Photo by Nick Dunlap on Unsplash

5 Things No One Tells You About #Vanlife

There are bugs everywhere, I can’t defend my home, and there are entire cities that ban overnight parking

I spent two years fantasizing about the #vanlife before I joined, and in that time I swear I read every article, saw every Instagram post, and watched every YouTube video in existence that mentioned #vanlife. Now I’m living the dream. While I wouldn’t trade it for the world, there were some things no one warned me about…

1. Wasps (And Other Bugs) Are Everywhere

I don’t know what it is about a camper van, but if I’m in an area where wasps exist, they always get into my van. It’s cooler, there are lots of interesting smells from my food and beauty products, and lots of holes in which to build a nest.

For the first year, I simply had to keep my windows shut when wasps showed up (which was always). Now I have a bug net over my doors so I can open my barn doors in a park without inviting wasps in.

While wasps are the ones that upset me most, there are plenty of other bugs. Ants frequently find their way onto my floor. Sometimes flies show up smashed on my windowsills. A few days ago, I found a monarch butterfly that had somehow gotten trapped in the door of my fridge, flapping…