What I Missed
“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Yup, that’s a photo of my van up above, sitting in my driveway. I took this from the space in between the driver and passenger seats. So that’s the entirety of the living space you’re looking at. I've been asked many times since my road trip what I missed the most living in a van instead of a house for over a month. It's an obvious question but the funny thing is, I've really had to think about this. Because the weird truth of it is, I missed less than you'd think.
1. Unlimited water. Indoor plumbing is kind of amazing. No, not kind of. It is, full stop. This isn't true of many poorer countries, but most developed countries have an unlimited amount of water available for drinking, bathing, hand washing, dish cleaning, you name it. You really learn to appreciate this when the supply drops from unlimited to very limited. When you're on the road water is really the primary thing you have to worry about. There are other concerns, but none of them really made me nervous except for running low on water. You can find water in many places, but a lot of the time it isn't potable (aka drinkable). Many decisions for me revolved around how much water I had and where I'd fill up again. I would eat at a restaurant or cobble together something with a bunch of room temperature or cold items rather than cook. Because washing dishes requires a huge amount of water compared to most activities. When I was low on water I'd use hand sanitizer instead of washing my hands with soap. I'd use body wipes to wash my face instead of face wash I could rinse off with water. I'd drink from my reserve of bottled water instead of out of my tanks. Being able to turn a handle with almost no effort and having clean, usable, unlimited water just pour out of a facet in your house really is one of the great achievements of civilization.
2. Showers. I know this is related to the above, but it's different because I made the choice to forego any kind of shower in my van. There are many options, some more luxurious than others. I was aware of these options and I opted to go without. If I'd known how many days I'd experience temps over 100 degrees, I probably would have chosen differently. But I didn’t, so I had no ability whatsoever to shower in my van. That meant I had to seek out options or simply go without. I'd rely on body wipes made for this purpose, which are WAY better than nothing but not the same as a shower. My primary source of showers was Planet Fitness, which I joined right before my road trip after reading about this as a popular van life option. And that worked pretty well. I may cover all of the pros and cons of that choice in the future but for now I'll just say there are a lot of Planet Fitness locations but they aren't everywhere. Utah barely has any of their gyms at all. Arizona? 0. New Mexico? None I could find. Going a couple of days without a shower isn't a big deal. But 4 or 5 days, when you're spending your time hiking and mountain biking in scorching hot temperatures? You really, really want to find a shower at some point. There are a lot of possible options (truck stops, rest areas, welcome centers, organized campgrounds, spas, the list goes on) but it normally requires going out of your way and paying some money. It's still worth it if you really need a shower, but it makes you miss the convenience of showering whenver you want at home.
3. My bed. Maybe it’s just me. I don't know how other people feel on this topic. The bed in my van was...fine. Not uncomfortable but not super comfortable. Not tiny but still kind of cramped. It's a full size bed but at home I have a very nice king size bed. I can't say the bed in my van cost me a lot of sleep but I do think the quality of my sleep was less than at home because of the bed itself. I noticed it immediately upon returning home, where I would wake up feeling more rested. I was so happy to have my bed again because it really was way more comfortable than sleeping in the van. Having said all of that, there are things I could have done to make the bed more comfortable and for my next big trip I'll probably try out a couple of different things.
4. Guaranteed(ish) Internet. On my trip I decided to simply use my phone and rely on the network, using a hotspot to connect my laptop to the internet. Overall, I was really impressed with how reliable the Verizon network was on my road trip across the middle of the country and the southwest. But there were still plenty of spots with poor or no service. As someone who works remotely and needs the internet to do their job, it became another factor I needed to account for wherever I was going. Even decent coverage areas often had poor performance for more bandwidth hungry tasks including video calls. It was generally manageable but sometimes I'd setup shop somewhere only to realize it just wasn't going to cut it and I've have to drive until I found stronger signal. There are things you can do to minimize these issues, the most popular being a cell signal booster or satellite internet such as Starlink. Neither is particularly cheap and they have drawbacks as well. Still, in the future I'll probably try one or both of those to increase the odds that I have good coverage in the areas I want to go to.
5. Space. Yes, living in a van is a small space. Mine is a standard wheelbase, not the extended wheelbase which offer a bit more living space and more flexible arrangements. But even so, it's still a small box versus an apartment/condo/house most people live in. I'm lucky enough to have a decent sized house with things like an office with a pool table, a home gym and a very open and spacious kitchen. My van had none of those things. The surprising thing for me was that this wasn't a significant or primary concern for me during my trip. I'm going to cover things I didn't miss in another post, but suffice it to say this wasn't top of mind for me the whole time I was on my trip. However, it did crop up. Every time I banged my head off a cabinet or the storage area above the drivers seat, I would curse and blame the lack of space. When I had the drawer for my fridge open and I was using the 2 small counter spaces to prepare food, there was basically nowhere to go and nowhere to put anything else. I'd get annoyed. Every layout choice in a van presents benefits but also comes with drawbacks. There isn't a perfect way to arrange things because space is always at a premium and it's always going to be a compromise. Overall I think you get used to it but there are still times when frustration mounts and you get frustrated by the lack of space. If you’re lucky, when those times come around you’ve got a great camping spot with beautiful views and the ability to go for a walk.
That’s about it really. Sure, other things bothered me from time to time but they were unique concerns from living in a van not something I was used to having at home. Now it's important to state the obvious here: I lived in a van for 5 weeks. After 5 months or multiple years, I suspect this list looks different. I plan to take some longer trips in the future and I’ll be interested to see if this list changes. Maybe I get over the things listed above after a time. Maybe other small inconveniences mount and become a bigger deal. Either way, you can tell most of these things aren’t MAJOR items. And most of them can be mitigated in various ways. The biggest takeaway for me was that I can get by with a lot less than I thought. Where I was, who I was with and what I was doing all mattered a lot more than what I had on me. It’s easy to fall into the trap of keeping up with the Joneses. So the next time your neighbor comes home with a shiny new car and you feel a little pull to keep up with them…just hop in your van, drive up the side of a mountain, find a camping spot with a view and open the back doors facing west. As the setting sun catches the sky on fire you can sit with yourself in the quiet of the forest with nothing to intrude on your peace but the buzzing of crickets, the chirping of birds and the gentle sound of the breeze through the leaves. I promise that thing you felt envious of won’t seem very important anymore.