I've been following a few vloggers that are doing the Van Life, so it has been something that Nicole and I were eager to try out for some time. The normal rental car industry does not cater to this niche market.
In theory, all you need is the clothes on your back and some food to get going and Scamper Van does the rest. When you have a 4 year old you might need to bring a toy or two. Each Van is individually customized, and then named. We rented Scamper X. The van come some basic home items, clean linens, with basic dishes and cups, salt pepper, night lights. There is running water, a cooler, a stove which runs on propane. There was no bathroom.
The X had room for our suit case of clothes and we squeezed the cooler (not a refrigerator with a few cooling blocks) with all of our food essentials for our two day sojourn around north Georgia. You are allowed 100 miles a day of driving over the 3 days (2 night rental limit) we did not have a problem sticking to that.
Friday night we were off to camp at a special spot in the Rich Mountain Wilderness on one of the FSers. It was fabulous when we rolled in at 10pm and the toddler are fallen asleep. We broke out a beer into one of the four included lounge chairs at nearly 3000ft and nice cool air, listening to the wind whisper through the forest. There was a bed for Mom and the little one and the bottom opened up into a bed. The next morning we had coffee and enjoyed the morning with hikes and morning exercise runs.
The next day we rolled into Vogel State Park where we had a place to park, and shower. We brought wood and made burgers on the out door grill enjoying another pretty park.
The rain clouds rolled in during the afternoon and we drove leisurely through wine country before heading back to drop Scamper X off.
I'll have to be honest, I did not sleep all that well. However, with different mattress material, it would have been fine. X had magnetic bug nets which kept us bite free overnight. We left the door open on our first night which made for a nice cool night. At 4am I did end up closing the door which was easy enough.
With a little van like this the world is your oyster. The only hiccup is figuring out showers and without a toilette you also have a few decisions to make.
The cost, is more than an average hotel night to rent a van of this sort, but you might be able to justify the cost with the experience and freedom you get. Planning ahead trips is important because much of your success depends on it especially when it comes to bathroom breaks. I definitely see a future with one of these but it's still a long way off. read more