It was me and “Frankie”, the van, on the road together for a month, driving over 3,000 kilometres. My friend Nelly joined me for the first half. Both of us had basically no road-tripping experience. However, there we were: aged 20 and 21, with the savings we made from our summer jobs, in a T3 van that’s classified as a historic car, driving from the North Coast of Germany all the way to Portugal´s Silver Coast.
Our travels would include the most beautiful beaches, kind people, lots of rain, sunshine, and many learning experiences.
A Dream Becomes Reality. Why I Decided To Travel With a Van
I have always dreamed of going on road trips with a van. I have seen many videos online and I met many “van lifers” and travelers when I was in Portugal in the winter of 2020/2021. I volunteered at a Hostel in Ericeira for five months and decided that I wouldn’t want to spend another cold and gray winter in Germany.
One day, while I was still in Portugal, my dad called me and announced that he had bought a T3 VW Van for himself. He named it “Frankie” and planned to drive it around in the summer. I was ecstatic knowing that we now had a van in the family. I got even more excited when my dad shared with me that instead of parking Frankie in a garage for the winter months, I could take it wherever I wanted to. I couldn’t believe it and I knew I would go on a road trip with it along Europe’s Atlantic coast. My destination: Ericeira, a place that already felt like home to me.
Now, this was something I’d never done before. Usually I drove automatic and not more than three hours a day. I relearned how to drive an old car like Frankie and tested how well I could sleep in it during a three day festival in summer. As it is my dads van and he uses it in the summer to drive around daily, I couldn’t construct anything on the inside. There is no insulation, no shelves, no drawers, nothing. So, I bought some Euro boxes to keep the inside of the van somewhat organized. I got a cooler, a powerbox, and a cooker. I also cut an old linoleum floor to size to avoid constantly staining the carpet floor and decided that I would just have to get creative if I needed anything else.
My plan was to drive along the Atlantic coastline of France, Spain and Portugal, over 3,000 kilometers, in four weeks. Thankfully, my friend Nelly decided to tag along for the first two weeks. We would be traveling together until Bilbao. I started planning about two months before we left by preparing the van and slowly organizing the route.
A bigger challenge was actually packing, as I not only had to pack everything for the road trip, but also everything I needed for staying in Portugal the whole winter. The car was filled with many clothes, skateboards, surfboards, wetsuits and a foldable chair.
Testing the Dream: A Challenging But Incredibly Rewarding Road Trip
Thinking back on it: Nelly was the best thing I “brought” on my first road trip. Nelly and I were friends before, but road tripping together tests a friendship in many ways. Being on the road can make you go a bit crazy sometimes. We were driving long hours in a van that didn’t appreciate anything more than 90 km/h. The three main questions of the day were always: Where do we sleep tonight? Where can we find a bathroom? What do we eat? Plus the occasional: we should definitely find a shower somewhere soon.
Nelly and I aligned our ideas on what this road trip should look like and kept a cool head at all times. We communicated what we needed from each other and shared or split chores equally. Being together on this journey could’ve been our biggest challenge but it was the best thing we chose to do. When Nelly flew home after two weeks, I was happy at first, because I finally didn’t have to share a bed anymore.
This lasted maybe two nights and then I felt lonely very quickly. I was very happy to be adopted by a group of other people traveling by van. I enjoyed having company on the road. It made me feel a lot safer. I know some people rather travel alone so I recommend figuring out if you want to travel with someone, and if yes, to choose wisely.
I can’t think of a moment I felt unsafe when I was traveling with my boyfriend. But safety was definitely a challenge Nelly and I faced. We had two situations where we felt very unsafe.
One was actually our first night that we slept in the van, we were somewhere in Germany close to the border to Luxembourg. We were somewhere in a forest, with no one else around. To get to this spot we drove through a small town. We arrived in the afternoon, walked around a bit and had dinner. When we were laying in bed, we felt pretty good about making it through almost all of Germany. Around 11 p.m., we heard a car drive and then stop a few meters next to us. It drove back and forth, doors were opened and closed, and we heard male voices yelling. We were so scared. Ten minutes later the car drove off, but we didn’t move.
We were too scared to even go outside. I grabbed a kitchen knife and dry shampoo spray to step outside for one second. Those were the only items we had that I thought could have some kind of effect on an attacker. I shared my live-location with my brother. Me and my friend tried to fall asleep, but at 1a.m., we both decided to drive somewhere else.
Our second encounter was at a beach parking lot, we were just eating dinner when a bunch of guys came back from the beach and tried to start a conversation with us. I answered them only briefly but they still invited us to have beers with them which we declined.
They left by car and we thought that was it but an hour later two of them came back, repeatedly inviting us to drink with them and asking why we didn’t. It was just us and a couple with a van in the parking lot. At that point I went over to the other van and held a conversation with them to signal to the guys that we were not just two girls traveling alone. We still drove off to sleep at a different parking lot. The next two road trips I never had encounters as scary as that. The more parking spots I slept at, the better I became at picking out the ones that made me feel safe.
Yes, me and Nelly faced quite a few challenges. However, not only did I gain confidence from dealing with those, additionally we got rewarded with an incredible time. We had amazing surfs at beautiful empty beaches, saw stunning sunsets in nature and took in all the sunshine. You can read more about my favorite stops on the road from Germany to Portugal.
My aim for the second road trip Nelly and I did together was for me to teach her how to surfskate. Therefore, we explored a few different skate bowls, which was such a cool experience. We had so many small daily adventures.
Traveling in a van has been one of my biggest learning experiences in the past years. I will always be proud of the confidence, endurance, communication skills, and adventures it brought me. Just answering the main questions: Where do we sleep tonight? What do we eat? made us feel accomplished every day. It made us slow down and destress. Even though living in an extremely small space on four wheels might not sound like the most relaxing way of traveling, it sure does make for a very special time. It makes one realize how little we need to feel happy.
My Advice For Your Next/First Road Trip
Plan Ahead. As someone who “only” had one month to drive over 3000 kilometers and wanted to explore some beaches and surf, I made sure to plan my route ahead. About two weeks before the start of the road trip, me and my friend sat down together and roughly planned our first stops.
We kept in mind how long we both could and wanted to drive in one day. We knew we wanted to skip most of Germany and get to the South of France quickly, because we prioritized better weather, beaches, and surfing. This meant long days of driving for the first two or three days and then taking it slower.
Roughly setting our route helped us enjoy and explore different places while also staying in our time frame. We felt less lost and more at ease.
Down the Park4Night App. This was such a big gamechanger for us. This app has helped us find the best, safest and most beautiful spots for (overnight) parking. It’s also been great in finding out where we could stay overnight and which parking areas were only for the day. We were two girls traveling alone and sometimes arrived at places at dusk. Reading reviews of others about the places and what amenities where nearby definitely increased our feeling of safety.
I have the free version which I find completely adequate for my travels. You can also get the full version for only 9,99€/yearly, which might be useful if you’re travelling more or need extra features and filters. The app shows you all the spots other road trippers have stayed at. The reviews give a great overview on what to expect.
We favorited places in the App even before we left on the road trip and always made sure to have a few spots saved for each night. When we weren’t sure how long we were able to drive we would “like” several spots along our route. Oftentimes we saved two or three that were near to each other. That way, when we would arrive at one and we didn’t like it or it seemed unsafe, we could quickly change spots. Now, after driving this route three times, the App is also a great tool to save my favorite parking spots in one place.
Trust Your Gut & Stay Safe. Staying safe while traveling, whatever kind of travel it is, is always important. However when road tripping in a van there are some specific dangers to consider. I was always scared for my van and what’s inside to be stolen and therefore took some precautions to ease my mind whenever we would park somewhere and leave. This included tying a strap between the drivers and passengers door to make it harder to open them forcefully. Additionally I bought a Steering wheel lock, to avoid the van from being stolen altogether. We would also always make sure the windows were covered so no one could see what was in the back of the van.
Ultimately, all of our documents, technology, clothes, my surf- and skateboard were in the van. We learned pretty soon that keeping our belongings and the car safe wasn’t our only concern. We also had to think about our own safety. As I mentioned earlier, there were two situations where we felt very unsafe and scared. It has taught us to be a lot more careful and aware. I recommend arriving at a spot before it’s dark and checking it’s descriptions on the Park4night App. Share your location with someone you trust or update them on where you are. Don’t leave any valuables where by passers could see them from the outside. Be aware of the area you are in and if there are other vans around.
Most van travellers are not looking for trouble. It has always made me feel safer to have other vans around. I would usually greet them and maybe have a chat, that way you can scope out their vibe. Usually it’s best to not make it look like you are “camping” or over night sleeping. How well you can make that seem, obviously depends a bit on what type of car or camper you are driving. I would always make sure that even though we had our surfboards underneath the car we could still be able to drive off, in case anything felt sketchy and unsafe.
Be Open. After I dropped off Nelly in Bilbao, I felt excited for the first 24 hours, mostly about a full size bed I didn’t have to share anymore. The next few days I started to feel more and more lonely. On day three or four alone I parked at a beautiful spot with a few other vans. A girl approached me, telling me I could join her and her friends for dinner if I wanted. I continued to travel with them for the next two weeks. I felt so lucky. This definitely taught me to be more open towards other travellers. Approach others and be approachable to travellers (of course within reason). I always try to keep some beers in my car, even though I don’t drink, it’s a great way to share a small talk after arriving at a new place and meeting some new people.
Leave No Trace. This is the one thing I think everyone knows. However, when I am arriving at places, I look around and realize that apparently it’s not common knowledge. I always bring a lot of trash bags to store all my rubbish until the next trash can. I also pick up other people’s trash if it’s laying around. In theory “leaving no trace” really means to leave the place better than you found it. It is not just for the next people parking their vans. It’s even more important to keep the surroundings clean for local residents, to ensure that those parking spots are still accessible for overnight stays in future years.
That also includes not throwing “compostable” items into nature. Of course, many vans and campers have toilet options, which should only be drained out at places made for it. I’m considering buying a mobile euro box toilet for my car. A girl I met while traveling recommended it to me. You shouldn’t pee or poop in nature. However if there’s no better option don’t just leave it for the next person to see. Because yes, maybe it’s not the most pleasant topic to talk about but what’s even worse is trying to explore nature around your parked van and finding pathways full of toilet paper and poop everywhere.
So let’s talk about how to do number two in the wild. Option number one is digging a hole, doing your business in it and closing it again. Make sure to use environmentally friendly toilet paper. The hole should be about 15 to 20 cm deep. I know of a lot of people who keep small shovels in their van to make the hole digging easier. I recommend a foldable one. Option number two is doing your business and taking it with you by using dog poop bags. That way I don’t leave anything behind, not even buried. Make sure to find a trash can soon, otherwise your car might get smelly.
Final Thoughts
I have a lot more advice to share, but I believe that the points mentioned are the most crucial ones. Going on a road trip usually means learning something new every day and always getting creative with it. Enjoying the simplicity and innovation. The way you approach each day is one of my favorite parts of being on the road. Every one travels in their own way with different expectations, routes, climates and paces. Therefore probably my biggest advice is just getting started and going on the road.
