL was great for this reason, so many free things to see/do and a ton of parks. Kokomo, IN has a ton of parks too. (We're a big fan of parks!) We then decide on adventures, based on location. We're typically not going to travel more than an additional 30min from where we've chosen to camp.  After we've researched all the free things in an area and decided what, of those, we want to do (and when they're open) we start looking at the paid touristy things to do. Our usual budget for these things is $20 each or less, and we plan further ahead for bigger/more expensive adventures. Then we roughly plan these around the free things, depending on what days/times things are open. We also have ...

 Hey Y'all! So, how do we decide where to go next? It depends on if we have anywhere we need to be, and when we need to be there. That's our first consideration. After we've thought about that, and the timeline, we choose a destination. Like currently we're in North Central Indiana, and we have to be in NE Tennessee by the 25th. Because we're working on the rebuild, with help from others, the timeline on the return is a bit loose (as in we don't have a date nailed down). But typically we spend a night or two somewhere in KY on the return. There are 2 weeks between my scan and the appointment for follow up. Usually it's only 3-5 days. I don't know why they scheduled it like this, but we'll be in TN until mid July. After that we're thinking OH for a few to visit more family, meet our great niece, and attend our nephew's graduation party. From there? Nothing solid yet, but either MI or PA are on the short list. Depending on what we decide will ...

 Hey Y'all! I, Amanda, like to keep a planner, but haven't even opened it since February. It was past time to do a little catching up. We got these planners a few years ago in a  Michaels  Grab Bag, all of them were Recollections brand. (Chris also has a planner, but I didn't get it from him, I'm 99.9% sure he hasn't touched it anyhow...) We also recently decided to try out a Budget Planner, more on that below. I've shared about this planner before here: https://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2024/01/goals-for-2024.html Things that have changed since that blog? I've really grown to like the layout. There's a lot of space for each days activities to be written out. My (main) Planner: I'm doing pretty well on my goals for the year, some are completed.. I just recently filled out this bucket list section, all are goals I'd like to achieve this year, except the first one. It's more a 5 year goal. I've already ticked off a few! Note to mys...

 Hey Y'all! What does a typical rest day at camp look like? This... I'm working on blogs, which I (Amanda) do pretty much exclusively, as well as our Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. Chris is working on editing tomorrows video (Franklin, TN). He does a good 98% of the film and editing for YouTube, as well as the neglected Instagram. I feel like you can tell who's edited the video when watching. Chris takes far more care in general, and with adding music, and transitions. On the rare occasion I do a video, it's typically only a few clips edited together and posted. So while we are resting, a good portion of the day is spent editing for Chris, and catching up on blogging, and social media for me. I'll also research where we want to go/what we want to do next. And figure out all the planning and logistics for that... currently I'm unsure what's next, but we want to redo our build soon, and I think Chris is thinking sooner rather than later. He hasn't committe...