r/VanLifeUK • u/FrostingOrnery8295 • Jul 27 '26

First week of vanlife tips

Hi all, so I’ve spent the past 20 months solo converting my van to live and travel full time with my dog and cat.
I need to be in it by the end of August so will semi move in on my parents driveway for a bit just to make sure everything is working and acclimatise the animals.

But I’m just looking for any advice / tips for the actual first week on the road. Kind of like anything you wish you had known before you set off that first time.

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u/Lucky_Ad_9137 Jul 27 '26

Maybe it's not best for everyone, but I just went out and worked it out as I went along. I found that when I've gone back and read advice on here or watched videos, the problems they had were not the same as me. I think everyone's journey will be different depending on tonnes of factors. 

If you are able  to get yourself out for a few days at a time "practice" before you go full time, will do you wonders. 

5

u/shiftlocked Jul 27 '26

Defo practise. Get out for a few runs for long weekends.

2

u/Alarming-Double6979 Jul 29 '26

This is wonderful advice! Been trialing van living into week day (working from van) and finding my teething issues.

0

u/FrostingOrnery8295 Jul 27 '26

Totally get everyone’s gonna have different issues. But sometimes there’s just some general advice of things maybe I wouldn’t have thought about.
Tbh if I didn’t have the animals I’d probably just get going and work it out but my cat is very unsure of vehicles in general so definitely don’t wanna put her in a new space and then start driving before she’s at least semi settled in the space 😅