No-Frills Van Living: What 3 Years Taught Us

This month, we are celebrating three years of living full time in our no-frills camper van, Stevan.

It’s been a wild and wonderful ride. Since beginning our crazy brave adventure, we’ve slept in 501 different places. And we’ve we’ve visited a good chunk of the US and Canada.

Van life has definitely changed our perspective. In this post, we’ll share three things we’ve learned in three years of no frills van living.

#1 Worry less

In the past, I was a worrier. Seriously. I imagined all sorts of calamities and just….dwelled on them. And I spent way too much time concerned about what people would think or how they’d react.

Maybe this was due to my (still) overly active imagination. Every possible scenario would spin itself out into stories– often stressful ones. I lived in the land of “What if?” Catastrophe at every turn(!)

But there’s something about the immediate-ness of van life that changed me. When you’re on the road, everything is unknown, potentially awful… or wonderful. All that worry is just too much to hold.

In our nomadic life, we’re just too engaged in the present to worry much about the future. Our needs are immediate: where to sleep? What’s on the resupply list? What are we doing today?

One foot in front of the other– or one wheel anyway. Every single day.

When we first started out, we thought a lot more about the what ifs. Truth be told, our first night boondocking in the forests of upstate New York was a little scary. And in our first few months, we planned out where we’d sleep with a little more care.

Nowadays, we just play it by ear. And if we end up at a rest area or on a tilt or whatever, no biggie. We wake up to another wide open day and just move on.

I love the immediacy of van life– it feels more natural, somehow. I sleep better on the road and focus on what’s around me rather than some amorphous and worrisome future.

If we ever settle down again, I hope to take this “no worries” approach to life along with me. Because, as Dan likes to say, “Worrying is just praying for something you don’t want to happen.”

#2 Time is the Most Precious Thing We Have

…And we don’t know how much of it we get.

Waiting for the right moment to start living your dreams feels like a trap. There is no right moment.

Back in our house-life, we hemmed and hawed about money and “retirement”. How could we just take off like that with little security?

Any sensible couple would have stayed home and waited until they had a pension or windfall or something. Yeah, maybe. But we decided to make do on one salary and no pension.

And we don’t regret it a bit.

Life is uncertain. Change is the natural state of the universe– and of human life too.

We all reach the same end no matter how many things we own or places we’ve been. And we didn’t want to come to that end wishing we’d lived a little more fully.

In making the “foolish” decision to pick up and go, we chose to fully engage in the time we have.

For us, this means experiencing wild and wonderful places, and visiting family more often and for longer periods of time.

It means the closeness that only being together 24/7 in a tiny space can afford.

In short, we learned to “Go for it!” Whatever you have your heart set on experiencing, do it.

Time– time to love and experience life– is pretty well all we ever have.

#3 You Can Have a Lot of Fun without Spending a Lot of Money

There are as many ways to “nomad” as there are folks doing it. You can do it in a tricked out sprinter van, a giant RV, a tent, or a Prius. It’s all awesome!

One thing we’ve learned in our three years on the road is that the fun you can buy is less… well, fun than the kind you make yourself.

Granted, we haven’t tried the fun you can buy very often. Being low frills and low budget, we have to be careful about money.

It’s a good thing we like free stuff: hiking and rockhounding and hanging out in beautiful places.

Our recent summer up north was a real eye-opener. We were amazed at the cost of the excursions offered. There were bear viewing flights, guided glacier hikes, tours and cruises– each thousands of dollars. Yikes(!)

If we had a bigger nest egg, maybe we’d buy a few more amazing experiences. But that’s okay. We chose this crazy brave lifestyle despite the financial challenges. (See #2 above.)

Van travel is our everyday life; we can’t afford to act like we are on permanent vacation. So we find cheaper fun.

We camp in cheap or free places. Which (in our opinion) are MUCH better than RV Parks and expensive resorts. Maybe we’re lucky that we have such inexpensive tastes.

Whatever the case, we are never bored. And we live each day in awe of the beauty glimpsed out the windows of our humble van.

To find awesome free things to do and places to camp, we recommend stopping at visitor centers and ranger stations. (Most helpful people on Earth!) And, in the US, buy an interagency parks pass. (Trust us, it’ll save you money.)

Eat cheap, too. It’s totally possible to prepare your own healthy meals on the road, even without a fancy kitchen. Our two burner camp stove works great for us.

And bring your hobbies along with you. Ours: photography, painting, writing, reading, and rockhounding are super compatible with our (cheap) lifestyle. But there are many others we’ve yet to try.

And here’s another thing: Comfort is overrated. It’s okay to be a bit cold or hot, dirty or cramped sometimes. Part of “the human experience”, right? Our little van is all these things (at times). And when it gets really uncomfortable, we move on or clean up… or share a good story someday.

Van life doesn’t have to be glitzy or expensive. And the van doesn’t need to be glitzy or expensive either. Our beloved Stevan is proof of that.

A Learning Experience

Well, there you have it: three things we’ve learned in three years of full time van living.

Of course, there are a gazillion other things we’ve learned. Many are picayune, like “Make sure to buy half and half with a plastic cap”. Others are just common sense (Avoid fast food if you can help it). Or hard won (Don’t let yourself get chilled first thing in the morning).

Maybe some day we’ll post a running list of these sorts of things. But for now, the three above are the big ones.

In thinking about our choice to live this no-frills van life, I’m reminded of this quote from Mary Oliver’s poem “The Summer Day“. She’s much more eloquent than I’ll ever be, but we share her sentiment.

"Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?"