Thoughts from two weeks on the road

van life is happening!

Just over two weeks ago I moved into my twenty year old van to slowly travel the world with my partner and my dogs. It has been a whirlwind already but before I dive into all of that, here’s my current view:

… it’s beautiful isn’t it. It’s deep in the French alps which is full of huge mountains and ice cold rivers and lakes.

I wasn’t sure what to expect before we started this adventure, I’ve never been a huge “outdoorsy” person, instead I’ve always been happiest curled up inside my home where I feel safe and comfortable so this trip has truly pushed me outside of my comfort zone.

I’m pleased to say that people are in fact right - being in nature does feel really good. I’ve spent more time outside over the past two weeks then I have in my entire life. My activity levels have soared and I’m feeling a lot calmer, despite being in a totally new environment almost everyday.

Here's my thoughts from two weeks on the road:

1. The less stuff you have = the easier van life is. I was so worried pre van as I saw a lot of “van life reality” videos with people’s beds littered with stuff, every time they open their bathroom tons of stuff comes flying out and needs moving out before it is useable. Cupboards stuffed to the brim with bits n bobs and no space to move. I was so worried we would have way too much stuff and we probably do have a little too much for what we need BUT our bathroom is empty and our bed is clear. The only place that houses our stuff are the storage cupboards the van came with. Less stuff definitely means more peace.

2. You don’t need to move constantly. Again, Instagram had me feeling like we would have to drive to new locations daily, everyone seems to only stay in a location for one night and then they do another 10 hour drive somewhere new. We haven’t done this at all. We have very slowly pottered our way from the UK to Belgium and down through the alps. We will be going into Italy in the next few days, but there’s no rush. We’ve kept our drives to under 3 hours, usually more like 1 to 1.5hrs max so that the majority of our time is spent enjoying the van and the outdoors, not stuck behind the wheel.

3. Walking really does help anxiety. My anxiety levels have been pretty high as my entire life routine has been thrown up in the air overnight and everything is completely new and unknown. However, every time I’ve felt the panic come on, I’ve shoved my hiking boots on and gone for a walk. 10 minutes always turns into two hours and I end up having the best time and feeling way calmer by the end. Nature really might be the cure.

4. France is expensive! So far we are over budget when it comes to food, waaaaay over. Food and drink has been really expensive - luckily we had some “spare” budget set aside for the first month as I knew we might want to treat it more like a holiday in the beginning… and thank god because it’s costing a lot. We are under on fuel because we don’t drive far so it will all balance out in the end (I hope!).

5. I can do hard things, even when they are scary. I have felt as though the older I get the harder I find it to “do life”. Tasks I used to find easy have become unmanageable and my skills have really regressed. That being said, this trip has been a huge gulp of fresh air in that regard because I’ve had to push myself to do new things. E.g. trying to speak French, driving down narrow, steep mountain roads in our giant van, trying new hobbies and speaking to fellow van lifers. These are all things I wouldn’t have thought I’d be able to do but I can.

That’s all so far, it’s all still too fresh to really say much more, only time will tell!

Speak soon,

Saph xxx