Is it Illegal to park in Parking Lots?
As far as parking overnight, where it is okay to park and where it is not okay to park really depends on the lot and depends on the state/ county. Some counties have specific “no overnight parking/ no camping rules”. However, usually you can find this out quickly because the county will post signs or someone will have left a comment on one of the common Vanlife apps. Our favorite Vanlife app is iOverlander. Our go-to places to park overnight for free are Walmart, Cracker Barrel, Lowes, Home Depot, and rest stops. Usually, we call Lowes and Home Depot first to make sure that we can park overnight. Generally, for these two stores, we are only allowed to stay for one night.
What Are your Go-To Meals in the Van?
We don’t really have any specific go-to meals in the van, except for Zak who has his same breakfast every day (oats, eggs, avocado, protein shake). I personally need more variety in my life, so I tend to eat a lot of leftovers. I also cook about 5 nights a week. While we don’t have a lot of specific go-to meals, we do like to have white or brown rice prepped, which we make in our beloved Instant Pot.
Do You Have a Bathroom in the Van?
Technically, yes. We have a “wet bath”, where our small toilet sits inside of our shower. The shower is 24 x 27″, and we do not use it often. Instead, we opt to use public restrooms as much as we can, and for showering, we mostly use Anytime Fitness. We really only use our own shower when there are no other options. To learn more about a day-in-the-life when it comes to showering, check out this post. Also, we try to use our toilet (Thetford PortaPotti 365) only in emergencies. This is because we prefer to clean it out as little as possible… You can see why below!
Interested in learning more about Vanlife? Check out our Vanlife Journal. If you still have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us on our contact page or email us directly at zak.fal.aug.blog@gmail.com!