Vanertainment

After reading other van life blogs and watching countless videos, it seems the majority of people living in their vans are traveling to cool sites and attractions. For those individuals, there should be no problem finding something entertaining to do. But for those who live in their vans and stay in the same city every day for work or other reasons, you may not be able to find as much to keep you occupied while sitting inside your van in some random parking lot. That's where vanertainment comes in!

We are gamers. We love playing games on both our phones and laptops. For us, nothing passes the time better than a good MMORPG or Battle Royale. Of course, two people gaming on a couple of laptops can be quite the battery drain, so we wouldn't dream of doing that on cloudy days when our solar panels wouldn't be able to keep up. However, gaming on our smartphones is very doable on any day. We tend to be a bit hermitic, even before moving into our van, so playing online games with people from all over the world is a great way to be social. And if you're living solo, it's the perfect way to find some online friends.

Sometimes we decide to act our age and put down the video games – for a while. We love movies and keeping up with current events. We found a 24-inch TV that fits perfectly in our van. Since it's a smart TV, all we need is an internet connection to stream all the movies, news, and TV shows we want. And it uses very little power as well. Perfect for the van!

Using electronic devices will require a good power/solar setup or a large battery pack to make it work. So what if you're not really set up for that? There's still plenty of things to do when you're stuck inside. Are you into sports? Those desktop game sets are actually quite fun. They have basketball, football, pool, and even bowling. I've even seen a little punching bag with teeny gloves you wear on your fingers. Just search online for all the options available for both kids and adults. Don't forget to check out regular board games too, if you have someone else there with you. Just choose games without a bunch of tiny pieces that can get lost in the most inconvenient places. Soon after moving into our van, I discovered that this thing is like a black hole. Things just go missing, never to be seen again.

If you have a hobby that doesn't require an entire workshop or tons of materials, bring it into the van with you. My husband does leatherworking. He makes gun holsters, knife sheaths, key chains, etc. He can't bring the big equipment into the van but can do some smaller crafts. I like to crochet a little, and a few skeins of yarn and some needles fit very easily in our van. I have also recently become interested in photography, so I went out and bought a nice camera that I now need to learn how to use. I didn't buy a beginner camera, so it will take some time to learn it well, but it doesn't take up much space at all. If you're into drawing or writing, that would work out very well in a small space. Did you know that some people have written entire novels on their smart phone? Even jewelry-making can fit into van life. Some of these hobbies could also become a way to make some extra cash, and who couldn't use some of that?

My husband is a musician. He sings and plays guitar in a band and also writes his own music on the side. He plays all the instruments he needs to record an album. Sadly, he can only fit one guitar onboard, but he can get lots of different sounds with this awesome little amp he has! He has also managed to fit an entire "drum set" in here! It doesn’t take up any room at all. All he needs is space to sit in front of his laptop and swing some special drum sticks around. What better vanertainment is there than some live music?

Whether you're solo or have some company with you, there's always something to do to keep yourself entertained. Don't let that Walmart parking lot bore you to tears. Just put up your window covers and have some fun!