Truth? Or Clickbait? Vanlife decisions for fulltimers.
- Thread starter glasseye
- Start date
Kajtek1
1922 Ford T. No OBD
Everything require some study or doing the homework.
The campground at North Rim of Great Canyon has sites, where picnic tables are set over the neighbor sewer.
Drive about 20 miles from there and behind park gate you have beautiful forest, where you can camp for free.
Yet the very expensive campground in the park is always overcrowded.
RVing, just like MB ownership is not for everybody to start with.
The campground at North Rim of Great Canyon has sites, where picnic tables are set over the neighbor sewer.
Drive about 20 miles from there and behind park gate you have beautiful forest, where you can camp for free.
Yet the very expensive campground in the park is always overcrowded.
RVing, just like MB ownership is not for everybody to start with.
marklg
Well-known member
I can't bring myself to watch the whole thing. Starts out with a "what they don't want you to know" statement and is very "watch the whole thing for us to tell you everything" when the whole thing could be said in a paragraph that I could read in 15 seconds. Sorry, long videos are not for me.
We got our van 9 years ago now and still use it about a month or two a year give or take. So, not full time, but have enjoyed it immensely.
Regards,
Mark
We got our van 9 years ago now and still use it about a month or two a year give or take. So, not full time, but have enjoyed it immensely.
Regards,
Mark
oscarvan
Well-known member
This. Nothing is the perfect escape, there's a dirty toilet in every dream. Trick is to manage the blah and optimize the wow. This requires some skills and a lot of effort.
WinnieView1
Well-known member
We have owned and enjoyed RVs for 25 years. We have made our decisions based on our current needs. Floor plan is always number one.
We've had family fall for illusion that living in a RV was peaches and cream. They quickly learned that it was all a pipe dream.
We've had family fall for illusion that living in a RV was peaches and cream. They quickly learned that it was all a pipe dream.
Diver160651
170 ext 3500 4x4
I often mention that I split my time between Wyoming and the California coast, and both places saw a huge surge during COVID driven by dreams of independence. A lot of people left their apartments and felt working out of their van was a better investment and offered more freedom. Younger remote workers and older folks considering early retirement flooded in, bringing a noticeable spike in RVs parked on the Coast to every spot in between and van travel—especially along I-80, which links the Bay Area to much of the West and passes through hotspots like Lake Tahoe and major ski regions. At one point, it felt like I couldn’t drive the freeway without seeing multiple vans every few minutes. Today, I'll leave my house on the Coast and travel I-80 to a house in the Foothills (near Tahoe) I bet I see only a couple of vans the entire trip.
Lately, that wave is gone. People are getting called back to the office, and many are realizing that full-time van life isn’t all sunsets and solitude. I enjoy having a van—it’s comfortable, well-equipped, and perfect for quick getaways, makes 4x4'n to remote fishing spots feel luxurious —but I know I couldn’t live out of it full time. I have way too many animals, hobbies and toys.
Lastly.. we'all are watching an AI video toying with our heads --
Lately, that wave is gone. People are getting called back to the office, and many are realizing that full-time van life isn’t all sunsets and solitude. I enjoy having a van—it’s comfortable, well-equipped, and perfect for quick getaways, makes 4x4'n to remote fishing spots feel luxurious —but I know I couldn’t live out of it full time. I have way too many animals, hobbies and toys.
Lastly.. we'all are watching an AI video toying with our heads --
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Kajtek1
1922 Ford T. No OBD
For me the video shows retired people, who were struggling financially and thought that they will do better living in the van.
RV is a toy and should not be forced way of living.
To date, I bought 4 RVs on my retirement, not to mention Ford T and CanAm.
Toys are toys, I still have solid house to live in.
RV is a toy and should not be forced way of living.
To date, I bought 4 RVs on my retirement, not to mention Ford T and CanAm.
Toys are toys, I still have solid house to live in.
Diver160651
170 ext 3500 4x4
Yeah, my biggest issue was that my wife isn’t as spatially aware as I am. She’d stand in the hallway doing whatever, and I’d be stuck waiting—even though she could’ve easily grabbed her clothes from the cabinet and gotten dressed at either end where there’s plenty of room. Or just squeezed in a bit so I could pass. It drove me nuts.
Renting a smaller van in Europe actually helped her become more aware—God forbid I asked her to move a tiny bit before she was finished, though 😄
Eventually, we figured it out and learned the dance.
ECU
2006 T1n 118 Sprinter
Try that with a pregnant wife...
One stop that ticked me off a lot was a great trip we took to upper BC. Days when you'd only travel 30 miles.
Found a campground way off, needed the 4x4 and backed up on the river bank. Beautiful, gurgling water. In the evening light I could see lots of white blooms in the shrubs around the site.
Oh, the mosquitoes were bad. I tried to sit on the roof because the bugs stay below 10 feet. But they found be before my beer was gone. The bugs were so thick, they were getting round the screens.
We were trapped inside of such a beautiful place.
Then in the morning I found out all those blooms were toilet paper. Someone had not wanted to use the outhouse and did that all over the place instead.
gas_sprinter
Well-known member
Gotta have the primary goal, our goal was to get out of the tent camping.
We love spending outdoor but man,,, tent camping started to put a toll on our body +++ putting the camping gears in/out of the garage was just another pain point.
The trailer was our 1st thought process but then it required dragging the trailer, which we weren't up to that challenge, it organically grew on us to get the van.
Drive -> sleep -> cook -> enjoy the outdoor -> sleep -> packup -> drive back home.
It has worked out so far.
We love spending outdoor but man,,, tent camping started to put a toll on our body +++ putting the camping gears in/out of the garage was just another pain point.
The trailer was our 1st thought process but then it required dragging the trailer, which we weren't up to that challenge, it organically grew on us to get the van.
Drive -> sleep -> cook -> enjoy the outdoor -> sleep -> packup -> drive back home.
It has worked out so far.
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It's just transportation and lodging to go do something - climb, bike, run around in the mountains, etc. I started in my teens in the back of a Toyota Corolla - just bought a Unity as my time on the road increases during retirement and my tolerance for being in a dog kennel all day with no toilet on some days decreases.
Some people are boring and live boring lives and there isn't anything they'll be able to buy to fix that.
Seems to me most B vans are only built and get used for wknds and between hotels - maybe that 2 week vacation once a year. Plenty of van lifers and longer trippers out there - just saying how I think I see most get used. Most larger RVs sit in RV parks with the occupants plugged into a television.
Some people are boring and live boring lives and there isn't anything they'll be able to buy to fix that.
Seems to me most B vans are only built and get used for wknds and between hotels - maybe that 2 week vacation once a year. Plenty of van lifers and longer trippers out there - just saying how I think I see most get used. Most larger RVs sit in RV parks with the occupants plugged into a television.
Green Maned Lion
Der Unverbesserliche.
You will find people doing something that they enjoy, and being ecstatic with it, including people who find living full time in a van. They are comfortable with the limited space, the limited possessions, the limited wardrobe, the more intimate interaction with plumbing, and consider these things easy trades for the ability to travel all over. Then you will see the YouTube channels who show all this in glamourised potpourri making limited allusions to the interaction with the plumbing and the relatively limited (or more complicated) hygiene.
I say nothing against those who actually enjoy that trade off, but I know its not for me. (I use my van as a mobile office, if you don't know me, and I return home every night.) I don't consider the great out doors my favourite tourism spot (I like exploring towns and cities, not parks), if I was traveling I would have no desire to be cooking my own food (local eateries absolutely being a highlight of travel for me). People see someone else's dream, and how happy it makes that person, and think that if they live that person's dream, they too will be happy.
The truth is we all have our own ideal thing that will make one happy. What will make the people who really enjoy full time van life happy will not make everyone happy, just people for whom the benefits of it are highly desirable, and the drawbacks tolerable. My parents had a great and happy marriage, and one of the reasons for this was that my parents lived in a large ranch where my dad's haunt and my mothers haunt were on the opposite sides of the house maybe 80 feet apart from each other and they couldn't hear the other, so their alone time was absolutely alone time. My wife and I, on the other hand, spend a lot of our home time together laying on two couches separated by a coffee table using different electronic devices. And we are fine like that; my parents wouldn't be.
The people who go into this as a retirement project inspired by YouTube are very unlikely to survive it. There are several reasons, but the big one is they are approaching retirement age, and still looking at what other people are doing attempting to find happiness. I have a very clear idea what I want to do for retirement, because its always been what I enjoy doing: being away from other people (my wife excluded), attempting to figure out how to make older stuff work in my every day life, tinkering with various older things, repairing older things, or building new things primarily using my own ideas. Like Frankie said, I do it my way!
I like watching other people do what makes them happy; I like seeing happy people- its why I fell in love with rural Lancaster county. I'm not under the impression that me doing these things will make me happy; I'm a different person. Nobody should buy a van to convert into an RV without renting a similarly sized vehicle and spending a few weeks with it. I'm damned sure by now there is no way my wife and I will ever use this as a camper; that's not what we enjoy doing, but the idea of using it that way was entirely secondary to the primary idea of me using it as. mobile office the way I am using it this very second.
I say nothing against those who actually enjoy that trade off, but I know its not for me. (I use my van as a mobile office, if you don't know me, and I return home every night.) I don't consider the great out doors my favourite tourism spot (I like exploring towns and cities, not parks), if I was traveling I would have no desire to be cooking my own food (local eateries absolutely being a highlight of travel for me). People see someone else's dream, and how happy it makes that person, and think that if they live that person's dream, they too will be happy.
The truth is we all have our own ideal thing that will make one happy. What will make the people who really enjoy full time van life happy will not make everyone happy, just people for whom the benefits of it are highly desirable, and the drawbacks tolerable. My parents had a great and happy marriage, and one of the reasons for this was that my parents lived in a large ranch where my dad's haunt and my mothers haunt were on the opposite sides of the house maybe 80 feet apart from each other and they couldn't hear the other, so their alone time was absolutely alone time. My wife and I, on the other hand, spend a lot of our home time together laying on two couches separated by a coffee table using different electronic devices. And we are fine like that; my parents wouldn't be.
The people who go into this as a retirement project inspired by YouTube are very unlikely to survive it. There are several reasons, but the big one is they are approaching retirement age, and still looking at what other people are doing attempting to find happiness. I have a very clear idea what I want to do for retirement, because its always been what I enjoy doing: being away from other people (my wife excluded), attempting to figure out how to make older stuff work in my every day life, tinkering with various older things, repairing older things, or building new things primarily using my own ideas. Like Frankie said, I do it my way!
I like watching other people do what makes them happy; I like seeing happy people- its why I fell in love with rural Lancaster county. I'm not under the impression that me doing these things will make me happy; I'm a different person. Nobody should buy a van to convert into an RV without renting a similarly sized vehicle and spending a few weeks with it. I'm damned sure by now there is no way my wife and I will ever use this as a camper; that's not what we enjoy doing, but the idea of using it that way was entirely secondary to the primary idea of me using it as. mobile office the way I am using it this very second.
Your cogent reply is exactly why I hardly watch any YT content. It's too enervating for me to wallow through the cesspool that YT has become.
Green-Schlomo
OY VEY
People that are shut ins by nature are not going to do well full timing in a van or even an RV for that matter.
Diver160651
170 ext 3500 4x4
As I mentioned earlier, my typical drive from the coast to the foothills takes me along the Coast Highway and then onto I-80—arguably one of the main corridors connecting Northern California to the rest of the West. On a usual 4.5-hour trip, during Covid, I’d expect to see 10–15 Revels and another 10–15 assorted camper vans.
Today, though, I saw just 1 camper van of any kind. Maybe the fun has worn off.
Today, though, I saw just 1 camper van of any kind. Maybe the fun has worn off.
TrackSprinter
2016 Motovan Boondocker
I laugh when acquaintances who have no idea what “van life” actually means ask me if I live in my van. They see all the cool and beautiful landscapes on my social media and think thats what van life means.
There are few humans who can live out of a van full time indefinitely. And then most of them people eventually abandon their principles and go back to a normal dwelling.
No pun intended, but theres so much to unpack about how vans are not long term sustainable.
RV’s I tend to think are a different story. But then there’s only a few more who could maintain that slightly improved lifestyle.
There are few humans who can live out of a van full time indefinitely. And then most of them people eventually abandon their principles and go back to a normal dwelling.
No pun intended, but theres so much to unpack about how vans are not long term sustainable.
RV’s I tend to think are a different story. But then there’s only a few more who could maintain that slightly improved lifestyle.