The Realities of Living in a VW Bus
Dec 22
When I first decided that I would like no home more than a Volkswagen bay window bus, I was told that it was a somewhat unrealistic desire. I was warned that there would be much repair work, little space, lots and lots of time spent “fixing”. My reply, “Then I’ll fix it.”
No truer a statement would reveal itself as reality.
From my three months experience with living in one of these little tin sardine cans, I can safely say that they are not for anyone who’s afraid to have greasy fingernails, busted up hands and a thinned out pocketbook. Some truths:
Breakdowns
This is simply something that will be on your plate at all times. Our bus has a rebuilt engine and runs pretty well, when it’s running. But there have been many a morning when I’ve had to get into the engine and tinker, I’ve lost as much blood busting my hand open trying to reach into that small motor compartment as the bus leaks oil, and our local VeeW Unlimited repair folks find the old girl parked in their lot when they arrive in the morning enough to know her by name. The good news on this front is that there are plenty of parts still around for these old girls, in my experience, and if you’ve got even a sliver of engine inginuity in you (I had absolutely none when I first bought her), you’ll be able to do alot of the work yourself. Just find yourself a copy of the How to Keep Your Volkwagen Alive book and read, read, read yourself to sleep.
Cooking, Cleaning and Food Storage
If you like to cook lavish meals with loads of ingredients and all chopped up veggies, tasty sauces, and elegant layouts, forget it. There’s about as much counterspace as an escape pod sent from Krypton and given that you’ll likely have two burners maximum on what is essentially a camping stove, grilled cheese sandwiches and hot soup are about as fancy as it gets. We’ve learned to eat raw: fruit and veggies, some good bread and cheese can make for excellent meals and an incredibly healthy lifestyle. Oh, and don’t forget the chocolate. Lots of chocolate. And beer. And wine. And coffee. Coffee with Jameson in it. And just Jameson. Cigarettes help, too.
There’s also not a whole load of storage, so you’ll probably need to decide between having boxes of pasta around or underwear.
And the clean up is a pain. When I’m riding alone, I can keep her somewhat spic and slightly span, but add the boy or the lady, or both, and you’ve got a recipe for muddy floors, cluttered cabin space and all around messy. I like to live in the mess that my loved ones make though, and don’t mind a quick sorting every couple of days.
Exploration
How about some good news, you ask? Well I’ve got plenty of it. As far as mobile living goes, you can’t really beat a bus. Not even a Class B RV can fit as easily into a parallel parking spot as the bus, and so we are basically unlimited as to where we can go. If you can get there by car, you can get there by bus.
Gas Mileage
My house gets 26mpg. The end.
Social Butterflighting
Open the side door, sit there with a hippy girl or a cute little blue eyed 8 year old and you’ll have every interesting person in a quarter mile squared radius coming up to you. “Ah man, I always wanted to do that.” “Reminds me of my younger days!” “What?! You live in that?” Good times.
The Lifestyle
Living in a bus is not like living in a home. It is best suited, in my opinion, for those who prefer to be outside rather than in. In fact, you really can’t live in the bus if you’re going to be a tribe (as opposed to a loner type). You’ll want to get out around the fire, wander the beaches, hike up a trail or relax in a coffee shop.
Simply “the Feeling”
When another bus owner drives by, you both wave. Every.single.time. Hasn’t failed yet and that’s a great feeling. The way people look at you, teenage kids motioning for you to honk the horn, old hippy types smiling as you go by, it just makes you happy to be living this sort of life. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a decade now and whether it lasts another week or another much, much longer period, I am incredibly thankful for the experience.
And that’s what it’s all about, experiencing what you want to grab ahold of in life.
Any other questions? Feel free to ask in the comments ’cause this is certainly a conversation I love having.
Joe K
22 Dec 2009 10:32 pm
Sounds incredible.
I am about to graduate college and definitely considering this path.
I guess the most important question for someone rooted their entire life: how do you just get up and go?
admin
23 Dec 2009 1:01 pm
I think you just have to want to, Joe K. Take your stuff to storage, or to Goodwill, minimize what you can and just do it.
At first you’ll probably think you need a lot more than you do. After a month, though, you can say “Have I used this at all this month?” If the answer is no, you probably don’t need it, so you can just give that away as well.
But the desire to do it is the big thing. Lots of little details, like getting an online mailbox, learning to use an atlas well, learning to spot the good places from the bad, sticking to 2 lanes vs. the Interstate, that all comes as you go…
James Caudill
9 Jan 2010 1:09 pm
Man, I got a ‘65 VW bus a while back and have been restoring it, and ive gotten super discouraged, so i’ve been trying to justify selling it. After researching people’s stories on the internet, such as this, i really cannot do it.
nathan
11 Jan 2010 1:12 pm
It can be a great time, a great life if you live in it, but it can also mean a TON of work and they’re kind of a money pit.
I love it though and it’s given me more memories and good times in three months than I can count.
Samantha
2 Feb 2010 7:47 pm
My boyfriend and I have been throwing around the idea of living in a bus for quite awhile now. The freedom of it and closeness to nature sound like a truely beautiful life. We decided that it would be best to take off next summer, after I finish my degree. So I guess my questions would be.. Where do we start? What conditon camper/bus should we look for, and have you ever looked into the possibility of solar power to cut down electricity usage?
nathan
3 Feb 2010 11:33 am
I’d start by searching Craigslists in your area, looking at thesamba.com and other VW forums like Love My Bus (just Google it).
You’ll want to get the bus that’s in the best condition you can afford, but I’d make sure you definitely had a solid engine, that the clutch didn’t pop out of gear / went into gear well, and that the body was more or less straight. Having a pop up and a little kitchen is great, almost necessary I’d say if you’re going to live in it.
I looked into solar – you can probably expect to pay about $2000 – $3500 to do it right, but look into it and see if it’s right for your life. If I had the cash, I’d do it in a minute.
To be honest, we use barely any electricity. Candles and battery powered LED lights for light, propane for heat and cooking…all we really plug in is our phones, but our CD player has a USB cord, so when we’re driving we can charge those as well.
Best of luck!!!
Seth N
12 Apr 2010 5:49 pm
So, I’ve been thinking about this really hard for a while now. I’m working on getting a bus from a friend thats going to need intensive engine work, transmission work, and interior overhaul. I’m not trying to completely restore it, just make it livable. One of my main questions is, how do you know where you can and can not stay? I don’t want to set up camp somewhere and be fined or possibly arrested.
nathan
13 Apr 2010 7:58 pm
Good question. “Use your best judgment is my sincere, best reply.”
Look around the neighborhood…does it look safe? If so, you’re probably off to a good start. Does it look super rich? That is, will you stick out like a sore thumb? There are neighborhoods where people will call the cops on a VW bus, or any strange van, parked outside for sure. Particularly if you’ve got lights on inside at night.
If it’s legal to park somewhere overnight, you can pretty much get away with it if you’re just going home discreetly, getting in your bus and going to sleep. Draw the curtains and keep quiet until you leave in the morning.
Find places that are “alternative friendly.” I recommend Bisbee, AZ, Nederland, CO, Terlingua/Marathon/Alpine/Austin, TX and could probably drum up a few more if you wanted, but maybe do a search for “hippy havens” on Google. I like that website’s list of cool towns.
Also, you can stay in Walmart parking lots, they’re almost always cool about people staying overnight, they even have an official corporate policy on overnighting as I understand it. I’ve stayed in about half a dozen, typically with other RVs around, never had a problem.
Don’t set up the lawn furniture in big box parking lots though, they don’t want you moving in, they just don’t mind if you spend one night there.
Public parks where there aren’t “no parking” signs work well.
Empty spaces, back in the woods or way off the beaten path can be cool, but watch out for rednecks looking for a punching bag. Not a common occurrence though.
Hmm…you can often get the same rate as tent campers if you go to campgrounds. Just tell them you don’t need hookups and you’ll be tent camping. Whether you put your tent up or not is irrelevant.
National Forest land typically allows a stay of up to 14 days a year (per forest) with a max consecutive stay of 7 days.
Best of luck to you!
Joe
14 Apr 2010 9:44 pm
Well, I suppose you’re right about lavish meals. I currently live in my bus and use a nice propane hobo stove (outside of the bus). You know, on the grass somewhere I can get away with it. Make coffee every morning, eggs, bacon, burgers, toast, most things I would cook anyway. If I wanted better, I guess I would go to a fancy restaurant (which is what I would do even if I owned a house, lol). Anyway, I save about $12,000 in rent per year living in my bus and bought it for $1,500 six years ago. All I’ve bought for it are new tires, so far. I also don’t put that many miles on it. With all the money I save, I’ll be able to by a house in cash soon. Yay!
nathan
15 Apr 2010 8:46 am
Lucky you, Joe! We’ve dumped a good chunk of change into our bus and paid a bit more for it than you did, but it’s still so much cheaper than rent and bill-paying.
Cooking on the Coleman stove that came with it is great, just like you said, pretty much the basics. No tuna casseroles or homemade bread, but I can heat up a mean soup.
joe
30 Jun 2010 6:56 pm
this site is sick I just bought a vw bus 1977 love her but have not yet enjoyed riding in her I stripped her down and am rebilding her i live in ct im 32 and alls i want to do is sell my house and go and thats just what im gonna do next summer I want to see everything and drive everywhere plus go on tour with phish but i cant wait to go