Pros and Cons of Van Life: The Honest Truth About Nomadic Living

Thinking of ditching everything and hitting the road for good? You’re in the right place. In this article we’ll lay out all of the pros and cons of full-time van life – learned the hard way by real nomads who came into the game wide-eyed with big dreams. Let’s dig into the amazing benefits and some of the less-than-glamorous realities of a fully nomadic lifestyle.

Pros of Van Life

For Outdoor Hobbyists, Van Life Gets You Closer to Your Bucketlist Spots

If you have outdoor hobbies like climbing, backpacking, or surfing, having the freedom to park your van at trailheads, beaches, and campsites lets you live right next door to your hobbies without needing to plan a complicated trip or take a bunch of time off work. Just wake up, open the door, and you’re at your next adventure. You can also spend extended trips in your favorite destinations without having to leave all your creature comforts behind. I have several friends that spend their summers in Yosemite, working from a hotspot during the hottest parts of the day, and climbing in the mornings and evenings for months on end.

You Can Scout Out Potential Long Term Destinations

Living in a van full time isn’t always the end goal for everyone who chooses this lifestyle. Sometimes, it’s just a means to an end. There are a lot of van dwellers out there who prefer to have a homebase somewhere and live in their van part-time during months with more pleasant weather. Van living allows you to travel around and get a real feel for different areas before deciding where you want to settle down and set up shop.

You Truly Feel Free

This is obviously one of the biggest draws for most van lifers. The freedom to go where you want, when you want. You no longer have to worry about booking accommodations or committing to itineraries months in advance. You’ve got your home on wheels, all of your possessions, and the open road in front of you. Road trips can be truly spontaneous and you can decide on a whim if you want to pick up and move or stay put for longer than you originally planned.

That said, don’t buy into the fantasy that van life equals zero responsibility, throwing caution to the wind, and exploring the world with reckless abandon. There is a tangible sense of freedom, but Instagram’s #vanlife influencers are so keen to share the beautiful part of the lifestyle while they leave out all the muck. If you choose to live in a camper van, there are plenty of responsibilities, headaches, and downsides. That’s not to say it’s not worth it, just that I hope you go into van life with eyes wide open. More on that later...

You Get to Meet People From all Over

The van life community is a pretty great one if you know where to look. There’s a true sense of community and although the lifestyle can be isolating at times, it’s pretty easy to make friends both in person and through social media with a little bit of effort. Vanlife meetups have become a huge part of the culture, too. Some of our favorites are Descend on Bend and The Journal of Lost Time gatherings like Moonlanding, Holy Toledo, and the Caravan.

You Learn the Art of Minimalism

Perhaps one of my favorite things about van life is that it forces you to reevaluate your possessions and adopt a minimalist lifestyle. Before van life, I used to move apartments every year just to have an excuse to donate half of my belongings so I was already pretty well-versed with this process.

You pretty quickly learn that you don’t need much to live well and you really start to focus on experiences over things. It’s really common for first timers to overpack their vans, but over time you’ll start to get a feel for what’s necessary and what’s unnecessarily taking up valuable real estate. There’s truly nothing worse than having to dig through piles of junk every time you need to find something. Organization is everything and unfortunately (or fortunately.. depending on your mindset), the only true way to stay organized in your van is to continually evaluate what you use and what you don’t and ditch the latter. If you’re super sentimental or have a hard time getting rid of things, this might be a tough part of the lifestyle for you.

You Can Ditch Traditional Expenses

A really popular reason for adopting this lifestyle is to avoid paying expenses like rent and utilities that have gotten out of hand and continue to rise exponentially since the pandemic. While van life introduces a whole new set of expenses, it’s a little bit easier to swallow those bills when they go toward building up your own van rather than lining the pockets of a landlord. And a lot of people are able to incorporate solar panels into their van build to really take them off grid and decrease those utility bills even more. We’ll take a look at some of the new expenses you can expect during van life in the ‘cons’ section, but for now... just know not paying rent is a pretty sweet deal.

Beautiful Home Office Views

Van life used to be reserved for unemployed vagabonds and trust fund influencers. But now that work from home and entrepreneurial opportunities are more common, it’s so much easier for those of us who need jobs to adopt the lifestyle.

There are a couple ways I recommend you approach this. The first is, if you rely on internet for your job, invest in Starlink. This allows you to work from anywhere and you can avoid the dreaded hunt for Wi-Fi every morning. The second — if you don’t mind sticking in one spot for an extended period of time — is looking for seasonal jobs that will pay you enough for a few months of work to allow you to travel around for a few months after. Rinse and repeat.

The Lifestyle, While Harder in Many Ways, Is More Laid Back Than City Life

I don’t want to sugarcoat this too much because van living strips you of most modern conveniences, but I’ve found that even with the extra effort required for basic tasks, this lifestyle allows you to stop and smell the roses more than you’re able to when you’re going through the motions of city life.

Life becomes more centered around simple things like hosting a meal around the campfire after a hike, sleeping under the stars, and waking up with the sun. Traffic jams are traded for backroads, concrete jungles for national parks, and meal time goes from microwaved convenience to a meditation with nature.

This lifestyle does an excellent job of bringing you back into the present moment and taking you out of the endless cycle of white knuckling your way through the week just for your weekends to go by entirely too fast.

In the Event of a Natural Disaster, You Can Get Up and Go

Unfortunately, natural disasters seem to be our new norm between floods, fires, earthquakes, and pandemics, but the more mobile you are, the better off you’ll be in these scenarios. When we see floods and fires, there’s always so much loss. People’s homes and all of their possessions and memories are swept up in the disaster.

But there’s also usually evacuation warnings that allow people and pets to escape ahead of time. If your life is wrapped up in a vehicle on wheels, you’ll be able to evacuate not only yourself, but also your entire living space. This alone isn’t a good enough reason to ditch your home and hit the road full time, but it definitely is a perk of van life that not many think about!

Cons of Van Life

You’re Going to Have to Be Ok With Limited Space

There’s no way around this... it’s cramped. If you choose van life, you’ll always be within 5 feet of everything you own. Living in such a small space can be overwhelming at times and cabin fever can really start to set in if you’re not intentional about getting out. If you work a 9-5 from your van, this feeling can definitely be amplified.

Also.. having people over can be super weird because it's incredibly intimate. Imagine inviting an acquaintance over to your home for the first time and you immediately invite them into your bedroom to hang out. Or worse, your bathroom. Welcome to van life, my friend!

You’re Literally Always Planning

Decision fatigue is real and with van life, it’s a constant battle.

Where to next, which route will be best, trying to find a parking lot or free camping spot wherever you end up for the night, searching for Wi-Fi for your workday, etc. etc.

With van living, there isn’t much downtime unless you stay in the same place for an extended period of time. At first, it’s all very exciting to feel like the world is your oyster and you have so many options available to you. But over time, you’ll likely start to feel like your own tour guide, always on the clock to make sure your trip is a success. When you hit that point, it’s a great time to reach out to other van life friends or head to a meetup to find a crew to travel with for a while. That way, you can collaborate and share the burden of these decisions until you’re feeling refreshed.

Also, consider checking out platforms like camping.tools to streamline the planning process and draw inspiration from other like-minded travelers

It Can Get Old Constantly Moving

Believe it or not, the novelty of being on the go all the time eventually wears off and it can start to feel more like a job than the adventure of a lifetime. Burnout is actually super common in the van life world.

To help combat this, I highly recommend putting away a little bit every paycheck into a “rest and relax” fund. A few times a year, take this money and get yourself a nice little short term rental somewhere you love. Being able to take a proper shower, cook a proper meal, and sprawl out on a king sized bed for a few days will be just the reset you need.

Staying Healthy Can Be Tough... And There’s Nothing Worse Than Being Sick in a Van

Depending on your van’s kitchen setup, this one may or may not be a problem for you. But I see it all the time. Eating healthy and staying hydrated are two of the hardest parts of long term van living for so many people.

Every time you’re hungry, you have to unpack everything you need to cook a proper meal. Eventually, if you allow yourself to get a bit lax on this, you might find yourself heading through drive thru’s more often than you’d like to admit. A lot of van lifers also find themselves snacking on processed non-perishables that you can find at a quick gas station stop more than they would if they had access to a proper refrigeration system.

Another convenience you probably completely took for granted before diving into life on the road - drinking water. Storing water takes up a lot of space and it’s also not a free get. You’ll probably find yourself going out of the way quite often to re-up your supply. But staying hydrated can help you stave off sickness which is SO important because there’s truly nothing worse than being hold up in your van for days trying to fight off an illness. (This is another case where that “rest and relax” fund can come in handy!)

Some Cities are Banning Sleeping In Your Vehicle

Many cities across the U.S. and elsewhere are starting to crack down on overnight sleeping in vehicles and locals in areas where van life is prevalent have started complaining more and more to the cops about our presence in their neighborhoods. There’s nothing worse than waking up at 3am to a knock on the door telling you you have to move.

Bigger cities like Seattle, LA, San Fran, and Denver have all passed ordinances restricting sleeping in vehicles within the city limits. That said, some cities have also opened up designated areas for it. Just be warned, that means you’ll be in close quarters with everyone who sleeps in a car from other van lifers to houseless individuals. When you increase that density, you often see an uptick in crime like theft and vandalism. It’s up to you how much risk you want to take, but it’s definitely something to consider if you’re thinking about traveling from major city to major city.

Vanlife Isn’t Always Cheaper and Finances Become Less Predictable

If your goal of van life is saving money, this one might be a bit of a bummer. Sorry in advance. While some people find van life to be significantly cheaper, others say they end up spending about as much as they did prior on van repairs, camping spots, gas, food, and believe it or not, entertainment. It all depends on your travel style and also how savvy you are with fixing things around the van yourself.

There’s also a lot that can go wrong living in a van.

You should ask yourself, “Could I afford repair costs to my van while also sleeping and easting somewhere other than my home on wheels while my van is in the shop?” You should also consider the costs of renting a car if you need to be able to get around or to and from work. If you totaled your van, could you swing the move in costs of an apartment and survive during the time it takes to find one? Would an event like this totally wipe out your savings?

These are all things you should consider before diving head first into van life!

Everything Takes Effort

The conveniences you take for granted now get exponentially harder. Laundry, showering, filling up the water tank, food storage, Wi-Fi, dishes. It's definitely not the easiest lifestyle, but if you're fine with putting in more effort to have more free time, it's worth it.

A lot of people will get a $10 Planet Fitness membership if they don’t already have a shower in their van, but you’ll have to ask yourself if you’re ok planning trips into the city every time you want to get clean.

It’s this extra level of effort and planning that all of your basic chores will now require that can deters people from getting into it. I will say, you do start to get used to it, but there are still times I wish I could throw some dishes in a dishwasher, hit a button, and call it a day.

If You Have Pets, Temperature Control Can be an Issue

Pets are far more sensitive to temperature changes than us humans so if they’ll be accompanying you on your adventures, make sure to take the weather into account! You can’t run into a cafe to work off their Wi-Fi while you leave your pup behind in the sweltering heat of your metal tube in the sun. Van life is certainly possible with pets, it just takes a little more planning and potentially some extra investment in your van build to make sure you have proper temperature control.

A Lot of the World's Systems Expect you to Have a Home Address That Isn't a PO Box

Many of our social systems, particularly in America and Canada, require you to have a permanent address. Think things like getting a new driver’s license, opening a bank account, signing up for insurance policies, filing taxes, etc. etc. The list goes on, and if you don't have a semi-permanent spot at something like a mobile home or RV park, this can get tricky.

In certain cases, this problem can be easily solved by by borrowing the address of a trusted friend of family member. It is, however, important to be mindful of the legality of this kind of arrangement when it comes to things like insurance and taxes, as there is potential for real legal and fincanial consequences. As a general rule, we always recommend being open and honest about your true living situation whenever possible.

Note: There are some great insurance policies specifically geared toward van dwellers and RVers that make it easy to keep everything above board.

Is Van Life the Right Choice For You?

The million dollar question. And the simple answer is that you’ll have to decide after weighing your options. Van life is an incredible experience that forces you to grow past your comfort zone in so many beautiful ways. But it’s also a lifestyle that requires extra effort on the daily and a bit of financial security. I highly recommend renting a van for a spell and giving it a try for a few weeks to see if it’s worth investing in your first van!

And as you roll through new landscapes and wake up to different views each morning, don’t forget to document your experiences and keep all of your plans organized to avoid the all-too-common decision fatigue we mentioned earlier.

Sign up for free with Camping Tools and keep all your experiences neatly organized and privately shared with your community. It’s your personal dashboard for every off-the-beaten-path adventure. A place where you can journal your travels, manage trip details, draw inspiration from other travelers, and share memories with select friends and family without broadcasting to the world.

Good luck and get out there!