Tired of sitting in an office? Longing to discover the beauty of the world around you? The solution is simple. Start working from a van and travel at the same time. We have put together tips you cannot do without. How do you make a living from travelling, or rather, how do you make a living while travelling? You can choose between two types of travel. Pick a tried-and-tested destination for digital nomads, or try travelling by hitchhiking, train or van.
Do you know what you must not underestimate and what things you must not forget? Setting off for several weeks or months takes courage above all, plus travel experience and patience. Working from a van or a campervan has certain rules, and if you follow them, you can find your dream job.
Table of contents
What is vanlife?
In short, vanlife is a lifestyle in which people live and work from a van or a campervan. This way of life is becoming more and more popular, especially among young people who want to travel and live independently. It is possible thanks to mobile internet and the nature of many jobs, where all you need is an internet connection and a computer.
Vanlife usually means living in a small space, which can be challenging but also very liberating. You can read more about the advantages and disadvantages further down in this article. People who live the vanlife usually travel to different places and take their home with them. This lifestyle lets people live close to nature and travel to different places without having to worry about rent or property maintenance. The downside is the fairly high purchase price of decent vans and campervans.
Vanlife also requires a certain amount of adaptation and organisation to manage everything in a small space. This can include things like keeping the things you take with you to a minimum and finding safe places to sleep. The ideal number for one van is two people.
Although vanlife can be challenging, it can also be very rewarding for people looking for an alternative way of living and travelling. Most often, people do vanlife for around 3 months a year and then return to their own home.
Read also about Ikigai and the meaning of life.
How to start working online from a van?
Almost anyone could travel in a van or a campervan, but work at the same time? Digital nomads are usually people who do not want to leave their job. They like it and their career is going well, so why give it up for the travel they dream of? After all, you can manage both together. You just have to want it.
“I would still like to explore the world. There are such amazing places all around, and my girlfriend and I would love to see them. We have bought a van and online work on the road will pay our way.“
If your job cannot be done on the road and you would really like to get away, perhaps it is time for a change. You can earn a pile of money in advance, hand in your notice and travel. Or find an online profession and start working from a van. It is bold, but if you really want it, nothing is impossible. Jobs that involve travel are limited, but if you look, you will surely come up with something.
What you cannot work on the road without
Whether you work from a campervan, a van or a car, you always need a base. The comfort of home. A workspace where nothing disturbs or restricts you.
- Electricity
- Internet
- Enough water and food
- A comfortable chair that will not ruin your back, and a spacious desk
- Time and peace and quiet
You cannot do without these few things. To be highly productive and get your work done quickly, because you want to see things, you must avoid every possible distraction. I highly recommend getting a solar system for your vehicle.
Using solar energy, a solar panel charges a leisure battery, which you then draw electricity from. The vehicle’s starter battery does not run flat, and you can stay in one place for several days without worrying that you will not be able to start the engine.
Some computer work requires a constant internet connection. The need for an internet connection has a big influence on choosing suitable places to park. Many times we arrived at an amazing spot but had to leave straight away, because we could not get any data there and could not work.
Be careful at campsites too, Wi-Fi is often only available near reception or the shower and toilet blocks. Before you settle on a nice spot, check whether the internet reaches you.
At the start of our travels, we did not realise how important it is to have large supplies of food and drink. So that you do not have to drive into town for water and food every other day or search the woods for a spring, it is a good idea to have large water containers and enough storage space for food. This will save you a lot of time. I also recommend learning to use water sparingly and not wasting it.
How to start travelling and working at the same time?
Is your first trip ahead of you? Working online from a van while travelling demands a lot of concentration. Keep up your work discipline when the whole world is waiting for you. That is why it is better to take your first van trip somewhere closer and for a shorter time. You will try it out and iron out all the problems.
On your first trip, you will also test the interior of your van. When we converted our van, we thought it was perfect, but we were wrong. You will always find things that seemed great but turn out to be inadequate.
What in the van keeps you from working? Which tasks take too long? And what do you dislike doing? Find out and try to improve it. Because a great setup can raise the quality of your work and cut the time you spend on it.
Your first van trip is a test. Ideally, running your vehicle should not take up much time. Above all, nothing must keep you from your work.
- Do you have a comfortable chair that does not hurt your back? Is the desk too low, or too high?
- How much time do you spend preparing food? Is the kitchen unit built well? Believe me, a good-quality car fridge is a great choice, as you do not have to cook every day.
- The small space in a van requires a great storage system. Clear plastic boxes with lids have worked very well for us.
Do not wear yourself out
Do not be sad if you do not manage everything you planned. You cannot, unless you want to wear yourself out. Remember that you are not on holiday, you are working 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. You have to get the work done first, and only then comes the fun.
Try staying in one place for several days. By constantly moving on, we lost a lot of time, and in the end we saw everything and actually nothing. Besides, familiar surroundings tempt you to slack off less than unfamiliar ones. Do you sometimes struggle to make yourself work, have trouble concentrating and keep letting your eyes wander around? Try not moving on.
Working from a van has its pitfalls too
Remote work has many pros, but also cons. You go wherever you want, you are in charge of your own time and nothing holds you back. But there is another side to it.
You usually need the internet for work, and your choice of places depends on signal and data access. Many times we planned our day and then everything turned out completely differently, because there was no signal or data in that deep valley. We had to go elsewhere.
Impatient clients or your boss may not understand your new way of life, and they may no longer tolerate late submissions the way they did when you worked from an office.
And what about living with your partner? Most often, it is young couples who travel and work from a van. Everything is great, you travel to amazing places and have more time for each other than before. And then the whole relationship can go wrong. Why, you ask? A small space, unusual living conditions, less comfort, the constant presence of the other person and many other factors can cause stress.
Living and working from a van as a couple requires a lot of patience and compromise, otherwise the relationship will fall apart. Try to sort everything out calmly, and if you do argue, do not lose heart and talk it through quickly. A big advantage of travelling as a couple is that you get to know each other perfectly, and if your relationship survives, you know they are the one.
Working from a van also has some undeniable disadvantages, but a lot depends on your mindset:
- Lack of privacy: working from a van can be difficult if you need privacy to concentrate or for work calls. You will not always find the ideal spot, and improvised setups can spoil the overall impression.
- Concentration: when working from home or the office, you have clear habits, but you cannot apply them in vanlife. For many people, this lowers both performance and concentration. After a while, they become quite frustrated with the whole process.
- Lack of comfort: working from a van can be physically and mentally demanding if you sit for long periods in a small space and the weather outside is bad.
- Lack of social interaction: working from a van can be lonely if you have no opportunity to talk to other people.
- Cabin fever: on the other hand, if you travel with someone, you are together 24 hours a day and you may start getting on each other’s nerves.
- Lack of facilities: it can be difficult to get access to basics such as a toilet or hot meals. Sorting these things out will take up a huge amount of your time.
- Lack of safety: working from a van can be dangerous if you are in an unsafe area or if you have valuables with you. This applies more if you travel outside the EU, though.
The best vans for travelling
In the Czech Republic, these are probably the three vans you will come across most often. The Volkswagen is probably the most stylish, and if you want a newer one, you will pay extra. The Fiat or Ford are cheaper for a similar year of manufacture and mileage.
- Volkswagen T4
- Fiat Ducato 2.3 Multijet
- Ford Transit
Tips and tricks, how to work from a van?
Create an online calendar where you write down all the duties and tasks you need to do. Then you do not have to worry about forgetting anything. Thanks to this, my mind is less cluttered, I can concentrate better on work and I am more productive.
The older generation will surely reach for a classic paper diary, but before you do, take a look at the Todoist mobile app. I find it great to work with. In the Todoist app I sort my tasks from the most important to the least. In the morning I always complete the urgent ones, leaving the afternoon for those I can postpone to the next day if I do not manage to finish them.
If you do not have a remote job yet and are wondering how to travel and earn money, you definitely need to look to the online world. To flexible younger companies that will happily hire you remotely, and you never have to see them in person. They only need you to deliver the work, and that will not be easy for you at first. For most people, it is very hard to enjoy travelling and keep up with a full workload.
Travelling in a van and finding your dream job is possible thanks to the internet, or more precisely mobile data. Data plans have improved rapidly in recent years, yet our mobile operators still do not offer unlimited data abroad. If that is your situation too, I recommend turning off automatic updates on your laptop so you do not waste data. You can download updates from time to time when you reach places with Wi-Fi.
Do you like listening to music on YouTube? Try to find another music source. Playing music this way uses a lot of data, because you are also streaming the video. And that video is often tempting to watch, which reduces your productivity.
Digital nomads usually travel in pairs. If that is your case too, then while on the road one person drives and the other can work from the van. It is not as comfortable as working at a computer at home, but it saves you a lot of time.
Unfortunately, it is not always possible. On a hot day, with the sun beating down relentlessly, I could not work in our old van without air conditioning. I do not know who was hotter, me or my black laptop.
Final thoughts
If you have made it this far, you have reached the end of the article. I hope you have learned new and interesting information that will help you on your journey towards a happier future. If, on the other hand, you are afraid you will not manage to travel and work from a van at the same time, but you long to do it, then you have to try it. We are all different and different rules work for each of us, but if you learn everything gradually in small steps, you will see that you can do it.
