I Live in a Van

Sarah Talbot quit her job after 34 years and hit the road (from the new Idler Jan/Feb)

My partner David and I had been talking about buying a camper van and going travelling for years, and I always imagined we’d do it when we retired. David is 63 and I’m 51, and retirement seemed a very long way off. But last year we took the plunge. We sold our house and quit our jobs. We have now officially embraced #vanlife.

We put our house on the market on 10 January 2022, and I handed in my notice for my job at the National Trust on 19 January. Three months later, we were off.

We started travelling in our old Land Rover but it was really too small for us and our 12-year-old black Labrador Islay, so we bought a secondhand Hymer ML-T 570. We’ve now got a new van on order, which will be ready in about a year. It’s similar to our current one but is a 4×4 and will have solar panels as well.

Choosing a van is hard. Do you need a fixed bed or are you prepared to make it up every night? Do you want to climb over your partner to go for a pee at 3am? It might seem romantic for the first three nights – and then become grounds for divorce.

We’ve just completed our inaugural trip in the motorhome. Because of Brexit we’re now only permitted to visit the EU for 90 days in any 180-day period. I say the EU but it’s actually the Schengen zone, so some countries that aren’t EU member states are in it, and vice versa. Lots of YouTubers have great tips on how to manage the “Schengen Shuffle” and head into countries like Turkey, Georgia and Macedonia to “sit out” the 90 days you have to be out of Schengen before you can return. The rules are so complicated that there are apps to track it for you.

I wake up first every day, but instead of flicking on the kettle and letting Islay out into the garden as I used to, I throw my coat on over my PJs and take her out, before even having a cup of tea. I find this really hard and often lie in my very comfortable bed trying to talk myself into getting up. Once up and out though, I feel invigorated and alive.

Van life forces you to slow down and do one thing at a time. For example, you can’t fry the bacon, boil the kettle and butter the toast all at once because there simply isn’t enough space. I often find myself thinking, “What shall I do now?” and then answer: “Nothing, Sarah, except perhaps stroke the dog for five minutes.” The whole thing is still work-in-progress and I hope that with more time on the road I can calm my busy mind enough to enjoy the stillness.

We frequently need to check our levels of fresh water and gas, of charge in the batteries, and of clean clothes, food and booze. These levels will dictate where we go next. If we’re fully stocked up then we can actually stay still for 24 hours, but if things are running low we have to move on. These modern vans are extremely sophisticated though, and you do feel a wonderful sense of self-sufficiency.

Our January/February issue is available in bookshops as well as Waitrose, WHSmiths, Booth’s and Easons.