Travel / 2 MIN READ
We borrowed a van for a day. Then we wanted a different life.
The San Diego vehicle swap that helped turn two bus people into van people.
Forty feet is a lot of home
We loved traveling in Tío. Our first bus was a 40-foot Thomas MVP Saf-T-Liner, and we had put four months of work into making it ours. It gave us a home for two years on the road. That is a lot of life to fit into a sentence.
It was also, very much, a 40-foot bus. Some of our friends traveled in smaller buses and vans. Keeping up with them, or getting into the places they invited us, could be challenging. The space we enjoyed when parked was the same space we had to move and find room for when we arrived.
One day in San Diego
In San Diego, we swapped vehicles with a friend for a day. We tried their van, and that was enough to get us thinking seriously about downsizing.
The appeal was practical: air conditioning, fuel economy, the pace of travel, and being able to park in a single space. Those things can sound a little boring beside a photograph of a beautiful bus interior. They become considerably more interesting when you are the person driving the interior around.
We already knew what having more room felt like. That day gave us a chance to experience what a smaller vehicle could offer. It made the tradeoff real.
Trying the compromise before choosing it
A bus and a van can both look like freedom in a photograph. They ask different things of you on an ordinary day. More space inside means more vehicle outside. A smaller footprint can make getting around easier, while asking you to be much more deliberate about the room you have.
If you are weighing the two, find a way to spend time in the size you are considering. Try the parked part and the moving part. Think about where you want to go, how often you want to move, and how much time you expect to spend indoors. A floor plan answers only some of those questions.
The next chapter had fourteen feet to work with
At the beginning of the lockdowns, we took on a Sprinter conversion. The living room, workspace, wet bath, kitchen, and bed all had to fit into about 14 feet of usable length. We had already made a huge adjustment from a house to a bus. This was another round of deciding what mattered.
We spent three years in that van chapter. Later, becoming parents changed our priorities again. But the fact that we eventually wanted more room does not undo what the smaller space gave us.
Our van tour shows what came out of that decision. If you are considering a similar move, watch the rooms change jobs and think about the routines behind them. The interesting part is whether that arrangement would work for your day.
