On routine and van life
Dobar Dan from Montenegro!
I’ve got my writing mojo back so here we are – today I bless you with my millennial musings on ‘routine’ whilst living in a van that nobody really asked for! Since I last posted we’ve spent a month road-tripping and living the Dolce Vita on the coast and in the mountains of Italy, transited Slovenia, spent a few days enjoying the Adriatic coastline of North Croatia and spontaneously added 10 days in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the itinerary which was beautiful, eye opening and sombering all at the same time – travel posts to come!
I’m Liv – the rambler behind these posts. In September 2022 my husband Jon and I moved into our self-converted medium wheel base Sprinter van, Betty, and left Dorset, UK, to travel, live and work from the road, dabbling in an alternative lifestyle.
We’re exploring Europe, North Africa and Asia in search of achievable adventures, road trip style! This newsletter is where I share musings, recommendations and everything else Along the Way.
Anyway, onto routine. Of which we currently have very little of 🙃 Aside from making making coffee as the first port of call and waking up for work on the days that it’s on…
A lot of people living and travelling in vans swear by some sort of routine or daily non negotiables which help to ground the many other things that are in constant flux and subject to change – where you go to sleep, where you wake up in the morning, what you do in the day, the list goes on. Which is probably why I’ve thought about, attempted (and subsequently failed) to implement some form of routine – because having a ‘constant’ is helpful in keeping a lot of other anxieties at bay, and can act as a guide as to where and what one should dedicate their time towards. Having an animal on a lead (I say animal as for those unaware there are a lot of travelling cats in vehicles out there living their best lives!) helps, as there are certain non negotiables that lifestyles need to mould themselves around. Same if you have kids of course.
This ‘ideal’ of what a certain type of van life routine looks like from social media of course – the getting up with the sun, the morning yoga, reflective journalling first thing in the morning, or prioritising a run to ‘start the day right’… all of this is of course possible but like, really needs to be built into your system as a habit to be practised daily. To hold up a routine of any sort whilst on the go must be partly determined by the type of person you are/you were prior to changing up your lifestyle. This not so lightbulb moment came to me when I had a mini break in Lisbon and my good pal Lydia, in response to me saying that I thought I’d be doing everything I listed above by now, very simply said something along the lines of “Yeah but Liv, if you weren’t doing those things before, why do you think you’d be doing them now?” Mmmm, quite. Sounds like she may know me better than I know myself.
If we were working full-time from the road things would likely be different – more structure would be in place as there’d be a central ‘thing’ to plan around. This poses the question about what routines you’d actually stick to and maintain if the majority of our lives weren’t so structured around work – the getting up for it, the coming home from it, the what you have to fit around it. I guess that’s what I’ve been figuring out, unpicking some more social conditioning and overthinking… or actually maybe just consciously thinking about it for once?!
Another thought – breaking away from routine and the day-to-day is one of the key drivers as to why people embark and dabble in this lifestyle… interesting that I’ve felt some sort of need to at least attempt to form some version of routine.
Soz to anyone who thought they were going to get a glimpse into what routine looks like in a van – truthfully the basics are the same as in ‘normal’ life aside from some leeway with our morning alarms, more thought required when we decide to do some exercise (as in to be able to shower after) and more freedom during the working week to figure out how we want to spend it.
Do share any of your non negotiables/daily routines that shape your lives – I’m obviously interested in the topic!
COOL SHIT ALONG THE WAY
(A mixed bag of stuff I’ve consumed, travel trivia and things I think are COOL)
Visited Niki De Saint Phalle’s ‘Tarot Garden’ in Tuscany, divine
Boshed through ‘Colin from Accounts’ - must watch wholesome content!
The unexpected health benefits of travel everyone should know Diary of a CEO podcast episode (the full ep is also great) *justifying this trip*
The Van Life Atlas by Wies of @wiesvanlieshout - v useful community sourced resource to look at when planning your next destination. You can contribute your experiences too
Lol’ed reading Really good, actually as part of Along the Way’s new Book Club!
The Book Club is one of the groups on Along the Way’s Whatsapp community group for digital nomads/adventurers. Ample groups you can be part of and lovely people – join here
PS the book club is open to anyone! We’ll be reading Songbirds next
WHERE I AM NOW
(A new segment to this newsletter as the majority of these posts are written in retrospect)
Thanks so much for reading. If you enjoyed my babbling, I’d love if you considered subscribing or sharing with a pal.
Til the next one!
Liv x