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’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.)

I enjoy cleaning my van and do a deep-clean from time to time, but sadly for me, that means I can see all the scratches and rust spots that are usually hidden by the dirt... I know they are there but it's so much easier to stay oblivious. Out of sight, out of mind😬 How often do you clean your home on wheels?

It was only natural, that my first QR & sticker slap was on my own Teardrop 🤗 Possibly waiting for TVLN creation 😂 having places for six stickers four years ago at purchase, but only having five stickers that I wore with pride 🥰 And now two TVLN stickers , that mean a lot to me, having been personally gifted & sent from @Rens van Daalen & @Larissa van Leeuwen Job done, first road trip hopefully next week, with new livery 🫢 My Sticker slaps will be slow and steady, as I get around the South Island in the next year, but hope to add to this thread as I do, so hopefully we share TVLN love amongst local & international Van life community 🥇🥂

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