Plus and minus of #vanlife

Dec 12

Dec 12 Plus and minus of #vanlife

If you've read about our Costa Rica road trip fail thanks to our beloved campervan, here are my plus and minuses of life in a van.

PLUS

Ultimate freedom. Sayonara tourist buses! Hello flexible timetable.
Discovering remote locations that the guidebooks say are ‘hard to reach’
Easily explore the free side of Costa Rica which is a blessing to a backpackers budget.
You control the soundtrack. After 3 months of listening to Central America's 4 major songs on repeat - completely out of our control, playing our own music was a welcome sanity break.
Pull over on-demand. See a sloth? Pull over and watch it. Want to watch the sunset? Just stop and take it in. Bliss!
A fridge on wheels. Stock up on delicious local fruit as you go. Just add rum for an enhanced experience.
Camping toys! The sheer joy that comes with a van filled with camping contraptions: gas burners, mini-fridge, outdoor shower and converting the lounge room to a boudoir every night. Look out!
Wake up nowhere with no one. You're off the grid. There's no one around and you can do whatever you want.
Sleep with sloths. One night, we slept under a tree in a wildlife reserve while 3 sloths hung in the tree above us. Priceless.

MINUS

Toilets and showers become a luxury. You have no idea how low I’ve stooped to get access to a shower.
Confined space. A few weeks of yoga prior to van life will help you tolerate the confined space. Try to mentally prepare yourself before hitting the road #getoutofmyface
No matter how dirty you think your clothes are, they can still go one more round. Trust me.
When it rains, you WILL be held captive by the van.
Card games get boring. Really boring. Please kill me now if I have to play shithead again.
Not really knowing what you're parking next to. We generally park before dark to get set up. This meant that one night we parked next to a random nightclub that got going about 10pm waking us with lasers and sick beats.
No matter how well you think you know someone, after two weeks in a van, you’ll discover a host of new things. Some qualities worse than others.

Despite the tragic van breakdown, #vanlife was remarkable. Did it test my limits? Absolutely. Would I do it again? Without a doubt. Our Costa Rider was a test run for our upcoming road trip through Argentina and Chile.

Book a Costa Rica road trip adventure with Costa Rider vans. The other option is Nomad America.

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