But, is it all true? Or is it for anyone? Or to be more specific, is it for you?

Here are 12 questions you should ask yourself before getting into vanlife thing. Of course, it’s recommended to find the right answers too ;)

1. Why do you want to go into #vanlife? The purpose.

This is the first question that one should ask himself and ironically, it is ignored by all. You have to have a purpose, bigger than “just for travel”. For us, the purpose was to find more about ourselves in a totally different medium than our home, friends, etc.

You will be amazed how many things you learn about yourself or your travel companion.

2. Are you OK with your self control?

Day by day living in such a small place, is a challenging thing for your mind who tends to play you and fool you. You are not your mind, so, how do you feel about self control? Are you OK with feeling alone? Are you OK with maybe eating the same food for a few days in a row, etc.

There will be a time, maybe after two or three months when your mind will give you some problems to fix. Most of them false and not worth the time. This is when your self control should kick in and take over your mind. Everything will be fine, don’t panic, don’t go back home or whatever your mind is telling you.

3. Are you okay to let go all your knowledge about what you know, about… everything?

Fore sure we all have “emotional and rational luggage”. We think that life it’s like this and you should do like that.. simple! But what when all the things that you thought are changing totally?

4. Can you really get out of your comfort zone?

In reality, for most of us, vanlife is about getting out from our comfort zone. I know vanlife seems like an awesome dream, and it is… but sometimes it isn’t.

Comfort zone might feel good, but it keeps you at your actual level. You don’t grow by staying in your comfort zone. And leaving it… is hard sometimes. But, as you get out of your comfort zone you start to discover the real you, the you that can do this and do that, you start to learn and grow.

Keep in mind that when you start to feel comfortable with a thing or a place, it’s time to change something. Time to leave that comfort zone and offer yourself a new challenge. This is how you evolve, this is how you grow.

5. Have you ever experimented living in a tiny place? (Small room, tent, car, etc)

How does it feel? Could you share that small space with someone? This is a bigger challenge than you think. The change, if you come from a regular flat or a big house to a fee square meters van that is you bedroom, kitchen, toilet, living-room and garage… is quite a big change. Be ready to embrace it.

And keep in mind that you might have a small house (your van) but you always have a huge garden (the Earth). Enjoy it instead of feeling constrained.

6. What do you think about minimalism? Could you adopt it?

We now live in a consumer world and you see it or not, you are bombed with “buy this, buy that, you need this, you need that”. The truth is… you don’t need that much. In fact, you only really need a few things in life to be happy and feel good about life.

Try to analyze your wardrobe for example, I bet you could give up at least half of it, clothes that you never wear or did not use since… a few months. Same is for the coffee machine, all the fancy pans and pots, flat 4k TVs, all the gadgets that tend to take over your life. Throw them away, sell them or best, donate them.

7. Are you a over thinker or just go with the flow?

We all agree that you need a plan for vanlife. From budgeting to car acquisition, how will you make money on the road, where will you go, etc.

But… try not to overthink. Put some action in it too. Don’t wait for the perfect time, perfect car, or perfect plan. They do not exist and they are all perfect in the same time. You can only do your best with what you know and have on a given moment, so, go for it!

8. How long do you plan to live in your car?

Our plan was to go full time living in our car, so, we had to consider everything from a bed big enough to fit two tall persons in it but not to large to waste space, a kitchen, toilet, an improvised indoor shower, etc.

If you’re not into full time living and only chasing the summer for a few months, maybe you won’t need a indoor shower, you can use a solar shower or free showers on the beach. You got the idea.

9. What car should fit you? (Small, medium, large)?

This really depends on your budget and your travel plan. Are going alone or with someone? What do you want to fit in your future house on wheels? Full size shower? Large fridge? Large bed? How tall are you or your partner?

If you are gonna live in it for more that just weekends, then you have to be comfortable in your bed, you have to be able to stand up without bending your neck and so on.

The beautiful thing is that you can find whatever you need. Small car, tall car, long car… you name it. Just define your way of living, your real needs and go shopping.

10. Are you handy? Can you build or fix things?

An important chunk of your “car budget” will go into the build. Given that, another big part of your budget will go to someone you’ll hire to do things for you, or, if you are just a little handy you could do by yourself. There are tons of YouTube videos and free resources to guide you.

We did it all by ourselves, in one month, from insulating to gas, water, bed, etc. All the conversion, from 0 to a fully tiny house on wheels. Might not be perfect for anyone, but it is for us… is a dream come true. And by the way, the satisfaction that you made it with your hands… it’s just so rewarding!

11. Summer time, winter time or maybe both?

We initially said that we will chase the summer and we won’t need a heat source, so we didn’t install one. It was perfect until now. Now, we think about going north someday, so we have to consider adding a heat source as even the summer is cold in the north and we are “summer people”, we tolerate heat better than cold.

12. Are you a nature person (wild camping) or a city person (established camping)?

We love wild camping and nature spots, and we have no problem staying into the wild. We have plenty of water for 4 days, lots of food into the fridge, etc. But, there are countries like Croatia for example, where wild camping is illegal. So, you have to blend in very well. Try not to build your car so obvious that is a house on wheels… if you prefer wild and stealthy one.

You will find yourself very often forced to stay in a city parking and is better to blend in, otherwise some midnight wakes from the cops will bring you some fines.

Same applies for wild camping into the forest. Don’t make a campfire, play a low profile as much as you can and, most important, respect the nature and don’t leave trash behind. Don’t leave your toilet paper there, I know is biodegradable but still… it takes a few months to disappear.

Otherwise, if you are more comfortable about camping, you really don’t need the shower neither the toilet, maybe you can even buy an RV!

Closing words

For sure there are many other questions to have in mind, but, in our case, these are some of the questions, that we realized in our trip (‘till now) and we think, how helpful it was for us if we asked ourselves before getting into #vanlife.

From #2hearts4wheels with love.

Website: https://www.2hearts4wheels.com
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We knew that we will spend a lot of time in Italy while living and traveling in our van (Shooby) in Europe, but we didn’t expect to give it 2 months, so there must be something that kept us in Italy for so long. Here are the things that we loved or disliked about vanlife in Italy.

North and West vs South and East

I gotta be honest and say that we liked northern side more than south, and west coast more than east coast. And this is because of the landscape, the people and the natural resources you can find.

Water and food

It was more easy for us to find drinkable water and springs in the north and west than in south and east. We didn’t spend 1 cent on the water in these 2 months.

There are different shops (local, small dedicated shops: panini, macelleria, frutta e verdura) and supermarkets everywhere, even in smaller villages and cities, but you can’t find them all in all country.

For example, Coop is a very good supermarket with low prices and quality food and fresh vegetables and fruits. But you won’t find it so often in south. It is a middle and north area brand (Tuscany).

Regarding the food, we’ve always tried to shop. from local people, farmers, not only because of healthy food but also to support the local area and small producers. Most often you’ll find them in Tuscany.

Pizza it’s a must try in Naples (Pizzeria Trianon or L’antica Pizzeria Da’Michelle) but we’ve found very good pizza in Genoa too (Pizza Express).

Another important thing is that you’ll always find garbage bins everywhere

The same with gray and black water: in any area is a free place when you can empty, fill and refill your van.

Roads and fuel

As we want to stay as long as possible in this vanlife experience, and considering our preety small budget, we avoided all toll roads and highways.

We only took the national roads. And these are way much better, almost perfect, in north and west. As you get to Tuscany and going down or east the roads are getting more narrow and bad, but not really bat. They are ok.

You will find lots of unpaved roads too, that are not so bad, but you can always avoid them if you set your Google Maps or Maps.me to do that.

There is no vignette or other road tax to be paid in Italy except the highway tax, and if you avoid them, the road is free. That is a big plus for your budget. And of course, you can always discover more by taking small roads than highways.

The fuel price, for diesel in our case, varies (at the time of the trip, 2019) from 1.3€ to 1.6€ per liter. As far as you go south the cheaper it gets. Also, there are some no-big-brands gas stations where you find it cheaper and still has a good quality. Q8 is often cheaper than IP or Agip.

The people

Here is a big difference too. In the northern side, you will find more italians, local people that are nice, welcoming and always up for a smile or a small chat.

South part is more about foreigners that work in Italy. Not so chatty, but also welcoming or ignoring you. Nobody disturbed us, in any part. People are ok all over, tho as close as you get with the south, they say that criminality and burglary is more common than in north. We didn’t verify that, and we also found bad reviews of cities like Pisa, Lucca or Firenze (north-west part, touristic zone). So, I guess it’s a common sense after all, that you should not let your phone or valuables on the dash or in view and you should avoid any area that you are not comfortable with.

Just listen to your inner voice and whenever you “don’t feel that place”, just leave, you’ll find a better one. You will be fine, we were.

Parking and sleeping spots

Here you can stay and sleep in a van or any car, in any public parking, paid or free, for a maximum of three days. There is a law for that. We’ve heard all kind of rumors and people saying either it is allowed or illegal.

We’ve discovered that it is legal once we got into Italy, in a free parking for campers, there was a sign that stated,m: “Ordinanza del Sindaco no. 02/2008 del 14.01.2008”.

The important thing about this is to not mistake parking and sleeping in a car with camping. Please do not pull out your chairs and shades and all other camping stuff in a public parking. This is illegal. Respect the place and the laws and no one will have an issue with you.

We’ve always managed to find a good place to sleep with park4night app, the free version. It is a must as it saves a lot of time when you are tired and looking for a quiet, safe place to sleep.

The Mobile Internet and WiFi

We are from Romania, and don’t know how much you know about it, but we have one of the best (as speed and coverage) internet on the planet. Others said it, not me. So, we are used to have high speed internet, mobile and Wi-fi all over. This is not the case for Italy or Europe in general. Tho, the speed and coverage is acceptable, there is a trick: get yourself a Lycamobile sim card.

We’ve also tried a Wind prepaid sim card, but you can’t buy any mobile sim card if you are not italian. We’ve managed to get one by an italian friend who bought it for us. And everything was fine for the first month, but, when we tried to recharge we’ve found that they rejected our cards because they were not italian. We also managed to recharge from tabacchi shop but, it didn’t work out, so we’ve paid 20€ for… nothing.

We’ve ended up with a Lycamobilesim card and for 10€ a month you get 20Gb of LTE data. The coverage is fine, no matter if you are in the city or wild.

The police

There are many type of police and law enforcement. As you probably know about the “carabinieri” that are more like a celebrity – you can always see them in movies, there are also “polizia locale”, “polizia di finanza”, some special forces with the “hand on the trigger” close to very well known places like the Tower of Pisa or Fontana di Trevi.

The thing is that as long as you don’t do crazy things no one cares about you and no one will bother you. We were stopped in traffic once by “polizia di finanza” – probably because they saw a big white van and thought that we carry stuff. But, as we’ve opened the door and they saw a little home inside, they only asked if we have drugs and they enjoyed the van. We’ve had a 10 minutes chat about how we build it, gave us some tips and tricks and leaved us alone. No search or anything else (only the documents). And yeah, they were very polite and always smiling.

Points of Interest

Depending on your personal preference, you can find POI’s all over Italy. This is a country that has it all. You can always find virgin beaches, mountains to hike, glacier lakes, monasteries, ancient cities and roman empire remains.

If you love wine and rural landscapes, Tuscany is a must. Here you can discover cities like Cortona (have you seen “Under the Tuscan Sun movie?) or Civitella in Val di Chiana, Loro Ciuffenna, Siena, Pienza, Firenze, San Giminiano, lots of castles like Badia a Coltibuono, Verrazzano, Meleto and many many others.

If think you will love some natural thermal baths, most of them dating since the roman empire, then you must visit Therme Libere Bagno Vignoni and Saturnia.

Civitavecchia it’s a must if you enjoy wild camping and beaches.

Anguillara Abazia has a spectacular lake with an even more awesome sunset and real authentic gelato.

Lago di Fusine is an awesome place. Two glacier lakes surrounded by mountains. Spectacular views for your eyes in the morning.

Closing words

Of course, we could write an endless article about vanlife in Italy, but we hope that we’ve covered the most important things and also hope to open your appetite for Italy. It is really a great country, with even great landscapes and warm people. Give it a try with a open heart and we bet you will fall in love with it. There is no other way.

From #2hearts4wheels with love.

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