Top 5 Things We Love & Hate about VanLife

Top 5 Things We Love and Hate About VanLife

This is a question we get asked ALL the time. Sometimes it’s future vanlifers who want to know what to expect, and other times it’s our families looking for insight into our lives—or sometimes it’s random people on the internet who are just flat out curious! Whatever the case, everybody wants to know: what are the top things we love and hate about vanlife?

As with everything in life, it’s more complicated than that. We’ve found that our favorite things about vanlife are also our least favorite things about vanlife.

So here it is. The good, the bad, & the ugly of vanlife and how sometimes, they are one and the same.

1. Having a limited water supply. We knew this would be a major adjustment going into vanlife, but we had no idea how much it would affect us. We interact with water ALL the time in the van! Whether cooking, doing the dishes, showering, or brushing our teeth—we are constantly using water, which means constantly checking on our water supply. Having to think about how much water we are using is exhausting and hard to get used to.

At the same time, we LOVE it! We are so much more conscious of how much water we use, even when we aren’t in the van, and we are able to be so much more eco-friendly with our water usage. For some perspective, the average person uses 80–100 gallons of water A DAY, while the two of us go through about 25 gallons of water in our van in a WEEK! We love being able to conserve water and help da planet. <3

2. Finding a new place to sleep every night. Well maybe we don’t switch locations EVERY night, but sometimes it feels like it! Finding places to park our home can be a lot of work. We have a few apps that help us find spots, but they aren’t updated in real time, and if you aren’t paying for a spot, you aren’t guaranteed a spot. This means sometimes we find ourselves driving through forest roads at 10:00pm unable to find a place to stay, with no service to find a new spot. It’s not always that difficult, but we have found ourselves in some sticky situations. 

On the other hand, we LOVE finding new places to stay! It’s so fun seeing parts of the US and even our home state that we’ve never seen before and that others can only dream of. We’ve been able to sleep in and explore some of the most beautiful places in our little home on wheels. And sometimes the rush of not being able to find a place to park is fun! Well, for Janna. It stresses the heck out of Austin LOL.

3. Not having cell reception. This is something relatively new to us. Before moving into the van the longest we’d gone without cell service was maybe a few hours on a long hike. Now we sometimes go days without service, and if it's unexpected, it can be extremely inconvenient, especially with work.

But we have also really learned to enjoy the separation from the outside world. Now that we are more used to it, we can adjust our thinking and revel in the time we have in nature without the distractions of the world outside of us. It has brought us closer together and given us some perspective on our attachment to technology and how, even though we need it for work, sometimes less is more.

4. Having so much free time. Although this sounds silly, the people that know us will LAUGH at this because they know how busy bodies we both are. Before vanlife, we both worked two jobs and had various projects on the side; we thrived in busyness. Being in charge of our own schedule, and lack thereof, has been a harder adjustment than we thought it would be! Some days we even find ourselves bored.

Again though, we understand how lucky we are to be living this lifestyle and that we can afford to be bored. And we have been learning to slow down a bit and enjoy this time together! We have both been reading more, we are able to be in nature more often, and we sleep in whenever we want—a concept we never were able to comprehend in our previous lifestyles.

5. Not living in Colorado. We both grew in the beautiful state of Colorado and never lived more than a few hours from our families. Now we are ALWAYS hours from our home state and days away from our families. We do get homesick and miss the comfort of being close to our fams.

On the other hand, it’s been so fun to explore new places and get outside of our comfort zones. We are also able to visit friends and long-distance family around the country, which has been a blast! Plus, since we have stayed in the US so far, we are always within driving distance of the fam if we need anything. :)

There are pros and cons to anything in life, and although the cons of vanlife can be an adjustment, the pros vastly outweigh the cons. Being able to live this life of excitement and adventure is worth some minor inconveniences.