So, how do we feel about vanlife two weeks after “moving in”? It’s definitely been a steep learning curve topped up by a giant jetlag, but we start to feel like we’re getting the hang of it. Here’s the good and the bad of our rollercoaster ride these first weeks.

The jetlag

OMG, the jetlag. I have never had such a bad time getting back into a normal rhythm, so there have been several sleepless nights, counting sheep, midnight walks, etc etc. To be honest, it might have been the combination of the jetlag, causing me to wake up in the middle of the night, followed by my brain going into overload, thinking about all the things we had to arrange, tidy up, fix and figure out. Still not sure whether the jetlag has fully gone, but it’s slowly getting better.

Too much stuff

Yeah, so we kinda saw this one coming.. Having the deadline of moving out a 3-bedroom house, packing for a 2-month trip in Europa AND deciding what to bring when you are about to live in a van is pretty tricky, so we ended up tossing a lot of random stuff in the van, thinking that we will sort it when we got back. It very quickly became clear that this had to become our top priority, as we kept chucking stuff from one side of the van to the other. We went through every cupboard, drawer and storage compartment, sifting through our stuff to find things we could put away in our storage unit. Now, two visits to the storage unit later, we finally feel everything has it’s place in the van while leaving enough space to live.

Where to sleep

Yep, another open door really. We needed to figure out where we could park the van overnight while sleeping in it, and we had to figure this out fast since this was a decision we had to make every day. I guess with some trial and error (waking up surrounded by cop cars, which luckily had nothing to do with us or so we decided when nothing happened for 15 minutes, but still pretty scary), talking to fellow vanlifers and becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of sleeping in a vehicle we’re learning fast. So far, we have only paid for camping 1 night, which was not even necessary, but just something we chose to do to be closer to our next climbing destination. Here’s a big shout out to all of our friends on whose drive we have been parking! 🙂

Give each other space

Thomas taught me this lesson, and it’s probably a good thing that he did. If one of us is busy in the kitchen, the other person (read: Myrthe) should not attempt to enter the kitchen as well. It does NOT fit two people. Yep, had to hear that from someone else instead of figuring it out myself. I guess I’m just used to doing whatever it is I want to do immediately, so now instead I go and sit on the couch and wait for Thomas to be done. And you know what, whatever I’m doing is actually never so important it has to happen instantly.

Home improvements

We had our first Saturday afternoon of home improvements. Or actually, I have no idea what day it was, since the specific days no longer have any meaning to us, ha! But yes, after driving around in the van stuffed with all of our belonging, something we had not done before leaving for Europe, we ended up with quite a few things that needed some attention. Like the shower door which kept flying open when we were driving. Or the bookcase which hung a bit lower now that it was filled with books. Or the drawer with all of our dried food which would fling open in every right handed turn, followed by the sound of dried chickpeas rolling around the van. There’s still a few more jobs on the list, which we are hoping to attend to in the next few weeks when we’re visiting a friend in Whangarei.

Having your home in the car park

Is so much fun! Like, honestly! Making a big lunch whenever, wherever you want. Having friends over for coffee after climbing at the gym, oh no, DURING climbing at the gym because you know what, we’re still at the gym, let’s do some more climbing! Doing my work (currently working remotely for 16hrs/week) from any random local library and having tea breaks with Thomas in the van. This is definitely one of the great things of vanlife, and we’re enjoying it more and more!

Driving out of Auckland on a Sunday night

The first time we did this, we enjoyed it so much we’ve been doing it every Sunday since! (Yes, I know I already claimed that we no longer know what day it is, but that was a lie, of course we know what day it is, our phone tells us). At the end of our first Sunday back in New Zealand (which was a good one, given that we spent it climbing outdoors with friends), we suddenly realised there was nothing more we had to do in and around Auckland until the following weekend, so we gapped it and drove down to Coromandel. So. Good. Waking up on the beach, going for long walks, parked up at any of the multiple free campsites.

After another weekend filled with work stuff and social commitments, we drove down to Waikato for a mix of climbing, cycling and picking up new rubbers for our back doors. Another awesome week spent far away from the city, with a variety of free camping spots to pick from. We just love how we slowly get used to this feeling that there is no rush and we can make up our mind about where to go on the spot. No need for planning (yes, I know, that’s crazy coming from me) and whatever we don’t get to do today, we’ll do first thing tomorrow. Or second, depending on what we feel like tomorrow.

So there you have it. All of our lessons from our first two weeks. Next up is a trip through Northland, where we will have our first go at doing some WWOOFing as well as more home improvements. Stay tuned for our next update!