After 2+ years on the road, we have learned quite a bit. Van life is amazing, challenging, strange, and wonderful all in one. Below we have various guides to helping you simplify and optimize your life on the road.
Just starting Van Life?
Start with our Van Life FAQ which covers the basics of life on the road.
We also have DIY Van Build guides that cover everything you need to do to DIY your camper van.
The best way to get internet in your camper van is to use a strong external MIMO antenna and a Pepwave router that can aggregate multiple cell carrier signals. As a software engineer living on the road, seamless and consistent internet is a necessity no matter where we are. This internet solution hasn’t failed us once over our years of van life!
In our Complete Guide to Internet on the Road we dig into the science behind this solution and compare other options such as Starlink and hotspots.
Van life is extremely rewarding but can also be difficult at times. It is important to travel slowly and to be patient with yourself! Chores take a lot more time in a campervan, and there is a lot more decision making that can lead to fatigue. After 2+ years on the road, we have truly come to appreciate the beauty in the small things like living minimally and having everything we need at our fingertips.
Refilling your water tank can be one of the tougher chores as a van lifer because safe water spigots are often in cities and can shut off in the winter. IOverlander is by far the best app for finding water sources. You can also simply keep your eyes peeled at parks, car washes, and gas stations for water spigots. Because of the variety of water sources you will fill up from, it is important to have an effective water filtration system on board.
We installed a system that allows us to fill up from pressurized AND non-pressurized systems (streams, lakes, etc). This is a more complex install but has made water fill ups a breeze.
IOverlander is a great community sourced app for finding free campsites all around the world. Additionally, we like to use Google Maps satelite view to sleuth around public land for clearings.
Van lifers make money the same way house dwellers do! As long as you have reliable internet, the options are really endless:
