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.)

We face challenges every day and the last week has been exceptional. We’ve had endless grey clouds and torrential rain peppered with wind and the really annoying rain that you could just dodge the rain drops - stops all outside activities and kids revert to the camper. Our current set up is 1 king size bed at rear like most campers then we have a pull down between single and double size bed, I added that in June this year. Mainly to stop having to fix and unfix 3 kids car seats every day. We have a double at the front (when i move the car seats) and add in a bed board. I added that December last year. We have a pop top with kids beds in the roof. Then when it gets cold i go in the roof! I put this in before we moved in to the camper. I have had a dividing wall in the middle so bedroom area was out of sight, but removed that in April to make the van open plan. So we now have during day 6 seats and a fixed bed with a sitting area along the side. This is the base for the fold down bed. I am going to add a kitchen to cook inside as the UK weather is challenging in the rain. In Portugal where everything we own is currently, this is not a problem. So from setting off I’ve changed van layout 5 times and now we have room and lots of beds. How many of you hit the perfect formula and get it right first time? Definitely adding a kitchen in the next few weeks.

I’ll start: My hammock ❤️ 👇 Your turn! (Pics for bonus points!)

A few weeks ago I sent my drone 2.5km away and almost 500m up, this morning I sent it 3km away and 500m up, still no sweat or anxiety💪 What’s the furthest and highest you sent your drone up and away?

I ended up leaving my last place after some landlord drama (he showed his true colors the moment I asked about AC and mold). Within a call asking me to leave. With no backup plan, I packed up and moved into my car and honestly, those two weeks showed me I might actually be built for this. Living simply, traveling, and focusing on my purpose feels aligned. My Honda CRV has been great, but I’m curious how others make van life work. Excited to be here and learn from you all. So much thanks for having me!