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We have so many things in the van to help us with everyday life, so it is hard to reduce this list to only 10! We were very fortunate that our friends and family gave us a lot of items as wedding gifts when we got married in 2021.
In no particular order, here are the things we use the most:
1. Mattress Topper
The first thing we couldn't live without has to be our Dunelm mattress topper. On our first trip in William we quickly realised that we may have underestimated the hardness of the mattress that we had ordered. The first few nights weren't too bad, but this was probably down to the excitement of sleeping in the van for the first time. This excitement quickly wore off when we both woke up having had a bad nights sleep and a sore back.
Thankfully the perfect remedy for this was the mattress topper that is now obviously used daily (or, rather, nightly).
2. Heater/Fan
The van is equipped with an LPG heater which works pretty well and doesn't seem to use too much gas. However it is quite slow to heat up the van and, although it has the benefit of
having a thermostat, when it is very cold it is almost constantly whirring away as the van doesn't hold the heat in amazingly well. For this reason we decided it was best to get ourselves a small electric heater that can be used when we are plugged in (our battery would never be able to cope with the power needed to run this!). This has to be the best purchase we have made for the van since living in it full time. The temperatures over the winter were very, very cold and without the electric heater we don't think we would have survived in some of the places we stayed. The coldest temperature we experienced was -18C overnight in Brasov, Romania. This was one of the times where we actually left the heater on over night.
Obviously during the spring/summer months a heater is no longer needed, and therefore the fan has now become our most used thing. We have a roof fan that can both suck and blow (don't be dirty) air into the van. It thankfully also has a number of different power settings, meaning we can use it to quickly cool down after long walks in the sun. As well as this we also bought along a small USB fan. This has, again, come in handy quite a lot as this can also be powered using one of our power banks. Who knows if our current fan setup will be enough for even hotter weather, but so far at close to 30 degrees we have been ok.
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3. Mobile Phones
As bad as it may sound, our phones have definitely been our most used items. We use our phones for searching for places to stay/visit/eat, reading blogs on potential locations, communicating with people we meet, speaking with family and friends back home, posting on our Instagram, streaming music or podcasts for long drives, watching tv in the evenings, taking all the photos and videos we will one day look back on to remember our trips and everything else in between. We have been fortunate enough that our phones have worked in most of the countries we have visited. The only countries (so far) that they haven't worked have been Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro. This has meant that we have not needed to rely on ropey internet connections at cafes, car parks or campsites, but instead can use or phones to hotspot and download movies, tv, music etc.
When we first drove to Serbia (via Bosnia & Herzegovina) we didn't know that we wouldn't be able to use our phones, so we really struggled with finding somewhere to stay (we even had to listen to CDs on the 9 hour journey!). However, we quickly got used to relying on free Wi-Fi, even if it was a little annoying at times. Before entering Bosnia this time, our friends Amy and Josh kindly let us know that we could purchase a sim card for 10EUR just after the border, so we didn't have this problem again.
4. Sat Nav
With google maps being as good as they are, you might think that a sat nav is not necessary, however, we have a sat nav designed specifically for motor homes. This means we can enter our van dimensions/weight and it will avoid any roads that are not suitable for our van, e.g. any low bridges or weight restricted roads.
There have been a couple of occasions where the sat nav has stopped us going down a road that we would not have been able to fit through. On the other hand there have also been a couple of occasions where the maps are not quite as up to date as google and therefore we have taken much longer routes to avoid toll roads that actually no longer exist as toll roads.
To make sure the sat nav is not taking us on a random extended journeys we now set it up using google maps as a reference to compare the mileage and time of the two routes.
A few other benefits of the sat nav:
It gives us the speed limit on all roads throughout Europe (which google doesn't always do!)
It has the ability to search for locations using coordinates, helping us to reach places more accurately
We don't have to use our phones to direct us
It also includes a full list of loaded European campsites, attractions, petrol stations, LPG stations and much more.
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5. Power banks
Another thing we use very regularly are our power banks. These come in handy more often than you think as we are constantly having to use our phones to check maps whilst wandering around towns and cities, to check routes on longer walks/hikes, record our routes for posterity using various apps such as strava, komoot or relive, and taking hundreds of photos and loading these onto our Instagram stories.
We actually have 3 power banks, one is 15,000mAh and the other two are 10,000mAh. The smaller ones will charge a phone about 3 times, so we usually take one of these out with us during the day, the other one stays on charge in the van. We prefer to charge things during the day as that's when the solar panels are also charging our leisure battery. This system seems to be working pretty well for us so far!
6. Hooks/washing lines
Yes, we do mean coat hooks. You might think this is a bit of an odd one, but, another thing we quickly learnt on our Scotland trip is that we didn't have anywhere to hang our wet clothes when coming in from the inevitable wet weather. Before leaving for the Scotland trip we had 0 hooks. Before leaving for Europe we had nearly 15 dotted around the van!!
A washing line is a must for drying clothes or our towels after showering. There is nothing worse than waking up in minus 5 degrees and having to dry yourself with a wet, cold towel!! We now have 2 bungee washing lines permanently up in the van and a wire line to put up outside between trees.
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7. Omnia Oven
We have 2 gas burners and 1 induction ring on our hob, but what we do not have is an oven/microwave. This means meals can feel limited, as we are only able to cook meals on the hob. This was, until we heard about an Omnia Oven.
The Omnia Oven is essentially a donut shaped pan that sits on the gas hob and acts just like a conventional oven. This has meant that we are able to broaden our meal options. We have so far been able to enjoy jacket potatoes, lasagne, roasted vegetables, roast potatoes, and even a banana bread (although, we have not mastered this yet). (https://amzn.to/3LBFTTD)
8. Solar powered string lights
These lights have come very in handy, particularly during the winter when the sun was less helpful in charging our leisure battery. We use the string lights inside the van most evenings when we are wild camping, to reduce the load on the leisure battery, and when we are on campsites and we want to sit outside the van (when the weather allows it).
Not only are they rechargeable using a USB cable, but they also charge via a small solar panel. If you didn't think they could get much better than that, they also have 4 brightness settings, they roll up into a small roll for storage, and they even act as a power bank. What more could you want from some string lights! (https://amzn.to/3sOw8uV)
9. Camping chairs
As it turns out, you spend a lot of time at/in your van when travelling around. It is our home after all. The van is a pretty small space for two people to be inside all the time so having camping chairs (4 to be exact, 2 smaller chairs and 2 bigger ones) means we can spread outside the van and not only get away from each other, but also enjoy the sun and eat at our table outside. The smaller chairs pack up into small bags that are light enough to carry around easily.
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10. Levelling Chocks
It will come as no surprise that when parking a van (or any vehicle for that matter) the ground, more often than not, is not level. This makes for some awkward and uncomfortable sleeping. By having 2 levelling chocks we are able to raise the van either at the front, the back, or on either side. Another thing that comes with this is a spirit level. Sometimes it is hard to tell which way you are leaning, and by how much. We can never get it perfect, but it is certainly always better than when we started!
11. BONUS - Snow chains
We didn't think we would ever need these, but it turns out we did!! More on this in a future blog!
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