When I first got to Canada, I was on
this tiny island between Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Cove. I lived in a tent
for six weeks. I was volunteering on a whale-watching camp. This island was like
2 kilometers long by one kilometer and there were wolves, black bears, grizzly
bears, like everything just in the area and I was so excited about it. I was right
basically on the beach like just a few meters back from the beach. You'd hear
humpback whales coming up for breath like right next to me. I'd wake up
because *pfff noise* like it was just the most amazing thing. And the first 3 nights I
think I slept like an hour each night. A squirrel in the forest sounds like a
bear and on like my third day there when I was finally like, "this is fine", and getting used
to it like, "nothing's gonna eat me", like ignore the bear poo, like everything's
fine...a mountain lion walked right past my tent whilst I was asleep inside of it.
I remember waking up and hearing these crows just going mad and like
"Why? I've just fell asleep like an hour ago", and then I got up and two of the
guests were like, "oh look what we just saw and took a picture of" and it's this
mountain lion just just sat on the beach like 2 meters in front of my tent whilst I
was in it and I finally convinced myself that there was no wildlife around that
would hurt me and then I was like, "great." I got on the boat back and back to
Vancouver Island which is still like amazing. As soon as I moved into the
staff housing where I was working I just I couldn't sleep for like a week. The
noises, it's like being in a cell. There's no
stimulation for your brain at all and it's going back to easy living like I
was using an outhouse and stuff before and like dealing with all the
practicalities of that and you know, cooking outside. Just doing everything outside
and I just realized how happy I was just in my tent with my few possessions
like I had a book, a headlamp, and that was it and I was so happy and then to go
to being from that to being really unhappy I was like, "something's missing and I have
to fix it", so I started looking and I found it again because I can wake up in
places like this and be like, "I'm stoked!".
This is my 31 year old GMC Vandura, 1986. 364,000 kilometers for 2100 Canadian
dollars. And it's a getaway van! People always like to
make the joke when I break down like, "oh you can't get away in your get away van"
and I'm like, "you're like the 70th person that's said that." I don't use the awning. It does
work, but I'm never really in one place for long enough and it's never really
that rainy. This slides out. There was a mesh bug net on the inside which let air
in, which is a really nice way cause things can't, don't tend to climb
in too much up through there. This opens out. This one the side is locked
shut which is great. The other side is super easy to break into.
Whenever I lock my keys in which is at least once a week. This is like the
coldest part of the van in the winter like so much air gets into here no
matter how much caulking I use. The ladder is fine, it's missing a rung but just hop on up. That's
got like caulking all around it for like just air leaks and water leaks.
I had a mold issue in April where I had to basically gut the whole thing and de-mold it and so
I'm like super on like sealing everything where moisture could get in. A bird flew
into my van and I was really sad about it and it broke this and I had to pull
it out of my engine, but I buried it. Poor guy.
I ripped out all of the floor under here put new wooden did a beautiful job
installing carpet. This which used to be a big space, got some bookshelves. I've got
like two rows of books, this is just the front row and I'm running out of space
rapidly for more. My main, my easy to go to stove for cooking. I would just pop
out like on a picnic table or something but then for camping, if I'm going
backpacking or just want to treat myself I've got my MSR stove too. I just like to
cook outside, it's way more fun and if I burn something it smells like burnt
for a long time so. Face wipes, emergency coffee.
I've got like 10,000 flasks so I would never need to buy a coffee cup again in
my life. My clothes are down here. This is my wardrobe.
It all fits in this bag. Got my ski gear that's buried in like the depths of the rest
of my van. That's definitely a downsize from what I used to have. I used to have like
three wardrobes full of clothes I never wore so that's exciting. My shoes here. My mom's
slippers, thank mom. So the bed actually all folds back. The mattress is super
heavy. I got it from the reuse it center here and it would all fold back on
itself to be compacting. There's two bench seats here and there's two sets of seat
belts on either side, but actually my friends have worked out that you can sit
on the bed and the seat belts come all the way out so you can just lay in the
bed and you've still got your seat belt on. I like to have my bed out all the time. I'm just moving
around so much. I don't want it to take an hour for me to get from A to B because
I've got to go through all my van so I have it out. I've storage on the side there on
top of the bench seat and storage underneath and those bench seats are
also massive like boxes where I can keep things that I just wouldn't need like in
the summertime. Got my own garden. I've been working on here. I decided I didn't
really use the sink that much or enough to warrant just having that space and so
I've got some peppermint, some rosemary, and this bad boy, my air
plant, which doesn't need any water, it just lives off of the air. Honey nut
cheerios, the emergency cereal. This little thing
is the best thing ever. It's a 10 liter collapsible. It was like nine bucks from Home
Hardware. Water tank. I got this from like the
1940's, it's a picture of a cougar. I felt like I should have it
because of my mountain lion incident when I first got to Canada. Essentials.
Headlamp...girls get this. This is what you need. One of
these multi-tools, best thing my dad ever
gave me. Dishes here, different things.
These things are amazing cause they're all different sizes. This thing you can
drink out of as a mug or you can cook out of it. I've got a big old pan.
I've got an omelet maker, bowls, you know how it is. A mosquito net head bag
which is as cool as it sounds for when the insects are getting too bad, this is how I
sleep. Sleeping mat for outside sleeping. Camping chair, skateboard, trying to learn how to skate.
My friends always say this is like a Mary Poppins van, there's just stuff everywhere. This is a
basket which is a Yoda head which I got for two dollars. Toiletries, camera gear.
Everything I own fits into dry bags.
I have so many dry bags. What's in here? Oooh, okay few beers. Me and the brewery are on very good
terms in this town. Kettle, beans and stuff, that's a solid thing, a good staple food
like chickpeas and kidney beans. Old juice bottles and stuff filled with rice or
in this one there's nuts, seeds. Stuff you can just cook up with some water and
some spices. This is like the, "we don't really ever go in here", it's got all my
winter stuff. You could fit like a person in that, there's so much space.
Quick access stuff: matches, flask, oil, bear spray.
Sounds stupid but it's super important when you're here anyway. Clif
bar, instant noodles, water purification tablets. So that does that and you
have to pull the seat belt up and around so that it's not
in your face. There you go. So I like to do this when I'm like chilling and I'm
feeling a little bit cramped and I just come move my curtain around and I can
just sit and chill and I've got all the space in the world. Who needs more space than this?
I didn't realize. I did it by accident because I kicked it one day and it just swiveled
and I was like, "Oh! How exciting." My drivers chair did it for a while but
that's gotten fixed now because it wasn't supposed to be doing that.
People say like, "oh, just think about what you need to be happy". I think you
really have to experience it. I say go and try like maybe a long-term
camping trip or something or if you know someone, everyone seems to know someone
now, that's got a van. Just think about all the material things that you have
and how much money you could save if you didn't have them if they didn't require
constant upkeep. Think about how much time you spend where you live. Do you get
up and go to work at 6:00 in the morning and come back at 9 o'clock at night and
you're basically just there to sleep and you're paying $1,000 a month for it?
When I first moved into I realized like how much time I spent like watching
Netflix or just like doing nothing on my laptop just like scrolling constantly.
That's a great part about it. I make most of my time. One thing I will say is that van life
doesn't come with a warm Instagram filter. Also like it's not this
dreamy like woodsy guy and really hot girl like sprawled out on like this amazing
blanket with the ocean in the back. Van life is about sand in
every nook and cranny and just being constantly dirty and just
loving every second of it, but it's not easy. That's why I like it. Existing
was just too easy before like it was just like nothing was stimulating and
it's hard & it's good and it's fun cuz it's hard because you're like, "oh my". When
something goes wrong you have to think about so much. When you're living in like
a small spaces in your tent or in a van like you are really
face-to-face with like reality like people sometimes I hear people say like
"oh you're not living in the real world" and I'm like, "I am! I'm face-to-face like with the
trash that I produce, like when I need the bathroom it's right there in your
face so I actually see how much impact I have and since I've been
in the van, I probably reduced my waste by 80%.
Don't underestimate what you can do. You just learn what's important and
what's not and it falls into place and you'll be happy.