Why a Van?
So I have just ordered a brand new van, but why?
Why do I need or even want one, what is wrong with my current vehicle and why have I chosen the one I have?
All in good time…
…I have decided to do a series of blogs about my new van from choosing to get one, through ideas for the inside and finally to building it and modifying it to what I need for work and play.
All these blogs will be called Van Blog #? and have a subtitle with the topic covered which should hopefully help with finding it later. To see what mad ideas worked and went well and what did not. It should provide a good resource for my own reflection and maybe will give someone else thinking of doing a similar thing some ideas of what to (or not) to do.
So why a Van?
Currently we live in our caravan full time and use it for a base when working in an area, usually Essex or Suffolk but sometimes up North or even France in some summers. It’s a great base and we love it but there are also many times where we leave it on a site for several days without using it because we are away working elsewhere. It’s not practical to tow it to places for short period and expensive in fuel to tow it. We are both instructors and work freelance around the country as well as run our own personal businesses. In my case Challenge Running and in Maxine’s Peritia Training.
As both our businesses have grown so our needs have evolved, we both now spend more time away from the caravan than we used to and use hotels and hostels if we need to stay overnight between jobs or travelling far for work. This is additional cost and can mean living out of a bag for a period of time as well as paying for campsite fees for the caravan when we are not there. We could put the caravan into storage but this takes half a day packing it up and towing it to the storage yard and parking it only to have to repeat it all to use the caravan a few days later and unless we are staying away for more than a week its not worth the hassle.
As we both currently have smaller vehicles, an estate car for Maxine and a Pick Up Truck for me its not practical to sleep in either of those so we use hotels or campsites. Hotels and campsites are not that expensive but it’s a cost we could avoid if we had vans we could sleep in. Maxine is planning to get a van next year when her current vehicle contract ends.
In my case I do a lot of DofE and Mountain Leader work at various times of the year and can be west of London one day and in Wales the next. Having a van with some of the comforts of home, some storage and heating would be more pleasant than living in hotels out of a bag and also cheaper. It could also reduce travel time and fuel costs as I can park near where I am working and no running back and forth to the caravan or hotels to clean up and sleep or even work on my laptop.
It means if we are busy with lots of work we can keep the caravan in storage more and this saves money and more money means more to spend on fun stuff like adventures and less time working needed.
Much of my day to day work for my business is online such as coaching, admin and planning. I can do this from anywhere easily enough with modern internet connections and can even carry some shop stock in the van and post from any local post office.
The plan is I can spend more time in areas where I can run, explore and ride my bike more.
As much as I love my current Mitsibushi L200 Truck you can’t sleep in it and live out of it easily and its not comfy to sit in all day on a laptop. In the summer and good weather that’s fine as you can sit on the tailgate or outside but in British weather that’s not that often!
I will lose some of the heavy towing and off road capability in getting a van but everything is a compromise and currently my Truck is becoming more of a compromise than a van would be and as my business grows and work expands I can see a van being a much better vehicle for my needs over the next 5 years. Just like My Pick Up Truck and the one before it have suited my needs well for the last 6 years.
Plus obviously vans look cool as feck and they go with my hippy beard!
So I have made my mind up and want a van so which one and why?
I will cover that in my next van blog post.