VANLIFE compared to OVERLANDING - what's the difference & what's better?
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- Опубліковано 21 кві 2021
- What are the differences between vanlife and overlanding, what are the pros and cons and why would a person be drawn to one versus the other?
I run through what I think are the major philosophical differences, and what we can each learn from each other!
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#VanLife #Overland #OverlandTravel - Навчання та стиль
I always had difficulty explaining the difference between the 2. You nailed it.
Thank you! , you really gave here a prospective view about this interesting topic
It's always nice to listen to you, Dan.
Wish you all the best for your next adventure into the unknown. We will follow you on our cell phone screens.
The definitions that make the most sense to me are:
Overlanding:
Self sufficient long distance travel by land. (Doesn't matter what vehicle you use or what type of terrain you drive on. It usually lasts at least a month, don't use hotels and cook your own meals most of the time.)
Vanlife:
Full time living in a van. (Doesn't matter if you travel or not, as long as you live in a van.)
Trail camping:
A mix of 4wheeling and camping. (Offroading is required, the trips usually last less than a month. You spend most of the time on trails and rural areas.)
Road trip:
A long distance trip by road. ( You sleep on hotels and eat at restaurants and self-service stores. The trip is a means to an end.)
Exactly ! My point of view...
Interesting comparisons...all are on the road using a vehicle open to new experiences and people..some due to economic necessity and social inequities and others by choice in tge spirit of adventure and discovery..maybe would be nice to have a meeting of the different groups to share and support.
@@stevescramo592 yeah, that would be cool.the fact that overlanding can be done in any vehicle means that a lot of people don't realize the crazy options that some have used. Like Ed pratt, he travel around the world in a unicycle. And just like him, there are others.
Ed pratt is an absolute legend!! I never thought of his unicycle world tour as overlanding though, as he is self propelled. I thought it was cycle touring!
I’d say you nailed it. Though some of these off-road 4x4 vans are blurring the lines. I’d say they are glamourlanding 😂
I think as overlanders we have traditionally found our social interaction with the other "I'm going solo into the wild!" types that we bump into when we are 'out there'. I'm far less interested in meeting people at overland shows, etc. than I am in meeting fellow travelers that are actually out doing it. Not that anybody is better or worse, it's just those are the people that are my tribe, so to speak.
You explained my sentiments precisely. The deeper we go on the road the more we enjoy meeting people in our van and out here no one cares what you drive. It’s the doing that counts.
My wife and I are retired seniors. A perfect world would be 3 months in the sun in a diy van during the winter. Back home for a bit then 3 months in our Jeep with the J30 rolling the dice when we come to a fork in the road. Our longest Jeep trip so far was 6 weeks and 10000 miles across the US. We just consider ourselves journeyers always looking to see what’s around the corner. Somewhere between over lander and vanlifer.
I like your explanation!
Thanks for the video 🙂
"Spot on" commentary regarding the differences. Will be renting a camper van to travel around Iceland in September, and would never consider that "Van Life". Cheers!
Fairly accurate Dan, nice job. I'd say my approach as a full time nomad is definitely a hybrid of the two.
Chrome from Vancity vanlife is really blurring the lines more than any van-lifer I know. It’s pretty awesome
Addictive videos , amazing information. Great Job 👍
Glad you like them!
A Very good comparison. Thanks.
Very well explained 👌
We for ourselves enjoying a fulltime overlanding life while living in our van with lots of experiences, adventures and yes, but also boredom here and there ;)
Well said. Thank you
One of the best overland channels out there for sure, Dan! Cheers @BeardedRedDevil
After watching this, I've decided I am an overlander, but with a van! I built out the inside of a Chevy Express with 4x4 over the past year+ to travel both on short weekend or week-long trips, and longer expeditions. I needed a van-sized vehicle due to having a wife and a kid. But I wanted it light and small enough to actually go far into the backcountry, which is the whole point. I went fairly minimal where I could to keep weight down and built everything myself, often with CraigsList supplies to save money. But I wanted enough resources to last a couple weeks at a time in semi-comfort... 38 gallon water tank, full size propane for cooking, nice bed, larger than average sink, and a DC cooler, 500 watts of solar, 200 ah of LiFePO4 batteries. It kind of defeats the purpose if you're reliant on finding services every few days.
Living the Van Life on UA-cam is my favorite mix between the two worlds. He was living full time in a lifted vanagon w/ AT tires. I'd consider what he was doing as overlanding cause he traveled all over, offroaded it all the time, and wild camped. Now he's building a Sprinter 4x4 that the internet is currently drooling over
Well done 👍
Best of luck on your next adventure
New to the channel.. love what you do!!
Welcome aboard!
Dan we talked on EO prior to your trip to Africa. I think you nailed it between the two. I also think there is one more group. #HybridOverLife perhaps. A person that ditches the brick and mortar and does the exped Overland full time. I am thinking the huge rig people, as it is done now. But I believe technology is making it possible to do it in a smaller scale vehicle. Anyway loved to watch as usual. Shiny side up my friend.
Thankyou for your insight ! I am not really into labels for what other people say they are doing. I like to enjoy the time that i have doing what i like to do... which sometimes is nothing . Alpha Truck House / Wild & Free .. ~peace~
The difference between borrowing my dads converted former ambulance Sprinter and taking my disco on a trip is in where I poop and where I sleep. In the Sprinter I can comfortably do both in the middle of a city, and in the disco I can uncomfortably do both in the middle of a forest.
I love the comment about van fit outs being heavy, LoL something that is often overlooked
I just hit the like button before watching ))
You will have plenty of time rollin' dubbies....when your livin' in a van down by the river!
Im a full time vanlifer and just about to drive down the west coast of Africa! Its the person behind the wheel that makes the difference not the vehicle you drive......
Hi Dan, great adventure & video you made...anyway, please make a video about overlanding with 4x4 vehicle + an anhang/luggage trailer...is it any specific rules in any country? I know you never use it but maybe based on experienced another overlander you met in your trip..i have a dream to do overland with my wife & 2 kids pre teen..really appreciate it, Dan and stay healthy anyway 🤘🤓
Van lifing to me is more akin to full-time RVing. It is just a lot more portable and minimalistic. A van lifer can pick up and move to a new location with very short notice, where a full-time RVer has a lot more effort to pack up the RV to go. Although some van lifers have a lot of outside the van accessories. Overlanding is about the travel as much as the destinations along the way, as you implied. Van life is more about the the destinations, and the life you lead at those destinations. Very interesting video Dan, thanks!
Well put Dan! You did a good job defining your terms, so it didn't come across like a "no true Scotsman" opinion/argument. 👍
I think I know these guys with the Van in the demo picture - though it was not shown in the video itself.
Funny.
Dani and Didi from Germany!
Dude, I did not recognize you with the haircut. Followed you on expo portal some years ago.
Haha, sometimes I still do a double-take! .. I had the long hair for well over a decade, but I'm not sure it will make a return!
Ya I think I like the overlander route. Have a small affordable home base and adventure travel often
I’m the guy who lives in both camps. I live in a van and work full time, because it allows me to save more effectively, so that I can go do more sustained, adventure travel. My van is the compromise between both worlds. It’s a short wheel base, medium roof, Ford transit van. Most vanlifers have bigger vans then me, or smaller vans. It’s between a Chevy Astro van, and the big Vanlife sprinter vans. I do have a really good set of toyo ATII tires on it, taller but skinnier because the factory tires would not grip in the remote places that I do take the van. Soon to go on is a small 2” lift. I’ve also installed a rear tire carrier, so the tire isn’t stuck under the van, and made a rack over the rear door that things can be strapped to. My interior is the back packers version on van life. I’m roughing it, comparatively speaking. Yes I have a bed, and a counter to cook on, but I built it as light and strong as possible, and kept my systems to a bare minimum. Just the essentials. I think for me, the best way to describe myself is #vanderlanding. Which is the hashtag I’ve been using recently. Thanks Dan for all you had to say, it really is spot on to the typical things you see.
I think I must be some where in the middle. I live full-time in a caravan. Base myself for 4 to 5 months of the yr for work. Then head off for adventures sometimes remote with the caravan. And othertimes I leave the caravan behind and and go even more remote, like the simpson desert in my 4x4. Either way, it's a great life. ... just need this COVID-19 to be sorted so I can do this over seas...
I kind of feel like with overlanding, living out of the vehicle is a means to an end (i.e., you depend on your vehicle to enable your adventurous life) where as with vanlife, living out of the van is itself the goal. I think that's why your friend was bored and you were not. You were perpetually having to plan out / deal with / live out the next part of your adventure whereas she was just living her normal hum-drum life, except her home was her van. Great discussion, Dan.
That's a good way to summarize!
Yup
If you want to do a sport you need to chose if you want to do football or rugby, you can't mix them together.
If you want to do something in the spectrum of vanlife/overlanding just go do whatever you want and don't search to fit in a box or definition.
Now i know, I'm simply a fabulous overlander😍.
I also don't like trying to bring my home with me, i go for adventure so I don't want things of comfort on road like hot showers, insulation, and all the stuff... Impressive information here Dan
It's astonishing to me sometimes how much people will bring along with them for a 5-day trip.
@@themagician7734 hahaha hahahahahah 😀
I understand. I meet people on road going for weekend trip and the gear they have is beyond the car's weight limits. I did a 2 months trip in February and March but simply carried cloths enough for 7 days and all my belongings could fit in a backpack size. Then a stove and 4 gallons of water. I had the most epic adventures and i covered 7500 Miles. And I have come to learn that carrying less stuff is actually more... Less is more and fun. My mind was about adventures
How would you define adventure, from "vehicle based adventure travel"?
This was great. My new project (coming from a JKUR with a rooftop tent) is building a pop up truck camper setup. I'm feeling the tension between the two perspectives, but wasn't able to put my finger on it. I've got a super capable truck on order, with a lot of 4WD options, probably more because of familiarity than need, with a fairly plush camper project so I can have a mobile office. Am I going overlanding or van lifing? I plan to travel and live in the vehicle through the US, Mexico and Central America while working six months out of the year, but I want to make sure I can wild camp in the back country, at least in the US.
Sounds like you're getting the best of both worlds! well done, and I may one day follow in your footsteps!
What truck and camper are you building out?
@@TheRoadChoseMe Thanks! I've got a Ford F350 on order and I'm moving towards an Alaskan camper, probably a 7' flatbed model. This is over a more stylish cloth pop up, like the 4WC Hawk Flatbed or Bundutec Odyssey (on the short list). The Alaskan doesn't have the overland look, but it's durable with a lot of those van life creature comforts. I tipped my Jeep over on its side in February and the next day watched your video talking about how not all off road suspension manufacturers are aware of how we'll likely use our vehicles. Should have stayed with AEV. It made me realize it was time to move on from the Jeep.
Sounds like a good plan!
What do you guys think about having an overlander with a trailer RV on the back (RV being your van life) combo? 🤔 Park your Van home somewhere when going on a crazy overland adventure? Has it been done?
Trailers have their pros and cons - it really depends on what you want to do, where you want to go and what kind of adventure you want to have! I discuss it in detail in this one: ua-cam.com/video/GRr8AJYXyu4/v-deo.html
There's some x-over with overseas too.
off track but your voice is very swag
We recently got a Quigley 4x4 Ford E350, what a nice surprise to see you talking about this today. We have no plans to live in it full time, we definitely will be doing a LOT of adventure travel soon. We just uploaded a video of the van on some trails in KY, head over if you want to see our new big girl in the woods, definitely going to be able to get remote and way out there.
Another interesting video, Dan . Well done.
Curiously, is it possible to drive coast to coast in the U.S. or Canada without traveling on pavement? ie BLM Land or similar off road trails.
I don't think it's possible the entire time, but I'm no expert. In the lower 48 of the US you can't even get more than 115 miles from a McDonalds!
@@TheRoadChoseMe
Thanks Dan!
That’s funny and sad at the same time.
That would be an interesting expedition, to see just how remote you can get in the lower 48.
In the lower 48, there's the Trans-America Trail or TAT, which is probably the most well-know attempt at a sort of coast-to-coast off-pavement experience. I think it used to be mainly for bikes, but I think you can do most of it in a 4wd as well.
@@ihmesekoilua
Thank you !
I’ll look into it.👍
It's a mathematical fact you can't get more than 110 miles from a McDonalds!
www.datapointed.net/2010/09/distance-to-nearest-mcdonalds-sept-2010/
Good video! I think you pretty much nailed it. I mean you chickened out on the whole truth, for American support on Pateon but hey. Overlanding is "vehicle co-dependant INTERNATIONAL adventure travel" , and van life has a tendency to happen close to Mommy!
'it's best to journey than to arrive'
Any thoughts on Adventure Touring vs Overlanding vs VanLife
Uh-oh, this is getting deep!
I prefer to prepare my future truck as overlander
I've been living in my tiny house that I built for 5 years now.... On almost 2 acres. Haha.
Not for lack of not being able to afford bigger. Not for environmental purposes. Just because it's all I need.
Yeah, I have a conex and an old mobile home on the property for plenty of storage for my tools and hobby toys. But for actual living for one or 2 people, what more does one need?!
My opinion matches yours to a t. I've always thought that.
If someone never comes back home, because is always on the road, he/she is not travelling ( so is not an ovelander), but only a guy that lives around anywhere, migrating from here to there, time by time. It's not a trip, but a way If life.
So I guess I’m going to have a foot in both sides......going off grid adventuring, but with long term survival gear built into the vehicle from the ground up
Good video but i think youre generalizing a bit. One of the cool things about vanlife is everyone does it their own way, and i think most people live in vehicles because it enables them to travel more. It definitely has its differences from overlanding but i think the people who stay put in their vans/busses and hold a 40hr job are the minority. I moved into my 97' f450 ambulance and plan to put as many miles on it as i can, ill go international if i can figure out how to squeeze it in a shipping container😂
Do you have an apartment or house you are staying in while you're not traveling?
Yes, I've been renting a room - my Jeep with canvas isn't really workiable in the Canadian winter.
50 years ago I built my first 4x4 van so I could live in it and prospect for gold in Alaska. 🤷 Before that I spent 3 years sailing around the world. Now at 73 I live in the Bahamas during the winter and Northern Idaho for the Summer. I fly myself back and forth to avoid all the bullshit.
So, after watching the video i am now more confused then before. :( I want to live in a van full time, but i also want to go on crazy adventures. Now go find a vehicle that accommodates both...
Find the vehicle that meets your needs and have the adventures, that's the most important part!
6:22 if VanLifers are feeling bored, they could volunteer to do some charity work as a change of pace.
Many vanners are single and tell life and van stories. Overlanders talks about outside. The first is good but the latter is better.
Most overlanders talk incessantly about gear and mods. Not that much different from vanlifers
Hi Dan, here is a good foil to your video: ua-cam.com/video/HnyVBAskeco/v-deo.html
Skooli live in an school buse
The difference? Well, nobody's made an Oscar Best Picture winner about overlanding. ("Fitzcarraldo" doesn't count.)
Good point! I'll take that as a personal challenge :)
Vanlife usually requires a hot girl prancing about...
Do you think I could rock a bikini? :D
@@TheRoadChoseMe 🤔🤫😬
Maybe I'll have to try it and see if I can go viral.... hmmm go for the Borat angle maybe!!
@@TheRoadChoseMe Borat films are shot here in Romania.
Or better yet, 2 hot girls.
Why don’t people travel around the world with a decent caravan?
It can really limit where you are able to get to, it's much more expensive to ship and to enter national parks, and it's more to maintain and repair along the way.
It certainly can be done, but it's very uncommon.
I talk about it here: ua-cam.com/video/GRr8AJYXyu4/v-deo.html
@@TheRoadChoseMe thanks for that. I just viewed it. We did the big lap around Australia with a 22 foot caravan, so was hoping that a smaller set up would be okay. There’s 4 of us in the family, so would need a set up to suit. I didn’t want to go down the route of getting a truck. I would think a 70 series Troopy would be too small.
Yes just I’ve been trying to tell everyone there is a difference between van life and real overlanding and apparently people can get that between their big fat head
Truck drivers
Van life is not for me. Owerlanding! 👍
humans are a peculiar lot... identities so wrapped up in petty differences
These van life workers don't work much. Trust me
Van life is cocaine. Overland is marijuana.
I like this description of overlanding - "It's a lot like van life, but with an awkward middle aged man instead of an attractive young couple." Chris Shontz (@venture4wd)
Ain’t nothing wrong w being a free, roaming, self-sufficient middle aged man. As to awkward, who the hell cares? Normal is boring and unimaginative, after all...
Thank you overlanders for making off-roading comfortable, thank you off roader's for making capable vehicles, my best day is when I can go where other's cannot, thats remote for me 🏜
Oh and thanks Dan for taking me on the adventure I'm not able to go on 👍👍👍