The driving trend of TikTok’s #Vanlife movement
Every year, just when it hits summer, my TikTok fyp decides to change seasons with me. From videos of cute picnics at the park to quick edits of someone’s travels, my social media always seems to be filled with aesthetically pleasing videos of individuals travelling the world. It’s always been a wonder to me how young adults can afford to travel so much, however, since the pandemic I’ve noticed certain individuals are travelling a little bit different.
From catching flights to backpacking around Europe, my TikTok this year decided to alert me of the new upcoming trend. A way of travelling that has simply been around for years and often had been looked down on in the past, travelling in a van. Almost every other TikTok user has glamourised the act of exploring the world with friends in vans and as a result have labelled it as “Van Life”. As far as I’m aware Van life has been a “thing” for a very long time, but it seems to me like social media has done what it does best and turned it into a micro trend.
Van life is a lifestyle choice made by an individual to live full time or part time in a van, whether it’s travelling or remaining in a put place. There has been a fast rise in its popularity, individuals have felt that this lifestyle often emphasizes minimalism, freedom, and a close connection to nature.
Van lifers often convert their vans to include essential living accommodations like a bed, kitchenette, and sometimes even bathroom facilities. These conversions allow them to travel and live on the road, often leading a nomadic lifestyle. While it may seem idyllic and adventurous, van life can also come with it’s challenges, such as dealing with limited space, finding suitable places to park overnight, and maintaining personal hygiene.
Van life offers a break from the tiring traditional 9-to-5 routine, allowing individuals to travel at their own pace and explore diverse landscapes. With everything one needs within arm’s reach, it encourages a simplified, more intentional lifestyle.
Most people that indulge in van life are purely looking for a simple life, reduce living expenses or to have the easiness to travel to new places and explore different lifestyles without ties down to a monthly rent payment. One of the biggest pleasures of van life is its sense of community, pretty much every van lifer you encounter will either love to talk about their experiences or give you their storage lifehacks.
The #vanlife community has recently grown an extensive amount due to social media. As with many trends, once a few TikTok users and influential TikTokers showcase a particular lifestyle, it can quickly catch on. The idea of van life has been glamorised, just because of the simple act of creators showcasing short clips of their travelling adventures. These TikTok videos often include many enthusiasts sharing their journeys, van conversion projects, story times, or simple edits of young people traveling with their friends. You are more likely to find alluring edits of someone’s travels than finding story times of someone’s setbacks.
Seeing popular influencers like @spindriftvan or @alexanderjrogers enjoying #vanlife makes it desirable, more aesthetic, and leaves you craving the adventures exhibited. I decided to interview Alice Sutton about her beloved van Remi, she’s mostly known to others as @spindriftvan on TikTok. Alice has travelled with Remi for around 3 years, she admits she wished she knew the realistic side of van life before embarking on her adventures.
When did your #vanlife adventure start?
Alice: “My dad and me decided to revamp a British Gas van and I converted it to my future travelling home. I started travelling just after the pandemic hit, I found that it was the right chance for me to travel after seeing how slow things were after covid. When we converted Remi that’s when #vanlife started becoming a rising trend on social media specially TikTok.”
Would you say TikTok persuaded you into starting your journey?
Alice: “I can say that I was encouraged as it was already a thought in my head. I saw a lot of people joining the van community through social media and van life were plans I had in mind for myself, so I jumped at the chance and carried on working freelance”.
TikTok is a visual platform where eye-catching content thrives. The scenic backdrops, well-designed interiors of vans, and the picturesque simplicity of life on the road have an aesthetic appeal that translates well to the short, engaging videos of TikTok and influential teens who have a desire to seek a different experience in their life. Even for those not planning to adopt van life themselves, the content can offer a form of escapism. Watching others live a life filled with exploration, freedom, and connection with nature can be a satisfying fantasy or a brief mental getaway from daily routines.
But does this mean TikTok has created a false reality when it comes to van life, has #vanlife just created disappointing standards that will affect other people’s experiences?
Your social media content varies, why is that?
Alice: “I am prone to posting good uplifting content when posting online, I would never want to discourage anyone from jumping into adventures. I feel like usually van life influencers just show the ups and never the downs, I just wanted to show more of a reality to van life”.
Have you had any bad experiences that not even you were prepared for?
Alice: “I knew I’d always run the risk of popping a tire or sleeping in a dodgy area. However, I’d never thought my van would get broken into. Thankfully I wasn’t travelling alone so I had my dad to rely on, but with Remis broken window and my passport missing I had to return home”.
Do you think #Vanlife TikTok accurately presents your experience?
Alice: “I relate to the ups of van life on TikTok, however #vanlife is mostly romanticized. Social media doesn’t show you the frustration with lack of space or how often it can be extremely lonely. It can be extremely disappointing for those who start their journey and encounter the downs and horrors before encountering the ups”.
“ I would encourage other people to try van life, for me it’s been a calming lifestyle which allows me to travel whenever I can but just be prepared for the ups and downs”.
Alice
Now I can’t say that I’ve never not had an interest for travelling in a van, of course I’ve wanted to jump in a van and end up in beautiful places but somehow, I always concluded that it was easier for me to book a flight and forget about the journey there. But maybe that’s the point of van life, what if it is all about the journey there?
To really tie myself into this whole process, as we all know I love making everything about myself, I decided to try out van life too. Before embarking on my #vanlife journey I was mayorly influenced by TikTok, I was attracted to the freedom and community. I was motivated to make my travels as fun and freeing as the ones I saw on social media.
Looking back, I am so thankful my dad decided to travel with me because if I travelled alone, it would’ve been a quick reality check for me.
Anyways before I get ahead of myself and spoil my stories about travelling in a van let me tell you a little about the van we travelled with. My dad fortunately bought a 2001 Volkswagen Eurovan in the summer of 2022. We call her “La peliroja” which means “Our ginger” in Spanish. Ginger has two beds, a kitchenet, and little space for storage. He bought this van for his travels and this year I kindly interrupted and convinced him I had to come with, thankfully he agreed, so we started planning our journey.
From looking at maps, to the best campsites, to park4nights (the best app that exist for van lifers), we decided to just jump in and plan our journey on the road. I’d like to say that there are only a few things that could go wrong while you’re on the road but unfortunately that’s not true, however I did figure out what the main disadvantages are that TikTok doesn’t show.
- Finding parking
We left our home in Madrid and drove up to Carcassonne, France, where we would be staying for the night. I used park4nights to figure out where we could park our van and ended up finding this amazing spot with views to a wonderful river. We set out the next morning and drove for 8 hours to reach Chamonix, near Mont Blanc. Now this is where we encountered our first problem, many cities do not allow sleeping in your vehicle. Thankfully its legal in Chamonix, but we didn’t feel safe sleeping in main roads and the caravan parking were fully booked. It is very likely that while travelling/living in a van you will not feel safe in certain places, or it may simply just be illegal to park overnight.
- Limited space
The lack of space wasn’t a mayor inconvenience for me, our van has two beds and enough storage, you can easily move around. Sometimes if I felt like I didn’t have enough space it was quickly fixed by the fact that you are immersed in nature, so I often went on hikes.
- Lack of amenities
We stayed in Chamonix for 7 days and then carried on our journeys, the views were as beautiful as I imagined, and the ups of the trip were exactly like TikTok. This time we decided to cross the border and stay for a night in Lake Como, Italy. This is where it all went downhill for me, I started struggling w the lack of amenities, and what I mean by that is I had no toilet apart from the vans porta potty which vaguely resembles a cat litter box. Something that bothered me at the start of the journey, but I got used to by the end was nature showers, no hot water or water pressure at all, just you, water and a bucket or if you’re lucky and haven’t run out of water, the tap!
- Weather & Social Isolation
On the journey from Lake Como to the Tuscan Alps, the weather was hot and cold, on the first night we found a nice safe spot in a field. When we thought, we were going to have a nice calming night, pouring rain and a lightning storm struck. The following morning the field was blooming with many more other van lifers, the community was so lovely and even made some friends on the road. However, as you’d expect they were all short-term friendships.
- Maintenance cost
While living in a van can be cheaper than paying rent or a mortgage, there are still costs involved. Your van needs to run on gasoline, and it needs its battery charged, which may not seem like that much money but the more you travel the more it costs you to keep your van running. You also run the slim chance of your van breaking down, it’s something no one wants to hear but trust me it happens. On our way back from the Tuscan Alps to Carcassonne, Ginger unfortunately ran out of gasoline in the middle of a motorway, fortunately I was able to get the tow to come pick us up, we weren’t so lucky when it came to the cost of the tow.
Now of course van life is glamourised in social media, but what isn’t?
I don’t many horror stories from this month-long trip apart from breaking down in the motorway and the €200 fine for parking illegally. As much as you need to be aware of the downs of van life, you must realise that those downs are mostly just the transition into a simpler lifestyle. And yes, while the videos on TikTok that are labelled #vanlife look fake or too good to be true, I realised as soon as I got to embark on this journey, I was in for so many adventures, hiking, peaceful mornings, new countries, new cities, sunsets, sunrises and so many other beautiful things. TikTok might only show you the ups but remember without the downs there is no ups.
So, I say enjoy your travels, let yourself be persuaded by TikTok once in a while. Who knows it might be the best adventure you embark on this year.
Feature image by Tom Milkovic from Unsplash.
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