As exciting as van life can be, there is a whole new set of challenges that come with it when it comes to staying safe. Whether it be something as simple as making sure you have all the essentials or making sure your belongings are secure, there are a lot of things you need to think about.
However, there’s no reason the challenges you face in relation to staying safe should spoil your van life experience. As long as you prepare yourself for the adventure ahead and keep some top tips fresh in your mind, you won’t encounter too many problems.
Here at Where You Make It, we provide van lifers with great guides to building and living in a converted van. We’re also knowledgeable when it comes to staying safe on the road.
Today, we’re going to share 6 of our top van life safety tips for staying safe on the road. If you want a hassle-free and safe van life experience, stick around!
6 Van Life Safety Tips For Staying Safe On The Road
1. Park Up Before It Gets Dark
One of the best tips we can give for staying safe on the road is to park up for the night before it gets dark. Finding somewhere to stay in daylight is much easier than doing it at night.
If you arrive in the dark, your perception of your surroundings might be completely different than in daylight. In the dark, you might not be able to assess how safe, secure, or legal your parking spot is.
2. Have A Designated Spot For Your Keys
You never want to be left in a situation where you’re asking yourself “where are the keys?” during an emergency. Therefore, we recommend always picking a designated spot to store your key in the van.
That way, you can quickly get going if you need to drive off in a hurry. Examples of where you might store a key include the glove compartment, a cup holder, or on a wall-mounted hook near the driver’s seat.
3. Keep Your Doors Locked
It may seem super obvious but you’ll be surprised by the number of people that don’t lock their doors. Keeping your van doors locked any time you’re in the van or elsewhere is an easy way to guarantee security.
Leaving your doors unlocked makes it easy for intruders to break in. This could give people the chance to steal your belongings or even attack you. It only takes a second to lock or unlock your doors so don’t leave yourself vulnerable unnecessarily.
4. Fit Your Van With Blackout Curtains
Aside from giving you more privacy and comfort in your van, blackout curtains are a great way to prevent wandering eyes from keeping tabs on you. This is a valuable tip for those of you that travel with expensive belongings.
For example, in the evening, when you use your laptop or other devices, you can shut out the outside world so that people don’t know what you’re doing. This can put intruders off and prevent others from seeing what you own.
Of course, it also stops anyone from peeking at you as you sleep.
5. Hide Your Valuables
Unfortunately, we live in a world where people will take the opportunity to steal your belongings if the opportunity arises. One of the best and easiest ways to reduce the chance of this happening to you whilst you head out on a hike is to make sure all your valuables are hidden.
If there’s nothing to see, it will look like there’s nothing to steal. This is particularly important if you have a van with windows. You can store your most valuable belongings in your bed cabinet or even in a hidden safe for extra security.
6. Keep Your Phone Charged
We can’t stress enough how important it is to keep your phone charged whilst you travel. Even though van life is a chance to escape technology, you just don’t know when you’re going to need it.
If you get lost, stuck, injured, or break down, your phone can literally be a lifesaver. If you plan to travel to more remote locations that you don’t know very well, this can be absolutely crucial.
Final Thoughts
There you have it, 6 van life safety tips that will keep you safe on the road. As you can see from our tips, staying safe isn’t that difficult. Almost all the things you can do to make sure you stay safe are very minor and inexpensive.
Now you have these tips at your disposal, we recommend you implement as many of them as you can. In fact, there’s no reason you shouldn’t follow all of them. If you do, you’ll find van life much easier and safer.
