Van Life FAQs
Van vs. RV?
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My name is Adrian Brambila and I live in a van. Now, living in a van is not normal. I get thousands of comments on TikTok and Instagram a day over living in a van. I have compiled a list of the top 10 most frequently asked questions and I’m here to set the record straight. Let us begin!
Where do you shower?
We have a shower in the van. This isn’t the case for all van-lifers. Some simply dump a bucket of water on themselves. Others shower at truck stops. We stop at a lot of campgrounds and there are showers there as well. However, we enjoy the sense of privacy that having our own shower brings.
Where do you park?
The point of van life is to park anywhere and everywhere. We have parked all across the country. Key West, Sedona, Nevada, New Mexico; you name it and we will park there. Are we parking in random neighborhoods? No. We are parking in beautiful lands, campgrounds, and BLM land. BLM stands for Bureau of Land Management and the land is government-owned. There are tons of amazing mountain views, rivers, lakes, and forests all on BLM land. BLM land is free to park on but the roads usually aren’t paved and there is no reception. We usually park in places like this because they are so gorgeous and we are fly sustainable, meaning we can live off the grid.
When we park on campgrounds, it is sort of like glamping. Usually, bathrooms, showers, and electricity is offered. We do have solar power but it’s nice sometimes to be able to run a heater if it’s cold.
How do you get WiFi?
We have a 5G hotspot from Verizon. Now here’s the thing… if you are in the middle of nowhere and you have 7G, 8G, or 100G, you still cannot get service. When we are in the middle of the city, we get faster speeds in the van than at any home we’ve ever stayed at.
To make sure my wife and I can still get our work done, we plan specific days where we know we will have good service. We stay in that spot for 3 or 4 days and work sun up to sundown. The rest of the week, we explore.
