Preparing for a Cold Winter Alone in My Van

Something has shifted in the air recently. High winds are travelling across the valleys, shaking the last leaves of the trees. The mornings are cloaked in mist and I can now see my breath in the cold air. Winter is coming and we are preparing ourselves for the short days and long darkness of the season. If you're new here, I'm Jessica and I live in my small wooden camper van Frodo with my puppy Heidi, travelling solo and full time around Europe. Two years ago I decided to follow my heart. I quit my job, sold most of my belongings and started living a nomadic life of freedom and simplicity. Join us for this next chapter of our adventures where we reconnect with nature and grow roots in the wild. Living in a van full time is notoriously difficult in the winter and while we usually avoid this by travelling south this time of the year, life had other plans for us and we're staying up north for some of the colder months. A quiet routine has settled into my mornings, guided by necessity and the elements. I open all of my doors first thing in the morning to ventilate my tiny home, make my morning coffee outside if it's not raining and then settle back into the van, wrapped in a warm blanket and start a fire, waiting to warm up until I start the day's activities. Living an outdoorsy life like this imposes a slowness onto the winter period which feels very natural on a deep level but is often forgotten about in our busy modern lives. So although my little morning routine can be uncomfortable and even frustrating at times when the weather is harsh, I try to embrace it knowing that it brings me closer to a more natural way of wintering. Hello friends, I hope that life has been treating you kindly. We're back in the Welsh hills and my goodness, the days are growing so short. I've developed a habit of getting up really early in the morning to make the most of the daylight and the temperatures have dropped considerably as well. It's been very rainy, very stormy. There's been days where Heidi didn't even want to go out and yeah, we've just been getting cosy in the van and also preparing for my trip to Scotland which I'm very excited about. I am a little bit anxious because there's snow forecast which is beautiful but I've never driven in icy conditions before and generally I've not driven for a very long time yet so yeah, it's just something new and scary but I'm sure with the right prep it will be fine. I was already in town the other day to say goodbye to Rissi and I had my tyres changed. I've got all-season tyres now which is really good because the roads here are very slippery already so my old tyres would have struggled with that a little bit I think. So there's a few more jobs that I need to do on this van to winter proof it. I need to drill a few more ventilation holes into the bed structure because I noticed a tiny bit of damp there the other day which is all treated and it's gone but I want to prevent that from happening again or getting worse. We just didn't put enough holes in it I believe like we did in the last van because this van is built for full-time van life in Europe but my insurance will only give me six months in Europe this year because it's my first year of driving so I'm spending more time here than initially anticipated and then I also need to insulate the bulkhead area where I store all of my jackets. I noticed some condensation forming there the other day so I need to sort that out. So yeah I'm gonna drive into town, stock up on firewood, cooking gas and a few other bits and bobs and then I guess we're gonna be on our way to Scotland. Are you excited Heidi? Scotland is actually the first place we took her so I'm sure she's excited she just doesn't know it yet. Okay I'm back at my park up I've got everything I need to get on with my remaining van jobs but before I do that I want to show you a winter essential which I already picked up a few days ago and it's this 12 volt heat blanket from Boucher V who are kindly sponsoring today's video. This blanket honestly makes a huge difference on cold nights and it's so cozy the first time I used it I fell asleep nearly instantly which you can do because it has a timer. It runs off the 12 volt port in my battery system you can also plug it into the cigarette charger of your car and it only uses about 48 watts which is perfect for living in a van or being off-grid. It's got five different heat levels so you can choose the temperature that feels just right for you. I really like how evenly it heats up there's a built-in temperature sensor which prevents any hot spots and it warms up gradually and steadily rather than blasting all the heat at once so it feels really natural and safe to use. The material itself is super soft the inside is lined with fleece and the outer layer keeps the warmth in really nicely so you can use it either as a quilt for sitting outside or emergencies. It also connects to a smart app which means you can adjust the heat remotely set a timer or make sure that it turns off when you fall asleep and when you're done it folds up into this little bag which is ideal for van life where every little bit of storage counts and it also comes with two years of tech support so that you're covered if anything goes wrong. So if you're planning to spend any time outdoors this winter whether it's camping skiing or living on the road this is a really great addition to keep things cozy. You can check out the product via the link in the video description and you can also use my discount code to save a little bit extra. Thank you so much again to Bourjois V for sponsoring today's video and keeping me warm this winter and now let's get this van ready for Scotland. I have a habit of completely overestimating how much I can do in a day because while living in a van gives you a lot of freedom over how you spend your time and where you live a lot of things do take more time than they do in a house and you also have to think about things like where you're going to sleep tonight or when you need to stock up on supplies next and while that does take some getting used to I don't resent it. I think that most of us fill our days with way too many things and I definitely used to be guilty of that as well and over the years I've learned to accept that I can't do it all and I'm slowly getting better at making less plans and letting the day run its natural course. Good morning friends it is a very stormy day today and not even Heidi wants to go outside. It's raining horizontally and we've got wind gusts of up to 50 miles an hour so I'm going to use this as an opportunity to hunker down and get all of my winter van jobs done today, keep the fire going all day, stay warm and then hopefully we'll be ready for our trip to Scotland. It took me the best part of the day to finish the bed and additional insulation and once it was done I could finally start my long journey up north. It felt a little bit strange and bittersweet leaving Wales after being back here in my old home for two months and I watched its dramatic hills, glassy lakes, rushing rivers and winding roads slowly fade away my rearview mirror making way to the gentler landscapes of northern England and finally the wild borders of Scotland. Good morning guys I made it to Scotland. I didn't manage the entire drive yesterday I drove for five and a half hours but I was taking breaks I didn't want to exhaust myself so I'm parked on the edge of a town near Loch Lomond which is the area where I used to live so I'm quite familiar with it. It was a very cold night last night it was like minus five degrees and my windows froze and my water pipes froze as well and I'm having to realize that although I used to live here I have underestimated how cold it gets in Scotland in the winter. So this morning I went to town and I got a few more bits and bobs just to be a bit more ready for the cold winter weather and this is probably the only kind of shopping haul you'll ever see on this channel but let me show you what I got. I went to an outdoor shop and got this merino base lead where under my other stuff just to stay warmer and I've also got thermal leggings to go with it. I was also talked into buying some fancy hiking shoes. My last pair I got at a car boot sale for £1.50 and I loved them and they were very comfortable but when I was in Wales they actually fell apart on a hike the entire sole came off and I had to walk five kilometers back to the van. It was not pleasant experience so I decided to invest in a proper pair of hiking boots. I was also browsing some charity shops and I found these boots for five pounds. I just wanted some waterproof chunky boots that I could easily slip on and off when I'm just doing stuff around the van and I also can't drive in shoes because I learned how to drive in barefoot shoes and I do most of my driving barefoot or in socks so these are very good for that. Also got some thermal trousers for my early morning walks with Heidi. They were an offer and I wanted some anyway for future long distance hikes so got that out of the way. I got myself a pair of hand warmers and also a hot water bottle with sheepskin cover so Heidi doesn't burn herself on it. I also got Heidi a little jumper because I noticed her shiver inside the van a couple of times when the wood burner wasn't going. She's already got a raincoat but I thought it'd be nice for her to have something for inside as well and so far she's been a lot warmer which is nice. I was considering getting some pipe insulation and more thermal wrap to make window covers and get some fabric from the charity shops but then I thought you know what I spend most of my winters in warm countries and spending winter here in Scotland is kind of a one-off for me. It happens so rarely I would probably end up not holding onto those window covers because I simply don't have the space for it so I think my preference is to just burn a little bit more wood the few weeks that I'm here and yeah just deal with the frozen water pipes. I did get a couple of water bottles from the supermarket so I've got water in the morning if my pipes are frozen and I don't have to put stress on my water pump. Two of those bottles should last me the entire time I'm here because I'm not using an enormous amount of water in the morning and I'm happy to kind of just leave my washing up until later in the day when the pipes are thawed again and of course I also stocked up on more firewood. Right I hope you enjoyed this little haul and if you didn't it will probably never happen again and now I think I am ready to make my way to the highlands.