Free camping sucked! | Vanlife Adventure Part 1 (Rome to Florence, Italy)

[@becausewecamp]

We're alive and in The Netherlands! We're so thankful to our friends Bine and Janet for letting us squat in their spare room while we caught up with footage and we're now ready to tell you that story! Here is the FIRST OF FIVE parts we've created on the realities of #Vanlife and our adventures of driving ourselves from Rome to the Netherlands. See ya next week!

[@oo2oo4L]

Because We Camp cool! looking forwards your next clip😊

[@becausewecamp]

Thank you!

[@hosannah__]

Love that this video is so real ❤️❤️❤️

[@becausewecamp]

Glad you enjoyed it. Most people hate honesty..

[@ericleedy1777]

Hello Camps! I echo another commenter that it is hard to see you both so stressed out. Although I know it just a hiccup and you’ll return to your center. I’m glad to see you’ve made it to NL. It’s a wonderful place. I’m about to visit Italy soon and I’m curious to how my experience will be. If you feel like coming to Latvia let me know! We’ll put you up!

[@becausewecamp]

Hey thanks so much for the kind words! We were actually toying with the idea of going through Latvia as a passthrough to Russia, but I'm not sure if we'll have the time on our Visa. Anyway, thanks so much for the offer! If we do head that way I'll let you know. Have a great time in Italy!

[@PhilChan22]

this is great! Welcome to van life guys. We are leaving for Europe in exactly one month. Let see if we will cross path. Awesome intro too.

[@becausewecamp]

Lol thanks man! it was definitely a reality check; mad respect to you both! I think we're going to start heading East.... Asia is calling us home. You're both heading that way too eventually yea? Maybe we'll just have to plan a HK meet up 😃

[@PhilChan22]

yeah yeah! For sure!

[@Minoritynomad]

TOM TOM?!?!?!?! Throwbackkkkkkkk. lol. Why didnt you guys use Google Maps? And poor Noah. That rant was hilarioussssss. I'm thoroughly entertained. I must admit.

[@becausewecamp]

Tom Tom still has a place Erick. ;) Google Maps needs wifi to download an offline map, do you know how much wifi we encountered!!!??? Take a guess! Ok, I'm gonna go and rant again, it's not even a PMS rant - don't even get me started on the wifi lol. - Lynn

[@batuchiny]

buongiorno :) guys. Good to see you back.

[@becausewecamp]

Thank you!

[@TheStimuli]

Keep up your spirits and the good work.

[@becausewecamp]

Thank you so much! We appreciate it

[@mauricedickinson5395]

HI there this takes me back 20 to 30 years when we had a camper van . not like they are today though but loved it back in those days the trffic was not as bad ,a lot more easier yes it is tireing but enjoyable good luck on your journey and have fun we did maurice

[@becausewecamp]

I have a lot of respect for you doing the trip so long ago. I'm sure a lot of things are easier today, but Im also sure there there were a lot of things that were way harder back then. And you're right, it's definitely tiring, but also enjoyable :) Thanks for watching :)

[@mauricedickinson5395]

The reason i like your channel is you take time to answer the coments this must take up a lot of your time thank you . Yes things were different we had no shower or toilet back then it was fun i can tell you .i have not long started following you blogs, like many of your followers .but like them all apart the ones in Japan too many peoples there for me so thanks for showing them all the best for the future Maurice.

[@becausewecamp]

Well, we genuinely like connecting with people which is why we make responding a priority. Anyway, thanks for watching and sharing your experiences, we're glad you found us 🙂

[@WheretheJones]

Wow guys. Those are definitely some rough spots and so van life around Europe is not on the bucket list for us (especially for a family) but... those kind of obstacles do make for a good story and overcoming those challenges makes you that much more of saavy traveler. It's a good trade off. This vid did have me glued to the end (starting off with the funky 70's stuff in the beginning helped lol) Also a major takeaway for me is visiting Florence in the winter is a great idea.

[@becausewecamp]

Glad you enjoyed the video and the intro haha. Yea it was kind of a rough beginning... and middle... and end... but we definitely had a memorable experience and learned a whole lot. And to be fair, our van got us to where we needed to be, so I don't have any cause for complaint in that aspect haha. But yea, if you visit Florence I'm sure you'll have a great time with the fam!

[@stevencassidy6982]

What is "Sketch city?" A shame you felt that way about Florence. I go there early in the year. You saw people throwing up and didn't feel safe? God help you in Amsterdam or London? I thjnk we forget that itis your first time to Europe. I am amazed that you took a van round. Public transport is so swift and easy to use. Mind you, that gallery did remind me of queueing for an hour to see The Uffizi...

[@becausewecamp]

Well, we rented a van specifically to avoid taking public transit. For us we generally have a more memorable experience when we travel independently. A bit masochistic maybe, but it's an experience! And no..., puking wasn't the thing that made us feel a bit un safe at times, it was the aggregate of most of the other things Lynn listed. I.e. prostitution, drug deal, being hassled, public drunkenness, and the general vibe of the surrounding area etc etc. I don't really think it has anything to do with it being our first time in Europe, the place we free camped reminded us a lot of some of the rougher parts of Seattle for example. Anyway, there's quite a difference between staying in a hotel near the city center versus sleeping in a parking-lot on the outskirts of town. But it's what we singed up for so we're not complaining Also, it's ironic that you mention Amsterdam, we literally just arrived back in Groningen from a weekend in Amsterdam. Amazing city!

[@stevencassidy6982]

You do realise that European cities have prostitutes, crime, drug hassles etc. They are no different from American cities in that regard. What you need is a really good guidebook to show you around. They are also better written then the internet

[@becausewecamp]

Yes Steven, we do realize this, which is exactly why I compared what we observed in Florence to some of the rougher parts of Seattle in my previous reply... I'm not sure where you got idea that we're suggesting that this stuff is somehow unique to European cities. In any case it's irrelevant, since all of the experiences we had in this video are experiences we had while visiting Florence. If we had the same type of experience in some other location, than our comments and experiences would... well... apply to that location. But yea, guide books are good for some, and not so much for others; a matter of preference I guess. We've had pretty good luck with Wikivoyage.org since it's continually updated unlike the super expensive and heavy lonely planets that are outdated pretty much the moment you buy them.

[@PeopleOfSol]

Thank you for documenting your experiences for all of us to enjoy, or in some cases experience vicariously :) I'm curious, why van life as opposed to say a eurorail pass? Thanks Camps, Bon Courage!

[@becausewecamp]

And thank you for watching! In fact, I thought I recognized your handle as being one, along with a few others to leave the first handful of comments we ever received on our early Thailand videos. And sure enough, I was able to find such a comment from three years ago haha. So thank you for following along all this time! To answer your question, we actually thought about it, and we even sent a proposal to Eurorail in the hopes that they would comp us a pass in exchange for some videos. They decided to pass on our offer, so we went with the van idea, since we generally have the most memorable experiences when we travel independently. Fast forward a few weeks, and I can say with confidence that driving a van around and sleeping in it during low season in Europe has definitely been memorable... 😂

[@PeopleOfSol]

I wish you and Lynn the best of fortunes in your future travels and also very much hope you enjoy your holiday too.

[@becausewecamp]

Thanks so much, best wishes to you as well!

[@oo2oo4L]

looks like the season now winter there! keep warm

[@becausewecamp]

Definitely winter... probably not the best timing for such an adventure lol

[@dv6937]

YESSSS in the Netherlands!! My home! Have a lot of fun!

[@becausewecamp]

Thank you so much! We've been here a couple of weeks and it's already our favorite European country so far! We've been gorging ourselves on poffertjes and frikandel specials lol What area are you from?

[@mailsumit37]

Hips on Fire!....hv a Rocking journey #AllTheBest

[@becausewecamp]

Thank you!

[@emmanoble1214]

Hey Cousin, I love camping.. I hope once you get a handle on the van you can really enjoy it.

[@becausewecamp]

Aww thanks so much! Miss you and Merry Christmas to the family! xoxo Lynn

[@evitagiannakou3953]

hey! can you tell me the name of the company which rents camper vans? plz

[@stevewolflife]

Oh wow. It seems you didn’t have a good start in Italy. I hope you guys got used to the van life and the smaller roads. Take care

[@becausewecamp]

Yea it was a bit of a shock for sure, but we had a great time in Italy overall. It's the experiences like the ones in this video that are the most memorable anyway. Hope all is well for you on your epic journey! 😃

[@stevewolflife]

Because We Camp my epic journey had some changes but I’m still living and epic experience. Take care

[@becausewecamp]

Music to my (or I should say our) ears!😃

[@ThisWayUpTravel]

Loved this! You are definitely having an interesting adventure for sure! "We can sleep by the sound of the firing range" LOL! #keepingItReal 😃

[@becausewecamp]

Haha, glad you're enjoying the honesty... not everyone does that's for sure. And yea, it was definitely and adventure, which is what we hoped for lol

[@paulvanderzaal]

Welcome to the Netherlands ! And yess italian driving is crazy and f@$/ up. Enjoy Holland guys

[@becausewecamp]

Thank you! We're loving it here, the food is awesome haha

[@Moi_81]

I really love your esthetic.

[@becausewecamp]

Thank you for noticing the details moi 🙂

[@thevannaproject8143]

When you get back to the States, pleeeease some meet up with us and we'll make a video that's your #vanlife turn-around success story. This is great though, made me laugh lots and miss you lots, too. Keep shining, sister!

[@becausewecamp]

You've inspired the hell outta me to make #vanlife a thing, I really wanna do this in the states - thank you sis! xoxo

[@clarkspiemuncher24]

from videos i have seen on here ref europe you should have headed for portugal as its supposed to be chilled out

[@becausewecamp]

Portugal was our port of entry into Europe. Our goal was Asia, so we had to move east. But we won't be Traveling through Europe in winter again unless we have a good reason to!

[@jackrubycrew]

Really great seeing you both on the road again. I am currently in Ukraine however will be back in China soon. Get in touch when you make it to China!

[@becausewecamp]

Thanks man! We're actually going to be heading back to China pretty soon. Not exactly sure if we're gonna take the Moscow to Vladivostok, Moscow to Beijing, or Moscow to Shangai (i.e. silk road via Kazakhstan) route, but we'll let you know! Hope all is well :)

[@paul0gb]

You need to try driving a van in the alps in the winter lol :)

[@becausewecamp]

Done and done :)

[@stephendonaldson-ellison4476]

Hey I love your videos, but did you not learn any of the European languages prior to travelling there? (bar English obviously :) )

[@becausewecamp]

Hey there, thanks for watching! We travel long term and turn over a new country every 2 weeks or a month and sometimes we don't even know we're going there until a few days prior when we change up our plans, so when you travel like that it's hard to learn a language outside of the basics of "hello, thank you, delicious, where's the bathroom, etc. Plus, that's the beauty of Europe and how small it is, you can be somewhere in 2 hours and it's a whole new language, culture, food, etc. We ended up traveling to 9 countries and so we just stuck with the basics in each language.

[@Nevellie]

Oh man, i feel with you guys! But as we told you, don't write it off. Go to NZ for THE camper experience, it seems like the country is designed just for campers! But hey, if camping wouldn't have sucked so much, you would have spend less time with us, so it also has one upside ;)

[@becausewecamp]

Haha very well said my friend! And we totally agree, we still have the camper van dream thanks in large part to your NZ footage 😂 Missing you both and hope you are well!

[@PMX]

"This town is weird...so... it's outside of... Florence. Or it's a municipality? Or... it's an offshoot... Fir... Firenze? I'll write it down... Anyways..." :D :D :D

[@becausewecamp]

Lol... learning is fun!😂😂😂 Thanks for watching!

[@miamimo70]

More 70s montages please ☺

[@becausewecamp]

+miamimo70 you got it 😉

[@miamimo70]

Because We Camp how about you guys do the Silk Route instead, like Venice to Beijing!!

[@becausewecamp]

Funny you should mention that! We were going to do the trans-siberian route once we got into Russia (obviously no van), but we're going to head towards Kazakhstan and do part of the silk road until we get near Chengdu, at which point we'll make a straight shot for Shanghai

[@miamimo70]

Because We Camp awesome, can't wait!! 😀

[@PeopleOfSol]

Agreed, that intro was fantastic!

[@thomasd5578]

So many cats xD

[@becausewecamp]

Lol yea... a sanctuary for cats! There were literally like 15 of them

[@mapsexpert]

What is tomtom? *)

[@becausewecamp]

It's basically just a souped up gps enabled navigation unit. Kind of like Google maps. Honestly though, it was kind of a pain to use at times, and at one point we turned it off entirely in favor of Google maps. Although to be fair, our difficulties in using it probably boiled down to our lack of experience. Thanks for watching!

[@oo2oo4L]

tomtom, show us the way to the peaceful town to stay.. sounds like osaka, not hiroshima.

[@becausewecamp]

Ha, I like it this little rhyme 😃

[@thetempleofxin]

がんばって！

[@becausewecamp]

Look at you being all bilingual and shit. Anyway, you know we are! Are you going to be in Japan for a bit? Would be great to hang out once we head back that way

[@livingabovethe12th]

Firenze=Florence. Just like Koln=Colgone.

[@becausewecamp]

Thank you! And yea we figured this out after the fact haha. 😂

[@livingabovethe12th]

Because We Camp sorry about my lack of umlats in the city names, didn't want to go too far....

[@becausewecamp]

No worries! We appreciate it. It was interesting learning the real names of these places from the street and highway signs as we went north

[@1blisslife]

Because We Camp Well... as they say! You learn as you go. I wonder if you would do this sort of thing through Asia or South America someday? Enjoying your travels, and looking forward to see where your next adventure takes you. Stay safe out there in the human jungles of the world. Cheers

[@becausewecamp]

Do a road trip with a camper van you mean? We've done some long road trips on motorbikes in Asia, never considered doing it with a camper van before but I bet that would be an adventure haha... And thanks for following along, and for the well wishes. We really appreciate it :)

[@oo2oo4L]

順風満帆 laー

[@barbatvs8959]

If you know of a contact in Asia who can help me get a job teaching English, I'll pay you.

[@becausewecamp]

If you know of a contact in Asia who can help me get a similar type of job, I'll also pay you 😂

[@barbatvs8959]

Oh... Dang.

[@becausewecamp]

You might get alot of good info and where to start from this guy: kzbin.info good luck!

[@barbatvs8959]

Hahahaha! I was actually done reviewing his offers, but I have only 2,300 dollars, and his Vietnam course would take most of my savings, when I need to pay for the flight and food etcetera as well! But thank you very much, fellow denizens one of whom is also a BARBATUS which is Latin for "bearded one" and is therefore relevant to a video concerning the homeland of the ancient Romans. I conquered Italy many times in my video games. It's very pretty. When in Rome, pillage it! PS If you know someone who knows someone who may know someone in a previous life who may help me in Cambodia or México or Iran and other places that don't seem to be as picky as most countries (although I have a Bachelor's degree), then I offer a thousand dollars to be paid in installments if I get the job. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm even willing to sell my armour.

[@barbatvs8959]

Another PS: You could teach English online like on palfish without a degree if I recall correctly. If my internet didn't stink, I would be doing that.

[@kubowich]

any camping in Europe sucks...campgrounds here are pathetic, it's like camping on a football field. Makes me sick....lovely US national parks, I wish I was American and could spend every possible holiday camping there.

[@becausewecamp]

Haha this comment made us lol. Anyway yea... camping in Europe seems to be a bit lacking. Anyway, welcome to the US. We'd be happy to have you camping here :)

[@ANNAD67]

Why do you hate Italy so much. Italy is a wonderful country

[@becausewecamp]

We don't hate Italy, and we never said we did, we said we hated free camping in a parking lot in a shitty part of town. Italy is indeed an amazing country, but let's not pretend that it doesn't share in the same social problems that plague effectively every other country on earth.

[@61shotbeehive]

I'm 8 and a half minutes in. Is there anything besides complaining in this video?