This page may contain Affiliate Links.
Making the move into full time van living can be a huge adjustment for the whole family. Even if you are used to travelling around in your van. In this blog post, I let you in on some top tips for full time van life and share some of the highs and lows from our own experiences of a family of 4 living and travelling full time in our van.
​
We have now been living and travelling in our van for over a year. Pervious to that, we travelled around the UK part time for 3 years. We decided that we wanted the off-grid life back when the pandemic hit in 2020. That summer, we bought our van and began our conversion.
Starting out
Van life is incredible, but it isn't for everyone. Before taking the plunge and selling everything to move into a van, I really do recommend doing some trial runs first. By trial runs I mean either buying/hiring a van and spending some time getting a feel for van life.
​
It is important to also consider what kind of van life experience you are looking for. Are you going to have a base somewhere? Perhaps you you would like an off grid life in a field or maybe you are looking to travel around the world in your van? Will you be keeping your jobs/children in school or are you looking to say goodbye to the 9-5 and de-registering your children from school?
Kids don't need things
Believe it or not, kids do not need a house full of stuff. It is easy to accumulate stuff when you have kids. Back in 2022 when we began to clear out our house, we could not believe how much stuff we had packed into our tiny 2 bed house. 90% of that stuff belonged to the kids. Books they hadn't read, clothes that no longer fitted them, toys stuffed into the icy depths of the toy box and not to mention the cuddly toys... I say no more. When clearing out, we had to be brutal. Toys and books were donated to friends, charity shops and nurseries, clothes passed on to friends and those cuddly toys were passed onto the local school for their annual teddy tombola!
​
Now we are living full time in a van, the boys have one small toy basket and a games bag each where they store their games like Dobble, uno and travel Guess who. We have our own little book library at the grandparents house which we use to rotate the children's books when we visit them. We also visit local libraries when we travel and use Audible and the Kindle to read and listen to stories.
Highs of van life
There are so many positives of van life. We decided to ask the children what some of their favourite things were about living in a van full time. These were their answers:
​
"We're free from rushing to school every day."
"We love nature and we can spend time in nature."
"Spending time with mum and dad instead of going to school."
"Visiting different places."
​​
I think overall, as a family we love the fact that van life allows us to slow down. We can stop, be present and enjoy the little things in the moment rather than worry about rushing off somewhere or finishing homework/work tasks. We have time to process things which is really important for us all to do. But above everything, we absolutely love the time we are spending together.
Lows of van life
If I didn't talk about the lows of van life then I wouldn't be giving it a full representation because the truth is, there are many lows as well as highs. Again here are some of the lows from the kids' perspectives:
​
"Missing family and friends when we are travelling around."
"The pee bottle stinks."
​​
Ha! That last one gives you a sneak peak into real van life! The toileting part isn't the best thing but it's something we have just learnt to get on with. ​
​
Like with everything, we learn to face and overcome challenges as they present themselves to us. We have had to learn to be completely flexible and open minded as anything can happen. But really, that's all part of the adventure.
Our favourite moments of van life so far
In the last 4 years we have had so many exciting adventures, from exploring the lochs of Scotland to surfing the waves on the south coast of UK. Since March 2023, we have travelled around Europe, visiting over 10 countries including Spain, Portugal and the French Alps.
​
We have spent the last 2 summers in a beautiful meadow in the UK allowing us to live off grid among nature. When were not travelling, we couldn't think of a better place to park up.
Related Posts
Hello
We are a family of 4 living and travelling full time in our self converted Luton van.Â
Our aim is to provide other families information, guides and top tips to help them on their next adventure, whether that's world travel, van life or home education.