The Pro’s & Con’s of Van life

Having lived in a van full time since March 2022 and having spent the 3 years previous venturing to the Lake District every spare day/weekend possible, here at Happy & Unplugged we feel well positioned to give a fully balanced perspective as to the pro’s and con’s of van life. 

On the whole van life is a truly wonderful and liberating experience, but as with everything in life there are two sides to every coin.

Let us start off with the Pro’s, of which there are many.

1. Freedom – Life on the road gives a wonderful feeling of freedom and being alive. You truly feel disconnected from your previous way of living and the way you have been conditioned by traditional education, society and media. Every day is a new experience, a new park up, new foods, people and experiences. Your only decisions are what fun activity you are going to do that day and what are you going to eat. Not having to worry about, work, a boss, your phone ringing, having to be somewhere at a set time, paying bills and only focusing on things you genuinely want to do is an amazing way to live. One which we feel so lucky to have experienced whilst we are relatively young and healthy. We have seen so many older couples/retirees on the road around the world in their motorhomes which is fantastic and big props to them for doing it however, we cant help but feel sad that there are so many wild adventures out there that they cannot do because on the whole their bodies wont let them. If you want to and you can organise your life to accommodate it we urge you to seize the opportunity with both hands while you can. It’s a cliche but life is short and you only get one shot at this so do the things that scare you and inspire you the most. You can always get another job and make more money, but your time, the most precious commodity out there, is literally ticking away.