Here's a shot of my wife Caitlin on our honeymoon in Norway. We lived out of this van for just 6 days, and I can confirm that it's no picnic. Sure, it's a lot like moving constantly from picnic to picnic. But the difference is your picnic basket contains all your clothes and supplies, and gets 20 miles per gallon.
"Van life" does have its perks. I'll spare you the full vacation slideshow, but we toured the epic coastline of the Lofoten Islands, explored beautiful Norwegian fishing villages, and made our best attempt at hiking like the Norwegians. And we got to spend entire days in places we never would have made it to otherwise.
It was everything we hoped for and more. And "more" included a few downsides. Like that time that Caitlin decided to air out her socks by hanging them above my pillow. Or that time that I overheated in the middle of the night and spent five minutes struggling to delayer. Or that time that we thought someone was pranking us only to find a herd of goats rubbing up against the side of the van.
All that makes the prospect of living out of a van full time a daunting one. But people do it, and they seem to love it. The New Yorker profiled Emily King and Corey Smith, who run @wheresmyofficenow on Instagram. They fund their life on the road—and days spent kayaking, mountain biking, and driving through national parks—through product placement in their #vanlife posts.
They've been at it since 2015, which makes them total pros. But even after all these years, I bet they'd be the first to say they have yet to perfect their already very minimalist lifestyle. Take an example.
In May 2018, Emily and Corey decided to remodel their van, which they named Boscha. An Instagram story revealed one thing they could use less of: clothes.