Vanlifer Feature: Alex and Beth from @ontheroadwithRosa

We met with some fellow vanlifers: Alex, Beth and Barney (who was hiding in the wardrobe during the interview). Alex and Beth are both 27 and from Chester (well their answer was, “just say Chester because it’s close & nicer than where we are actually from”). They met at high school, got together at 13 and eloped at 25 and got Barney the cat around the same time. Apparently both their marriage and getting the cat were decided by Beth on her phone as passenger on long drives. Surprising what big life decisions have been made on long drives eh! Luckily Alex seems very happy with both decisions. They have both agreed to some interview questions about their vanlife, so lets get started!!

THE VAN

What type of van do you have, bought or self built?

Beth: “We knew we wanted a motorhome and not build a van, mostly because of the cat and wanted space for him. We wanted to get into it quickly, wanted to travel more than building our own van, probably because we are really impatient.”

They have a beautiful motorhome called ‘Rosa’ (an old Italian lady name) The van is an Autotrail cheyenne, 2004 with only 25000 miles on the metre when they bought it. They had seen a few vans, but fell in love with the layout of Rosa and put a deposit down on her before even viewing the van in person. They brought a couple of family members with them to view the van up in Norfolk to check the engine and body work over, everyone thought the van was in great condition so the next morning they finalised the sale and drove her home. I’m sure there are quite a lot of us out there who fell in love with our vans instantly and bought them quickly before anyone else snapped them up (us included)

Do you know a round cost of your van/build?

Beth: “22K for the van, we just bought it ready to move in. We done the renovations over lockdown, lots of couple of quids here and there, couldn’t even give a ballpark for how much we spent on renovations. Luckily we didn’t have to buy tools as my stepdad Roy had every tool you ever wanted.”

Luckily apart from the upfront cost of the van they haven’t had any hidden costs or issues with engine etc., and they did all repainting and reupholstering themselves, so only cost of materials renovation materials on top of that.

What made you choose this lifestyle?

Beth: “We had a lot more time, as Alex works on off a lot, so it felt like we should take advantage of this time. We were watching something on telly (can’t remember what it was) during the time we were planning the wedding, then I said why don’t we just do that... buy a van and go travelling?”

They had been saving money for a house they didn’t want and questioned why were doing it at all.

“We were saving for a house just because that’s what society tells you to do.”

Apparently that whole year was a turning point for them. Beth was doing dental nurse training as soon as she qualified she handed in her notice, ready to hit the road as soon as possible. It was only after getting the van that they realised vanlife was actually a thing, and they were joining a movement of sorts. The van was the first thing the owned and could decorate anyway the wanted to. “The van felt more like a home than the flat ever did”

How long did it take for you to start vanlife?

“We decided to do vanlife after our honeymoon in June, bought van in July, and moved out of our flat in August, so we had discovered vanlife and were in a van within three months. We had originally planned to save up for a few months, but decided just to go. Left work the end of September.”

As soon as they had decided they weren’t buying a house it all seemed to snowball from there. All the money they had been setting aside for a deposit went into paying for a wedding, a honeymoon, a home on wheels and holidays in said home. They couldn’t seem happier with their decision to invest the money in this new lifestyle.

What’s your biggest vanlife disaster so far?

Beth: “Driving into a tree. I had a little cry and nearly had a heart-attack, then got out and looked at the van and thought... well it could have been worse!”

This happened the first time Beth was alone in the van, as Alex was in Africa working, but thankfully she hadn’t done as much damage as she first suspected, however the $700 bill to fix the damage was a bit of a ‘disaster’. However Alex was just happy Beth was safe, and she seemed happy the roof was still on, so not a complete disaster after all.

Describe your van “style” in one sentence?

“Modern but with a Bohemian twist”. Their renovation has created a sleek modern finish with all white cupboards and neutral textiles, but their sun mirrors, crochet baskets, Moroccon style tiles and patterned rugs all give a rustic feel to the modern base.

What is your favourite van feature?

Both of them love the fixed bed, and the windows bringing in so much light. Beth particularly loves the skylight flooding the van with light. However Beth also loves the new van decor “My favourite feature are the girls, my three prints in the bedroom that no one else ever sees”.

Anything you would change about your van?

“Only the carpet and stuff because it looked like a bit of a granny flat.” During lockdown they made these changes so the only thing left they would like to change is to remove the satellite on the roof and ultimately get some solar panels so they can go off grid for longer.

THE LIFE

How long do you plan to live in your van?

“We originally thought up to two years but now we just want to keep going. We adapted to vanlife so quickly. Its nearly a year, we’ve not been able to do half of what we wanted to do due to Covid, so now we reckon at least 5 years and see what country we want to settle in.”

They have no decisions about where they want to settle yet, except that they don’t think it will be England and they aren’t sure what they would be settling for yet, but Beth seemed up for opening Rosa as a cattery... “I’d be the Pied Piper of cats.”

What are your top three highlights of vanlife?

“It would have been freedom if it wasn’t for Covid-19”. They are heading back on the road, so hopefully that feeling of freedom will return for them. They love free park ups and waking up to an amazing new view.

Beth seems to love the small simple loving of vanlife “I hate stuff & clutter. I’ve had to beat it out if Alex because he’s from a hoarder family.”

Their final highlight of vanlife is Barney their gorgeous ginger fluff ball. “Taking the cat around the world, travelling with a cat is amazing. He’s stressful but its amazing to see him exploring. I love when we go on walks and he comes along with us. The good times are worth the lack of sleep.”

What do you do to fund life on four wheels?

“Alex works (pilot), meant to be four on four off, but isn’t always like that, I think it might be at least 6 weeks as they wan to make up for lost time. It’s basically only working six months of the year really. When Alex gets called away I may just find a site and chill.”

Even though Alex’s work is how they fund their lifestyle Beth also does crocheting and is trying to find a way to gain income on the road from her hobby. Apparently she has more yarn than anything in this van with half of the cab taken up with yarn and blanket in progress.

Favourite Rainy Day activity?

“It’s the only time we will actually read, because we don’t read enough.” Beth is reading Ian Rankin a House of Lies crime novel. Alex has finished all of Billy Connolly’s books, he isn’t really into novels, so prefers a biography, he’s open to recommendations. Beth loves anything Dark morbid and gruesome, “I’m well into all that stuff”.

Apart from some solo reading they love playing games together during those rainy days, such as: playing cards (Ginn Rummy is the only card game they both know), they also love a game of Dobble and online Settlers of Catan.

Favourite Sunny day activity?

“Walking and kayaking recently, but now we cant wait to swim more.” While we were all away for the weekend we convinced them both to come in for a swim in the sea, at first they thought we were mental, but in the end they loved it! We can’t wait to see them take more nature swims aswell as exploring in their new kayak. 

What’s the hardest part about vanlife any vanlife realities you weren’t expecting?

“The hardest thing for me (Beth) even though i love parking somewhere new every day, the search to find them one is hard. It can take hours to find somewhere to park up, its worth it when you find the right place. But the hunt is sitting for hours trailing through park4night. When I’m on my own its horrible to find it alone.”

Alex said a reality they weren’t expecting was how hard it was to keep on top of services in the UK, (new water, dumping water and emptying toilet) They found it a lot easier in Europe. Unfortunately this is something we’ve read a lot about online, apparently UK is not as vanlife friendly as other countries in the EU (well not that the UK is in the EU anymore)

Have you ever felt isolated living in a van?

Alex: “We go weeks without talking to any people. In France trip it was about 5 weeks into the trip before we talked to a couple. We don’t really mind because we’ve got each other. We would rather be at the side of a lake in the middle of nowhere than at a busy park up with 30 vans.”

As Alex works 50% of the year he says he is actually at his lowest when he is working, he doesn’t like leaving Beth or the van, and hated that she was alone when she hit the tree.

Beth: “When Alex isn’t here my emotions are so up and down, from “this is so liberating” to “I’m so lonely”. I’m an emotional wreck when Alex isn’t here. When I’m alone if I go on a campsite I feel a pressure that I’m in the van so I feel like I have to travel, but I need to change that mind-set as there is nothing wrong with chilling in one spot for a week.”

Roadtrip soundtrack?

“We listen to music but Alex gets sick of listening to me sing so we are listening to a lot of podcasts. Main podcast is shag marry avoid, and I make Alex listen to crime junkie, check it out!”

They also have a large music playlist, which has expanded from their wedding music playlist to 21.5 hours of music as they keep adding to it. It ranges from Mumford and sons, monsters and men to Avril Lavigne and Maralin Manson. We got talking about ACDC as its on their list and then it turned out (Alex is related very distantly to ACDC, granddads sister is married to one of the angus brothers. So his great aunty is married to one of the yung brothers and living in Australia.

What are your plans going forward?

“We are just gonna have to totally wing it, and see how it plays out and just roll with it.”

YOU

Name three items you always have in the fridge!

“Garlic, olives and cheese!”

Go to van meals?

They like a lot of us had quite a few meals they enjoy cooking in the van, Alex is the main chef, but Beth has a few signature meals.

“Chilli that gets turned into Burritos the next day, Prawn/Veggie/Vegan Chorizo Paella and our Pesto Pasta”

Un-van related hobbies?

“Crochet, kayaking, Alex is anything to do with planes, Alex loves cooking which is an absolute blessing for me. Sometimes you have days and you don’t even know what you have done for the day, maybe just sit on Instagram for hours.”

For fun we all decided to compared time on Instagram, The two girls were both average around an hour and a half, Alex was only 44 minutes and Philly had an all time low record of 5 minutes on average per day last week.

Mountains or Beach?

At first it seemed like they were swaying towards beaches over mountains as they don’t enjoy hiking & love being parked next to the see. However the more we talked the more they enjoyed the seclusion of mountains and lakes as it’s harder to find a quiet beach than a quiet mountain.

“Some of our best views have been side of lakes, so lakes in mountains but without having to climb the mountains”

Favourite season and why?

Beth: “Autumn, love autumn, don’t get sunburnt as my body hates the heat. I love everything about autumn, the colours, taking my jumpers back out, wearing layers, not sweating every day just from sitting down. Love Halloween so much, my dream is to go to Salem for Halloween. As a kid we used to have epic parties, our little area for Halloween was epic. Love carving pumpkins. Its not freezing cold yet, its still mild but everything’s orange, fires lit and the early nights.”

Where are you most excited to explore with your van?

“Scandinavia, gotta be, all around Scandinavia, we should be there now, but covid put a stop to that.

They decided to move it forward a year rather than go now when it’s too cold and snowy, so there is talk of hitting up Spain for Summer and doing scandanavia next year.

Do you feel like the experience of living in a van changed you as a person in anyway?

“We are so much more conscious of the environment. Like going vegetarian and giving up meat, what we buy, recycling, what we are using. We don’t just splurge money away like we used to. We are so much tighter than we used to be. Because we know that we can live cheap so why not. Get a better experience out of it, you could get all the money in the world and have a massive mansion of a house, great and what. Spending money for me has always been for me a boredom thing.”

Any last words you would like to add?

Beth: “Nah.”

Alex: “If you are thinking about it just do it. Money is a big thing, its finding a way to fund it. We are very fortunate to be able to do it. The downside with my job is that i have to come away from the road to do it.”

Where can people find you online?

Facebook: @ on the road with Rosa

Instagram: @ontheroadwithrosa

Instagram @Barney

Instagram @Crochet