Anders Bandt

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Today is the day. I'm about to embark on a 2-3 month journey around the United States and Canada living out of a Ford Transit.

In this article I'll give a brief background on why I'm doing this trip and the preparations behind it!

I have a few reasons and inspirations for doing a trip like this. A few of these include

1. I believe it provides ultimate freedom in your trip itinerary. Not reliant on hotel bookings and what not
2. The U.S. is heavily optimized for automobile travel, and more specifically all our parks are also very accepting of vehicle travel
3. The engineer / DIYer in me really enjoyed the building process

There are many van life influencers out there but a couple years ago, one in particular caught my eye. Foresty Forest is based out of British Columbia, Canada and is as real as it gets! I have followed him from his days living in a mini-van to now upgrading to a cargo van.

He is also a DIYer and did most of his build himself. Seeing his lifestyle made me realize it's something I would be interested in and really is what got the wheels turning in my head behind undergoing this journey.

I would say when I tell people that I'm embarking on a van life trip the response is mostly receptive and agreeing. Some people say outright that it wouldn't be for them, which is very fair.

A lot of people ask what my parents thought, they were supportive like always too!

I've only got very negative feedback from a few people. All of these people interestingly had the same opinion - that with the amount of money I'm spending purchasing a van I could backpack across Europe and Asia for about the same amount of time. In their mind a "sicker" trip. I think that's fair and international travel does seem more exotic and cool but at the end of this trip I will have something I own. Not an asset by any mean (vehicles are never good investments!) but at least something I own.

I also already backpacked through Europe post-graduation so didn't have a strong desire to go again. I'm also doing this trip solo, and found that backpacking specifically was not nearly as fun solo when I tried it. I think for me personally van life will be better solo.

I really started project planning as early as summer of 2023, about 2 years ago. However, I really wasn't putting a lot of time into it and was just taking notes when I had some freetime or thought of something interesting.

Summer of 2024 is really when I started ramping up planning. And when I say planning, I don't mean trip planning. I despise trip planning and honestly am starting this trip with just a very rough idea of planning. Oh no, when I say planning I mean building the van!

The first major thing I had to get done was the electronics module. The engineer in me (and specifically electrical engineering!) found this part extremely fun.

Really before purchasing the vehicle the other major thing I tested was a diesel heater. Besides that I really just took comprehensive notes on everything under the soon, to planning how I will cook, clean, and stay safe! Since college I've really leaned heavily into documentation and note-taking, and I really do think it paid off. I think I made educated decisions and what I wanted and needed on the road and just overall felt really

This article is already getting long so I won't bore you with all the details about building. I may write another article specifically on the build process and more technical details. But just for a general timeline

1. I purchased the vehicle in January 2025 in Dallas, TX

The first major test run I did was traveling down to Big Bend at the southern Texas border. This was in March 2025, went with college friends :)

As I mentioned earlier I really have a rough trip plan. Concepts of a plan, so to say. I know this

• I have a flight to Hawaii from Los Angeles on May 17th
• I'm visiting friends and family over the weekends in California until early June
• By mid-June I want to spend some time in western Canada
• I have to get to Winnipeg (in Canada just north of Minnesota) by June 26th
• .......
• I have a wedding in Boulder, Colorado on August 17th

Nothing in July plan. No firm end date. No reservations for anything at all.

so yeah. Concepts of a plan for sure.

I ride with the winds!

-Anders