We moved into our van in September 2020, just after COVID-19 hit and just before Winter hit. After living in Vancouver for three years, we had always planned on moving into our van around this time. However, we originally wanted to head south to the USA for winter. Due to COVID-19 that was obviously not an option anymore, so we decided to spend most of our winter in BC where the temperatures are much more mild than the rest of Canada. We made the occasional trip to The Rockies for a bit of fun in the snow but mostly we spent it on the coast.
While winter in the van is not new to us (we have had many winter adventures in our van), living permanently in a shoe box in the middle of winter is. And it's not an easy feat even in the best conditions. Add on top of that the fact that we can't have running water in our van during winter (in case the water freezes and the pipes burst), most campgrounds, even if they are open, turn all their water taps off in winter(so no drinking water or showers), and not being able to venture outside as often so literally living under each others feet. It has been a huge learning curve!
We've stayed in temperatures as low as -25C (-13F)
In saying that, we have seen and done some pretty incredible things, and stayed in some really beautiful places, all with minimal people around, most times with no people at all!
In winter our bathroom turns into storage for all our ski gear
If you have any questions on our winter living conditions, or just vanlife in general, please comment below :)
