Is van life possible and perhaps popular in your country ?

19 comments

1. As with a lot of these trends, it requires you to be somewhat wealthy before you even consider it.

   Unlike our neighbours, camping out in your car isn’t allowed. You are restricted to either camping sites—which are expensive—or to the very limited number of sleep-over spots, often along major roads and high-ways; not necessarily the idyllic experience people are looking for when they think of van-life.

   Another issue is employment; with gas being expensive, and campsites being expensive, and food prices rising and so on and so on, you’re going to either come from a wealthy background, or you’re going to need some steady employment. There aren’t many options for digital nomads in Denmark, as, luckily, the horrific and by all means regressive ideas about “freelancing” haven’t established themselves as thoroughly as in, e.g. the US. Which—IMHO—is a good thing. There is a growing precariat in Denmark, but those jobs are, like most, still geographically tied to their locations. Being a delivery rider for Wolt or Just Eat still ties you to the major cities, and seasonal agricultural jobs are largely covered by migrating workers; though, it should be noted, many of those have started settling in Denmark, saving many otherwise dying local communities.

   I wouldn’t recommend going for van-life in Denmark, most Danes interested in it go to Portugal, AFAIK.

2. It’s technically possible but just like the Danish guy, you are pretty restricted in where you can set up your place and gas is expensive. You also *have* to have a post adress. You could just stick with your parents’ adress or something but it’s something to consider.

3. It is possible and reasonably popular here in France.

4. I don’t know about where you would park it during winter, most caravan camping grounds are only open during summer if I recall correctly. I think the Helsinki one is open all year round, maybe?

   Van life would get pretty uncomfortable during the winter. A caravan / mobile home with heating might be doable.

5. It’s very uncommon here in Sicily.

   As for the rest of Italy,I don’t know.I travel by public transport.

   There are certainly people moving around by camper,on vacation… but afaik they almost always stay in organised campsites.That type of vacation is not dirt cheap either.

   I have never met a person here living in a van/vehicle while simultaneously working, apart from nomads (who tend not to be Italian citizens). But they might exist…

6. In Iceland, you can’t just park anywhere and sleep in your car – you must use campsites, and there are only a handful of those open year round. I know of two that have long-term spots. You would basically be dependent on stealth camping – which is difficult in such a small community because if you are discovered, word will get around – or being allowed to park in people’s private driveways. That said, I do know of one person who seems to be living the vanlife (if you define vanlife as “living in a van by choice”) full time while employed, but she probably has a parking arrangement with someone.

   There are also some people who live in campers/caravans because they would be homeless otherwise – they seem to be mostly situated in the camp ground in Laugardalur in Reykjavík, which has an area for long-term stays which is cheaper than renting a home. These people would not consider themselves to be vanlifers as most of them aren’t living that life by choice.

7. It’s definitely something possible to do in Spain.

   Officially, there are laws on how long you can stay on a camping, that can go from 6 to 11 months, which is also long enough.

   Outside camp sites, you can freely park (not camp), which means you can sleep, cook, etc. as far as you don’t disturb, but for example extending a hood, opening windows, etc. would be considered “to camp”, so you need to be careful. This also depends on each city and how picky their police is.

   And regarding being registered, the Spanish law allows “homeless” people to be registered in whatever place they are living even when that’s “substandard housing” e.g. a camp site, which would also apply for a van. It is difficult to do, but it is not impossible.

   Edit: I think many are mixing the concept of parking, spending the night and camping. To be clear, in Spain it is perfectly legal to park and to spend the night in your van (if you are allowed to park in the first place), but it is illegal to camp, and it is probably like that across all Europe.

8. possible but not very popular. Also sucks during winter

9. Possible, yes, but highly unpleasant or expensive in winter time due to extreme cold or expensive heating/rent at a camping place

10. One of my uncles does it. His employer allows him to park not too far away from his workplace, and then he drives around wherever he feels like going in the weekends, and tends to visit one of his siblings who has a house with a free parking a few meters away. Then he goes back near his workplace for weekdays.

    He doesn’t seem to have too much trouble finding where to settle. I couldn’t tell how popular or not this lifestyle is here though, I don’t see vans often except during summer time for the holidays.

11. No. Illegal to camp outside of camping sites and those are only open in summer.

12. It’d be doable in Scotland. Trespassing is a civil matter not a criminal matter (so long as no crime has been committed whilst on that land). So you could park your van up almost anywhere and just get on with life

13. Yes I would say its possible. But I’m only aware of one person who does it. Judging by YouTube it’s mostly Americans who do the whole van life thing here in Ireland.

14. Boat life is one option in England (not so much in Scotland, where there are fewer canals / navigable rivers, and the weather is worse).

    A boat can be cheaper than a house, but you are still going to need a fair amount of money to get started, and living expenses (including mooring fees, maintenance, fuel etc) can be quite high. So, unless you are living on a massive trust fund, you’d need a job that would enable you to work remotely.

15. In spain is so normal, and very popular here in canary islands

16. It’s possible as long as you find out where you put your shit, how you get water, how you get electricity, where some guard won’t call cops on you… Yeah, unsurprisingly it’s not popular. It’s only bit better than being homeless or living in tent. Not sure about exact laws, but good luck parking a van at random places and not getting suspicious looks.

17. I know more foreigners who lived the van life travelling sweden in the summer. But Norway has way more reasons for living the van life, especially the surfing and skiing.

18. The climate here is not the best for van life. You would spend too much on heating. I mean you could drive down to the Black Sea to avoid the winter cold, but why leave the place in summer, then?

19. Decently popular I guess, or some do it part time. (like they have a flat to live in but also a big van which they sometimes do a couple week long trips, and then return home).