This is my second long van (it’s a big car) camping holiday and I think I may have got something wrong. Sure it’s cheap and all… I guess being able to flee bad weather is good too, but it’s nothing like what Instagram said it would be.
Social media’s a funny one. We all know it’s bad to look at it but we do anyway. And we all know that we’re getting a filtered and selective view of other people’s lives, but we still hold it as a standard by which to value our own experiences – the good and the bad.
My vanlife experience isn’t like Instagram. Mainly because my ‘van’ is actually a big car, but also because Instagram isn’t real… A quick #vanlife search and came out with a lot of the following…
Instagram’s vanlife
- A van parked on a deserted beach with a lady basking in a self-standing hammock on top of it (yes really).
- A lady lying on a clean white duvet with her legs stretched up in the air reading on a tablet.
- A woman (all seems to be women) cooking on a built in stove with one of those bendy taps that most of us would die for in our homes – let alone a van!
- Wooden panelling on the walls and bare wooden floorboards.
I’m not saying it isn’t like that… well maybe I am. But the way we use Instagram means that the more ‘real’ (read ‘less glamourous’) bits like washing up and doing laundry don’t make it through the filter.
That’s fair enough, no one wants to know about your laundry. But it can feel a bit like we’re marketing our own lives, and sometimes it makes us feel bad…
I wouldn’t say that I’m an expert on life in a van (3 weeks at a time doesn’t really qualify), but don’t feel bad if your experience isn’t all beaches and hammocking. In fact, for me, unfiltered vanlife looks a bit like the following…
- Being smelly.
- Choosing bedsheets based on their ability to hide grime.
- The lack of legroom (or armroom).
- Wearing the same clothes for 10 days (and the same underwear for 4).
Constantly to find places for things.
Being too cold.
- Being too hot.
Looking for places to poo.
Failing that, carrying your own poo in doggy bag until you find a poo-appropriate bin. Carrying around your rubbish.
Looking for places to sleep where you won’t be moved on.
- Looking for places to sleep that aren’t on a hill.
- Looking for a water source.
Wet wipe baths (or – if you’re lucky – a swim in a resevoir).
Laundry.
- Condensation.
Going outside to pre at night.
Cooking in the rain.
Rain.
Washing up, or else carrying all your washing up around with you.
It may not be as classy but I’d still choose the unfiltered version over Instagram’s any day…
– Hati
Hati Whiteley 