Van Life with Kids and a Dog

When I initially designed the life of freedom I desired - it involved living in a campervan. We had a campervan since 2008, and have travelled Europe many times over. The kids have camped from being 6 weeks old. My son learned to walk in Switzerland and we have beautiful memories of him falling over trying to catch butterflies under a backdrop of mountains. 

The kids grew up with multiple van holidays, 3-4 weeks was always the optimum but long weekends were very frequent.

Over time though, I began to realise that when we were away, we were happy. We were less stressed and life had more flow. 

Waking up to a different view every day is beautiful. I prefer a van to a hotel as you have your home comforts and ease of cooking etc, but also you are closer to nature. There is nothing like opening the door or window in the morning to panoramic views. Or sitting on the top and star gazing.

When we returned to full time work, a house needing renovating and constant jobs, we felt drained. It actually made us dread the end of a holiday. That’s why the holidays grew longer and longer, from 3 weeks to 3 months.

At this stage of life, I hadn’t figured out how to create a good income from online work. I was still desperately trying to create freedom but had not yet mastered most of the pieces to this.

So, I dreamed of creating vanlife for longer periods - and this is what we achieved very quickly. We lived in the van for months at a time, often attending back to back festivals with the kids. At one stage we were travelling the beaches of Cornwall and Devon, and sat on a beach making income whilst our home was rented out on airbnb. It felt so good.

Later on we sold the house to fund a longer trip. We bought a one way ticket to Europe, with no return date. Only covid scuppered those plans and we ended up stuck on my parents drive, whilst living in a tin box in the ice and snow! We had 11 days of frozen pipes to the van, that was tough. The van was scratched by vanlife haters during covid and we didn’t feel as safe to wild camp like we had previously.

The last time we spent 3 months in the van, my business was quite well established. I was coaching from the van and had to take starlink satellite internet with us. This very pimped up van allowed us to get good internet everywhere, but even on an inverter it drained the batteries. We would then be hoping the sun would come out whilst on calls, to recharge the solar panels to provide energy for the internet!

After many years of van life, I have realised it has ups and downs. I’ll be honest, the last time I travelled in a van, with 2 kids and a puppy will never be repeated. The amount of stress it caused trying to run a big business, with a puppy jumping on my head at 5am. Trying to have calls in private and not frazzle in the sun outside, and always having to travel to fit with my calendar. Then never knowing whether we will have enough electricity or internet to work.

For me, as a mum and business owner, I have outgrown vanlife. I would do it in a heartbeat when my kids are not travelling with me. I have found that the best way to travel with kids and run a business, is airbnb or holiday rentals, where the kids can have a bedroom each and I have space to work with a strong and reliable internet connection. This is how we spent 6 months at the start of 2023. I hired a constant stream of airbnbs across North Wales, Cornwall, Scotland and Australia which allowed for peace of mind and sanity.

When planning a life of travels, it is good to be realistic that it is not just about driving into the sunset and everything will be perfect. With any form of travel and lifestyle changes will come some great experiences and challenges. Ultimately, packaging your skills up so you are on a higher income will allow you more choice when you are making these decisions.