I have been inspired by “van life” or “overlanding” for many years now, after certain well-known YouTubers made it look cool, joyful, and character building. All while seeking freedom and connection to nature. Sign me up.
I kept thinking, what is stopping me from trying out this lifestyle? Even if just for a little bit. Thankfully, my partner, Aidan, was easily agreeable, as he already stands behind the freedom (perhaps a little dirtbag) lifestyle.
Overlanding Vehicle:
So anyways – our rig. We knew driving across Canada itself would be costly (gas, food, and some activities), therefore we had to think creatively. Let me tell you, we did look at the cost of renovating your typical “van lifer” cargo van or purchasing a tow-behind or the like, but the cost of it all… we couldn’t. Not when we had the option to take a perfectly good SUV (thank you to you-know-who!). So, this Honda Pilot will be home for the next year.
Sleeping Set Up: Next was the decision about where to sleep. Options were: sleep in the vehicle, sleep in a tent outside the vehicle, or sleep on top of the vehicle in what is called a “rooftop tent” (RTT). I was always pro-RTT. It took Aidan some convincing, but he got there. There is not enough space to sleep inside of the SUV because of our stuff, food, the cooler, etc. Otherwise, sleeping every single night in a ground tent sounds challenging (imagine sleeping in a ground tent on gravel lot or having to pack up and store a wet tent after a very rainy night. No thank you). We purchased a well-made but affordable hard-shell RRT from Cap-It, which was conveniently on sale. The brand is WildLand and we do recommend it (great ventilation, fairly sturdy, basically black out material, keeps the water out well, and very easy to set up and pack up).
Storage: Otherwise, we have everything we need inside the SUV with us! Large electric cooler, battery storage, an electric kettle, water storage in 20L+10L jugs, toiletries, leisure items, and clothing in colour-coordinated packing cubes… We used three black bins with the yellow lids: one for pantry food items, another for kitchen items, and a third for camping gear such as our chairs, tent, hammock, yoga mats, rope, etc. We chose a fourth, small blue bin for shoes. If we make any changes, we would do rear cargo storage for our shoes to have more room inside the van. We removed the 2 middle seats from the Honda Pilot, replaced it with a sturdy deck which Aidan and his father built, along with a couple of other renovations inside. We were all set.
Cooking: Since we have a battery storage solution, we thought it made good sense to go electric for cooking. I knew I didn’t want to cook with gas (I find it annoying) and I didn’t want to keep buying gas canisters (we’ll be doing enough of that to fill the gas tank of the vehicle). Instead, we purchased two individual induction cook tops from the brand Duxtop – we got for a good price from Facebook Marketplace. We have one pot and one pan… plug the stove top into our battery bank and get to cooking. Cooking has been enjoyable with this method. Although, we are two weeks into the trip and have not used both stove tops at once yet. We chose not to get a table (mainly because we were a bit rushed getting out the door to start our trip), and I am glad we didn’t. We’ve been using one of the black bins with yellow lid as a table and it works just fine. Minor annoyances in that we have to take things out of the van and move them around when we need to cook or access the pantry bin. I think this is unavoidable unless you live in a larger rig. I’ll take it for our van’s stealth capabilities and lower price to fuel up!
We are just happy to be out here, making it work! Not looking to impress or have the best of the best.
Question for you: If you were overlanding, what would you do differently or similarly?
Curious to hear your thoughts in the comment box below. Or message me directly 🙂
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