Life on the road can be wonderful. The freedom, perspective, and intake of the world around you is unmatched. But you also crave connections with people who understand van life. You can begin to find or create van life community here!
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Reasons to find or start a van-dwelling co-travelers group
- As fun as it is meeting new people at festivals, it’s great to know there are a few people who have your back in an emergency, and you have theirs. There is safety in numbers.
- If you have kids, now or in the future, connecting with other van life kiddoes normalizes their experience and makes it more fun.
- It’s great that there are tons of tips and advice columns online, but the best kept secrets are going to be reserved for in-person friends.
- Eventually, sometime down the road you might want to settle in one place, even if temporarily. Should that time come, having a passel of like minded close friends to build with or near could be just what you need for the next phase of life.
Examples
GroundShare Co-op: Starting at $5000, zero interest loans are available with a down payment on winter and/or summer locations. Parking “nook” is private, with access to shared community garden patches, kitchen, bathroom, living room, shower, and workout room.
Van Life Campgrounds: A U.S. network of community oriented campgrounds as safe shared spaces and communal amenities: clean bathrooms, hot showers, communal kitchens, co-work space, power/water refills, and event spaces.
Consultants for Van Life Co-travelers
Members Interested in a Van Life Co-travelers Group
Resources
Gnomadhome has great tips on finding parking spots.
Nomad Park is an app with a global interactive map where vanlifers can connect with each other, discover co-living and co-working spaces, events, and more.
Neighbor.com offers P2P storage and parking. While it doesn’t specifically cater to vanlife, it does put you in touch with people who are willing to take a fee for a parking space. Hipcamp.com and Airbnb.com also list parkable RV spots. There are also apps for finding public toilets.
Van dwelling Sachiko gives you a realistic breakdown of the pros and cons if you are considering it. A quick search will show hundreds of websites and youtubers with resources and inspiration for van life.
The Van Life Caravan describes the benefits of traveling as a two-van group.
Van dwelling blogger describes details of van life, adding in descriptions of their part time boat dwelling.
Interest-based communities: Escapees.com caters more to RVs, but also has services relevant to van travelers. These include a map directory of discount parks, job and worker listings, mail forwarding, roadside assistance.
Co-owned RV and mobile home parks also have resources for travelers.