From the moment the seed was planted, I started researching. Vanlife, bus life, skoolies, tiny houses…this new world of alternative living suddenly opened up to me. All I wanted to do was learn and research. So I did. In this post, I’m going to share what tools I used to do my research and get started on vanlife.
My guess is that if you’re reading this post you’re intrigued by vanlife, interested in it, or related to me (hi, mom!). In that case, you’re already ahead of where I started!
Youtube
The bulk of my research happened on Youtube. My first search for vanlife (in 2018) led me to discovering several Youtubers who were living in self-converted vans and documenting their lives. Eamon & Bec’s account seemed to do a really good job of showing the ups and downs, and while they’re not full time van lifers anymore, their builds and different ‘van life by country’ playlists on Youtube are incredibly helpful, insightful, and entertaining. I also loved following Maria Jose and Chase of Tio Aventura on their bus (and then van) travels, The Matney’s vanlife experiences, and Trent & Allie’s experiences. I spent hundreds of hundreds watching and following those channels for educational and entertainment purposes.
I also dove into specific build videos on channels like Jared Tocci’s and Tiny Home Tours. Seeing the different builds and how owners explained their design decisions helped me understand things I definitely needed in mine (hello, toilet) and things I didn’t think were necessary (surfboard storage).
While Youtube was helpful for video content, you may have noticed a trend in the accounts I was following: they were all couples. While there are some accounts of solo female vanlifers, I found them boring or unengaging. This isn’t a diss at those women – living and filming alone full time is hard and honestly not as entertaining to watch! That said, I found those women on Instagram because that’s where they were sharing their stories.
One of the first accounts I found was Sydney Febrache’s of Divine on the Road. She was traveling solo and shared really useful tips in stories and on her feed, and still does! Kristin Leigh of Where the Road Forks does the same. Brend of The Road Through My Eyes was really helpful in sharing how she lives and works a traditional job full time while also living in her van full time. Hearing and watching them share truthful accounts of what it’s like to travel as a solo female vanlifer gave me really helpful perspective I wasn’t getting anywhere else.
Sales Platforms
Once I knew I was serious, I started scoping out vans for sale. I looked at already converted vans, used cargo vans, short school buses, and even small RVs. It was helpful at first to get a handle on the market, see people’s designs, and narrow down my preferences even more. My go to platforms are Van Life Trader, RV Trader, and Craigslist. You can find some gems on Facebook but that’s a bit trickier.
Mapping Tools
After buying my van, the next step was to plan my route! I had a bit of deadline in that I had an event in California, so I planned my route with that as the first end goal in mind. Two tools here became the bread and butter of my planning: Roadtrippers and Google Maps. Roadtrippers helped me take a look at the bigger picture and find cool spots along the way that I may have otherwise missed (yes – I almost skipped Mount Rushmore). From there, I was able to translate that to Google Maps, saving locations with personalized notes.
Armed with all this information and a route, I was ready to go!
Those are the vanlife tools that got me started, but keep following along as I share more on what I used when I was on the road!
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