(Originally Posted on 19th May 2018 - on my own website)
So as there are not two Saturdays in a week, yesterday was my one week anniversary. Or “van-I-versary” as many in the #vanlife like to call it.
So after one week of being 'houseless, but not homeless' what are my thoughts and feelings of living and sleeping in a van?
Well the shock of no longer having four fixed non moveable walls and a roof over my head has passed. When I first got in the van and drove off for the first time with it being my living space, rather than feeling a sense of excitement and a new adventure, I was thinking ‘wtf have I done’. But this was mainly due to rampant fears that I would be arrested by the police or have the van broken into whilst sleeping. Also stressing out as to where I would be sleeping at night. Thankfully none of those things have happened and finding a “park up” for the night is no where near as stressful now as I imaged. Knowing the county of Kent as well as I do there is always a park up just around the corner so to speak. As far as being arrested or being broken into – well your house can be broken into and being arrested, well if you aint breaking any laws that is unlikely to happen. In the UK is not illegal or unlawful to sleep in your property over night. I used that word deliberately “property”. My van is my property and in law I can do with my property as I wish as long as it doesn’t break any laws or affect others in a negative way.
When you have a house – or what some call “sticks and bricks” in the van or alternative living communities – you have a fixed base. A place to return to after work or a night out. A destination to head to. When your van is your home you don’t have that. Yes you can head to the van – wherever you parked it, but once you get there unless you are lucky enough to have a permanent park up such as on a piece of land, you will then have to drive your van somewhere to park up for the night.
At the beginning of the week although it didn’t bother me throughout the day, I found that as late afternoons became early evenings and then became late evenings a sense of anxiety and unease would come over me as I started to stress out a little about where I would be sleeping that night – thankfully this has all but gone now.
So after one week I am starting to settle into a new routine. There are still things I need to learn, adapt to as well as continue to work on the van to complete it and make it more convenient for daily living and routines, but I can say that I am relaxing much more now and have begun to think of the van as my home rather than just a vehicle.
Although winter is a ways off just yet and lots can happen between now and then, my plan is to spend most of the winter if not all of it, on several ‘all year’ campsites. I do have gas and a gas heater which provides plenty of heat for the van to keep me warm. However I wont sleep with the butane heater on. So getting onto a campsite with electric hook up so I can run an electric heater over night will make things more comfortable over the winter months.
Sorry for the long update, but not posted for a couple of days.
