Van life might look idyllic on social media, but one couple captured a moment that complicates the picture.
In the clipthe creators’ serene morning waking up in their newly converted campervan took an unexpected turn when they realized their “perfect” overnight parking spot was, during the day, a bustling tourist destination.
“When you wake up and realize you’ve parked up at a tourist destination,” the couple captioned the video, which shows them peering out at a scenic green landscape, populated with people. The couple, known as @livelittlelivelar online, tagged their location as the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
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The TikTok video sparked a wave of relatable anecdotes from fellow van lifers and travelers.
In other videos, the couple, Elle and James explained how they embarked on their van life journey with ambitious plans. In an introductory video, Elle explained their vision: “Hi, my name is Elle, and this is my boyfriend James, and together we are currently converting a Ford Transit long wheelbase into our tiny home on wheels with the hopes of traveling through Europe and beyond.”
They’ve since been documenting their conversion process, which they began through the winter of 2024. Despite both having “no experience doing this,” they’re “hoping to switch this lifestyle for van life,” Elle said in a video.
Their conversion journey itself has been a learning curve. In another video update, Elle shared insights from a “10-day challenge” they took on to accelerate the build. Now, the van is done, and their journey in Scotland seems to have contained one of their first funny van life mishaps.
Their unexpected morning view resonated with many who have found themselves in similar, unintended predicaments.
“I parked up once in the side of a road and woke up to strange huffing and puffing noises outside. When I looked out, I was in the middle of a marathon route and couldn’t move for hours,” one person wrote.
Another recounted a post-pub awakening: “Me and a friend went to a pub out in the sticks to watch a band, we slept in the car as neither could drive, in the morning we were surrounded by a car boot sale and couldn’t leave till 1:00 p.m.”
“Woke up on a road going through a golf course in Amsterdam by golfers driving their clubs past crack of dawn,” a third commented.
But some were completely unphased by the prospect of an audience to their van life journeying.
“The way I would just give up right then and there and go back to sleep,” one commenter admitted.
Newsweek reached out to @livelittlelivelar for comment via TikTok.
