Vanlife – How?

Why I moved into a van:
Traveling is my #1 passion and I worked two jobs for forty years just so I could take yearly vacations. During my last three years in practice I ended up in the 50% tax bracket (even though I was barely making enough money to survive on living in the San Francisco bay area) and after working over 60+ hour weeks (no exaggeration) I found myself paying half my income to the IRS which didn’t even leave enough money left for me to save after living expenses. My overhead was $10k per month for my apartment, living expenses and office expenses. When Covid hit I didn’t work for 3 months (and didn’t receive unemployment) and realized I could survive on much less. I was tired of working over 60 hours a week to pay the government. I knew I’d have to give up one of my major expenses, my apartment and made a list of options: move into a tiny home, an rv, a mobile home, a van or a studio apartment an hour further north in fire country. I’d never left California (other than 6 week vacations) and it was time. Coupled with the break-up of a long term relationship (where they couldn’t handle my changes) I chose a van. I had lists upon lists leading up to this and went down every avenue first. I was approved for a home loan, I found a tiny home I could afford and a place to put it, etc. But in the end what I really wanted to do was leave California and while I knew I wanted to go to Europe, it was a longer plan and I wasn’t quite ready yet. Plus, I figured, if I didn’t like Europe and had to come back to the US, there would be no way I could afford to live in California again. Thus it seemed like the best way to see the country and see if there was anywhere else I could live. Alternately, if I loved Europe (which I do) it would be nice to see my country first! A van would be the best way to do this.

There are even less expensive conversions like a modular option. And there’s one conversion company (probably more now) that will finance the cost of your van + the cost of your conversion. And people can also live comfortably in their Prius’s or minivans. 

How can YOU afford this lifestyle?

There are many ways to live as a full time nomad. I include a list below and on my resource page here.

• You can earn on the road- here’s a book about it.
• You can sign up for a program such as Workaway or Woofing where you exchange several hours a day of work for room and board. I know people of all ages, even in their 60’s doing this, and they love it.
• You can move to an inexpensive country and teach English. One of my friends currently lives in Cambodia and teaches English online: here’s her podcast interview — I also interview several people on my podcast who are maintaining a life of full-time travel and earning from busking to taking their job remote and everything in between.
• You can housesit full-time through one of the many housesitting websites. Here’s a class about how to do that.
• You can even live in hotels full time on $2,000 a month. My friend Ashley travels the world this way and has a class teaching you how to do it too.
• I have friends who rent 1-2 bedroom apartments for as little as $400/month in Mexico, Thailand, Cambodia, Bali, Sri Lanka, Laos, Columbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, etc. There are more options than you think.

The truth is that traveling full-time on a budget is cheaper than living in an apartment in a major city. If you don’t believe me, start listening to podcasts where people are doing this exact thing. You can find more resources here.

What did I think of Vanlife?

Now that I’ve been out of the van for several years I can look back clearly. When I first wrote this I was sitting in my apartment in Portugal listening to insanely loud construction on the other side of my shared wall. Construction (pounding, drilling, sawing that rivals a sound level of 15) and tbh I missed vanlife! I missed being able to move, to get away from noise and still be able to work, anywhere.

But now things are calmer and I’m much more settled in Portugal. Looking back, I have zero regrets and after experiencing that year, I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I saw the most incredible sights and met the most amazing people. Adventures I would never have had any other way.

It’s true I experienced a lot of growing pains while living in my van, Eyho. The three most difficult things for me were a lack of showering (I had a shower in the back of my van/outside but since I stayed in urban areas for 11 of my 12 months I didn’t use it) and even worse was the wifi issues I encountered – until I got all of that dialed in, and I did eventually. And the last, though I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world, was taking care of my aging and very sick dog. This is challenging in a best case scenario but living in the van made it more so. Specifically needed to find new veterinarians in new cities that didn’t know his history as we traveled. Having Banfield dog insurance really helped with this as they have a shared database! But even so, some of the vets were better than others.

So here’s a question I’m often asked: would I do it again now? I would definitely be a weekend warrior, even spending several months at a time on the road (which is still the vanlife definition of a weekend warrior 😁) but I wouldn’t full-time it again, no. Why? There are a few reasons but the main one is that I like having a home base, I like settling in to a place and setting down some roots, meeting people I can see on a regular basis and immersing myself in a new culture.

Looking back what would I do differently? If I was going to do fast travel (which I did), I would limit it to 6-9 months tops. But what I really wish for was the opportunity to have had 3 years of slow travel. ❤️

Where did I shower?
Planet Fitness. $23 a month and they’re nationwide. I had a shower built into my van as well but I didn’t use it because I mostly stayed in cities.

Where did I poop and pee?
There are a lot of options. You can use a camping toilet that separates solids from liquid and dump it at dump stations. You can have a composting toilet. There’s even a toilet that contains everything in a tossable bag for you. But these toilets are pricey.

I used an affordable camping toilet where I put in my own bag, closed it up and tossed it. What I also loved about this is my cousin (who was doing vanlife as a weekend warrior) found that it fit inside this cheap ottoman and it ended up being the perfect size to slip underneath my countertop. I pulled it out as a seat and could use the countertop for computer work. If you’re worried about smells, you can add coffee grounds or get these already made absorption chemicals to cut odor and liquid. But coffee grounds are free from Starbucks. I never had an odor issue as I disposed of the bags immediately.

Where did I park and sleep at night:
You can use the app iOverlander (free) or Sekr (free) to find free parking. You can also pay a yearly fee for “Boondockers Welcome” now part of Harvest Hosts where you meet people and park in their driveways (for free). You can park for free at most Walmarts, Cracker Barrels and Kabelas. They’re all on iOverlander. You can park for free in most Casino parking lots or you can pay for a campground. A lot of people park on BLM (bureau of land management) land for free, I didn’t do that much.

Before starting this lifestyle, I heard from others that finding a place to sleep each night was one of the most difficult parts of vanlife and was very worried about it but it’s the easiest part for me (maybe because I stayed in cities). But I stopped planning after week three. I had no idea where I was going to sleep each night, and it was super easy to figure that out when I arrived in a new city each day. I have a podcast episode about that. If you’re interested, you can find it here along with the resources listed above.

At the beginning, I did I stay in several campgrounds, but they’re pricey (it adds up quickly) and often loud and smokey. Mostly I stayed in cities, because that’s what I like and I parked in residential areas or hotel parking lots (not upscale and not motels). I did park at several Walmarts over the year but they weren’t my favorite because they’re often quite loud. Cracker Barrels were also louder. 90% of the time I parked in a residential neighborhoods.

****Note about parking in campsites, Walmarts, Cracker Barrel’s etc: if there are RVs there, they WILL run their generators, often all night long. They are very loud and if you’re a light sleeper, you will not be able to sleep through it.

If you park in a residential area, you must be respectful and quiet.

I did have a “cop knock” and security guard knocks. In Florida, a neighbor (retired officer) called the cops on me because they thought the vehicle was abandoned. The officer knocked, I came to the front and we had a lovely conversation. He told me I was welcome to stay and to call if I needed anything! If you’re not welcome to stay, they will often tell you where to go. In states where it’s illegal to sleep in your car you tell them you were too tired to keep driving and pulled over to nap. In this situation there was a lightning storm and I told him I pulled over because of that, which was 100% true. I am also fully aware that I had white, female privilege and this may not be the same for others.

Traveling with Pets:
I traveled with my dog. A lot of vanlifers have dogs. It’s not an issue if they’re healthy. They’re great for safety. Dogs love traveling full time. Obviously you wouldn’t leave them unattended if it’s hot out but if you’re traveling full time you can travel with the weather and go to cooler places in the summer (the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California or the mountains of Colorado for example) and in the winter you can go to warmer places, like Arizona or Mexico. A lot of vanlifers will leave their dogs outside the van, with a long tether and take them on lots of walks.

That said, my dog was very old and became extremely ill and it was a huge burden (on him and me) but it would have been almost as difficult if I had been in a brick and mortar home. I know this because the last four months of his life I lived in an apartment and it was brutally difficult. I loved my dog more than life but it was too hard having an old, sick dog on the road. Update: he made it to Portugal, had an amazing life and died in my arms in 2023.

Living in or out of the van:
Most vanlifers live OUT of their vans. They’re hikers and bikers and snowboarders and younger LOL. They park on BLM land (which is free) in the middle of nowhere and they let their dogs roam. I did not do this. I did not feel safe alone in the middle of nowhere. I did park on BLM land and in other remote areas when I was with other people and it was great, but only once when I was alone, and it terrified me.

Most 20 something female vanlifers report feeling safer alone in the middle of nowhere than they do in a city. I have lived in cities all my life. I feel much safer in a city. Police and firefighters are in cities. I have had zero issues parking and sleeping in major cities (in residential areas) like San Francisco (the easiest) or Los Angeles, etc. And my only cop knock was in a rural area in Pensacola, Florida. I never had a cop knock in a city.

Safety:
Be aware and listen to your intuition. Most people I met on the road carry guns. Each state has different gun laws so you need to know what they are and only get one if you know how to use it. Otherwise, there’s pepper spray, bear spray, stun guns, and dogs. I wrote a long post about safety: you can find it here. I also had a satellite phone in case my cell didn’t work. This saved me because there was one time I had a very scary encounter, and my cell phone didn’t have service. But I was able to use my satellite phone, which also also had GPS and an emergency button that alerts local authorities. The service is $35 a month (but there’s a cheaper option too, I think $10/mo). I used the Garmin inReach SE+ and I bought it discounted on Black Friday. You can also look for a used one on eBay.

If you don’t feel safe, leave. Park face out so you can leave quickly. Park under lights and cameras if possible: for example some Cracker Barrels and Walmarts have cameras. I always parked under them.

What’s Next For Me?

After a year of US vanlife, I moved to Portugal.
People ask me “why Portugal”, below is why in a nutshell, but I have a much more in depth article here:

• I’m a Europhile.
• I qualified for a residency visa.
• It has similar weather as CA (but with 50% humidity so….) – it is definitely colder in the North where I live, but on the plus side, my skin looks great.
• It’s the most affordable country in Western Europe. And while prices have definitely increased since I moved here, it’s still affordable compared to California and most everywhere else is too! But what I didn’t know until after moving here is that there are some amazing places in Spain that are just as affordable.
• It’s the 3rd safest country in the World.
• They have an amazing healthcare system.

If you’re interested about moving abroad, I have a blog and podcast where I delve deeper into what’s needed to help you here. A resource page here and I’m currently working on a class which will be available in October 2024. 

Waiting/Fear/Etc.
I can’t tell you to just do it. You’ll do it when you’re ready, or not. My favorite quote is by Tony Robbins: “Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.”

What I did was research the hell out of this lifestyle and all the others I was considering. I watched hours and hours of youtube videos. I worked with Holly Priestley who has lived in a van for many years, as a coach. I listened to hours and hours of podcasts. I asked friends to put me in touch with people living this lifestyle and I spoke with them. I joined Clubhouse and listened in on all of the full time travel rooms.

What you’ll find is that full time nomading is a small/ish community and you’ll hear or meet the same people over and over again. And it’s a welcoming community.

I hope you’ll take the leap when you’re ready because full time travel is enriching and leaving all the consumerism and “stuff” behind is liberating.

You can read about my Portuguese escapades here.
If you find value in what I’m sharing and would like to buy me a coffee – I’d be over the moon!

Dream BIG and Live Your Dream!
KA

*** there are a few affiliate links in this article, if you chose to use them I get a couple of cents, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to. Thank you in advance if you choose to support my content in any way! 🙂