How Living in a Van Improved My Life

– I definitely limited the amount of trash I produce. I am quite well aware of the trash situation all over the world and in Germany as well. I segregate, try not to use plastic and so on. But… sometimes we’re just so busy that we close our eyes on one bottle or another one. While we were travelling in Ireland we soon discovered , that there are no random public beans around. To get rid of your trash is quite some work. This made us produce way less trash. Each day, whatever I was buying I was thinking what I’ll leave behind. It made me buy my veggies and fruits only from small local stores, which we had to look for and use my fabric bag for everything. It is not easy to find rucola which is not in a plastic bag or container, but we managed 😀

– it makes me enjoy nature in any weather or temperature. It sounds kind of obvious, but is it really? I met so many people spending whole days in their comfy vans. Our I not so comfy, it is small, so we always want to go out and spend as little time inside as possible. I work outside with the computer on my legs or a stone, I eat outside, I get wet outside. I posted a picture while we have a breakfast sitting on a ground next to a river and someone left a comment, that it does not look realistic. Well, it was totally realistic. The number of times I was sitting on a wet stone or a wet sand on a beach is so big, that somehow my jeans ended up with a hole in this area. Not sure if it’s all because of getting so wet, but yo get the point 😀

– it made me want to have less objects. Not because I realised that I need less. I hate mess and I kept hiding stuff around my camper. With months we gave away ½ of our things, and we already packed way less than last year. I realised that having less things makes me way more creative, the same goes with Mia. It makes me feel free and it makes me love my space.

– it made me eat healthier, as we cook a lot because we are far away from cities and towns. We usually stop for a night someway in the nature. There are no cafes or places I can go for a bite. Plus, I travel with Mia (3 year old) and I kind of want her to eat well and healthy. There is no sugar around when you feel like a bite, so you get used to it and with time you don’t need it that much.

– hopefully it improved/improves my relationship. Living in a small space (12m2) with a partner and a small kid is not easy. Try to imagine doing it for 3 months. There are moments when we want to get divorced. But also, just because we had such a limited internet and we cannot go out to hang out with others, we talk. Sounds harsh, but this is reality, I guess. After 12 years of marriage and both working on our business, this van trip was an interesting test.

– I realised what is important and as I had it in front of my face like all the time for 3 months, I got it and learned it and I remember about it. Your family is important, conversation, sharing, nature, discovering, spending time together away from tv/ phone/ computer.

– It made me love my kid even more. She is easy to love, so not much of effort needed. But just because I had limited internet and electricity, I kept observing her and being part of her life. She is a big part of my life, but when we’re in Berlin she goes to kindergarten, I work, have meetings and maybe we spend 2h together (I do not count meals together, bathing and so on). Here I had her 24/7 for 3 months. If I could, I’d freeze her at 3,5 year old forever. She’s so cool!

– My hair is grateful. It was kind of a must, but my hair had a break form often washing and they love it! I do not wash my hair each 2 days anymore and they look like they’re totally ok with it. It took some time, but I love it.

– I read way more books. You know how you want to read, but you have no time? It looks like you have the time, but you also have your phone and computer. Aaaaaaannnnnndddddd you end up not reading as much as you wished. Limited internet and electricity may be very helpful 😀

– I took a lot of time to think about things, serious things. Especially on a way back, when I drove by myself for 9 hours a day. It gave me a lot of time to think, sometimes overthink. Which is good as well.

Strange changes:

Whenever I go toilet, I try to open the cassette first.

Whenever I am at a gas station I look for a water source.

Each parking or nice spot is being seen as a possible resting area.

I want to be back on the road.