What does Vanlife mean?
Vanlife - a term we’ve heard more and more over the last 2 years. Some of you may be familiar with it, some of you may not have heard of it, some of you may want to live it!
What does vanlife actually mean though?
I asked a group of full-time vanlifers what it means to them. The fun part is, I didn’t let them know what question I was about to ask. That way I get a true, raw response.
You may recall I did this with another post asking the same group what scared them most about going full-time. If you haven't read that one, it's good, go and check it out.
What does vanlife mean to me?
I’ll kick this off by saying what it means to me.
For me personally, vanlife means happiness. It might sound cheesy but I have genuinely found happiness. I’m living a lifestyle that suits me and makes me happy.
Liam The Terrible
Liam has lived full-time, in a variety of vehicles, for over 6 years. He is currently converting his next home on wheels
‘Vanlife to me, it's weird because it's kind of not just living in a van, but it's kind of like down to thinking about how much electric you've got left, how much water you need.
Always having to plan ahead, be conscious of what you are using, what you're consuming and all that kind of thing. I think that even if I ended up moving back into a house, I would always be thinking vanlife and thinking in that way what, how much power something's using and all that kind of thing.’
Courts and Meeks
Courts and Meeks lived full time in their motorhome. The self confessed ‘orange couple’ are both digital nomads and enjoy 9 months of each year travelling far and wide.
Meeks: ‘For me, it's freedom to live our lives however we want. And that's slightly alternative to what most people do. It's also the freedom to be able to save for the future.’
Courts: ‘Yeah, saving would be mine.
M: ‘Yeah. We couldn't have rented in leads before. It was just impossible for us. Now we can actually save quite a decent amount.’
C: ‘Probably like half of our income, we put into savings or investments for the future and living this life allows us to do that. So saving, saving, saving.
M: ‘That's vanlife for us.’
Greg Virgo
Greg and his partner Lou have been full time in their self-build van for over 4 years. They love to travel across the water, chasing the sun!
Lou: ‘It's always a cheesy answer, isn't it? The freedom, the community.’
Greg: ‘The freedom to go wherever you want to go, to be honest. To do it really economically. It’s enabled us to retire early, which is a massive benefit.’
Bruce Lauderdale
Bruce is a fantastic photographer that lives in his self converted van, travelling around the UK.
‘Yeah, it means mortgage free freedom, reduced debts. It's not debt free, it's just a reduced debt environment. Well, lifestyle.
You know, you've got your diesel, your fuel and that's really about it. You could reduce it by staying in one place, but it's the freedom of movement that is van life in my opinion.’
Globetreka Travels
Alan has been living and travelling in a campervan for over 14 years! He loves the freedom and different experiences the lifestyle brings, he also enjoys spending winter in Morocco!
‘Freedom in a word, just freedom. I've always been, even when I was working, I was moving regularly every two or three days in the tourist industry. So I've never been really used to staying one place for a long period of time.
Since retiring from work and being on the road, if I go and stay with somebody, after two to three days I'm climbing the walls.’
I'm sure we'd [fulltime van dwellers] all say the same, freedom. You know, off the hamster wheel of life, not in the rat race. I'm lucky, I'm [on a] pension, so that's my income. But you know, for younger people, you're almost pre-programmed that you've got to do this, you've got to get a house, you know. Get married, a house, a family etc, etc.
But effectively these days, with the cost of housing and everything else, people are being pushed into buying a house with money they haven't got and they can't afford to pay back. So they're getting debt and that's where basically everyone wants them to be. And then they're locked to it.’
Travel Trolls
Dan and Mazzy have been full-time in their Hymer Motorhome for a few years, enjoying travels all over the UK.
Dan: 'Drunk people.’
Mazzy: ‘A massive, lovely community.’
D: ‘Of drunk people.
Manchester Vanlife
Bri, known as Manchester Vanlife, lives in his converted van with his dog, Buddy.
‘Yeah, just free. Free as a bird. I do whatever I want.’
Camper Vibe
Camper vibe are Emily and Louise, an adventure couple who travel with their Cat and Dog in their converted relay. They are not full-time but do spend the majority of the year travelling all over Europe.
Louise: ‘Oh, van Life to me, it just means being able to, whatever your situation, having a bit more freedom than what you would have without a van.
So I'm not bothered by vanlife, Motorhome, whether you're full-time living in it or full-time travel in it, or just, you know, you do weekends, long trips, whatever. It just gives you that little bit of extra freedom that you don't have if you're not living some sort of van life.
Emily: ‘To me, personally, freedom. It just means freedom. Doing whatever you want to do, when you want to do it, however you want to do it.’
Pack the Van and Go
Rob moved into his self-build campervan a couple of years with his dog Archie and enjoys the peace and solitude it brings.
‘I think one of my mottos is literally, like, I've always said I've got nowhere to go but everywhere to see.
My whole life before this was literally structured timelines. You know, you’ve got to be here, there, and everywhere. And to have that whole weight lifted off your shoulders, taken away, like the house, the mortgage, all that sort of stuff. It's literally like freedom. Liberating. Yeah.
And now, you know, although when I look back on my own YouTube channel, the initial videos I did a year ago, I'm like, I'm going to Europe. I'm going to Europe. And I'm sat here in the UK still, but I've got a date now I'm going.
‘I'm so looking forward to going, having nowhere to go but everywhere to see without having to pay for it. Because I can drive around, park up, see it all, sleep in the van and just go. And the best thing that, you know, one of the biggest decisions that I made for it was like, you know, Archie's been there for me.
I didn't want to leave him in the house while getting a job and all that sort of stuff. And I want to give him the biggest garden to go and live his life because he's only got a short life compared to me. And, [I can] repay back the debt of gratitude that I've got for him. So, yeah, we're gonna go off on adventures, just Archie and me.’
Life Beyond Bricks
Tash, Jon and their 3 cats make up Life Beyond Bricks. They sold their house in March 2019 to travel full-time in a Motorhome and have never looked back!
Tash: For me personally, now it means meeting up with like-minded people, no matter your story. No matter where you come from, whether you're a weekend warrior, part-time, full-time.
Just coming across people with a common interest who you just get on with. You just chat and, you know, [meet] people you never come across in your normal life.’
Mali Mish
Mali Mish are a Family of 5 who have been living on the road since 2008! They have travelled 49 U.S. states and 41 countries across 4 continents.
Dan: ‘You know, van life is a term that came recently and when we were, when we started, we started in the van. We were in the van for eight years pulling a caravan behind us.
Vanlife, overlanding, all these terminologies actually are not something that we necessarily feel like, that it describes us that much. We feel like a nomadic family.
Marlene: ‘You know, just living on the road.’
D: ‘Yeah, we're living on the road. We're travelling and showing our kids, taking them to places they've never been, and places that we've never been, you know? So vanlife to me has gotten a little bit commercial, you know, to some extent.
I'm glad that people have opened their eyes into this lifestyle, you know, which has been a really good thing for people that want to do it. I think it's not for everybody, but for people that want it and can thrive doing it, it's been a really positive thing.’
Philip Tomlinson
Phil spends anywhere from 3 to 6 months on the road exploring in his Motorhome. He also runs the successful Motorhomer.com forum and spends time marshalling and attending rallies.
‘So, if we're not on about the meme of a scantily glad girl lying in the back of a van, overlooking a beautiful beach with a book and a cup of coffee, which is what every Instagram photo looks like?
I'll give you one word, if you're involved in the vanlife community and I had to sum it up in one word, it'd be freedom.
That’s what the people who take on van life most treasure or most cherish is freedom. Because that's what it gives them, the freedom to choose, the freedom to not be anchored and to be able to navigate life the way that they want to.
And I think that that's what being mobile is, being able to just choose the place you go. Not have all of those bills that tie you to a property.
We can move the burdens of society, which almost feel like they're there to suppress people. You know, you can get out and you can live a great life as vanlife, you know?
You don't have to sacrifice. You make a choice of what vanlife is to you and what creature comforts you need. There are people here [on the campsite] who have made their vans out of pallet wood because that is what they wanted. Not necessarily that was what they could afford.
They wanted a rustic pallet wood van. Because they wanted to camp. I don't. I want to stop in a hotel. And that's, that's the difference. I mean, you only have to go down to the Drove at Stone Henge to see the diversity of vehicles and people who are all instantly connected as a community. You're just all the same talking, chilling, but without having to be part of a tribe.
You know, that's the thing you’re just accepted. And that's the other thing that the vanlife community, through that diversity is, totally accepting. You know, you can have a vanlife meet and somebody turns up in a £150,000 pound van, that's fine. Somebody can turn up in a transit that they've paid £150 for and they've thrown a mattress in the back.
That's fine. Nobody judges you for that.’
She is the Lost Girl
Beth and her partner Jake moved into their self converted van after many years of backpacking. For them, moving into a campervan was the opposite of most people’s experience.
Jake: ‘Like, just ignoring what society tells you to do, like, living your own path, having your own way of life. Not just doing what you're told to do, having freedom and just getting out and about.
The main thing for us is just being in the world, exploring new places, meeting new people.
Beth:’ Yeah. And I think it's not like, I know a lot of people see hashtag vanlife and it's one set thing, it's like an Instagramable van or like, you know, that kind of thing.
But for me it's not even about that. Like, you can have any vehicle, it doesn't even have to be a van. It's a cheap lifestyle, first of all. And just getting to see the world, it's just so free. Yeah, I think that's it for me.’
The Offgrid Nomad
The Offgrid Nomad, A.K.A Paul, lives in his overlander vehicle, custom built to his specification.
‘I dunno, it's hard to say really. See, vanlife has changed so much over the years from new age travellers to, to now it's like cool. It's just gone through a weird transition. So, I don't know.
It is a big community. It's a lovely community. That's, I think that's one of the big things with it. I mean, I've met so many new people now. You know, and it's a great atmosphere.’
CLR Travels
Callum and Tash travel in their converted van with their cat Rosie
Tash: ‘Vanlife to me, its not so much enjoying living in a van. It's more the adventures that go with it. So it's kind of like we don't choose to live in a van, just to live in a van. It is definitely so that we can get out and about.
Callum: ‘Yeah, a hundred percent. So we are lucky enough to have a house and we lived in our own house for two years and we just thought, this is, this is pretty boring.
We're stationary. What is this? And then when you come across the idea of living in a van, that enables you to just travel and live and just have the adventures, so, adventure.’
The Rucks
The Rucks are a family of 5 who live and travel in their motorhome.
Stu: ‘vanlife for me isn't just full-time living in a van. Vanlife is somebody who appreciates the life. That having these styles of vans can bring to you.
You know, so that could be, if you're a part-time vanlifer or a full-time vanlifer, a once in a blue moon with your buddy who’s got a Van, vanlifer. Yeah. To me, that's what Van Life is, and that's what it's about.’
Charlie: ‘It's the community. It's people having the same love and enthusiasm for being in a van, cooking on gas, and getting out there and meeting people. Getting muddy, getting stinking and going wherever you want to go.’
No Noise Allowed
Scott was full-time for a while in his converted sprinter with his rescue dog Turco.
‘Yeah, well, the obvious one is freedom. About basically being able to go where you want. But for me it was more about getting out of, let's say, the rat race. As I was doing 40, 60 hours a week at work.
Vanlife for me was the ability to get out, work at my own pace, travel at my own pace, and literally just do what I would like to do and meet fellow like-minded people that wanted to do the same.
Terry and Lisa
Terry and Lisa moved into their A Class Frankia full time a couple of years ago. Currently, they have switched it up and have a caravan on the campsite they are minding and a small campervan for adventures.
Terry: ‘Freedom.’
Lisa: ‘Yeah, freedom, different views, meeting different people.’
T: ‘And just go where to wind takes us if we want to. You know, it don't get any better. It just doesn't get any better!’
What does it mean to you?
What did you think of that? I mean, freedom was one of the biggest answers for sure. That was a pretty clean sweep.
But what's yours? If your full-time van life, what is your definition of vanlife?
What does it mean to you? What does it conjure up inside? Is it good? Is it bad? Is it a fad? Is it fashionable? I'd love to know. Leave your answer in the comment section below!