The Vanlife Companion (Lonely Planet)

Nice hard back book

This book has great pictures and some useful information but is by no means an exhaustive source.

If you've ever wanted to escape it all and live in a van, this book romanticizes the lifestyle and yet still manages to throw in some practical tips. Beautiful photos of worldwide travels and examples of van-lifers living the dream make this a fun coffee table book for adventure seekers.Having lived aboard a 38' sailboat for 3 years, I can appreciate the desire for adventure that draws people to living life out of a van. I can also appreciate the amount of work that goes into doing it in such a way that you're comfortable and on budget.This book is half practical guide with various 'van' examples and "vanlifer" bios, and half travel guide to routes in West Africa, Nepal, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Germany, Chile, Argentina, and the USA.Tips on choosing a van, what makes it a good one, and converting that van to make it your own are also covered. General tips on vans for extended living are pretty much all common sense to me, but some may find information on topics they'd not considered before too.A visually appealing book and well written, The Vanlife Companion is not a how-to or DIY guide, but it is a beautiful and informative read.

I love this little book! It's full of real life conversions of vehicles like camper vans and retired ambulances into travel residences. It's printed in a strong textbook binding with an attractive full color cover. The interior is full of beautiful color photographs of one super cool conversion after another. You also get a bit of the story of why/how. It's much more interesting than I anticipated.

This book is for people with serious wanderlust. It is chock full of really useful information on how to go about traveling the world in a camper van. Yes, the world! they even talk about going through Italy, Scotland, Chile, Argentina, New Zeland and more. Of course, they also go several places in the USA. The first part of the book tells about the specifics and what to think about if you are planning to do road trips in a van. They go into detail and the tips are really helpful. There is a lot to consider if you want to do a campervan vacation. The next part shows different van conversions and tells how the people did the conversion, with photos! The rest of the books is broken into chapters about the different road trips and includes maps and pictures. There are lots of great photographs to enjoy. It's a really enjoyable book even if you are only an armchair traveler like me. This book would make a nice gift. Check out my pictures to see some of the book.

This book reminds me a lot of one my wife and I once wrote on contract for another publisher. We were given the overall subject, sub-topics to be included, lots of pretty photos, and told to do the best we could with however much space had already been allocated for each topic, because once that ran out, they were going to cut it off, regardless of whether we'd covered everything important yet or not.Thus, this book is a good introduction to life on the road in a self-contained recreation or camping vehicle, complete with lots of interesting examples of the many ways this can be done, and useful hints both for finding such a vehicle and best using it on an adventure trip.We've done a fair amount of this ourselves, having once rebuilt an old-at-the-time 1964 Ford Econoline van into a camper van and driving it a few thousand miles across the deserts of the American West. More recently, we rebuilt a 1971 Airstream Safari 23' travel trailer and used an older Honda Pilot to pull it all over the American South and Southwest, before taking it into Baja California, Mexico several times.The advice offered in the book is good, the examples are useful, the stories are fun and the photos are a real help. Just remember it is only an introduction. The reprinted factory maintenance manual we bought for our '71 Airstream is longer and more detailed on just that one aspect of the project. So plan on this being your first book on the topic, rather than it being everything you need. (For instance, we've also considered another such project, using a Dodge/Mercedes Sprinter van, and have already read two long books on just that topic alone, rather than the few pages offered about the same vehicle in this book.)I found it interesting and different, rather than off-putting, that this book appears primarily written for a European rather than U.S. audience. Reading it gave me lots of chances to catch up on alternative words for things I thought I already knew.And speaking of things I already knew, it turns out we've already been everywhere listed in the suggested U.S. trips, plus Vancouver and the Canadian Rockies, though nowhere else among the suggested trips. Again, the book's suggestions are good for the places we've been, though far from exhausting the info we'd suggest having before heading out.Overall, a good introduction to a very interesting topic that may be very important to you at some point in life. Meanwhile, it will look great on your coffee table as you work your way slowly and happily through it.

This is my first van book and I am not disappointed. I love all the pictures and useful guide. In the first half, it provides me with information on different style vans and a basic overview of how to customize the van. The next part is about safety, where to park and ideas of different itineraries. Overall, a great start to living life on four wheels.

Blah. I was so excited for this book and preordered it in September. Just received it yesterday and will be returning it. Such a let down. If you are into traveling in strange foreign lands there are some maps but if you are in the U.S. then this book is of ZERO use to you. Bummer.

I bought the book as a reference for travelling, unfortunately it’s not what I expected. Over half the book is photos and a to pries in how individuals built and live in their vans.. ok but once you read one or two you probably won’t return to those pages.. the rest of the book is giving routes for travel it’s fine if your going to Australia, USA or Africa but I was expecting more UK and EuropeOverall there are only about 15 pages that I find useful.. wouldn’t recommend .. there are much better books out there.

I would recommend this book as a very easy read that makes it obvious that anyone can jump off of the treadmill of life and head out on the road. With good images and accompanying stories. So, whether it's a short trip or a longer adventure that your hoping to do, this is a good place to start.

Unshackle yourself from the rigid 9-5 box and set sail on road trip after road trip.. This makes it all imaginable and also adds to the things and details that you couldn't even think about.It will be coming along on the next few adventures- so i can plan further adventures. Basically- It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Boyfriend and I have a land rover with a roof tent and have been trying to figure out where to go and what to do to our van for more comfort. Great little book.

As advertised.