Van life: Without Rose Tinted Glasses

V a n l i f e:
W i t h o u t R o s e T i n t e d G l a s s e s

I n t r o d u c t i o n.
What is a Nomad?
A Nomad is a person who does not stay long in
the same place, a wanderer. The term describes
individuals who reject the way in which we
are “told’’ how to live, in favour of following a
minimalist lifestyle.
Van Life or Van-dwelling is a way of living full or
part-time in a vehicle. Van life optimises a way of
living packed full of adventure, freedom and nature
24/7.
Over the years, Van life has become more well
known. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic
during 2020, the lifestyle became more popularised
through social media, with people using the hashtag
#vanLife. When you search ‘Van life’ on Instagram
or any type of social media they only show you
what you want to see. The glamorous, romanticised
images but in reality, it’s not always as it seems.
Throughout this photobook, I have explored and
documented the true reality of living in a van.
Focusing on my own perspective of van life having
spent three weeks out in Spain and France, living with
a couple called Jess and Zak in their van and following
their day-to-day lifestyle.
Jess and Zak are known as Nomads and have lived
full-time for the past 3 years in their Vauxhall Vivaro
with their two dogs. Having had the opportunity to live
out their lifestyle with them for a few weeks, waking
up surrounded by nature and spending all of my time
outside quickly felt like a routine to me, which was a
feeling that I didn’t want to lose.

M e e t t h e N o m a d s - h o m e o n t h e r o a d.

Why did you choose to live in a van full-time?

M i n i m a l l i v i n g i s k e y
“We choose to live this lifestyle full-time due to the freedom, independence and how close to nature you are. It also means we can
focus on ourselves. Living in the van means we do not need to worry about paying for accommodation rent as our home is on the
road.”

Morning of airing out the van,
cleaning the dishes, wiping the
worktops, sweeping the sand
out and oh course getting some
vitamin D!
C O F F E E T I M E

‘‘For Nature.
The van is our escapism, that takes you
down long winding roads. When you live in
a van, your back garden is ever changing.
The outdoors is our playground which we
love.’’

Has living in a van full-time affected you getting work and how do you
earn enough money to live and travel?

A l b a r r a c i n, S p a i n.
“No not at all, we are qualified freelance outdoor instructors, making sure we work hard during the summer, so we are able to go off
travelling in the winter. However, if we get asked to work remotely, we take the opportunity and time to do so to earn a little bit more
money to fund our travels! We’ve been quite lucky with the amount of work we get due to our qualifications, knowledge and contacts
we have in the industry.”

Do you budget yourselves?
“There’s real life for you, embodied in
that little cart. The open road, the dusty
highway, the heath, the common, villages,
towns, cities! Here today, up, and off to
somewhere else tomorrow! travel, change,
interest, excitement! the whole world before
you, and horizon that’s always changing!”
- Mr Toad in Wind in the Willows,
Kenneth Grahame
“We do budget ourselves to make sure we live within our means, so we don’t have any debts. We are careful about what we buy and use, not
only for ourselves but for the environment too.”

C o o k i n g b a s i c m e a l s ~
‘‘Cooking in the van can be a struggle due to limited space. We have gas rings and a small work surface. So, when using the cutting
board to chop up vegetables, meat, and other things we have to use are laps! From living in the van for 3 years, it is much easier if one
person cooks and the other person feeds the dogs due to not having enough space. But when the weather decides to be nice, we cook
outside! We live by one book called The New Camp Cookbook: Gourmet Grub for Campers, Road Trippers, and Adventurers (Great
Outdoor Cooking).’’

M O N T Y
M O S S
How has brexit affected you?

“Brexit has made travelling with two dogs much
harder and very expensive due to the dogs needing
to have a valid rabies vaccination and an up to date
health certificate or passport. So, bringing them
into the EU is more difficult than before.
Monty and Moss sitting on the bed.
Keeping guard as they protect the van
as well as falling asleep, it’s a hard life
being a dog!
Also, it means we can’t stay in the EU visa-free for
longer than 3 months due to the rules changing. If
we chose to, we would have to apply for the appropriate
visa and residence permit, which could take
a while to get.”

How much water do you go through?
‘‘We have 26 litres in the van which lasts 5 days. Mainly use the
water for cooking, washing up and of course counting in the water
we give the dogs.’’
Jess filling up a 20 litres water container outside a Spanish church.
Overlooking an incredible view.

What are the positve & negative parts of Van life?

V a n l i f e C o m m u n i t y
Positive ~
“Van life community is so big where everybody is caring and wants to help you, as
as much as possible. Meeting new people from all over the world allows you to form meaningful connections
- the reality of human connection and having deep conversations that last a good 10 minutes. This is what
happens when you share similar interests, goals, and values. A real friendship is formed, and you always
remember them.”

S o l a r s h o w e r s
Negative ~
‘‘Not being able to have a shower. However, that has all changed as we bought a solar shower, the best thing
we’ve bought. It is very simple as it is a large water bladder bag that heats up in the sun or in our case, we
boiled water and mix it together, to get somewhat of warm shower!’’
Positive ~
‘‘Being on the road and being together you would think it would make or break us! Luckily we are enjoying every moment together. We
read this blog called How To Survive Living The Van Life With Your Partner - https://beyondthebucketlist.co/how-to-survive-living-the-vanlife-with-your-partner/,
best thing we’ve read! Spending all your time together can get hard but it’s worth it for how much you love and
care about each other.’’
B r i n g s y o u c l o s e r t o y o u r p a r t n e r

- Life is made to be lived -
What to do when the van breaks down?
~ “Set up camp and deal with it in the
morning over coffee!”
V a n b r e a k d o w n s
Negative ~
‘‘When the van breaks down it can be annoying (and expensive) but luckily, we carry roughly the right equipment
to become our own mechanics. We broke down while in France in the middle of nowhere, due to the van
losing earth connection to the battery, causing it to lose charge. Zak managed to fiddle with the ground wire
and the van was back and running!’’

Thank you to Jess and Zak for letting me
live with them for 3 weeks to capture and
document their lifestyle.
Main locations ~
Spain: Albarracin
France: Fontainebleau
“Life is a journey, not a destination”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
All images in this book are shot by me!
~ Phoebe Byrne.

A d v e n t u r e A w a i t s . . .
G o f i n d y o u r s !