Today is the first post in a new occasional series offering Road Trip Tips. Future installments will focus on traveling on a $7/day food budget and finding must-have gadgets for the road.
For today, I want to revisit a topic I first wrote about on Matador Abroad — how to sleep in your car while traveling — and to provide an introduction to vandwelling.
This post is obviously directed to road-trippers who do not own an RV. If you’ve got an RV, you’re five steps ahead.
Sleeping in your vehicle is not glamorous. But it’s a great way to stretch your budget. I won’t rehash the tips I mentioned in the Matador article. Instead, I’ll offer a few additional tips and answer some FAQs.
And if you’re taking a road trip, make sure to have road trip necessities like an emergency car repair kit, dash cam, and plenty of chargers.
Quick Summary: Top 4 Tips for Sleeping in Your Car
1 Choose a nondescript area where a strange vehicle won’t stand out
2 Have window shades or curtains for privacy
3 Park somewhere with nearby access to a bathroom (Walmart, convenience store)
4 Go to sleep when it gets dark, because you will likely wake with the sunrise
What is vandwelling?
Vandwelling is the basic term to describe living, traveling and/or sleeping in vehicles. There are numerous vandwelling blogs and resources out there.
The documentary ‘Rubber Tramps‘ is a great profile of vandwellers who have pimped out their rides to the point that they become home.
For the average person, it’s not necessary to go to those lengths. I traveled in a simple conversion van with a couch that folded into a bed.
I wasn’t a true vandweller since my experience was temporary, but I did spend a few months sleeping in my car.
How do you go to the bathroom in your vehicle?
Since you’re not in an RV, you won’t have a toilet inside your vehicle. So where to answer nature’s call?
I always try to use department stores or fast food bathrooms. At some point, though, you’ll need relief in the middle of the night, in which case, the pee bottle is your friend.
Believe it or not, this works for the ladies, too. You can find portable female urinals on Amazon.
As for going #2, vandwellers sometimes fashion what could be described as “human litter boxes,” but that was a bit extreme for me.
I stuck to public restrooms for that purpose. Find the nearest public park, gas station, fast food chain, or Walmart.
How can you get comfortable sleeping in your car?
You’ve got to have a car with enough space to lie down, obviously. Conversion vans are great because they have seats that turn into beds. If you’re in an SUV or regular car, your work is much more difficult.
Fortunately, most new cars have seats that go back really far nowadays.
The one time I had to sleep in a compact car came when I arrived at a campground in Colorado really late and found that the ground was rock-hard. I couldn’t get any tent pegs in the soil.
So I decided to just recline the front seat as far as I possibly could. It wasn’t the most restful night of sleep, but I did get several hours of rest. That can work in an emergency. I wouldn’t try sleep like that every night, though.
Here are some tips for organizing the inside of the vehicle to make room for all your stuff.
Where’s the best place to park?
I touched on how to find legal places to sleep in your car in the Matador article. The process of finding safe places to sleep in a vehicle can be tricky, but you can sleep most anywhere if you are careful.
The best place is a busy neighborhood with lots of on-street parking. You want to be in an area that is crowded enough that your new vehicle won’t stand out.
Large shopping malls usually have security vehicles that drive around the lot at night, but smaller strip malls typically do not, so they can be a good option. Walmarts sometimes work, as well.
Other useful info: Keeping a budget
Check out my post on traveling on a budget for some additional money-saving ideas while you’re on the road. You may want to have a cooler so you can store drinks and keep stuff like lunch meats and cheese fresh.
Another way to save money is by bringing your own food instead of eating out all the time.
Here’s my guide to the best road trip foods and snacks to bring along. Think apples, nuts, raisins, granola bars, and a few other items that may surprise you.
Other links for sleeping in your vehicle
You can find a ton of interesting resources for vandwelling and sleeping in your vehicles, and lots of travel blogs about RV living exist.
And check out our many road trip-related posts, such as:
Can You Sleep in Hotel Parking Lots?
Taking a Road Trip Through the Canadian Prairies
A Midwest Road Trip in Small-Town Indiana and Illinois
Route 66 Road Trip in Oklahoma
The Best Road Trip Songs: 33 Songs About Travel
Need more USA road trip ideas? Check out my full post.
Do you have any additional tips for sleeping in your car on a road trip?
