Why choose van life?

As I sit here writing this on a sweaty weekday night, tools spread across the bedroom floor, and multiple tabs open for various purchases that we need – or want – for the van. I’ve started to wonder, why did we choose this? Why did we choose to spend our savings on a van before a house?

The idea came to us early in our relationship after talking about how we’d both like to travel.

After pitching van life to friends and family, everyone seemed to agree that it was a good idea, thank god.

The plan was simple. Get a van, head over to Europe and work from the van whilst seeing as much as we can.

If others could do it, why couldn’t we?

I grew up travelling through France every summer in a caravan, so it’s always been something I’ve been accustomed to, but this time I chose to veer away from a Caravan and go for a big nice Mercedes Sprinter. Gulp.

Why a Sprinter? Why would someone pick a Transporter over a Transit? Why some people might paint
their van green or red? But it all boils down to one thing: personal preference.

Related: How to convert a panel van into a campervan

We did the research, and we watched the videos.

We stalked lots of van lifers on social media, hell we even read a book.

Turned out, a LWB Mercedes Sprinter was the van for us, largely because of its size.

We wanted a fixed bed, a fixed shower area, a cooker, a sink, seating area – the works.

As much as we’d rip someone’s arm off for a T4, we just don’t think there would be much space left once a double bed was put in.

We explored the idea of a Crafter and Transit too but, in the end, settled on the Sprinter.

We had come across lots of Sprinters on YouTube videos and such, so there were plenty of tutorials and heaps of information on them.

We also heard their engines run forever, so fingers crossed on that one.

So, DIY or Pre-built? Here was another tough one.

Did we want to slave away for months on end, maybe years, saving ourselves some cash and picking up new skills along the way?

Or did we want to save up a butt load of money, which would have also taken months and months,
probably years, and pay someone to do it for us?

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We went with the former and have enjoyed every second of the 12 months it’s taken, so far.

We’ve learnt an abundance of new skills and even surprised ourselves at our determination to achieve something we
want.

We are constantly making new memories in the van and we’re only about 25% through the conversion.

Having this van and stepping into van life has opened so many doors.

We can rock up and go wherever we want, whenever we want.

We’ve been to numerous places across the UK.

We’ve hit up a couple of fantastic festivals and also met some incredible people.

We definitely made the right decision in venturing into van life.

It’s made us see life differently.

We are more spiritual and calmer. We feel more at one with nature.

We have come to realise that materialistic things are not of any great importance.

The real joys of life come from living.

Exploring new places, conversing with new strangers, and trying exciting new things.

We could have probably taught ourselves these things without the van, but until you experience your first night in the van, you won’t understand.

There’s a real sense of awakening when you sit there looking out at the beautiful view, the sun going down and not a care or worry in the world.

You feel there is more to life than the mundane nine to five, wishing for more.

Well, that’s how it affected us anyway.

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