Has life been feeling a little dull lately? Have you ever wondered what it's like to feel at home in a vehicle? Our friends at Instagram account @Stu.The.Bus have offered to share their life on their bus with us #VieDeBus.

Why did you decide to convert your vehicle into a home?

We decided to buy a bus and convert it because we felt uninspired and unfulfilled competing for jobs. We lived and worked in Seattle for several years after graduating from college, but we didn't have time to travel or even spend time together. We've been living and traveling full-time on the bus for over two and a half years now, and at this point, we have no desire to move back to the city anytime soon.

What are the essentials for living in your van?

Some of our essentials include our Nature's Head compostable toilet, comfy camp chairs for lounging outdoors, our trusty Coleman two-burner camp stove and Omnia oven for preparing delicious meals, and, of course, our Pale Blue rechargeable batteries to power our headlamps, flashlights, and more. A few tasty snacks and cold beers never hurt either!

How is van life environmentally sustainable?

Bus living is more sustainable than apartment living for us specifically in many ways. We only have an 80-liter water tank on board (plus 53 liters in reserve), so we are much more mindful of our water usage. Typically, a full tank of water can last us almost two weeks. We also use a composting toilet, which saves a ton of water. Our solar panels provide clean, sustainable energy for all our daily needs. Finally, we drive much less than we did when we weren't living on a bus. This may seem counterintuitive since we live in our vehicle now, but in Seattle, we both had cars and drove to work every day, to the climbing gym several times a week, to our parents' house to spend time with them, and to see our friends regularly, in addition to a few trips a year. Today, we can go a week at a time without hitting the road—usually until we run out of fresh food and need to restock at the grocery store. We make an annual migration south for the winter and north for the summer, but we still drive fewer cumulative miles than before, reducing our carbon footprint.

What do you use for power in the van? Do you use solar power?

We have two 160W solar panels and three 100Ah batteries that supply and store all the energy needed to run our refrigerator, water pump, lights, ventilation fan, toilet fan, and appliances. We also recently acquired a Jackery Explorer 1000 and two 100W portable solar panels that provide additional energy storage, which comes in handy if we're both working a lot (laptops use a lot of power) or if we have a string of cloudy days that drain the house batteries. Conveniently, we can charge our Pale Blue batteries from either of these sources!

What is the annual cost of living on a bus? Did you save any money?

We save a lot of money living on the bus. Several of our bills have been completely eliminated, and others have been significantly reduced. I did the math last year and calculated that in Seattle we spend over $42,000 a year, while on the bus we only spend about $9,600 a year. We both work freelance on the bus, so we make less money than we did at our full-time jobs in Seattle, but we also have fewer financial commitments and, therefore, more stability. We bought and converted our bus for $13,000 while we were still working, then sold our two cars and most of our furniture and unwanted belongings. We are also fortunate to have no student loans or debt of any kind, so right now we own our home on wheels and our main expenses are limited to groceries, diesel, cell phones, and bus insurance. In Seattle, all it would take is one catastrophic illness or injury for us to get into serious financial trouble trying to pay our rent, car, and everything else, whereas today we have very few recurring bills and could go several months without working and still be fine financially.

What advice do you have for people starting their trip in a van?

You don't have to be rich to live in a van. Choose your vehicle carefully after making a list of non-negotiables—for us, it was being able to stand up inside, being big enough for a queen-sized bed and a bathroom, and staying within our $5,000 budget. Test-drive any vehicle before buying to make sure you're comfortable driving it, everything works as expected, and there's no smoke coming from the exhaust or other red flags. If you can, check for rust and leaks before buying, as both of these can be very difficult to fix. During the build, don't get discouraged—it will take a lot of time and work, but it'll be worth it in the end. And finally, once you're on the road, take your time when traveling. At first we were traveling at breakneck speed and spending way more than necessary on diesel, but now we've learned to slow down, have a rough plan of our route, and appreciate everything about an area before moving on.

What was your best adventure living in a van?

In the interest of transparency and truthfulness, I'm going to provide our worst and best adventures here. Our worst day was probably when the van got stuck in a riverbed near Whitefish, Montana. It was a beautiful spot, but we took a turn a little too wide when we turned around and went too far into the loose rocks, so we ended up stuck at an awkward incline a few feet from where we wanted to be. We tried calling roadside assistance for a tow, but they were no help at all, and then, to top it all off, a very kind couple drove by the next day in their pickup truck and offered to pull us out. We looked dubiously at the 90s truck and the tiny chain it produced, but they seemed confident, so we gave it a try, and thankfully, they were able to pull us out. We thanked them with a couple of cold beers.

Our best adventure was also in Montana, on the east side of Glacier National Park. We met a girl who lived in her van in the visitor center parking lot, drank wine with her, and then woke up early to hike and ferry across Grinnell Glacier. It was an incredibly beautiful adventure, and we saw moose, grizzly bears, bighorn sheep, and mountain goats, as well as the beautiful glacial lake at the top of the hike. We then enjoyed hot chocolate at Many Glacier Lodge before driving our vehicles a few miles further down the road to where we could legally camp. We cooked delicious meals, enjoyed the bright stars, and drank some tasty drinks—truly the perfect day!

Where is your next adventure?

Due to the current tumultuous and uncertain times, we have no firm plans for our next adventure. We'll stay in the Southwest where the temperatures are comfortable, and we'll say yes to adventures as they find us—safely, of course.



Follow their journey on their Instagram account: @stu.the.bus


See you soon for new adventures!