How to Plan For Trips in a Van.

Planning to live in your van can be an exciting and overwhelming experience. There are so many places you can go and things you can do. How do you prepare for trips in a van?

While there's a lot to think about, planning for trips in your van can be a lot of fun. The most important factors to consider are time, budget, location, and activities. If you plan for these factors, you will have an enjoyable time on your van adventure!

Time

The first factor to look at in planning a trip in your van should be time. How much time you have dictates how far you can go, or how long you can spend in one place, and even the activities you can do. Knowing how much time you have is a great place to start when planning your trip. Time is your most valuable resource, and should be treated as such!

When you first look at hitting the road, you need to know how long you'll be able to do it. If you're committing to an entire year of van life, you've got a lot of time and options. If you're limited to only a week away, then you have less time for activities. Planning your trips around your next big commitment can be a valuable technique. Making them a bit more modular in this way give you a smaller amount of time to plan for. For instance, imagine you have a wedding to attend in X city in X weeks. So, you have X weeks to get to X city. Calculating how long it will take to get there lets you know what you can see and do. That's your baseline!

There are many different ways of living in your van. You might be restricted to a certain area due to work, family, or specific resources. This leads to you not having to account for the same amount of driving as if you were nomadic. Of course, remaining in one place can allow you to make more out of your time in a certain spot.

If your goal is to travel, then knowing how much time you have is critical. If you plan to spend a long time on the road, or park in beautiful new BLM areas, you might need to do a bit more planning. Sometimes there are limits to how long you can spend in an area. How big your fridge is, laundry, and even showering can also dictate how long you can spend in one area.

I've had varying lengths of trips while living in my van (returning to spend time with my partner, or completing another project in the van, etc.). I was always acutely aware of how much time I had and planned the rest of my travels accordingly. At one point I had two months available to me to go wherever I liked. For this trip, I had planned to drive north to a specific destination. I realized I had much more time than anticipated. I was also persuaded to see more than I thought I could. I changed my plans and decided to drive the Alaska Highway and take my time getting there to enjoy the locations I was in. I knew I had a certain amount of time and kept track of how long it took me to get to a certain point. Tracking my time like that allowed me to be aware of how much time I had left and how long it would take me to get back.

Budget

Your budget dictates how far you can go, what you can do, and how long you can do it for. I've spoken about this before here. This critical factor deserves its own entire blog. So, keep in mind that I won't be covering all aspects of this factor.

Having a sound budget should be a major part of your plan. It lets you know how much you can afford with things like gas, firewood, park entrance fees, and even drop-in showers. Your budget doesn't need to change much from your budget when living a traditional life. Some things increase like vehicle-related costs. If you're travelling to far-off places, gas becomes a critical factor in your budget. I like to think of it as my replacement for rent since I try and avoid paid camping when I can. Another consideration is how quickly you'll put wear on your vehicle.

There are ways to ensure your budget goes further. Doing things like staying at safe and free places can save you money on accommodations (Rest stops, Walmarts, BLM). Going to lower-cost-of-living areas can ensure things like groceries are cheaper than in some other areas. For those who aren't living in their vehicle to travel, they can stay in one location and make use of their existing gym pass for showers, well-being, etc.

I find myself constantly rebalancing my budget as things come up. For instance, if I want to travel a bit further than I had originally planned, I'll need to make some sacrifices. It might mean finding only free showers for a few more days, or not buying carrot cake at every gas station bakery in the Yukon. Or if I've been spending more than planned on Park entrance fees, I might choose to sleep in only free places for the week that I'm in the area.

Location

This aspect of van life planning ties in with a few of the other factors. Choosing your location can be one of the most exciting factors! Where you end up depends on your goals and what you're trying to get out of alternative living.

This is the factor that can allow you to have gorgeous sights from your mobile office or living room. It can also keep you closer to the activities that you love like the gym in your home town. You can choose to make the ski hill parking lot your home for the evening if you want to ski more, or the beachside parking lot your base for the day if you want to surf.

The internet has a wealth of resources to help guide your planning for the locations you want to go to. Instagram, Youtube, and Pinterest are full of ideas of where you can go. There are also plenty of sites and apps like Campendium, iOverlander, and The Dyrt that can give reviews of potential locations you'd like to visit. Take them with a grain of salt though. They sometimes don't mention things like the washed-out access roads, how much garbage is around a certain campsite, or if it's a safe place to stay.

Some places might have limits on how long you can stay. Knowing that you need to change location every X number of days is good to keep in mind. If you know you need to change locations every 2 weeks due to BLM restrictions, that's a good opportunity to explore another area (Or even another site slightly further into the BLM).

I've created lists on google maps to help guide my trips. I want to see a lot when I go out. I've linked all the places I'd like to go to in a trip to get an estimate of how much time it will take to visit all these locations.

Activities

Another important criterion is the activities you want to do. Perhaps you're going somewhere for the views, or a concert, or to ski. Or maybe you're staying around because you're trying to save money while in school.

Living this way is a great means to enable yourself to pursue the activities you find value in. Planning the activities you enjoy can make you excited about this lifestyle. Van life provides an amount of flexibility that isn't always available in traditional living.

You might go somewhere just to work and sleep with a beautiful view, or perhaps you rotate Walmarts to stay at while you're in school and need to be in the city. Sleeping at the trailhead can give you a head start on the crowds or it can put you in the front of the line for the busy multi-pitch climb you've been preparing for. The great part is that you can build this lifestyle around the activities you want to do.

For me, driving is an activity I love. It's a sort of "not about the destination, it's about the journey" thing for me! I also enjoy specific areas for their activities. Some peaceful public land to camp on while I practice harmonica and unicycling is an ideal location. Or parking near hot springs for a few days of hydrotherapy has been one of the most relaxing trips I've ever had. I also enjoy hiking, which can be done almost anywhere I go ( I even enjoy inner-city hikes).

Conclusion

If you have a sound plan or even an outline of what you'd like to accomplish, you're sure to find success in your endeavours. Planning for alternative living is fun and rewarding! Whether you chose to live this way to save money, experience more, or spend less time commuting, you can build your plan around your desired outcome.