I spent the last three years traveling full-time in my self-converted camper van as a digital nomad. Here’s everything I wish I knew before getting started.
The point of being a digital nomad is the freedom it gives you to design your life. No longer are you restricted to a particular city, schedule, or lifestyle. Instead, you can choose where you live, how long you stay, and how you want to spend your time there. In this respect, van life goes hand in hand with being a digital nomad. You can park in the mountains instead of an office, hike on your lunch break instead of scrolling at your desk, and simply drive on when you fancy a change.
However, it’s not all pretty park-ups and campfires with friends. I learned this the hard way after spending three years living and working on the road—driving from the White Cliffs of Dover to the hot air balloons in Cappadocia, and even across the Sahara Desert. It was the time of my life. Still, looking back, there are a few lessons I wish I’d learned sooner. While it’s inevitable that you’ll face challenges while living and working on the road, I hope to help prepare you for what’s ahead with this comprehensive guide to van life for digital nomads.
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Is Van life Really a Viable Option For Digital Nomads?
When it’s done right, nothing beats working and living on the road. With fewer expenses, there’s less pressure to earn and more opportunity to appreciate what this beautiful world has to offer. These are the things that make digital nomad van life a dream for so many who feel like they’re stuck in a corporate machine.
But choosing an Instagrammable lifestyle doesn’t make you exempt from hardships. While there are many pros to being a digital nomad van lifer, there are cons too. In full transparency, I want to briefly share both to give you a more balanced perspective of this picture-perfect life.
Pros:
- Exploring the world
- Having nature on your doorstep
- Less pressure to earn
- Escaping the corporate machine
- Meeting like-minded people
- Changing scenery at will
- Every day is different from the last
Cons:
- It’s harder to find routine
- You can’t control your surroundings
- Van life requires a lot of maintenance
- Breakdowns are a part of life
- Things may not go to plan
- Traveling while working can be tiring
Would I Recommend Van life As a Digital Nomad?
Absolutely, I would. Despite its shadow side, being a digital nomad van lifer was a privilege I will never quite believe I got to experience. Not only did I get to explore a dozen countries completely on my own terms, but I was able to fund it all along the way. That’s a pretty big achievement! However, there are some things I would do differently if I moved back into my van and things I wouldn’t be so hard on myself about. Since I can’t turn back time, I’ll share my best tips to make life easier for current and future digital nomad van lifers instead.
Tips to Make Life Easier As a Digital Nomad Van lifer
(From Someone Who Already Made These Mistakes)
#1. Don’t Try To Travel Too Fast
There’s so much world to see and so little time, but don’t let your desire to explore impede your ability to work effectively. While travel goes hand in hand with van life, the idea that you can make an income on the road while exploring every inch of the world in detail is impractical. Every van lifer goes at their own pace, and for digital nomads, a slower one is often more sustainable. The better you can balance the work-travel ratio, the greater your longevity as a digital nomad van lifer will be.
The better you can balance the work-travel ratio, the greater your longevity as a digital nomad van lifer will be.
#2. Make Sure Your Campervan Is Temperature-Controlled
Only when you’re sweltering in a heatwave or shivering in a frosty spell do some van lifers realize they shouldn’t have skimmed over the topic of temperature control in their van build. If you plan to work inside your campervan, it doesn’t matter how well-cushioned your benches are if it’s too hot, cold, dry, or humid. For the best temperature control, install windows, a roof fan, and a diesel heater. This combination of features will give you full temperature control, enabling you to concentrate on your to-do list instead of your sticky armpits.
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#3. Find Remote-Working Van lifer Friends
Sometimes, it feels frustrating convoying with a crew who have nothing to do with their day but relax and enjoy while you’re busy trying to earn an income without accruing major FOMO in the process. In the end, whether working or socializing, it’s harder to give either activity your full attention. If you struggle with FOMO and get easily distracted, it’s often more beneficial to surround yourself with people who are also working on the road. Reach out to other digital nomad van lifers on Facebook groups, apps, and Instagram—the chances are they’re looking for people like them too!
If you struggle with FOMO and get easily distracted, it’s often more beneficial to surround yourself with people who are also working on the road.
#4. Learn to Embrace the Chaos
Planned to get up early for a deep work session before an afternoon at the beach, but your batteries are drained? Arranged an afternoon meeting but your campervan neighbors are too loud? From unforeseen electrical problems to unwanted noise, there are countless ways your work schedule can go awry when living in a campervan. Therefore, you have to learn to let go of the day’s expectations and go with the flow—which is, admittedly, particularly difficult when you have work commitments to uphold. But sometimes, there’s nothing you can do about the distractions around you but accept them.
#5. Don’t Stay Confined to the Campervan
It’s not uncommon to get a bit of cabin fever when living in a campervan, especially as a digital nomad who’s eating, sleeping, and working in the same space. But just because it’s what we signed up for doesn’t mean we can’t crave a little more space or social connection once in a while. So, whenever you find your attention span getting shorter and your feet itchier, don’t fight it. Go and swap the swivel table for a solid desk at a co-working space or a cozy corner at a café. You’ll thank yourself later, even if it means leaving your pretty park-up.
#6. Do Your Chores!
Okay, I know I told you to lean into the chaos that van life can bring as a digital nomad, but that doesn’t mean we can’t at least try to create a bit of order. From finding park-ups and driving routes to food shopping and filling water, van life comes with a number of tasks that soon eat into our time. When we stay on top of them, it’s easier to stay on top of work too. Dedicate a day or two each week to van life-related tasks so you have the physical time and mental clarity to concentrate on work when needed.
Dedicate a day or two each week to van life-related tasks so you have the physical time and mental clarity to concentrate on work when needed.
#7. Maintain Balance (Work And Play)
The blessing and the curse of van life is that, being parked up by mountains, beaches, or with friends, there’s often something more fun than work going on outside our sliding door. But while van life as a digital nomad shouldn’t mean we have to sacrifice playtime for work, it’s important not to get too carried away. Don’t spend an entire week ignoring work in favor of fun outdoor activities just to lock yourself away for a week catching up later. Instead, learn to say no to yourself and others when the work guilt creeps in, and say yes when you feel on top of your workload.
#8. Create a Comfy Workspace
Van life doesn’t have to be about going back to basics and learning to deal with discomfort. If you’re working on the road, make life a little easier by consciously creating a space that feels good to work in. If you’re building out your own, you’ve got the opportunity to design the space around your needs. Consider everything from the lighting to the bench height, optimizing each element to your liking. If you’ve got a pre-built camper, there are smaller things you can do to make your workspace more comfortable such as adding extra cushions, a bed desk, and a speaker for motivational music.
#9. Give In, Go to a Campsite
Sometimes it feels like the whole world is conspiring to stop you from working on the road. Your campervan neighbors are making too much noise, the light breeze has turned into shaking gusts, and the charge on your solar panel is suspiciously low. In these cases, don’t fight it. Make life easier and go to a campsite. To some lifers, “campsite” is a dirty word. A big no-no. It goes against the point of the wild and free lifestyle a home on wheels affords. However, campsites can offer things freedom can’t: the guarantee of a toilet, shower, electricity, and best of all, a bit of peace and quiet. Sometimes, that’s priceless.
#10. Prepare For Unforeseen Expenses
While van life is a way to live cheaply for some, for others it’s an opportunity to save, save, save for the future. Working on the road can give us invaluable financial stability if we budget correctly. While the pressure to pay sky-high rent, electric, and water bills is off, that doesn’t mean we can earn the bare minimum to keep us afloat month by month. Be mindful that we can incur unexpected breakdown or repair costs at any time, and it could leave us in a pickle if we don’t have a “just in case” pot to dip into in a moment of need.
#11. Stay Powered and Connected While On the Road
While I have a few regrets about how I managed to work while living on the road, my power and connectivity solutions were on point. In my three years of van life, I never ran out of battery and I managed to stay connected in even the most remote regions of Europe and Africa. And no, it’s not because I bought expensive gear! Although for the peace of mind it can bring, there’s no shame in going all out. Read on to discover the solutions for staying powered and connected on the road, and find out what I chose personally.
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#12. How to Amp Up Your Campervan
Power is particularly important for digital nomad van lifers, so make sure you amp up your campervan as best you can. There are several ways to generate power, including solar, power stations, and split chargers. Yes, their initial cost is steep, but trust me, it’s soon forgotten when you get free unlimited electricity surging through your ports! That said, don’t spend unnecessarily. Take note of how much power you might require on a daily basis to find a solution that meets your amp requirements.
- Fixed Roof Solar Power: Opt for 350-watt solar panels or higher. This, combined with sufficient battery storage, was generally enough for me to live and work in my van comfortably.
- Portable Solar Panels: Keep a portable solar panel neatly folded in your camper as an insurance policy for days when the batteries need a little boost.
- Lithium-Ion Batteries: Although costly, lithium-ion batteries are a sound investment for those who need lots of power. They have a much greater energy density, a longer lifespan, and weigh much less than AGM batteries, making them more beneficial for digital nomads.
- Split Chargers: This is the magic source for every campervan setup. Whenever you drive, the split charger will give your batteries a juicy boost—a bonus on a sunny day and a lifesaver after a cloudy spell.
- Portable Power Station: Unpopular opinion here: portable power stations are only worth the investment if you have multiple devices to power and charge at once. Otherwise, they’re just an expensive accessory that takes up precious space in your vehicle. In three years on the road, I didn’t find a need for one once.
#13. Stay Connected: Internet on the Road
Connectivity is a big topic in the van life community, especially for those working on the road. We want the ability to travel to remote corners of the world without our internet dipping out. Is that too much to ask for? In this day and age, of course not! There are several ways to stay connected on the road, varying in price and reliability. Let’s take an honest look at the options:
- Starlink: With hardware prices starting at $599 and monthly usage bills ranging from $150–$250, Starlink is by far the most expensive way to get internet on the road. At this price, you’d expect it to be a fully reliable internet solution and although it’s pretty impressive, it’s not invincible just yet. What’s more, it guzzles your battery like nobody’s business.
- Portable Hotspot: If you want an affordable way to connect to multiple devices, this is your best internet solution. Ranging from $50–$350 for the device, plus $10–$100 per month for data, personal hotspots are much cheaper than Starlink yet many van lifers find them perfectly reliable.
- Travel eSIM: The benefit of buying a travel eSIM is the ease it provides when crossing borders. It saves valuable time and energy that might otherwise be spent searching for a nearby vendor to supply a local SIM card. However, buying data from travel eSIMs is often much more expensive than local data prices which, considering they use the same cell towers to provide connection, seems unnecessary.
- Local SIM Cards: If you plan to cross borders, it’s possible to buy local SIM cards to stay connected. While some countries sell SIMs at the border, others require a trip to the nearest mobile provider with your ID, which can be tricky when you don’t know where you’re going or how to speak the language. However, as the cheapest connectivity option (as a rule of thumb), it’s often worth the extra effort.
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How Did I Stay Connected On The Road?
This may come as a surprise, but in the three years I spent living and working on the road, I managed all my internet needs with a local SIM card. While SIM cards and data prices varied from country to country, it was often more cost-efficient than a Starlink, eSIM, or portable hotspot device might have been. “Was it reliable?” I hear you wonder. Absolutely. I’ve traveled from Cappadocia in Turkey to the Sahara Desert in Morocco, and I can count the number of times I had no connection on one hand.
I’ve traveled from Cappadocia in Turkey to the Sahara Desert in Morocco, and I can count the number of times I had no connection on one hand.
Ready to Start Your Van life Adventure As a Digital Nomad?
Hopefully, this guide gave you a little more insight into the ins and outs of van life as a digital nomad and a realistic perspective of its ups and downs. Now, you can hit the road with confidence, knowing your campervan is prepared for working remotely, and you’re mentally prepared for the challenges you might face. The next step is deciding where you might take your home on wheels, so check out our destination guides to figure it out!
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on Digital Nomad Van life
1. What is digital nomad van life?
Digital nomad van life combines remote work with full-time travel in a converted van or camper. It allows individuals to live and work from anywhere with internet access.
2. How do digital nomads get internet on the road?
Many use mobile hotspots, data SIM cards, Starlink, campground Wi-Fi, or public places like cafés and libraries for connectivity.
3. What type of van is best for van life?
Popular choices include the Mercedes Sprinter, Ford Transit, and Ram ProMaster. The best van depends on your budget, space needs, and driving comfort.
4. How much does it cost to live the van life as a digital nomad?
Monthly expenses typically range from $1,000 to $3,000, depending on travel habits, fuel costs, insurance, food, and campsite fees.
5. Is van life safe for solo travelers?
Yes, with precautions. Many solo nomads travel safely by researching overnight spots, using safety apps, and connecting with van life communities online.
6. Can I legally work remotely from any country while living in a van?
It depends on visa and residency laws. Some countries offer digital nomad visas, but in others, you may need a tourist visa and be cautious about work regulations.
7. What are the biggest challenges of digital nomad van life?
Top challenges include finding reliable internet, limited space, vehicle maintenance, weather extremes, and balancing work with adventure.
8. What apps are most useful for digital nomad van life?
Must-have apps include Google Maps, iOverlander, WorkFrom (for remote-friendly spots), GasBuddy (fuel prices), and weather apps.
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Emily Draper is an experienced travel and lifestyle writer and editor from the UK who has written for brands including Culture Trip, Hidden Compass, and tourism boards in Greenland, Luxembourg, and Copenhagen. She has travelled to over 70 countries across all seven continents, now calling Morocco her home.
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