In some countries, driving at night can be incredibly hazardous so you should generally avoid driving at night. The wildlife can be very active at night and hitting an animal is far from ideal or safe. Even if it’s not a camping spot or a designated sleeping spot, you can often find a remote spot to park your van and sleep there. There are a lot of designated areas along the highway in most countries and sometimes petrol stations also have a designated parking areas for truckers/ vans.

Having a general idea of where you will be on the road around sun down is also a good way to prevent not having a spot at night or not being able to find one.

While road tripping, one thing that can be overlooked is the lack of available phone service in some areas. Download a few different apps that use satellite instead of data. Sometimes you can go days without service, so knowing where you're going is imperative. You need to make sure you know how far the next petrol station is, where you will potentially stop for the night before it gets dark. Luckily, there are a few camping apps that work without any service such as CamperMate.

Make sure you have a first aid kit with the essentials in it at least. The better prepared you are for all situations the better. Maybe think less first aid kit, and more survival kit. I found while living in a van and in such a confined space, this can increases the risk of cuts and scratches. Bandaids, alcohol wipes and gauzes are always useful.

Keeping organised will really increase your way of living. If you stay on top of the organization, van life will be very easy and enjoyable. Think about a convenient way to organise your belongings so it will be convenient for you to go through your stuff every day. Having separate bags for dirty laundry makes it easy when laundry days come around. After beach days, the sand tends to get everywhere and your bed and becomes a literal a sand pit, so I figured that having a bucket/trug where we can just dump our sandy towels, bikinis and wetsuits was very helpful at keeping the van sandfree. Keeping a waterproof bag/pouch for your toiletry is ideal. Sometimes you will have to use public areas and you might have to carry a few things so having a pouch will accommodate this better, and will decrease the risk of losing stuff. I also like to have a folder/binder with my important paperwork so when I need to find it quickly, I don't have to go through the whole car and it also brings me peace of mind to know at all times where my documents are.

Have a spare copy of your van key. Sometimes you forget them inside the car, you drop them in the sand and they get lost or you go surfing with them in your pocket and forget about them. Your whole life is in that van so you don't really wanna break into it by breaking a window. Keep your spare key somewhere you know you won't lose it. In your wallet, in the cargo box of your car or you can buy lock boxes that you attach to your vehicle which will keep a key inside for instances just like these.

Get convenient outdoor equipment, such as folding table, chairs. A beach umbrella goes a long way. A small cooker with a box full of pots and pans is also ideal. The idea is that you will be living outdoors, but putting everything back into your van, so it has to take the least amount of space possible.

When I did van life, we also had a solar panel on the roof, and we could charge our electronic devices off of that when on the road, that way you don't have to always use your car battery and you can charge more than one thing at a time.

When you do van life, the likelihood of not having access to a shower and a sink every day is very high, so you need to find solutions in order to stay somewhat clean. I recommend baby wipes, an outdoor solar shower, dry shampoo, etc. Depending on where you are travelling to, sometimes you can get a cheap gym membership that gives you access to all their locations across the country, so you can use their shower as much as you want (and exercise too if the fancy takes you). If you travel somewhere near the beach, there are oftentimes public showers that you can use with a bikini on, or you can also find a private shower for free too