VAN TOUR ｜ Solo Female Photographer Lives Full-Time On The Road.

I'm Christian Schaefer. I'm an outdoor adventure and travel photographer. And I've been living on the road for almost two years now, full time, traveling and working. And I was previously living in an SUV. And I loved living on the road so much that I bought a van and decided to build it out. This is my home slash office on wheels. And I'd love to give you guys a tour. Come on. Welcome to my van. What I really wanted to achieve with this van, besides having a mobile office and a place to live, was I wanted it to be my home on wheels. Like as similar to my last apartment as possible. This is the same tile backsplash that I had in my kitchen. And I had gray couches in my apartment. These are even the same throw pillows that I had. Just the whole white and gray color scheme. I wanted it to be very zen and calming. And kind of a retreat from crazy chaotic life on the road. The build itself was done by Gone With The Van, Brett and Yulia. They did an incredible job. And if you want to check out the details of the electrical setup, the solar, how it was actually built from day one, you can head over to their channel and I'll link to that below. Right as you walk in, you see the kitchen here. And these countertops are solid birch hardwood that have been hand-painted to give it this gray distressed look. And then all the cabinets are painted in vanilla shake. Right up here, this is my little bookshelf, which I love. It extends all the way back there. Down here, we have a two-burner stove. Very exciting. And here is where I keep like my cutting board and my towels. And then secret drawer. Colory. This is my Dometic fridge, which I love because there's plenty of space. And it can actually have a freezer up here too. I removed it because I end up filling it with produce most of the time. But it's temperature controlled and it fits all of the way. So down here is where I keep all of my power stuff. And honestly, I can't remember all the specs. Should I try? I have two 100-amp lithium batteries here. And those are connected to the solar panels up top, which I have two 160-watt solar panels from Renogy. And then here, I have an inverter, which is kind of amazing. It charges all of the things. I can have my laptop charging, camera batteries, my drone batteries, my hairdryer, my hair straightener, all of the things. I have switches throughout. And they're also on a dimmer, which is really nice. And there's a light here in the kitchen, these two over here for the bedroom. And then there's also one over here. I have outlets here, there, down there in the office space, behind the driver's seat here. And there's also one in the back in case I want to work outside. Down in this cabinet, I have these three cloth storage bins that I picked up from Target. And they just have various stuff in them. So, like, this one is JetBoil fuel cups. This one just has pots and pans and Tupperware, random stuff. This is my yoga mat. More random camera gear. So, this right here, I just picked up at Target, and I custom cut them for each of the cabinets. And these are really great because they keep everything in place when I'm driving. Like, nothing moves. And this massive drawer here is just extra storage. And up here is where I keep my food. So, I just have these cloth storage bins that I picked up from Target, and somehow they fit perfectly. And, yeah, I just have food stashed up there. And then over here, here's my pasta strainer, Tupperware, bowls, my little grocery bag. And here I have my AeroPress for coffee, which I use every day. And I also use this every day to make coffee. And it's one of my favorite things that I found for the van. It's a collapsible electrical water heater. Ding. Next to this little bag, which is just, like, snacks and granola bars and stuff, I have these two books. And my super top secret, what looks like a book, is actually super sexy receipts. I've had this since I lived in Italy. Ten years ago? Seven years ago. No. Seven years ago. Let's film that again. On this side, I have my sink. And I actually love that it's separate from this counter because it gives me so much countertop space. It's a deeper sink with a full-size faucet, which I opted for because sometimes I just like to throw in my dirty dishes and cover it up and then roll out of a location without all of the cleaning. Okay. So, the water tanks for the sink, very accessible. So, I have two 5-gallon tanks here. There's a gray water tank installed underneath the van. And there are switches to empty that out really easily. And I'll show you that next. For the gray water tank underneath and also the sink here, we have this super handy-dandy little switchboard. This one powers the sink, which I will now demonstrate. Okay. Just kidding. There we go. And then this other switch here, all I do is flip it, and then the gray water tank underneath, which is all of the water that comes out of the sink and goes down the drain, will just automatically empty out. And then this is just... Oh, oh. It's my little broom. I use this every day, like five times a day. This is my cleaning supply slash junk drawer for the van. I have a candle. Another candle. Fairy lights. Microfiber towel lint roller. Oh, actual cleaning supply. The world's cutest little heater. It's a whole bunch of garbage bags and crap. And a toothbrush, which I should probably never use. Right next to this cabinet, underneath the sink, we have all of the plumbing down here, which you can't really see because it's full of baby wipes. Super essential when you live on the road. I have many baby wipes. And then also more cleaning supplies, paper towel, and this little garbage can, which I actually also had in the Nissan Xterra. And some people ask me, why didn't you get a bigger trash can? Like, you live in a van now. You have space. But I like keeping the smaller one because it just makes me more mindful of how much trash I'm creating. So there's my cute little trash can. And down here in this super secret compartment is a drawer with my toilet. I honestly don't know how I used to live without this thing. But, guys, it's number one. Up here is another product from Dometic. And this is a fan. It's super dirty right now. Sorry. I should really clean that. If I have this open and these back windows open with screens, then it creates this really nice airflow, which can be a lifesaver when it's super hot outside. The ceiling, so it's all made of natural hardwood. And it's been hand-painted to give it that gray and white distress look. This here is my office slash bedroom slash chilling area. This table is on a lagoon mount, so I can move it wherever I want. I can also just completely remove this table if I want, and that will give me all this extra space. Up here in these cabinets is where I keep all my clothes. So I found these cloth storage bins at Target, and they fit so perfectly, which is kind of amazing. Like socks, underwear, bathing suit, leggings, workout clothes, and then real pants, which I pretty much never wear, and, like, dresses and stuff like that. And then on this side, I have sweaters, T-shirts, tank tops. And this one, and this one, I keep all of my toiletries. This one is my little jewelry box. And back here, I have this super compact little mirror. Ta-da! So at night when I want to make the bed, this pops off and sits perfectly right in here. And then these cushions here in the back fit snugly right here. And it makes a bed that's slightly larger than a queen-size bed. Okay. Underneath the benches here is storage. And under this bench, I keep all of my bedding. Here's my down comforter. Here's an extra blanket. And this little baby blanket. And then sheets and random down parka. But this down here is my mattress topper, which I put on top of the bed at night just so that I don't feel the cracks from the cushions. So overall, it's four inches of latex mattress. So it's super comfortable. On this side, under this bench, I have some extra clothes storage in these cubes, parka. Here's my suitcase. And I just have, like, duffel bags and a few other toiletries, stuff like that. And under this cushion, I have more storage. This is where I keep all of my camping gear. And then I also have some compartments back here. So I can access it from the inside, but it's way easier to access from the back. This drawer. Camping gear and my tripod and stuff like that. So it's easily accessible. And one really cool thing about this drawer is the gray tabletop fits perfectly right here. So if I want to work outside, I have a tabletop, and I also have an outlet here for my laptop. These little doors here just make these compartments a little more accessible. And over here, blankets, extra propane, that sort of thing. I already showed you guys this cabinet, but down here in this drawer is where I keep most of my shoes, which I like having it accessible from the outside because if I've been out hiking or something and my shoes are really dirty or wet, I can just throw them in here and then hop in here. So coming back into the van, we have this overhead storage, which runs all the way up to the front windshield. And up here, I have two zero-degree sleeping bags, all my down jackets, rain jackets, extra backpacks, my backpacking backpack, mittens, hats, all the things that I don't have easy access to go up here. Here, behind the driver's seat, I have my gym bag, which I have attached with a carabiner here. And then I have my laundry bag hidden back here. Down here, I have my camera bag. And here, I have my newest addition to the van, which is a travel guitar. And I'll be honest, I have no idea how to play it. One day, I'm going to play a Ben Howard song for you guys, and it's going to be amazing. I had a swivel package installed, so I can turn it around and sit right here, which is kind of nice for just like a change of scenery and an extra seat in the house. Up in this storage area is where I keep the covers for all of my windows. And they roll up really nicely. They're gray on one side to match the van interior and then black on the other side, so it's a complete blackout if you're looking into the van at night. And there's reflectix on the inside, which keeps the van cool during, you know, when it's hot out. And then it also keeps it warm if it's cold out. And there are magnets sewn into the side here. Ta-da! Super dark. Also down here under the driver's seat is plenty of space, and that's where I keep my tools. I have a jump starter, and I have my tire inflator, and just anything that I might need for general van maintenance or if I get stranded on the side of the road somewhere. And this curtain up here is a blackout curtain, so I can pull this shut at night. And this combined with the covers on the back and all the windows, it's like pitch black in here, and I sleep like a baby. So that's it, guys. Thank you for watching. And if you enjoyed this video, please like and subscribe. And, yeah, if you have any ideas or questions about van life, drop them in the comments below, and I'll see if I can include them in future videos. Also, if you're interested in checking out my photography, you can find me on Instagram, at Christian Schaefer.