We bought a van!

What, when, where, why, how?

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Welp. It’s true. Last month I wrote about all the things I’m excited about and here I am, only a handful of weeks later, demonstrating absolutely zero chill and diving headfirst into something that felt more like a ‘someday soon’ aspiration than a ‘right-this-very-second’ endeavour.

Low and behold, I am happy to announce that Sean and I are now the proud owners of a brand new (to us) campervan 🎉

Although campervan may be a bit of a stretch for what is now within our possession; what we’ve essentially bought is an old panel van that someone stuck a pop-top on and decked out with carpet. But the important thing is that it’s now our old panel van that someone stuck a pop-top on and decked out with carpet. A blank slate. A fresh start. A shell that we can mould and mend and modify into our dream home-on-wheels.

Excited is an understatement.

But let’s just take a second to rewind so I can get you up on speed on 1) why the hell we’ve bought a van, and 2) omg-give-me-all-the-details-immediately.

The answer to the first question isn’t particularly controversial. We both love camping, we both love being outside, and we’re both painfully aware that our bikes can only get us so far (despite our best efforts). By adding a couple of extra wheels to the equation we’re hoping that we can venture a little further afield to start our adventures, as well as giving us the option of a dry, warm space when the weather doesn’t play ball (which is—let’s be honest with ourselves—most of the time).

During winter I hated the fact that the cold, dark days put a real damper on my ability to get outside. Jetting off to Tenerife for three weeks was one way to scratch the itch, but probably wasn’t the most viable solution longer-term. No. I needed to find a way to get outside despite the grey and the damp and the drizzle.

Which brings me nicely onto question two.

👋 Meet Jethro (don’t ask), a converted 2009 Renault Trafic that’s going to solve all of the problems outlined above.

Obligatory ‘new van who dis’ shot

Three months ago I had very little knowledge when it came to vans. Arguably, I still don’t. However what we did manage to suss out was what was important to us and what we weren’t willing to compromise on.

There’s so many things to think about. Hi-top? Pop-top? SWB? LWB? Off-grid? Hook-up? —the decisions felt endless. But after relentlessly scrolling through Facebook Marketplace became a daily ritual, we gradually narrowed down our non-negotiables.

It needed to fit in a regular car-parking space

Sure, having one of those super large vans with enough room for a static bed, kitchen, seating and shower sounded fab. These tend to be the van of choice for most of the #vanlife influencers you see all over Instagram. And don’t get me wrong—they’re absolutely brilliant. You can basically convert them into an apartment on wheels. However, for a couple living in London with limited access to parking, we decided to put on our sensible hats and opt for a smaller van that would fit under most carpark barriers and within most parking spaces.

We also couldn’t ignore the fact that hauling a big-ass van around the UK’s stick-thin country lanes would become pretty stressful pretty quickly, so having a vehicle that functioned more like a car than a lorry seemed like a wise choice.

We needed to be able to stand up in it

The downside of a smaller van is a lower roof. This comes with the obvious disadvantage of not being able to stand upright and / or perpetually moving around with a stoop. Neither of these things sounded particularly pleasant, especially when coupled with the aforementioned unpredictability of the British weather, so we held firm that a pop-top was absolutely essential.

Aside from gifting much-needed headspace, a pop-up also provides an alternative sleeping platform. This means that, instead of having to convert your seating area into a bed every night (faff much?), you can simply chuck a mattress “upstairs” and sleep in the roof. Voila!

We didn’t want to start from scratch

There is (I’m sure) great joy and satisfaction from taking a bare-bones van and fully converting it into the perfect camper. Gutting it, cleaning it, cutting out the windows, adding the vapour layer, insulating the walls, installing the electrics…I could go on.

The truth is: summer is coming and spring is practically already here. We don’t have time to convert a van from scratch, because we want to be outside using it. That means skipping a few of the more time-intensive steps and getting on with the fun stuff.

Luckily, our van already has most of the foundations in place. The previous owner did a great job at setting the stage; it’s fully insulated, has all the electrics installed (including shore hook-up so we can use electricity from campsites), and contains all the “must-have” essentials for getting out on the road—a fridge and a Porta Potti.

Which brings me to…

We wanted to be able to make it our own

Sure, we could have invested in a van that was professionally converted. You know the type. The camper with the Rock and Roll bed, pull-out table, swivel chairs, and pre-made kitchen unit complete with stainless steel sink and electric duel-hob. We could have chosen to buy something that was a little more “polished” and a little more “ready-to-go”.

The issue was that all of these vans looked exactly the same, and we wanted something a little—well—different.

The van we chose had been converted by its previous owner, meaning that it was easy for us to strip out the woodwork and give ourselves a blank(ish) slate. This way we can spend our efforts designing a space that works for us and make our own mark on what is going to become a treasured and cherished home-away-from-home.

I promise to keep you all updated on the progress of Jethro in future newsletters, as well as our plans for any upcoming four-wheeled adventures. But in the meantime, here are some photos that beautifully capture how we’ve spent the last week.

1. Wondering why the fridge stopped working, only to realise we accidentally disconnected it from the battery when pulling it out to ‘have a look’

2. Jethro after being completely gutted of his floor and all his furniture (plus the last known sighting of the blue-camouflage seat covers which have since made their way into the recycling)

3. Working up an appetite whilst painstakingly cutting up cardboard boxes to map out potential layouts

Hard at work or hardly working?

And that’s all for now, folks! Sorry this has been a bit of a shorter post this week; all of my spare time has been spent tirelessly researching bike racks and daydreaming about #vanlife 💜