The best thing about living in a micro campervan, is that it'll take far less to heat it up than if you went with a high top long wheelbase van like so many others go for. In the summer, you wont probably want to spend too much time in the van, so getting out and doing things during the day will be good.
I love it when I come across van life, I’ve really gotten into it and would secretly love to do it. It’s not possible at present with dogs and kids. However, as soon as this vlog popped up on my feed and you opened the van door, I yelled out “he’s in Babbacombe” 😂😂 - I live down the road. Great vlog, I look forward to seeing more and just subscribed! 👍
Your smashing van life FairPlay good tip on fasting and simplifying your meals what sort of evening meal you go for eat out or cook something? Winter preparation is recommend teddy bear bedding,front window shields so you can crack the windows down an inch in the night especially,diesel night heater the Chinese ones are fab but prices go up in the winter so I’d start looking now be super cosy with that set up
Great to catch your new video. I'm sure by the time it gets really cold, you'll have either thought of your own heating solutions or you'll have had many suggestions from van lifers. It's great to see someone doing van life in a van that hasn't cost a fortune. What would be great would be for you to do a video giving a detailed monthly costing. I Know you mentioned that your gym membership costs £32, but it would be great to see how much you spend (on average) on food, insurance, tax, fuel etc. I imagine lots of would-be van lifers would love to have a monthly breakdown of costs. Just an idea as I'd love to see that kind of thing. All the best my friend!
@@jonathancamm896 thanks for your great ideas mate. I will definitely have a look at a video around that 👍 Really appreciate your support on the channel ❤️
@@joline2730 Hi Joline, thank you so much for your comment about MadMark's videos. I watched them yesterday and found them very helpful. I made the book videos when I first began writing my children's books, and then made a few videos about my adventures in a Campervan I rented in the UK back in 2019. I just kind of stopped making videos after that when I returned to Thailand after my travels in the UK. I do think of making more videos. There is certainly no shortage of things to talk about these days. I'd probably be removed for going against their guidelines pretty quickly. Which videos of mine did you watch?
@@joline2730 Thanks. I just wondered whether it was my Campervan vids or book ones. I just found my camper van videos on TH-cam, but for some reason that channel isn't listed as one of my channels. Not sure why that is. I'll investigate tomorrow as it's 10pm here now.
the towel thing makes sense but as you get closer to winter you're gonna see way more condensation so are going to need a source of heat to keep the humidity down, dont want to be breathing mould :(
Mike in Co Durham, good video presentation and i empathise with your situation and quite frankly i am jealous of you embracing van life for real. I have a van but also stick and bricks. My tips would be, give some thought to NOT saying where you park up. With regard to heating as the winter approaches, see if you can tough it out without buying a heater, you have a small van and if you keep some body layers on when it gets cold, i think you will be fine. Top tip coming up ref use of a towel, Just try this ............use a microfibre dishcloth as your towel you will be amazed how efficient this is and dries very quickly. I would suggest that cooking as winter approaches needs to be thought about as a way of keeping warm and of course saving money. Has your van windows got wind deflectors......... i use these to provided some airflow whilst sleeping, just cracking window open on both sides this also minimises condensataion on windscreen . Best wishes Mike
Some great tips there buddy. I appreciate your comments. I have wind deflectors and have been keeping the windows a crack. I’ve not used any heat sources yet apart from layers. You could be right with that. Thanks again Mike 👌🙏🏼
I was very close to doing this myself after a split, only issue i had was having my car with outstanding finance for another year so figured i'd rent a small room for a bit and then sell the car and get a van. Currently living in a HMO and hate it. Hopefully another 6 months and i'll go find a van i can start living in and save up enough to figure out what i really want to do as i had an idea i wanted a sprinter but with the costs that go with it, i'm kinda stuck no matter what direction i go.
Great video! I've been thinking about van life for years. As a trial I lived in my car for 6 weeks a few years ago. My lanlords are thinking about selling their house and I'm in a big annexe attached to their house. Its made me seriously consider it now. I currently work 3 jobs so this is the best time because I'm barely home. It'll give me an extra £500 to £600 on top of my crazy savings already 😅 The only thing that puts me off is parking and needing the toilet. As you say, 24 hr gym, which I have. At least I can park up close to one of my jobs which is an hour drive there and an hr back. So, I can gain some extra sleep.
@@megan1445 your situation is similar to mine. My work is an hour away too, so van life means I can stay close to work sometimes. Especially when working a late and then in on an early next day. Gives me extra time in bed. Parking you find regular park ups. Keep your van discreet. I always find a place where I can go to the loo easy at night. Or I may get a little camper loo. They are actually quite small. 👍
Van-X curtains. - Thermal! Don’t be tempted by a Chinese diesel heater, it’s really worth investing in a premium heater such as an Auto term heater. Enjoying your vids!
2 years with my chinese heater and no problems. I did upgrade the fuel line and heat shield that goes through the floor. I'd recommend them whoeheartedly. I hear about 1 in 10 will fail (often quite quickly) but the other 9 are usually alright!!! I paid about £100 for a 2kw heater from maxspeedingrods, about £25 on upgrades and £120 to get professionally fitted.........best £250 ive spent on the van so far!!
- One more thing aside from the lack of quality in comparison to more premium brands is the insurance declaration. It’s not uncommon for Chinese brands that haven’t passed equivalent UK quality and safety regulations, to not be accepted by insurance companies. - I had an issue with the first of 2 Chinese heaters I had. My insurance company (Howdens) will insure an auto term heater with no added premium increase.
Put a cheap tent within your van (or bivvie bag)_it's surprisingly effective. Guess it would be a challenge to a small tent up in your small vehicle (?)
@@smooth111012 check out my very first video and it tells you in there. :) I went through a break up, and was left without the choice which pushed me into it. If it wasn’t for that I may never have done it. I now enjoy it and prefer to keep things simple. My mail still goes to my ex-partners house where I can collect when visiting my son. 😊👍
I have only just seen this one video from you, but I would suggest you also make a video about the "bad" things about living in a van to get people back to reality. Not everything about van life is amazing, there are a lot of shit you have to deal with as well as you can see on many other videos on TH-cam. The backsides of van life is also the reality and should be shown not to glorify it too much, but as with most things, people adapt and get used to routine from person to person. Just a tiny bit of constructive critisism I guess
I don’t have any property at all. I lived with my fiancé and when we broke up I moved into my van 😊 It’s not anywhere near as hard as you may first think. I mean how much time do we actually spend at home?
@@BikerVanLife ok. 👍 I believe you. Just something didn’t sit right. you don’t seem the type to live in such a small space. I have a caddy and they are tiny
@@Keepthedrovetidy You'd be surprised. I worked a professional office job for three decades, moved into a Citroen Berlingo in 2018 as a brief experiment, loved it, and upgraded to my much smaller Citroen C1 this spring! I'm encountering increasing numbers of people living in smaller vans these days, many absolutely loving the lifestyle. You have to be an extreme minimalist and you live from, rather than in, your vehicle (I now work on my laptop from cafes mostly, so the car is just my bedroom).
@Cornishvandweller you are so right! When you break down how much time you spend at home, and how much space you utilise, you realise you are just wasting money. I don’t really watch tv but used to spend so much time doing it at home. I don’t miss it!
Sounds like your settling into van life pretty well 🚐 are you keeping things minimal because your unsure if you’ll stay at it or will you just be minimal regardless? 😊
I’m finding really I just don’t need a lot of things. I think if I need it I’ll get it. I have thought about a bigger van down the line, but, I don’t actually need one. :)
![[Sub Thai] APT. - ROSÉ & Bruno Mars](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bYjhzP8x_uc/mqdefault.jpg)
Sounds ideal, but don't forget your seatbelt though 👍😁
The best thing about living in a micro campervan, is that it'll take far less to heat it up than if you went with a high top long wheelbase van like so many others go for. In the summer, you wont probably want to spend too much time in the van, so getting out and doing things during the day will be good.
@@TheKnightsShield that’s true. And it’s exactly what I’m finding. That I don’t spend much time in the van. A good point on the heating too 👍
I love it when I come across van life, I’ve really gotten into it and would secretly love to do it. It’s not possible at present with dogs and kids. However, as soon as this vlog popped up on my feed and you opened the van door, I yelled out “he’s in Babbacombe” 😂😂 - I live down the road. Great vlog, I look forward to seeing more and just subscribed! 👍
@@mrsm4405 aww thank you mate. Really appreciate that. Yeah Babbacombe is lovely
I live in my car in London and loving it
Oh awesome. Is it harder to find places to park?
@@BikerVanLife I pay monthly for my parking
@@BikerVanLife trying to find away to start cooking
Your smashing van life FairPlay good tip on fasting and simplifying your meals what sort of evening meal you go for eat out or cook something?
Winter preparation is recommend teddy bear bedding,front window shields so you can crack the windows down an inch in the night especially,diesel night heater the Chinese ones are fab but prices go up in the winter so I’d start looking now be super cosy with that set up
Great to catch your new video. I'm sure by the time it gets really cold, you'll have either thought of your own heating solutions or you'll have had many suggestions from van lifers. It's great to see someone doing van life in a van that hasn't cost a fortune. What would be great would be for you to do a video giving a detailed monthly costing. I Know you mentioned that your gym membership costs £32, but it would be great to see how much you spend (on average) on food, insurance, tax, fuel etc. I imagine lots of would-be van lifers would love to have a monthly breakdown of costs. Just an idea as I'd love to see that kind of thing. All the best my friend!
@@jonathancamm896 thanks for your great ideas mate. I will definitely have a look at a video around that 👍 Really appreciate your support on the channel ❤️
@@BikerVanLifeyou’re very welcome. Keep up the good work, my friend. I see only good things for your channel in the future.
@@joline2730 Hi Joline, thank you so much for your comment about MadMark's videos. I watched them yesterday and found them very helpful. I made the book videos when I first began writing my children's books, and then made a few videos about my adventures in a Campervan I rented in the UK back in 2019. I just kind of stopped making videos after that when I returned to Thailand after my travels in the UK. I do think of making more videos. There is certainly no shortage of things to talk about these days. I'd probably be removed for going against their guidelines pretty quickly. Which videos of mine did you watch?
@@joline2730 Thanks. I just wondered whether it was my Campervan vids or book ones. I just found my camper van videos on TH-cam, but for some reason that channel isn't listed as one of my channels. Not sure why that is. I'll investigate tomorrow as it's 10pm here now.
the towel thing makes sense but as you get closer to winter you're gonna see way more condensation so are going to need a source of heat to keep the humidity down, dont want to be breathing mould :(
Mike in Co Durham, good video presentation and i empathise with your situation and quite frankly i am jealous of you embracing van life
for real. I have a van but also stick and bricks. My tips would be, give some thought to NOT saying where you park up. With regard to
heating as the winter approaches, see if you can tough it out without buying a heater, you have a small van and if you keep some body
layers on when it gets cold, i think you will be fine. Top tip coming up ref use of a towel, Just try this ............use a microfibre dishcloth as
your towel you will be amazed how efficient this is and dries very quickly. I would suggest that cooking as winter approaches needs to be
thought about as a way of keeping warm and of course saving money. Has your van windows got wind deflectors......... i use these to
provided some airflow whilst sleeping, just cracking window open on both sides this also minimises condensataion on windscreen .
Best wishes Mike
Some great tips there buddy. I appreciate your comments. I have wind deflectors and have been keeping the windows a crack. I’ve not used any heat sources yet apart from layers. You could be right with that. Thanks again Mike 👌🙏🏼
I was very close to doing this myself after a split, only issue i had was having my car with outstanding finance for another year so figured i'd rent a small room for a bit and then sell the car and get a van. Currently living in a HMO and hate it. Hopefully another 6 months and i'll go find a van i can start living in and save up enough to figure out what i really want to do as i had an idea i wanted a sprinter but with the costs that go with it, i'm kinda stuck no matter what direction i go.
Sell the car and pay off the finance. Get a cheaper van to start and go from there. The money you’ll save will allow you to upgrade it later
its kind of fredomm what you are doing also..not only you are NOT worry about big bills !but you can save moneyyy
Great vid mate 👌🏻💪🏻
@@mattormson7688 Thank you so much mate 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 means a lot that ❤️
If you haven't subscribed already, your support it means everything to me and the channel. :)
Great video! I've been thinking about van life for years. As a trial I lived in my car for 6 weeks a few years ago. My lanlords are thinking about selling their house and I'm in a big annexe attached to their house. Its made me seriously consider it now. I currently work 3 jobs so this is the best time because I'm barely home. It'll give me an extra £500 to £600 on top of my crazy savings already 😅
The only thing that puts me off is parking and needing the toilet. As you say, 24 hr gym, which I have. At least I can park up close to one of my jobs which is an hour drive there and an hr back. So, I can gain some extra sleep.
@@megan1445 your situation is similar to mine. My work is an hour away too, so van life means I can stay close to work sometimes. Especially when working a late and then in on an early next day. Gives me extra time in bed. Parking you find regular park ups. Keep your van discreet. I always find a place where I can go to the loo easy at night. Or I may get a little camper loo. They are actually quite small. 👍
Hospital pee bottle is great for me in my caddy, will have to find proper loo for a number 2 at night mind
Van-X curtains. - Thermal!
Don’t be tempted by a Chinese diesel heater, it’s really worth investing in a premium heater such as an Auto term heater.
Enjoying your vids!
@@SingletrackScene thank you so much for your kind words. Just checked out Van-X looks good. I’ll check that heater out
2 years with my chinese heater and no problems. I did upgrade the fuel line and heat shield that goes through the floor. I'd recommend them whoeheartedly. I hear about 1 in 10 will fail (often quite quickly) but the other 9 are usually alright!!! I paid about £100 for a 2kw heater from maxspeedingrods, about £25 on upgrades and £120 to get professionally fitted.........best £250 ive spent on the van so far!!
- One more thing aside from the lack of quality in comparison to more premium brands is the insurance declaration. It’s not uncommon for Chinese brands that haven’t passed equivalent UK quality and safety regulations, to not be accepted by insurance companies. - I had an issue with the first of 2 Chinese heaters I had. My insurance company (Howdens) will insure an auto term heater with no added premium increase.
A good power bank ie ecoflow but not to big, a Flexi solar panel and a single electric blanket works a treat for cold nights 😊
teddy bear bedding is the answer and if you can afford it a 2 KW diesel heater cold problem solved Toasty warm and comfortable God Bless
@@BioRuss-qr5il both of those have been mentioned before. Definitely gonna look into to them. 👍☺️
Put a cheap tent within your van (or bivvie bag)_it's surprisingly effective. Guess it would be a challenge to a small tent up in your small vehicle (?)
It’s definitely something to think about 👍💪
Well done bro, I’m considering it too. What was your main reason to go off grid and live in a van, oh how do u get your mail?
@@smooth111012 check out my very first video and it tells you in there. :) I went through a break up, and was left without the choice which pushed me into it. If it wasn’t for that I may never have done it. I now enjoy it and prefer to keep things simple. My mail still goes to my ex-partners house where I can collect when visiting my son. 😊👍
I have only just seen this one video from you, but I would suggest you also make a video about the "bad" things about living in a van to get people back to reality.
Not everything about van life is amazing, there are a lot of shit you have to deal with as well as you can see on many other videos on TH-cam.
The backsides of van life is also the reality and should be shown not to glorify it too much, but as with most things, people adapt and get used to routine from person to person.
Just a tiny bit of constructive critisism I guess
Love bit where you put the money strap on in case it costs a hundred quid.
Don’t forget to put on your seatbelt!
I know!! I keep doing that
How many free parking sites are there in Torquay and Paignton?
I’m not sure? There are two I use in Torquay, there are a few I need to check out. Perhaps a future video for this! 👍
@@BikerVanLife cheers
is it safe to say that a man that has a long term relationship come to an end will be made homeless? starting to wonder if its even worth it.
Do you actually live in your van full time? Or do you still have a property? To be honest I do have my doubts. Prove me wrong
I don’t have any property at all. I lived with my fiancé and when we broke up I moved into my van 😊
It’s not anywhere near as hard as you may first think. I mean how much time do we actually spend at home?
@@BikerVanLife ok. 👍 I believe you. Just something didn’t sit right. you don’t seem the type to live in such a small space. I have a caddy and they are tiny
@@Keepthedrovetidy You'd be surprised. I worked a professional office job for three decades, moved into a Citroen Berlingo in 2018 as a brief experiment, loved it, and upgraded to my much smaller Citroen C1 this spring! I'm encountering increasing numbers of people living in smaller vans these days, many absolutely loving the lifestyle. You have to be an extreme minimalist and you live from, rather than in, your vehicle (I now work on my laptop from cafes mostly, so the car is just my bedroom).
@Cornishvandweller you are so right! When you break down how much time you spend at home, and how much space you utilise, you realise you are just wasting money. I don’t really watch tv but used to spend so much time doing it at home. I don’t miss it!
When it gets cold, go on holiday for a month
How do you do your laundry?
@@craig3802 laundrette, or friends/family will sometimes let me do a few bits. I don’t go through clothes too quickly. Mostly socks and pants
@@BikerVanLife thanks
Sounds like your settling into van life pretty well 🚐 are you keeping things minimal because your unsure if you’ll stay at it or will you just be minimal regardless? 😊
I’m finding really I just don’t need a lot of things. I think if I need it I’ll get it. I have thought about a bigger van down the line, but, I don’t actually need one. :)