6 Things We Wish We Had In Our Van

It being our first time travelling for an extended period, we didn't know what we would really need. Here are some things that we thought we could go without, but if we had the time and money would have brought with us/installed.

Bicycles

As our leaving deadline approached, finding folding bicycles and a place to store them slipped down our priority list, but they would have come in handy on multiple occasions. There's been some lovely locations, especially in France, that has a cycle path ideal for viewing more of the city. There are also times when we've been parked in a nice area but need something from a shop. The options are either risk losing our place to drive there and struggle to park, or walk 20-30 minutes. On a bike, we could be there and back in 10 minutes.

Awning

Unless you're always paying to stay on a camp site, you're limited to when you can use an awning, but when in a wild location in the sweltering heat with no shade around, it would be great to pull it out, sit below and feel the breeze. 

Alternator Charge

The leisure battery takes a lot longer to charge on a cloudy day, and we had much more of them than we expected, so it would have been very useful to be able to charge the leisure battery from the alternator using a relay system while we drove. 

Air Conditioning

I don't know what a well insulated van in the summer feels like, but the nights in Southern Spain are stuffy, even with all the vents and windows open. It also means we can't leave the dog in the van during the day. Fans just circulate the hot air, so something like this would be very nice for the hot stuffy days and nights that we're restricted to the van.

A Language Phrase Book

Sure, we can use Google Translate most of the time when we need to, but we don't always have data and battery on our phones. We were gifted a English/French phrase book that was extremely useful for learning French and was easy to read in our spare time. We wish we had something similar for Spanish and the other countries we will be in for while.

Fly Catcher

We have citronella candles and we bought a mosquito net on the road for our side door, which work pretty well for keeping the mosquitos at bay, but flies are a pain in the butt! All we can find in shops are aerosol sprays to kill them, but we don't fancy choking ourselves by spraying it in the van. We've been trying to find some sticky fly catchers to hang in the van, but for now we use an old fashioned newspaper technique to hunt them down in the evening. 
If you have an awning, this 12v bug zapper has been recommended by other van travellers.
Location: Costa del Sol, Málaga, Spain

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