Vanlife and Me? It’s Complicated!

If vanlife and I were in a relationship, and if I were the type to update her relationship status on Facebook (is that even still a thing???), it would probably show as “It’s complicated” right now.

I still love vanlife, but we’re not exactly in a honeymoon phase right now.

It’s more like that phase where those little annoying things that never bothered you all that much suddenly become major issues. 

To be fair, being in lockdown for 73 days now probably has a lot to do with it. 

I feel like for the last 73 days, I haven’t really been doing vanlife, but instead, I have just been living in a van.

What’s the difference? Vanlife is about adventure, freedom, waking up to sunrises over the ocean and exploring new places. Living in a van is sleeping, working, eating and being in a van while stuck in one place and without any of the above. 

I know I can’t really complain. Overall, we had a pretty good run with COVID down here, and many other countries had to endure lockdowns much longer than we had to so far (though in many cases not as strict as ours). I also know many people are struggling mentally with lockdowns and social isolation much more than I do. 

Overall, I’m doing good. I’m parked up in a safe place with very friendly people. I’ve been able to use the time to work and save up money which means that I can work less and live more as soon as we’re allowed to travel again. And now that we’re allowed to move freely around Auckland again for day trips, I’ve been getting out hiking and kitesurfing a few times. 

So far, I’ve been able to keep a positive mindset. 

But, being stuck in one place is definitely highlighting the downsides of vanlife. Those little annoying things, that are usually more than made up for by the positives, are much more obvious when the positives are on hold. 

So, I thought I’d take the opportunity to share some of the not-so-fun things that come with living in a van. 

If you live in a super small home yourself, some of these are probably very familiar. 

Let’s start with the shower.

You know that awesome feeling of standing under a hot shower after a long day or a walk or bike ride in the rain and feeling yourself relax and warm-up? Well, I am getting pretty close to forgetting what that feels like. My showers these days are quick affairs, all about getting clean while using as little water as possible. 

I have access to water where I’m parked up, but I still have to fill up the tank, and my greywater tank only takes about 80 litres before it needs emptying. And even without the limitation resulting from tank sizes, the shower isn’t exactly made for comfort. For starters, I have to either hold the shower head above my head or crouch to fit under it. And then there is the fact that I need to clear out everything in the so-called ‘bathroom’ every time I want to shower as it will get wet otherwise. 

So, yeah, campervan showers aren’t all that great! 

Usually, this is an easy problem to solve. I would just stay at a campground once a week or so to take a proper shower. But with the ongoing COVID lockdown, that’s not an option right now. 

One thing is certain, once lockdowns lift, I will find a proper shower somewhere and probably spend 10 minutes just standing there enjoying the endless hot water! 

Here’s another thing that bothers me: Food storage. 

I honestly don’t know why it bothers me so much all of a sudden, but my food storage space is really limited and hard to access. I have two shelves above the kitchen area that I use for most of my food. They are packed, look messy, and it’s often hard to find anything. I tidy them up once a week, but it lasts for a day or so and then it’s chaos again – usually because I needed something that was all the way in the back, and I had to pull out everything else before I found it. 

Whatever doesn’t fit into those shelves gets stored under one of my benches – which means it’s out of sight, and I often forget what I have and then end up buying more of the same. 

Honestly, I have beautiful fantasies about one of those pull-out pantries where you can see and access all your food with ease. If I ever get a home or a bigger van, I definitely want one of those. 

Speaking of storage, literally every square inch of my van is packed with stuff.

Including a bunch of things I don’t even need. I have wine glasses that were gifted to me and are too nice to chuck out, but I don’t even drink wine. There are sneakers in a shoebox that I need to return because they are too small, but I can’t do that until retail stores are open again. There is a gift box that I was given that I don’t need, but that’s too pretty to throw it out. 

To be fair, I could solve some of this by simply making a trip to my storage unit. But it’s over an hour’s drive away and, well, I’ve had better things to do. 

But even without the unnecessary stuff, the van is packed. Between the essentials like clothing, books, and work stuff, plus gear for the many activities (kites, hiking boots, wetsuits, backpacks, a kiteboard, sleeping bag, hiking poles, bike helmet, and now an e-bike battery and charger), there really isn’t any space left. 

Sometimes I’m tempted to get a trailer, so I can just chuck everything in there and be done with it. 

Speaking of gear, here’s another annoying aspect of vanlife. Wet gear!

Even worse, smelly damp gear. Last Saturday, I went kitesurfing. It was raining by the time I packed up, so I didn’t just have a wet wetsuit and harness but also a soaking wet kite in the van. It was Tuesday before the weather was good enough to dry stuff. Yesterday, I got sweaty and then wet while hiking. By the time I got back to the van, it was raining, and it hasn’t stopped since. You can imagine what the van smells like with wet and sweaty gear lying around. 

The list of things that annoy me goes on.

There is the fact that I have to make and un-make my bed every day. All my clothes are wrinkly because I don’t really have anywhere to hang them up. I have to go and empty my toilet cassette twice a week. I can’t have a window open when it rains without water coming in. I don’t have an oven. 

And yet, despite all of this, I still love vanlife!

I’m just not such a big fan of simply living in a van without all the perks of true vanlife. 

I’m pretty confident that many of these things will go back to being no real issue as soon as we can travel again, and I can enjoy another summer of freedom and adventure. 

Until then, I will try not to let those little things annoy me too much :)

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