Yes, vanlife is dreamy and a really cheap way to travel. But with this comes some lows, or shall we call them character building moments! Now I can look back on these moments and laugh but at the time the lows can feel very low. Here are a few!

Flies flies flieessss!

We stopped off at this free parkup in Jaca in Spain and headed into the town to explore it in all its beauty! When we got back to the van, we noticed a few flies had popped by to say hello. Then I went to take Bruce for another walk and noticed a few more when I got back into the van. It was really warm so we had the door open a little and a short while later, we realised a fly party had started. It wasn’t until we started packing up to get the hell out of there we realised there were about 100 flies on board with us. I know they are harmless tiny things but it really felt like an invasion of our home! It really really tested us both to our limits and we still get triggered to this day when we see a fly in our van!

Poo gate (because what’s vanlife without toilet talk right!?)

So France and Spain have been dreamy for free water and waste disposal points. But there was this one place we went to that had a few problems shall we say. It seems that the chemical waste disposal was overflowing (the place where all the wee and poo goes). So we park up in the spot and George gets out the van to fill up the water. Having stepped out the van he realises he’s stood in a load of sludge which he then realises is the overflowing chemical waste disposal point. So having realised this he quickly gets back in the van and moves it to the other side of the fill up station so we aren’t in a pool of poop. THEN, a guy comes along with his waste disposal unit and instead of thinking “Ok this is full, I’ll go to another spot”, he proceeds to pour his poop everywhere. We literally could not believe our eyes. So it was a stinky water fill up to say the least!!!

Being ill in a van

Being ill sucks. Being ill in a small space REALLY sucks. I’ve had a cold once in the van and it wasn’t the best but I made the most of it by having a few chilled movie days. But a few years back I was wiped out for over a week and wasn’t able to eat or really do anything but run to the toilet (sorry lots of toilet talk on this post!!). It was HARD. We would have booked into a hotel but we were in Bordeaux in August and everywhere was either fully booked or over 500 euros a night. So yeah. Being ill in a van is super hard. And I think it’s also just as hard for the other person because suddenly they are stuck with nothing to do and being in a confined space with a miserable, sad, grumpy, ill Beth is not the place anyone wants to be!! (p.s we were in our VW T4 at this point so didn’t even have the luxury of a bigger van WITH a toilet!)

Forgot how funny those photos are!

Goodbye personal space

Thankfully having worked with George in the past when we were at University in the bar and having lived with him for 10 years, we make a really good team. And George is a saint who takes a very long time to get irritable! But even considering all of these things, you can wave goodbye to personal space when living on the road together and you really have to work as a team.

Vanlife in the England and Wales is HARD

When we first set off on our travels having sold our house, we did a stint of vanlife in both England and Wales and you don’t feel welcome in a campervan in 90% of places. This is in comparison with Scotland, France and Spain where vanlife is a dream! They seem to actively welcome vanlife whereas we have had moments in both England and Wales where we have actually been a bit stuck for places to stay. And that’s a pretty weird and scary position to be in. So we tackle this by planning way in advance and sometimes it means longer drives than we would usually do but we find a way to make it work and it means we are even more grateful for van friendly places.

Being on my period in a van

Ok so this is definitely one of my least favourite times of the month. But then again, whether I’m in a van or not, it is usually my least favourite time! However, I feel like everything is heightened that little bit more being in a smaller space. And as I have gotten to know myself better than ever, I feel so in tune with my emotions that when they are more heightened, I really really feel them. So I’ve written a list of things to remember when my period pain is at its worst. The first thing on that list is to remind myself it’s only temporary. 

Finally…

Having said all of this, I wouldn’t change anything. Each of these experiences has helped me to grow as a person massively. I knew vanlife would come with its lows, but it’s actually funnily enough a reason why I wanted to do vanlife. I want to feel comfortable being uncomfortable and I love pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I would much rather have funny (mostly poo) stories to look back on than no stories at all.