SOLO FEMALE Chooses Moves into a VAN to Connect with The Wild
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When Christie first got to Canada, she was on this tiny island between Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast. She lived in a tent for six weeks while volunteering at a whale-watching camp. This island was like 2 kilometers long by one kilometer and there were wolves, black bears, grizzly bears, everything just in the area and she, and was so excited about it. She was basically right on the beach, He’d hear humpback whales coming up for breath almost right next to her, it was amazing. The first 3 nights she slept like an hour each night. A squirrel in the forest sounds like a bear when you aren’t used to it, and on like her third day there when she was finally getting used to it...a mountain lion walked right past her tent whilst she was asleep inside of it. She remembers waking up and hearing these crows just going mad and like "Why? I've just fell asleep like an hour ago", and then she got up and two of the guests were like, "oh look what we just saw and took a picture of" and it's this mountain lion that just sat on the beach like 2 meters in front of her tent whilst she was in it.
As soon as she moved into the staff housing where she was working she just couldn't sleep for like a week. The noises of the wild had become so normal, that sleeping in a building like that felt like being in a cell. Just doing everything outside and she just realized how happy she was just in her tent with few possessions like her book and headlamp. This realization led her to start looking for a van.
This is her 31 year old GMC Vandura, 1986. It has 364,000 kilometers, and she bought it for $2100. It came with an awning, but she’s never really in one place for long enough to be worth setting up. It has a high roof with windows that slide open, as well as bug nets on the inside which let air in while keeping insects out. The back windows on the side of the van also open up, which is great for keeping the small space ventilated.
The coldest part of the van, like many older vans, is the rear doors. While she’s used a lot of caulking to try and seal them, there always seems to be a bit of a draft. in the winter like so much air gets into there no matter how much caulking she uses. The window above it also used to have leaking issues, which she’s managed to fix with additional caulking. It’s a really big problem if it isn’t confronted early on, as mold quickly builds up in damp climates like British Columbia. Christie has had her share of mold problems and had to recently gut the rig to get all the leaks taken care of.
In the van she’s managed to outfit all sorts of additions that make it feel like home. A big space in her cabinets has become a sizable bookshelf. It’s two rows of books deep and already out of space rapidly. For cooking, she uses a Coleman bottle-top propane stove that she’s able to move around easily. Super handy when she has a picnic table or something but then for camping, if she’s going backpacking or just wants to treat herself she’s got an MSR stove too. She likes to cook outside, it's way more fun and if she burns something it won’t make the van smell.
She’s managed to fit her entire wardrobe into a single bag. It’s definitely a downsize from what she used to have. Before she had the van, she had three wardrobes full of clothes she never wore.
The bed is able to fold all the way back, but the mattress is super heavy. She got it from the reuse center. There's two bench seats underneath it that also have seatbelts, but when travelling with friends she’s found that you can just sit on the bed, and the seat belts will come all the way out, meaning she doesn’t have to put the bed away when travelling with passengers. She likes to have her bed out all the time. Since she’s moving around so much, she doesn't want it to take an hour to go through the whole process of setup and takedown. Underneath she also has massive boxes where she can keep things that she doesn’t need all the time.
She never used the sink a ton, so she decided to take out the water tanks and use the space it took up as storage. In the sink basin she has a collection of plants ranging from peppermint to some rosemary, as well as an air plant, which is great for the van because it's super resilient and doesn’t need water.
For water storage she has a 10 liter collapsible container that cost only $9 from Home Hardware. Water tank. she got this from like the 1940's, it's a picture of a cougar. she felt like she should have it because of my mountain lion incident when she first got to Canada. Essentials.
People say things like, "oh, just think about what you need to be happy". she thinks you really have to experience it. She says go and try like, maybe a long-term camping trip or something. Just think about all the material things that you have and how much money you could save if you didn't have them, if they didn't require constant upkeep.
Think about how much time you spend where you live. Do you get up and go to work at 6:00 in the morning and come back at 9 o'clock at night and you're basically just there to sleep and you're paying $1,000 a month for it? When she first moved in she realized how much time she spent watching Netflix or just scrolling endlessly on her laptop. While it’s a great way to take stock of what you spend your resources on, Christie also wants to be clear that it often isn’t as glamorous as it looks on social media. Van life is about sand in every nook and cranny and just being constantly dirty. It’s not easy, but that’s why she likes it.
Existing was just too easy before she got the van, nothing was stimulating. When you're living in small spaces like a tent or in a van you are really face-to-face with reality. She’s face-to-face with the trash that she produces and the water that she uses. She sees how much impact she has and since she’s been in the van, she’s probably reduced her waste by 80%. Don't underestimate what you can do. You just learn what's important and what's not, and once you learn that you’re able to approach life more intentionally.
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