Van life for the first time
I had a vacation in Portugal, in a van. Surprisingly to a few locals, we did a trip to the northern Portugal. They said that it is often the case that tourists only new Lisbon and the southern coast when they think about the Portugal. But we decided to fly to Porto and then rent a van, travel around in the northern parts and it went wonderfully well.
It was the second week of March. The tourist season not yet started, the weather - pleasantly chill. Few rainy, foggy days but it only added to the vibe.
The first night in the van was a bit weird, I was scared of so many things - is it legal to park at the place we did, what if someone breaks in, why there are some cars coming and going from this parking lot? Especially when we have read that in high season and in the south locals get very angry and they hooligan the vans. But for us it was all great. We used the app Park4night to find places to stay and park.
One morning we woke up, ate breakfast and were about to leave to the next stop when some horses form a nearby field came to the car. And they didn't leave. For a moment we were completely stuck, because 5 horses surrounded the car. We, of course, scared of them didn't know what to do. And before we drive, we needed to close the gas tank, so we had to get out of the van. :D So it took us some time to wait until they find a grass nearby to snack on and eventually we managed to get away. I think that was the funniest morning we had.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. Of course, there are some inconveniences, like stuff that always somehow ends up on the seats, constant reorganization, a-bit-too-hard bed, small space and no real shower. But then the ones we did have at some camping's and finally at home felt like a blessing. Totally makes you appreciate the small things in life. But the convenience of exploration of another country is a huge advantage. The possibility to just take all your belongings and drive to basically any place at any time is so nice when traveling and exploring. We stayed 5 nights in the van and each night parked in a different spot. Only the last day we parked midday and then stayed at the same spot until the morning.
I think, if you travel like this for longer periods, it gets more slow. You maybe camp at one spot for several days, live more lazily. But in our case, staying this short we just kept moving and it was exactly what made it interesting.
The conclusion is that it was well worth it and I would definitely do it again. Now with more awareness on how it works.