One of the worst things is to arrive at a beautiful spot — full of trash. It’s the main reasons we vanlifers get a bad reputation. The fact is that often times it’s the locals making the mess, but authorities don’t seem to care. Anyways… I then read so many 2-star reviews on Park4Night on this topic with people leaving. Obviously I don’t understand people leaving their trash… But secondly: “Why do people do take the time to write those reviews, instead of doing anything about it?” Today I arrived at a nice, but messy, spot. Lots of litter, cans, bottles and even a whole bunch of bullet cases. It took me 20 minutes to pick up two full bags. Got some extra exercise. Did some good for the planet. Makes me happy. No need to leave a bad review. Spot is clean for my own stay and the next one’s! The only annoying thing is finding a trash can to dispose the bags. But hey, I’ll survive that. That’s also why here at The Vanlife Network we love organizing litter pick challenges. Because it’s even easier when done together as a community! It’s not our trash, but it’s our planet. 🫶🌍 👉 Do you have a litter picker in your van? If not, they’re just a few bucks and make a massive difference! ❤️ I’ll keep cleaning so you can enjoy after me. You join? 🚮 — Rens

I’ve been in quite many storms during my 4 years of vanlife, but the one on 13 September definitely was the worst so far. Buddy woke me up in the middle of the night, by jumping on the bed, because of a thunderstorm. Shortly after, sh*t went wild. Hailstones, about the size of golfballs, were dropping from the sky for like 2 - 3 minutes. Neither of us (@Larissa van Leeuwen & @Annika van Helvoort) had signal so I plugged in my Starlink to make sure we were all safe. Apart from one broken light on my camper, all seemed fine. Until the sunlight hit it at a specific angle. Much “character” was added to Taro — my motorhome — that day. One more crazy story added to our vanlife journal! 🫡 Here’s to many more! 🫶 👉 What was one scary situation you were in? Let’s share experiences! P.S. (iPhone does quite a good job at noise cancellation, but you’ll hear how loud it all was when I start speaking.)