VAN LIFE_ My Real Morning Routine Living Alone in a Tiny Home on Wheels 🚐🌸

Van Life
43 followers
17 Video Views·Mar 1, 2026
Hi and welcome to England! This is where I currently live. Look, there's my little van
just there, if you can see. And this whole general area is called Kent, otherwise known as the Garden
of England. Why? Because it's green, it used to grow fruit, I think it basically looks like
something out of a Jane Austen novel. And yeah, this is my home. She's called Bo the Bus, so yes,
technically a bus. She did have a load of seats when I first got her, and she does have a lot
of windows, but she isn't that much bigger than an extra-long wheelbase van, so van, bus,
I don't know, it depends on how I feel really. She's seven meters long, two meters wide,
three meters tall. The make and model is a Mercedes Vario 614D, and yeah, this is where I live.
And here we are, two little pickles. Right, let's get into it. Hi, my name is Josie and I live in a
van with this fluffball, Winnie. High five, Win. Leave me hanging. And so today's video is basically
just going to be my morning routine living in a van in England. Should we go to that bit where,
you know, like, I'm asleep, but obviously I'm not asleep, I'm pretending to be asleep because
the camera's set up, put on my hair, little bit of makeup. And let's be real, no one's going to
leave the camera filming all night just to organically get that first bit of when you're
waking up, like, looking all natural. That would be a waste of storage. Okay, we're going to need
to make it darker in here. So where am I going to put you? Maybe here?
Oh, you stay there. Is that good? I don't know. You see everything?
That's a bit messy. Let's tidy that up. Aesthetic woodland fairy energy,
brought to you by the fine art of hiding everything off camera.
Are you far enough back? Maybe you need to go even more back.
Is that good now? Yeah. Okay, that will do. Winnie's like, oh,
bloody hell. Here we go again with the camera thing.
So apparently insulation doesn't block out the sound of birds or squirrels or whatever
else decides to throw a rave on my roof at 4.30 this morning. Now I know I said I'd be
completely reenacting this morning routine, but occasionally I do like to throw a camera
in my face first thing, you know, just to keep a shred of realism alive. I wonder if you can
guess which bits are real and which are me, I guess, acting. Okay, but spoiler alert, this is
actually the sunrise from this morning. And I guess the upside of being woken up by a squirrel
doing laps on your roof is that you're up early enough to see beautiful things like this.
I think definitely one of my favourite things about van life is opening up the back doors
and seeing where I've ended up. Views from my bed that feel like something out of a dream.
It really is one of the reasons why I built this bed at the back.
Like how can you wake up grumpy when the world looks like that? Honestly, I think it's a bloody
great way to start the day. 10 out of 10 would definitely recommend. Minus the squirrel.
So after I awoke from my slumber, I opened up the blinds. Now these are blackout thermal blinds,
which sounds very high tech until you realise that to make sure the nice fabric side is visible
when they're up, you have to roll them in the most unnatural direction. And then, for reasons that
I've long since forgotten, I tie each one up with a bow. Slightly time consuming, but let's be honest,
very cute. Then I emerged from the boudoir, which involves opening up these bifolding mirrored
shutters that I built. An idea that was met with a fair bit of criticism at the time, I might add,
but look at them now. They work perfectly and are probably one of my favourite things in the bus.
Also, shout out to the pink velvet sprung sofa that I spent three months obsessing over.
Completely worth it, by the way, and honestly is the comfiest thing I have ever sat on. And yes,
I am including actual sofas in that statement. Next on the agenda, the loo, which involves
walking through the kitchen, opening up a mirrored door and entering my surprisingly fancy bathroom,
which I really don't show off enough, so come on, I'll show you. Now, before I show you my
bathroom, and it really is fancy, I mean, I've literally got a separate toilet and shower in
there, I have a bit of a confession to make. I'm on it. I mean, it's just how it goes sometimes.
Actually, to be fair, it normally just depends on how much water I've got left in my tank. But anyway,
I'm still going to be leaving this bus feeling like a fresh bloody daisy, and here's how.
Big thank you to Wild for partnering with me on this video. So this is Wild's refillable deodorant,
and they come in these really cute aluminium cases. This one is the limited edition Bumblebee
design from their collab with Emma Bridgewater. And then I've got this one in pink, and it's got
engraved my name, Josie. Adorable, right? What I love about Wild is that they're vegan and
Leaping Bunny certified, which means they care about the animals, which for me is a non-negotiable.
Plus, the refillable design helps reduce single-use plastic, so you're creating less waste every time
you top it up. To refill, it's super easy. You slide out the bottom, pop in the new refill, and
you're good to go with 24 hours of freshness powered by nature. And now I smell divine,
and I didn't even need to shower. So if you fancy smelling like me, you can grab yours now. Use my
code BUSOFF20 for a discount. All you have to do is click the link below, or you can scan the QR
code on the screen now. Thanks again to Wild for partnering with me on this video. So welcome to
my bathroom. We're gonna go in here, close the door. Hi again, so many mirrors. Um, this is the toilet.
So, the toilet situation. I've got a composting loo, and I love it. It separates your liquids from
your solids, if you catch my drift. And when I say it doesn't smell, I genuinely mean it. I'd pick this
over a public toilet any day, no question. Obviously, I had to go full Pinterest with
the decor in here, and this little hanging net thingamabob might just be one of my best storage
hacks, because loo roll is oddly bulky and deeply annoying to run out of. That's the toilet, and then
if we turn it around, this is my shower. Now technically, this is supposed to be a recirculating
shower, but I haven't quite cracked it yet. So it's currently sitting on my ever-expanding to-do list.
So yeah, recirculating shower pending right now. In its current state, it's just a bog-studded
normal shower, uses all my water. Quite annoying, really, for that reason. Okay, and now I genuinely
need to go to the loo. Now, after washing my hands and brushing my teeth, it's tea time.
Tea, a staple in any British woman's diet. First step, switch on the pump, which lives under the
sink. That delightful sound means that I can now get water for the tap. Oh, little water spill. Next
up, the gas hop. Requires matches, which should be in this drawer. Empty. Great. But hey, at least this
will make good kindling for later for the fire. Luckily, I'm no rookie, and I always keep multiple
matchboxes for these exact moments of betrayal. And Bob's your uncle, the kettle's on. Now, Winnie,
bless her, is not what you'd call a morning person. If it were up to her, we'd be sleeping in till noon.
So, while she naps and the kettle does its thing, I've decided I should use this time to stretch a
little. Before van life, I was working as a professional dancer. You know, all core strength
and jazz hands, that kind of thing. But since trading that life for travel and a van, let's
just say I've been a little bit slack with the whole physical upkeep. And yes, I can really tell.
So, new rule, when the kettle's on and Winnie's out cold, it's stretching time. No excuses. Let's go.
Lovely long hair stuck to my sock.
Definitely mine, Winnie the Labradoodle. That means she doesn't shed. She's far too fancy for
that molting business. And yes, that is my bin in the shower, because when designing this whole bus,
I actually forgot to plan a spot for the rubbish. Right, let's scrap the stretching. Let's just
clean that bit of kitchen. I've rubbed my foot all over. Nice. Grim. I definitely should have hoovered
before doing this video. Do you hear that hissing sound? Well, that's the kettle telling me it's
boiled. Note to self, organize the death cupboard. Still, shut the door and it's back to looking like
a Pinterest board. I used the kettle to boil the water, the teapot to brew it, and then the cup to
drink it. It's a three stage process, wildly unnecessary, but deeply, deeply satisfying.
Meanwhile, Winnie's woken up. And this stare can only mean one thing.
Two seconds. Outraged.
Okay, fine. One Mississippi, two.
You're wondering what this is. This is my sock. But basically, she has these little socks. I use
them when she's wet and dirty and I don't want to get her paws on my stuff. I'm talking about socks
on dogs. Yeah, I know. It doesn't quite make sense. But basically, you can get these little socks that
go on their little paws. It's quite sweet, really. But I use them when we come back from walks often.
And obviously, I've got a pink velvet sofa, and velvet doesn't really go with wet paws. So,
I just like to shove these socks on her, basically. And I am really sorry about that fan sound. It is
very, very hot today. And unfortunately, it's on for the rest of the bloody video. So, hopefully,
you don't mind it too much. And if you do, blame Winnie. She's the queen. She wanted to be cooled
down, okay? It is hot today. And just like that, I'm dressed, caffeinated, and vaguely ready to
face the day. Breakfast usually happens somewhere in here. But honestly, it changes on depending on
what I fancy or what's left, more likely. But the core, like, morning routine, the wake up,
go to the loo, make tea, walk Winnie, get dressed, that bit kind of always just stays the same.
What happens after that, though, could be anything, really. Sometimes, it's a full-on driving day,
hours on the road. Sometimes, it's a chore day, glamorous tasks like cleaning the loo,
refilling the water, scrubbing muddy paws off the floor for the third time this week. Most
of the time, I'm generally editing, which basically means I don't move for 10 hours. I have a hunchback
and I slowly morph into a bloody goblin. And then, there's the filming days, you know, which is a bit
like what you've just seen. So, me staging my own wake-up routine, like some kind of one-woman
period drama. Or I'm out filming in public, which is the same thing, but with the extra embarrassment
and the occasional jogger giving me the side eye. Sometimes, I even get a day off. But usually, that
happens when someone visits me and forces me to put down my camera and laptop. So, if I were to
film one of those, you know, full day-in-the-life thingamabobs, which one would you rather see?
And if you've made it this far, thank you so much for joining me this morning and being here.
Winnie, right now, is napping again and my tea's gone cold and I've got to start the day. So, I'll see you in the next one.
