First van life trip - help me plan!

Toilet roll and baby wipes 👨‍👩‍👦

Sticker that says something to express your individuality?

I’ve purposefully booked a campsite in Wales where there appears to be decent food vendors on site (llyn Gwynant)

most of merseyside too.

Is there anything absolutely obvious/essential we need that I’m going to get a load of grief for when we realise that I’ve forgotten it!! 😉

earplugs. see above...

My ineptitude will highlight us as different

Add well the huge "rented from ..." decals on the side of the van 🤘😎🤘

Van has a pull out bed and a roof bed right? Drop the awning and the tent. The nice thing about a van is you park up and you are done. The pain is that you park up and you put up 2 tents.

Forget sleeping bags/inflatable pillow take proper bedding. The roof bed will probably have a mattress in it. You might need a mattress for the pull out bed depending on how 'car like' it is.

has it got leveling ramps?

why take water?

If you were not eating out - bbq

beer?

hand soap and washing up stuff

Depending on where you are, insect repellent, and with this mad weather, sun cream

clothing wise, take what you would take camping normally

Don't over think.

Maybe add:

- crocs for walking across a wet field to the toilets

- a pee bottle for yourself (so you don't have to walk across a wet field to the toilets in the middle of the night)

- do NOT pack too much kit and clothes. A T5/6 is a small van and there's not lots of storage

- bike locks

Why do you need a campervan, a 2 man tent and a driveaway awning for 2.5 people?

Forget the tent/awning!

Windbreak can be invaluble for comfy/cosy evenings outside - not to mention can make cooking much easier

Proper bedding and pillows in a van

Self-inflating mats as the pull out beds can be a bit firm on their own

Kitchen roll

For 2 nights with food available I'd take the bare minimum - there's no fun to be had looking for/arranging/packing/re-packing loads of kit

Edit - as above, Crocs/Flip-flops obviously!

As already mentioned, I wouldn't bother with sleeping bags or inflatable pillows. Take a sheet, duvet and pillows from your bed at home. Way more comfortable. Its handy to have a big bag to stuff them in.

Flipflops or garden shoes for nipping out in the night or using the showers.

Mostly don't over think it. If this is a test run then have a go and see what works and what doesn't. We take very little so its minimal effort to pack up and go. Being agile is the big benefit, although less of an issue if you are just staying on the same pre-booked campsite

surely if you're a proper van lifer you need your instagram handle written somewhere on the van so all the other sad ****s can see where you've been.

you probably need a dog or even a cat as well as sime bullshit job in the creative industry that you can do remotely.

But really I don’t want to over think it

Why do you need a campervan, a 2 man tent and a driveaway awning for 2.5 people?

This is exactly what we're going to find out! No idea if the compact life is for us, or do we need to spread out!?

Interesting about bedding, previous advice (from camping friends) is definitely sleeping bags. It's all borrowed gear so nothing wasted at the moment.

Also intrigued by the thinking behind renting a camper, and packing a tent… 🤔

bail-out option in case one of us hates it and needs space 😀

again, it's all borrowed so no wastage!

I use a double sleeping bag, you can just zip 2 singles together normally.

Your going wales not the yukon, there's shops there you know.

Spend your money locally as well I often only take a couple of tins etc incase of missing shops and try and buy from independent shops

To be fair, a small pop-up tent can be handy for stashing bulky things like kids car seats to free up more space inside. Family camping in transporter-size vans seems to be an exercise in moving things around from one place to another.

Don't bother with the awning.

Small bags / packing cell things for clothes, they're much easier to stuff away than a couple of big bags.

If you're doing it as a test to see if you enjoy van life shouldn't you be actually cooking one night?
(Unless you plan to only ever go to places with a restaurant very nearby)

Interesting about bedding, previous advice (from camping friends) is definitely sleeping bags.

This is exactly what we’re going to find out! No idea if the compact life is for us, or do we need to spread out!?

You're very quickly going to find out that filling the van with unnecessary crap makes setting up camp and breaking camp a much longer process!

Ditch the 2 man tent, bring the driveaway awning - it give you extra living space if it's raining or cold. When you're out during the day it also gives you somewhere to shove your tables, chairs, BBQ, bikes, boots (basically the stuff you didn't take with you for the day)

The issue with duvet and pillows from home is ... yes you've guessed it, the space they take up in the van when you're not in bed. For a small van sleeping bags are good but they also take up room when not in use. A summer weight quilt from home will be good enough, if it's chilly put a t-shirt or pyjamas on. Take an old belt or strap from home to wrap around the rolled up/folded quilt to reduce the volume when not in use

If it's a rock and roll bed a memory foam mattress topper is great. Proper bedding, just roll it up in morning when you push back to seat. It'll stay on the back side of it.
Warm clothing, nothing else too much.
Don't over think it!

In 2018 the only 'eating out' at llyn Gwynant was the Wood Fired Pizzeria, which had long queues. Other than that its going to be a fair drive / walk to anywhere else. There's a small shop in Beddgelert, otherwise you're driving over to Llanberis / Porthmadog for decent sized shops.

I'm a fan of chorizo, peppers, chick peas and rice / pasta, otherwise there's more ideas here - https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/skills/series/food/camp_cuisine_-_five_energy_packed_dinners_for_better-fed_backpacking-13522

Surely driving to supermarkets in the van is part of working out whether van life is for you?

porridge! You're camping, bacon and mushroom wraps is the rule in our van for breakfast.

tuts "porridge", shakes head and walks away

https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/family-discovers-camper-van-just-a-prison-cell-on-wheels-20180403146692

I recently joined a FB group for selling Camping Gear, the amount of enormous tents and paraphernalia you NEED to go camping (inflatable corner sofas, portable fridges, carpets etc) being sold as bundles, having only been used a handful of times, is staggering.

Nobody has mentioned beer/wine so far, or spare batteries. Gas cooker? Matches and/or lighter. Spare gas canister too (keep a jet boil in my van, just in case).

What keeps the little one occupied? Paper, pencils, crayons, games etc.

Most of our gear goes into ikea bags. We never bother with quilts, way too bulky, always sleeping bags and liners. All sleeping gear is put into one of the giant bags used to cover a rucksack when flying - the bags are cheap, huge. My wife always wants her own proper pillow too.

We started with a T4 almost 20 years ago, also had young daughter and a dog to accommodate. Best significant purchase ever, but couldn’t afford new now. She’ll be getting a van herself in the next couple of years.

Enjoy

Most of our gear goes into ikea bags.

I love an Ikea bag. My van trip to Cornwall had 4 Ikea bags. One with wetsuits, one with warm weather clothing, one with colder weather clothing and one with cooking stuff like saucepans and my new favourite toy, the Ridgemonkey toastie maker. Job done.

https://www.campervantastic.com/product/camping-gear/cooking-dining/ridgemonkey-connect-compact-toaster-xl-utensil-set-and-carry-bag/

The most important thing isn't the list of stuff you bring with you (we always forget something).   It's to have fun whilst you're away !!!!

If the weather's good, you'll have a great time.

PS booze - you always need more than you think 😜

Make sure gas and water tank full. and grey tank empty

Why would you fill the water tank before you get there? That's just dead weight you don't need. Different if you're not going to be on a site but since they are just fill up before parking up.

Something tells me actually finding out if you can cook in it would be a plan. Unless this is a first trial run and you're just trying to figure out if it works for sleeping in or not.

I recently joined a FB group for selling Camping Gear, the amount of enormous tents and paraphernalia you NEED to go camping (inflatable corner sofas, portable fridges, carpets etc) being sold as bundles, having only been used a handful of times, is staggering.

Tell me about it. See UK holiday thread where someone thought an "investment" of £4K was about the ballpark to get camping gear. I've had disagreements before on here with folk that think an electrical hookup is a necessity (where else are you going to plug in the space heater?)

my new favourite toy, the Ridgemonkey toastie maker.

Wow that's expensive for white is. We have a waffle maker equivalent, wa about £10. Brilliant for the ultimate desert.

Cant help with the van stuff, but for camping - some sort of floor covering, whether you use the awning or not - Mat, picnic blanket etc. to go either in the awning, or outside the van door, or both.

48 cans of your favourite brew and a bottle of rum

PS booze – you always need more than you think

And the silver wine bag make great cushions/pillows for the van or the beach !

Wine box Merlot for me too, plastic mug though. 3 litres in this box!

Layout what you think you’ll need. Then take half as many clothes and twice as much booze.

It’s an old joke but has a degree of truth to it.

Mallet for pegs, ground is well hard currently.
Washing line and pegs or airer for your towels.
Bacon for full morning smugness.

Take some food. Whilst it is great to spend money locally, it's really hard for me to find enough in the local Co-op to make dinner after work at this time of year, it's like it's been burgled 🤣😉

we find wine boxes are the most space efficient

I've built our new van with a raised floor with storage. Made sure that aMany boxes of wine will fit in there.... Got to think about those trips to Scandinavia.

for me the whole point of having the van and going camping is being outdoors and cooking (apart from fish and chips if we're out and about) We always have a duvet.. even for the boys (4 and 7) as they hate sleeping bags.

Although we have a cooker in the van we often cook outside. I bought the cadac safari chef a few years ago and wouldn't be without it now

Few pics of our set up https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/van-track-world/page/2/#post-12466099

Head torches are essential!