9 Frequently Asked Van Life Questions

Are you curious about the practicalities of van life? You’re not alone! Here are 9 of the most frequently asked van life questions, answered by people who have been avid van lifers since 2017 (spoiler: that’s us!)

Whether you’re curious about where we poop, or want to know how we afford it, this post is answering all of the most burning questions that we’ve been asked by our community!

1. Where Do You Poop?

Without fail, this van life question always pops up when people first hear that we live in a van.

The answer will very much depend on the size of the van.

When we converted Mo (pictured below) we obviously didn’t have space for a toilet, so we relied on public services. Parking near public toilets, visiting a local café etc.

In our new van conversion, we thankfully have enough space to include a toilet. 

If you’re curious, read our full post about The Best Van Life Toilet Options!

2. Where Do You Shower?

Ok so finding a public toilet is easy… but what about van life showers?

You’ll be surprised how many of those are available to the public too! Especially around Australia where even the library had a shower! 

Service stations, truck stops, beaches and even public swimming pools will all have showers. Sometimes they’re free, sometimes they’ll cost you a small amount to use them.

Other options are signing up for a large gym chain that has several across the country or stay on paid campsites.

Tip: You don’t always have to go swimming to use the swimming pool showers, ask at the counter and usually they’ll give you a discount to only use the facilities.

3. How Do You Find Camping Spots?

We have a whole host of favourite apps for finding campsites while on the road.

CampGuru, WikiCamps and Park4Night are just a couple of them.

Whether we’re looking for something free in the wild, or an urban overnight spot, these allow us to filter our search depending on what we need.

It is possible to do it without using apps, but we like being able to read reviews from other van lifers and campers so we know each spot is safe/legal.

4. How Do You Do Laundry?

At a laundrette! You don’t really notice how many there are until you actually start using them, but they’re still really easy to find in most towns.

If we don’t spot anything obvious, we’ll use apps like WikiCamps or Park4Night which usually have laundrettes listed too.

5. What Do You Eat?

Another big curiosity for people who have never travelled in a campervan is what we eat while on the road.

Now you’ve seen the size of our first camper, Mighty Mo, you’ll probably be surprised to hear that he actually had a fully functioning kitchen.

Well. Kind of.

We had a gas stove, and a collapsible bowl for washing pots… but we did have a fridge!

This meant we could stock up more than if we had a cool box, and cook pretty much anything we wanted. For simplicity we came up with quite a few easy one-pot meals and whenever we could, we would cook outside!

In our new van, we will have a full kitchen so the sky will be the limit on our van meals.

6. Does It Get Lonely?

Yes, and no.

We’ve met some of the most incredible people through van life and camping, but because we’re never in one place for very long those friendships quickly turn long distance which is made easier thanks to having good internet in the van.

Of course, we’ll meet up whenever our paths cross again but realistically, that can be rare.

It also depends on what you’re like as a person. Dec and I very much like our own space, but we’d be lying if we said we didn’t miss being able to spontaneously go for drinks or lunch with friends/family.

Everything has to be well choreographed so we’re all in the same place at the same time – but that can be said for a typical ‘adult’ friendship, right?

8. Do You Get Fed Up With Each Other?

What couple doesn’t?

Dec and I are really lucky that we enjoy each other’s company so much. We’ve lived, worked and travelled together since 2017. This wouldn’t have worked so well if we didn’t.

That said, we still make sure to get some to ourselves. I’ll cut away to read, Dec will go for a run. Sometimes we’ll take Lilly for a walk on our own.

We’ve seen some van lifers really struggle with the 24/7 close contact, but after several years of working opposite shifts in the UK we really enjoy it.

9. How Do You Handle Extreme Weather?

We used to get this van life question quite a bit when living in Australia, not so much since moving to Europe even though it still gets extremely hot here.

In Aus, we experienced cyclones and extreme heat close to 50’c. In New Zealand we had to drive through a forest fire and even experienced a tsunami warning.

The key is to be as prepared as you possibly can be, and check for any local apps for weather warnings, especially forest fires so you can change your route without getting caught out.

If it’s rainy season, or predicted to be bad weather we will always check forecasts – on more than just google weather – before we go to bed, avoid sleeping near water and speak to locals to get their thoughts on what’s going on.

That final point proved invaluable when it came to our trip in Queensland where locals told us to change our route because it was renowned for flooding. We ummed and ahh, then followed their advice… only for the original route to get closed due to flooding around the time we would have been arriving in the area!

When travelling through heat, we make sure to park in full shade but avoid forests and high-risk fire areas (like any pine forest in Portugal). We didn’t have air con in our small camper van, so we had to get creative with fans. 

In short: Apps and local knowledge, as well as using our common sense! If in doubt, we’ll park at a paid campsite where we’re more likely to get warnings from staff if there’s anything extreme happening.

10. How Do You Afford Van Life?

This is another popular, if not the most popular, van life question we get asked.

Over the years, there have been a few different ways we’ve made it possible!

In the beginning, we sold everything and essentially travelled on our savings.

Then we started getting odd jobs while travelling around Australia. 

Eventually, I started my own Pinterest Management business and of course we have Officer Travels too.

The key to being self sufficient is not being tied down by restrictive thoughts. We have a full post about how to afford van life here, if you want more ideas, as well as a complete guide to the best van life jobs.

We hope these answer some of your burning van life questions! If you have others that we didn’t cover here, you can ask us over on our Facebook Group!