A journey with a purpose I’ve found out about Carrie Dougie last year through their extremely curated Instagram account. As soon as I saw her I knew I wanted her to be part of the Girls in Vans series. You know me, I can’t really resist a bad ass lady in a van particularly if she is working on a great project like the one Happylands.  Meet Carrie and Dougie and inspiration for many 1.What’s your name and where are you are you from? Hi, my name is Carrie. I’m originally from South London but I moved to the Sussex Coast in the UK about 7 years ago when I got my little dog, Dougie. 2. What ..read more

If there is something that puts a smile on my face is seeing other ladies out there rocking small vans. I love seeing how other ladies have solved tiny space problems and most importantly how they decorated their little house on wheels. In the past few months I have been fishing for the best small van conversions out there, and oh dear, there are some pretty awesome ones! The choice was quite hard. Why only ladies you ask? The main goal of this blog is to empower women like me to do whatever they like to do, with or without a guy next to them.  I have nothing against men but let’s face it, it ..read more

Is living in a van expensive? Is it cheaper than living in a house? How much do you spend on fuel?   Those are all questions that I get asked fairly often and to which (until now) I didn’t really have an answer. Traveling in  a van can be as expensive and as cheap as you want it to, it all depends on how many comforts are you willing to give up, how many miles you want to do and how organized you are.     Also, it will vary depending whether you are on a holiday and have limited amount of time, or whether you live in your van. I consider myself a ”frugal slow traveler’‘: I don’t eat out and f ..read more

Are you ready for the best rucksack modeling your eyes have ever seen? As you might have noticed, I LOVE being outdoors. The more I travel around, the longer I realize how important being out breathing fresh air is for my wellbeing. I have said it in the past and I’ll say it again: the whole point of traveling in a van is to spend as much time as possible out of it! I am  quickly becoming a hiking fanatic and are have been dreaming about completing long EU trails for a while now. A capacious, comfortable but light backpack is probably your outdoor friend n. 1. Until now, I only had a 20l back ..read more

I don’t watch TV, I rarely go to the cinema and don’t have Netflix. All the video content I watch is from Youtube and OH DEAR, I am so grateful for it. I learned everything I know on vans from Youtube channels, finding reassurance and inspiration when the idea of living in a van was a just a little seed planted in my head. When I started converting Pam, there weren’t channels out there dealing with the topic, now the web is BOOMING with travelers  sharing their experience,  van tours and van tips. So if you are lost in the sea of van related content or are simply looking for some inspiration ..read more

    Oh gosh. Where do I start. I’ve been following Kaya from One Chick Travels  for a very long time. I’ll admit, I have a little bit of a girl crush on her.  She’s super bright, unapologetic, climbs hard and has a real talent with words (I’ve been stuck reading her blog for the past hour). I’m SO stocked to have her taking part of this Girls in Vans series! You might already be familiar with her youtube channel where she shares insights of her life on the road together with tips and advice (Ever wondered how does dating in a van works?!?)  .  She also has a SUPER blog and a great Instagram ac ..read more

As you might have guessed, space in the van isn’t very abundant. In Pam, every little gap, slot and corner is jammed with stuff. Every thing I keep in the van has a purpose. Ok ok, maybe not the cacti, the fake pretty flowers or the seashells I keep collecting on Scottish beaches, but well  most of the things do. Today I’m going to share with you my 6 MUST HAVES when traveling in the van. Without those 6 items I would be lost. Seriously. Ready to find out what those things are?   1. FLIP FLOPS Flip flops are the best thing invented ever. They are small, light, easy to slip in and let your t ..read more

  Meet Franziska, the girl that got van life right.    Any time I look at Franziska’s pictures I can’t help but drool. Her van so airy and spacious and she always seem to catch the most magical dreamy light. Honestly, can we please meet and have a little photography session? And maybe switch vans just for one day? Franziska (who is originally from Germany ) has been traveling all her life. In the past few years she has been exploring Europe with her rather damn good looking van.  You can follow her journey on Instagram and watch her traveling vlogs here. Ready to meet a boss lady?   1. What ..read more

No, don’t worry, I haven’t decided to give up on traveling I still really enjoy solo traveling. Let’s face it though, sometimes it’s not all roses and fairies. After writing Why Traveling Alone ROCKS I thought it would be only fair to mention some of the biggest downsizes of traveling alone in a van. Ready? Here we go!   1. YOU NEED TO DO EVERYTHING For me this is by far the biggest disadvantage of traveling on your own. Whatever needs to be done, needs to be done by you. Whether it’s washing dishes, finding the next parking spot, asking for directions, changing a tire, figuring out why the in ..read more

Other than my bed, the kitchen is probably my favorite part of the van. On my first build I only had a two burner hob and no sink, which made cooking and washing dishes quite tricky.  As I 95% of the times cook my meals, I wanted to have a little more freedom on what I could or not cook (aka can’t cook pasta in a city parking unless you’re willing to drain your pasta outside your van)  and so decided to start looking for a more practical solution. As the kitchen space is super limited, I really needed something basic and compact. After a bit of searching I came across the Dometic HSG 2240 mod ..read more