THE VAN, AND OUR FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH VANLIFE

This post is purely based on our van and our experience as newbies in a van. What we loved, what we hated, and what we wished we knew as.

Please read our blog about the trip, our route and everything we did and saw here.

Although it’s more a motorhome than a van, we loved referring to it as our Van, so I’ll continue with that.

About the Van

We used the company Open Road Scotland.com. There were quite a few companies, but they had the most information regarding the van, especially for us as newbies. They were amazing! Friendly, always willing to help, and just great service all around.

We decided on the Highlander F72, which was a 6berth. You might think, “It’s just the two of you; isn’t that an overkill?” Well, yes and no.

We mainly wanted a bit more space, as well as to have the bed fully made up at all times in the back. The overkill bit was the electric drop-down bed. Although we never used the bed, we used its mattress for extra padding on our bed. I’ll get back to the bed in a little while.

What we loved about our Van

The kitchen was great, with everything we needed. The fridge (3phase – gas, battery, and electric) was surprisingly big, and managed to store several days’ food and drink.

Apart from the three-hob gas stove, the gas oven came in super handy. We bought these halve-baked buns, popped them into the oven, and voila, we would have freshly baked buns. We kept some food warm, made toast, baked mac ‘n Cheese and even reheated leftovers. The oven was a true star.

The bathroom with the toilet was perfect. I loved camping, without getting out in the cold and rain, to go to a communal bathroom at night. The shower was spacious enough that I would prefer a van shower over a communal shower if I didn’t have to wash my hair. Mostly because my hair takes too much water to rinse out. The toilet was surprisingly easy to clean and maintain, but we tried to keep the big business for regular toilets.

We were in Scottland during spring, but the temperatures were still quite nippy most of the time. The cold was no issue since the van has heating working with either gas or electricity. We had one night of faulty heating, but think it was due to excessive rain, and something got wet, as the next morning everything worked again perfectly.

The van had an abundance of storage. Once again, this could be due to only the two of us in a 6berth, and the reason why I would recommend a bigger van every time.

What we hated about the Van

The bed!

Hate is a strong word, I know.

People have different priorities, likes and dislikes. This is the reason for so many different car brands, food, clothing, motorhomes, etc. So naturally, there would be stuff we didn’t like, and there were a few which we would get to.

But there was only one thing we hated, and that was the bed. In principle, it works well. It’s a U-shaped coach with a retractable extension in the middle, and then you use the cushions to build your mattress Tetrus style.

The problem with the Tetrus-style mattress was the ditches. T and I are both on the chunkier side, and I understand that this doesn’t help, but the bed was really a backbreaker.

I just wished we had a choice of having a solid/one-piece mattress at the back vs the convertible setup since we were planning to keep it as a bed from the start.

What we didn’t like

The van is noisy when driving.
It should have been quite obvious to us, but it wasn’t for some reason. Certain things we managed to quiet down a bit, like the grill in the oven. But other stuff like the drop-down bed and the body’s movement was inevitable. We did get used to it a bit more but playing music while driving wasn’t really an option for us, as it felt like it just added to the noise level.

The table setup.
Loads of vans have a fixed table. Ours was a loose table. This was great for the seating area space when not using the table, but most of the time, we needed it anyway. The table also felt a little too big for the area. The bigger table was lovely, though, when we were planning with maps, phones, laptops, and even Ipads. Next time, we’ll probably hire one with a fixed table, see how it goes and decide what works better.

Most of the kitchen equipment was in a crate.
Once again, I understand that doing this, it cleared up quite a bit of storage for personal belongings, but with the table and crate all out while prepping for dinner, it can get a bit cramped at times. Also, the crate had the “throw-in system” going, and then usually, what you were looking for was right at the bottom.

Vanlife

What we loved about Vanlife

Having EVERYTHING with us at all times.

Clothing: The weather in Scotland changes by the minute. With the van, we didn’t have to commit to one outfit, jacket, or shoes for the day and hoped it would suit the weather for the rest of the day. Nope, if it were rainy, a rain jacket and gumboots; if it were cold, down jacket and scarf; if the sun came out, a jean with a t-shirt. Well, you catch my drift.

Food and drink: We love eating and drinking. But now we were driving around with our kitchen. This meant if we could find a place to pull over, we could have lunch, teatime or a snack. This also reduced our spending money a lot, as we didn’t have to rely on cafes and restaurants to pull us through.

Some of my favourite memories were when T made us a hot chocolate while I started photo scouting. Once done, we would walk about drinking, and only then I would take out my camera and start photographing.

Camera gear: Instead of deciding what lenses to pack for the day, should I take or leave my tripod, what about filters? Nope, I can have everything with me the entire time.

Toilet: Sounds stupid, but imagine a road trip without having to plan toilet breaks. You could empty up when needed, not when presented with the opportunity.

Bed: Our friends and family know we LOVE our afternoon nap. Now we could pull off when we needed a few z’s.

The informal Vanlife “club” out there. If you’re in a van, you always greet a fellow van. We even had this one van where the woman had a huge green foam hand she used to wave at other vans.

We loved feeling closer to nature. Waking up to bird song. I heard my first real cuckoo in Scotland. Hearing the rain fall when we sleep, in fact, we started this joke that our bed had a rain switch because as soon as we went to lay down on the bed, it would start raining.

What we wish we knew

Most of these are common sense, but it is the stuff you don’t think of until you’re in the situation.

Parking with this massive vehicle can be troublesome. Planning a little better and looking for parking beforehand always helps.
Everything is slow.
- Getting ready to leave in the morning takes a while since you have to clean and put everything away. This then shortens your mornings quite a bit.
- Figuring out your flow and rhythm takes a few days, but then the routine happens quickly. In the end, we had up to 40minutes to spare on our planned departure time, just because we were in practice and we both knew what we were responsible for.
- Driving is slow. We soon learned it would take us double the time Google Maps suggested. This was due to a few reasons:
  - It’s a big vehicle/ house behind you, so naturally, your speed will be less.
  - The roads we like to take are small, many times single lanes for both directions, so pulling off quite often for oncoming traffic to pass.
  - I love to stop and take photos.
Because everything is slow, stay longer at a spot and truly explore it. We moved way too often, and we missed too much. Next time I would plan a smaller route but see it well.
The van comes with linen but not towels. Avoid the big fluffy towels; they take forever to dry.
Go old school with a map. After a few days, I found a fabulous map that shows attractions. This helped with planning on where to stop and not drive by an attraction. Cause turning around is no easy task. And then I would get super upset because we missed something. Plus, as a bonus, it feels authentic to use a map.
Travelling by van is almost like staying at home while seeing the world. Thus fancy clothes are unnecessary. A tracksuit soon became our best friend.
Speaking of clothes, in Scotland, gumboots were my best friend. I honestly don’t know how I would have survived without them.
Put your laundry detergent with your laundry. I can’t tell you how often I went to the laundry room only to realise I had forgotten the detergents. Finally, I moved it to where the laundry bag was, and double trips were a thing of the past.

Conclusion

Renting a Van or motorhome works out more or less the same as our regular trips with a car and Airbnb, but it is a completely other experience and one that we fell in love with.

Our first experience in the van was absolutely amazing. T had his hands full with driving our house all over Scotland, but he did a fantastic job, as always. We made mistakes along the way and learned a lot, but can not wait to do it all over again with my best friend. Thanx for an amazing new first for us.

If you haven’t already, go read all about our trip. Then we will end our Scotland journey in Glasgow.