When I was younger, I dreamed about hitting the road. I knew very little of nomadic life; all I knew was that I wanted to do it. So when I first discovered vanlife, I knew it was for me. When I introduced it to Isiah, he was on board. He was similarly attracted to the freedom, affordability, and adventure this lifestyle promised.

Good things take time, so we took it slow. We didn’t end up buying our van until 2018. And over the next two years, we slowly built our new home—with plans to move in full-time in late 2020. Seeing that year, I’m sure you can guess what happens next.

Our first trips in Clyde—from the Eastern Sierra to Big Sur!

As the pandemic hit, our situation changed, and our timeline was mildly accelerated. I was laid off from my full-time job, and living in the SF Bay Area was too expensive to justify when we couldn’t even go out and enjoy the city. So, once our apartment lease was up, we packed up our trusty van, “Clyde,” and headed out into the great adventure.

In the beginning, we weren’t able to travel for months due to the whole COVID thing. Still, I consider this “moving in.” And once the world opened back up, we started to travel constantly and consistently—trips to Joshua Tree, days spent working at the beach, long hauls to Oregon, visits to our old stomping ground in San Francisco, mini-vacations in Utah and New Mexico, big time journeys to La Paz in Baja, Mexico—and so many other escapades.

Five years went by real fast. You blink, and suddenly it’s been long enough that you feel like you actually have life advice for aspiring vanlifers—as a couple, as a business owner, and as an individual.

Common Questions We Get as Vanlifers

Do you have a home base? Yes, but it’s basically a way to have a mailbox and a legal address. Not having an address makes everything harder—from getting employment to filing taxes, receiving packages, or keeping storage.

Fortunately, we have friends and family willing to help us out here. One day we’ll have a house of our own, but for now, this system works.

How do you not get sick of each other? Honestly, I feel like we are a special case in that we almost never get sick of each other. We get along super well—which is essential when you are living in 80 square feet, wrestling road conditions, constantly making plans, sharing chores, working our jobs, and everything else that this lifestyle entails.

For us, this is manageable because good-faith communication is the core of everything we do.

Other couples have told us they simply cannot imagine this. And that’s fine. I guess it’s all about knowing what you want out of life, and if lots of solo time is crucial for your well-being, vanlife might not be for you.

The hard part of living in a van with your partner full-time is that you never get a break from each other. There are also difficulties like needing to climb over each other to leave or grab something, or taking meetings at the same time. It all comes down to communication and some planned time off. We sometimes do activities solo or with friends, so we’re not always together.

On the flip side, having another person in the van is super helpful when you’re way too busy to think straight, you’re sick, you want to swap off driving, etc. Isiah and I are such great partners that we both feel blessed that we can totally trust each other.

Twin Falls, Idaho | White Sands NP, New Mexico | Hill Country, Texas | Yosemite NP, CA

Where do you shower? Vanlife forces you to rethink cleanliness and personal hygiene. Getting a legit, hot shower with good water pressure is rarely consistent.

We take showers in gyms, state park campgrounds, hostels, or at friends’ houses. If we are working a wedding, we almost always rent a hotel or Airbnb to get cleaned up, nice and proper for the festivities. Other times, we simply do not have the option to shower—so we lean on wet-wipe baths, sponge baths in the van, or even a small gravity shower outside if the weather is nice.

Each of these options have their own drawbacks. Gym showers are inconsistent regarding water temperature, cleanliness, wait times, and availability. Some are great, some are terrible. Campground showers and hostels have the same issues, but cost a bit more (even if it's just a pocketful of quarters). Gravity showers are better than wet wipes or sponge baths, but bathing amongst the elements can be cold, windy, dusty, or buggy. But still, it’s better than nothing.

How do you use the bathroom? To be delicate, you get accustomed to public bathrooms. If you are camping off-grid, you do your business the same way a backpack hiker would: burying it or packing it out.

How do you get Wi-Fi or power? We have a great solar-power setup in the van, but it’s not perfect. We get plenty of energy to charge devices, run lights, cool our fridge, control our Wi-Fi, etc. Especially on sunny days.

Limited sunlight in late winter or on rainy weeks can push us to the limit. So, we might need to hop into a coffee shop or library on those days.

As for Wi-Fi, we have a few options. The first is Starlink, which provides powerful internet speeds at an affordable-enough price, even off-grid. You just have to be aware of trees or things blocking the skyline.

Yes, we use Starlink. And no, I’m not a fan of Elon Musk. Sometimes you just gotta take the moral hit, especially when it makes your life much easier. Having consistent reception for video calls and uploading thousands of high-quality photos was nearly impossible before Starlink. Now it’s a breeze.

Otherwise, we have internet on our cell phones. Isiah swears by Visible Wireless because they never throttle down his data usage or speeds, which can sometimes be easier than setting up the Starlink.

Having a big van means we can block our couples when they’re changing in the field.

How do you market yourself without a permanent home? I’m a traveling wedding photographer. So, it’s pretty easy to market myself as willing and able to meet couples where they envision saying “I do.”

One drawback is that my travel schedule can be complex. But that’s for me to worry about, not my couples.

Generally, I stick to the American Southwest, specifically California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. But I’m willing to go wherever my couples need me.

One of the better spots we’ve camped in the Eastern Sierra.

How do you find places to camp or stay? I could talk about this for hours. But just to give you a taste, here are a few tips.

We use Sekr and iOverlander pretty regularly. These are apps that other RVers and vanlifers use to find campsites, resources, and the like. It can be helpful for areas that we aren’t super familiar with.

Beyond that, I spend a lot of time getting acquainted with public land—which is crucial for my career as an outdoor wedding and elopement photographer anyway.

Weddings I’ve captured on public lands: Phoenix & Keion in Mammoth Lakes, Kate & Brandon in Bishop, Kaleb & Malachi in Alabama Hills

Camping on BLM is our go-to. We can often find free opportunities that are private, beautiful, and spacious.

Vanlife isn’t all Instagrammable landscapes, though. We’ve definitely spent nights in Walmart parking lots, Flying J gas stations, truck stops, rest stops, casinos, and semi-legal street parking.

It was over 100º when this photo was taken. We were waiting for the sun to go down to capture a comet!

How do you deal with the elements? We spend a good deal of our time in deserts, where we expect heat and wind. Isiah is great at being hot—I’m a little less comfortable in high temperatures, but I deal.

Small USB fans keep us cool, and we’ve mostly mastered the art of cross ventilation by opening windows and doors. Reflectrix is great for blocking the windshield and substantially reduces the temp. We’ve thought about getting a portable A/C, but it’s more of a wait-and-see for now.

It’s much tougher for both of us when it’s cold and rainy. Not only do you pull in less electricity in cloudy weather, but rain makes it super boring to be inside. As Isiah says, “I love vanlife, I hate submarine life.” We got the van to be outside. And if it’s too wet to be outside, it sucks.

Well can’t you be outside in the rain? Sure. But we have to bring our soaking wet clothes inside. Which isn’t great.

And no, we don’t have a heater in the van. People swear by the Chinese diesel heaters, but we’re going without it for the time being, since we don’t spend a ton of time in places where temperatures drop below 30ºF.

Final Thoughts on Vanlife

A lot of folks ask us about vanlife, because they are interested in the lifestyle. And to be honest, only you can make that decision for yourself.

If you are willing and able to live nomadically, to forgo showers, to always be thinking about the next errand, to pare down your belongings… If all of that (and more) is doable for you, it might be the life you’re looking for.

Personally, I’ve felt very fulfilled by this lifestyle. And I’ve had more good days than bad. The open road with my husband, the joys of the natural world, saving money by not paying rent—it’s been awesome.

When I think back to life before the van—when it was just an aspiration of mine—I know no one could talk me out of it. At the time, Isiah helped me slow down to more carefully plan things out. But we were always on our way to vanlife.

If you feel the same way, then I might just see you on the open road!