T-6 days until liftoff! Drive-off? Move-in day! Departure day! Whatever you want to call it. The past month or so has felt like an echo of February and March, where we were busy planning and packing and preparing for our departure from Vancouver. Now, two months later, we have been busy planning and packing and preparing for Phase Two, where we move into our camper van (tentatively named Libby) and set off on our road trip adventure.
Last Friday we picked the van up from the dealer and got a tour of how everything works. Libby is equipped with two 60L water tanks (one fresh and one grey), one 10L hot water tank, a two-burner stove, a gas oven, a fridge with small freezer compartment, and a cassette toilet. The fridge, water heater and interior heating can all be powered either by electric hookup or gas. There is also a 12V leisure battery which charges off of a solar panel on the roof and powers the lights and water pump (and hopefully our laptops with some adjustments). Our first stop after pickup was, naturally, IKEA. We have been doing our best to purchase items second-hand from thrift stores or Facebook Marketplace, but in some cases we haven’t been able to find what we’re looking for (used pots and pans are surprisingly hard to come by here!). Unsurprisingly, I am tracking our to-buy list in spreadsheet to coordinate where we plan to purchase the item and what our need-by date is. We are currently tracking green for 5/20 launch!
This past week, we traveled to Dublin (pictured above) for a work conference, which was also a great opportunity to spend time with one of our close friends who did a similar relocation to what we have planned a few years ago. He now lives in Berlin, and we’ll be visiting him there at the end of June.
One of the entry gates at Dublin Castle
The one and only Temple Bar (photo by Iman S.)
Hearty Irish stew from the Old Storehouse Pub
Unfortunately, Jacob got sick on the way back from Dublin so it looks like we will have a few relaxed days at home while we continue to prepare for moving day. Hopefully by Friday we’ll both be right as rain (although we’d prefer sunshine!) so we can pick up the van from Jacob’s friends’ place, load up, and head out!
Here’s a list of the things I am most nervous about when it comes to living in a van, as well as some open questions:
- I get a bit freaked out when things are not clean and tidy. The smaller the space, the harder it is to keep things tidy, because the mess isn’t all spread out. I am worried Jacob will quickly lose patience with me putting things away before he is done with them, or following him around and wiping things down (a la those scrubby robots from Wall-E).
- How quickly will we go through 60L of water? How many times can you use a cassette toilet before it fills up? How quickly will the battery drain when we plug in two smart phones, three laptops and various other small electronics? How many narrow one-way Highland roads can we drive the van down before my heart gives out from the added stress? Only time will tell!
- How will our normal routines need to adapt to our living situation? For example, we’ll need to use less water when we shower, wash our running clothes in a bag, and make smaller meals with less leftover food to store.
- Living in a van puts us in a vulnerable position. I’m worried I might be quite anxious about safety and security, and that those feelings will take away from the excitement of our travels. But I think it’s a trade-off: some risk is required in order to have an adventure!