Suggestions, please!!!

[FlipFlops]

Hi,
I am new on here and right now I am not on the road---yet. I am feeling a little overwhelmed and my confidence about getting started seems to need some encouraging and HELP.

I sometimes wonder if I should just buy an cheap van, toss in an air mattresses and worry about everything else later. 

Some of the first steps I have taken is getting rid of most of my stuff. DOWNSIZING. I live in a tiny apartment, but I think its in my blood to be a nomad.

I am not that creative. When I see other peoples vans and I am in awe at the creativity, the attention to detail, the interesting little places for everything.

Please share your best tips, I want to hit the road ASAP!!!

 

[flying kurbmaster]

buy a camp cot or a mattress a container for water, a camp stove of some description, a couple of cooking pots, a few dishes something to wash dishes in, a bucket and a pee bottle, have a nice trip, you can and will sort it out as you go if hitting the road is a priority, you don't need to have it all sorted, on the first day.

 

[SternWake]

Yep I started with absolutely the minimum, which is a bed.
Took a bunch of travelling to build, in my mind, the perfect interior for me, then an actual spot and the funds to gut the interior and build it as I wanted.

A comfy bed is paramount in my opinion. If you don't sleep good, everything becomes harder to deal with.

 

[TMG51]

Like the other guys said, if you don't yet have a sense of what you need, hit the road and figure it out on the way. However don't start with an air mattress. Find a futon mattress or basically anything more insulated than air.

 

[HarmonicaBruce]

Cot, sleeping bag, cooler, bucket, long underwear, suitcase, toolbox, guitar (or ukulele), water jug, radio, cell phone, check book, credit card.  Thats all you need.

 

[FlipFlops]

buy a camp cot or a mattress a container for water, a camp stove of some description, a couple of cooking pots, a few dishes something to wash dishes in, a bucket and a pee bottle, have a nice trip, you can and will sort it out as you go if hitting the road is a priority, you don't need to have it all sorted, on the first day.

Thank you!! I think trying to figure it all out has left me frozen!!

 

[FlipFlops]

Like the other guys said, if you don't yet have a sense of what you need, hit the road and figure it out on the way. However don't start with an air mattress. Find a futon mattress or basically anything more insulated than air.

Thank you. Do you have any suggestions for an easy bed. I can't just have a futon mattress on the floor. I have a bum back.

 

[FlipFlops]

Cot, sleeping bag, cooler, bucket, long underwear, suitcase, toolbox, guitar (or ukulele), water jug, radio, cell phone, check book, credit card.  Thats all you need.

HarmonicaBruce...do you think at age 50 I would be able to learn to play the guitar or ukulele? Is there really hope for me?

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

HarmonicaBruce...do you think at age 50 I would be able to learn to play the guitar or ukulele? Is there really hope for me?

There is no hope whatsoever for people who play ukuleles . . .

Regards
John

 

[LeeRevell]

Learn the Uke, find buddies with a harmonica and bongos, ya gotta band!! 

For the utter minimum, an air mattress works fine - NOT a problem in the cold IF you do a bit of preparation - closed cell foam pad under the air mattress, and a folded wool blanket on top of it - insulates fine down into the twenties F.  Been there, done that many times.  The dreaded "it will suck the warmth out of your body and you'll die of hypothermia in 60F" is so much bunk.  If that were true, I died ten years ago......   :dodgy:
One night, outside temp was 24F., I was sleeping on my air mattress, and woke a few times sweating......   No eat other than my big hot calorie burning body.  Had I had a cat, I'd have roasted.......  

But these days, I do like a bit of bed elevation - harder to get up from the floor with my bad back.  Underfloor stowage is nice too.

Tried two different pricey self-inflator sleep pads.....   I now call them "Self-deflators".  Neither lasted a night.  My three different sized air mattresses have lasted well for years.  And I am big and fat..... 
My next bed in the van, though, will be some firm foam, for comfort and not having to keep airing it up every few days.

 

[Txjaybird]

Hi,
I am new on here and right now I am not on the road---yet. I am feeling a little overwhelmed and my confidence about getting started seems to need some encouraging and HELP.

I sometimes wonder if I should just buy an cheap van, toss in an air mattresses and worry about everything else later. 

Some of the first steps I have taken is getting rid of most of my stuff. DOWNSIZING. I live in a tiny apartment, but I think its in my blood to be a nomad.

I am not that creative. When I see other peoples vans and I am in awe at the creativity, the attention to detail, the interesting little places for everything.

Please share your best tips, I want to hit the road ASAP!!!

hey flip flops,  ditto on most of what others have responded.......& you don't have to have a van to hit the road!  there is so much info on this web site re:  on you tube bob wells has videos on building beds and all kinds of advice/info by him & by other van dwellers on how to live in cars & mini vans, & suvs.   check the headings under where it says blogs, forums,.etc.  i'm so sick of trying to find a decent van & the $$$ to fit it out to full time in that i'm thinking of working with what i have which is a 1991 ford 4x4 extended cab pick up and a pop-up trailer & i'm 86ing the trailer.  also it's o.k. to not be "creative" just do what feels right for you, if you're  a solo traveler you only have to please yourself!   also i plan on having some extra $$$$ when i hit the road....Iv'e been broke and broke down more than once [ i'm older than dirt ] and it ain't fun!!     good luck to you on a new adventure.  texas jaybird

 

[buckwilk]

Bum back---cot with 3 or 4 in foam pad. Get going and the rest will fall in place. Don't buy one thing anyone recommends until you decide that's for you. Make every day a learning day, based on you and your wants and desires rather than what someone who isn't, hasn't, won't ever live the way you desire.

 

[HarmonicaBruce]

HarmonicaBruce...do you think at age 50 I would be able to learn to play the guitar or ukulele? Is there really hope for me?

I can teach anyone how to play harmonica in less than a minute.  I've done it many times.  Ukulele takes longer, about 5 minutes.  

I'm totally serious about it.

 

[nobodyG17]

I picked this up.  it ended up being great.  I picked the twin size and got an 8" gel memory foam mattress.  Slept like a baby.  I literally just put it in the back of my van, and trimmed one leg down to fit over the wheel well.  Simple as that.  You could build something similar for way cheaper but I wanted that so that to cut down on weight.

When I strip out my interior and insulate everything properly I'm probably going to remove the folding legs and bolt wooden legs to it to change the height and save space.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EQG7KEI?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00

 

[FlipFlops]

There is no hope whatsoever for people who play ukuleles . . .

Regards
John

 

[FlipFlops]

Now I WANT to learn to play the ukulele!!

 

[FlipFlops]

I can teach anyone how to play harmonica in less than a minute.  I've done it many times.  Ukulele takes longer, about 5 minutes.  

I'm totally serious about it.

I am a "slow learner" and would not doubt  need a patient teacher... but I like the challenge.   :

 

[FlipFlops]

Welcome to the group.

My first road trip was back in the mid 70's and consisted of tossing my backpack and some clothes in the back of my VW van and moving on. Of course those were simpler times without the "need" for cell phones, computers and the internet. I slept on about three layers of shag carpet and a thin backpacking foam pad. I can't even remember having a cooler but I must have had one. Oh yeah, almost forgot, I took my canoe too.

Guy

Those were the "good 'ole days".... Kind of sad that we had to complicate our lives......

 

[FlipFlops]

Learn the Uke, find buddies with a harmonica and bongos, ya gotta band!! 

For the utter minimum, an air mattress works fine - NOT a problem in the cold IF you do a bit of preparation - closed cell foam pad under the air mattress, and a folded wool blanket on top of it - insulates fine down into the twenties F.  Been there, done that many times.  The dreaded "it will suck the warmth out of your body and you'll die of hypothermia in 60F" is so much bunk.  If that were true, I died ten years ago......   :dodgy:
One night, outside temp was 24F., I was sleeping on my air mattress, and woke a few times sweating......   No eat other than my big hot calorie burning body.  Had I had a cat, I'd have roasted.......  

But these days, I do like a bit of bed elevation - harder to get up from the floor with my bad back.  Underfloor stowage is nice too.

Tried two different pricey self-inflator sleep pads.....   I now call them "Self-deflators".  Neither lasted a night.  My three different sized air mattresses have lasted well for years.  And I am big and fat..... 
My next bed in the van, though, will be some firm foam, for comfort and not having to keep airing it up every few days.

Thank for your input. Glad to know I won't die if an air mattress is all I have. I do value my sleep though. I can see things during horrible if I have lack of sleep because of a bad choice in a bed.

 

[FlipFlops]

Bum back---cot with 3 or 4 in foam pad. Get going and the rest will fall in place. Don't buy one thing anyone recommends until you decide that's for you. Make every day a learning day, based on you and your wants and desires rather than what someone who isn't, hasn't, won't ever live the way you desire.

Great advice!! I love the idea of making every day a learning day.  I am a little nervous but also very excited to start this chapter in my life!!