We’ve basically rebuilt our van from scratch twice — from breakdowns in the desert to unexpected repairs in random corners of Europe. It’s been a nonstop battle just to keep moving.
Now we’re back in Norway, and about to change the gearbox for the second time — at a cost of 88,000 NOK.
This is the side of full-time van life that no one shows you: the expensive, the frustrating, and the mentally draining truth behind the dream of chasing freedom on four wheels.
🎥 In this video:
What it costs to keep a DIY van on the road
Replacing our gearbox (again) in Norway
The emotional and financial reality of full-time travel
Why van life isn’t always as free as it looks
About 5 minutes of this video is in Norwegian, during a conversation while working on the van. Subtitles available.
🇳🇴 Rundt 5 minutter av denne videoen er på norsk, under en samtale mens vi jobber med bilen. Teksting er tilgjengelig.
5 minutes of this video is in Norwegian there is subtitles so that the English customer can follow along
#VanLife #VanLifeBreakdown #GearboxReplacement #VanLifeNorway #FullTimeVanLife #VanLifeStruggles #RealVanLife #VanRepairs #ExpensiveVanLife #BreakdownStories #ChasingFreedom #VanRebuild #88KNOK #VanLifeReality #LivingInAVan #vanlifenorge
why didn’t you opt for a Sprinter?
@michaelsintown9008 • 2 days ago
Hi both, Thanks for replying, Answering your first question No I will not be going back to Australia as I think the journey would kill me,if Thay Had ships going from UK/AUS I would give it a go.I fly a lot to Crete Greece and 4 hours on the plane is unbearable, my Daughter has a place there. In the early seventies I lived in Skara Sweden, with my partner and our children only for 18 months but that was nice .The children still speak some Swedish, We had wonderful Christmas’s there.Jared I can speak from experience you should have some kind of of a bolt hole for your self and Nina van life doesn’t last forever, no matter how wonderful it is, a little plot of land with a home/ cabin that you can run to on occasion will keep you sain, Governments don’t like Vans and Van people there makeing it more difficult for the likes of you. I will keep following you on YouTube, keep Safe.
Michael,,.•
Did you buy an automatic? I had an automatic VW sharan that developed gearbox issues while driving across europe, and eventually had to scrap the entire car because of the cost of replacing the automatic gearbox – whereas a manual would’ve been a lot simpler/ cheaper to fix. Would love to see an episode where you talk about which van you should’ve bought.
Bloody hell mate, I had no idea Fords were built that badly
Svele…
Driving off the ferry like madmen…
In my county(Møre & Romsdal) the ferry table used to be more well-read than the bible. There was at one time over 30 routes all over, and travelling anywhere often meant two or more ferries. And you really, really wanted to catch the first possible departure on the second ferry…
The rest that drives like madmen are just impatient a$$holes.
M&R is also where the tradition of eating Svele on the ferry started…
About half the ferry routes in M&R have now been replaced by roads around, bridges over, or tunnels under…
EVs…
The number of EVs on the road is not even close to 60%, yet. But it may look like it in some towns. The further north you get the lower the numbers. It’s increasing, though, with over 99% of new cars sold being EVs. Vans are slowly catching up, too.
What really made EVs popular outside of the big towns is that EVs often got large rebates or even drove for free on TOLL roads. I only pay half price on Ferries for example… And with an AutoPASS chip I get even better prices.
A lot of undersea tunnels that were TOLL roads links towns to less populated areas where people would like to build homes. Getting an EV made that economically feasible.
The ferry you took in the beginning of the video is Electric. (we have more than 80 Electric ferries now)
You can see the tower on the dock being open and exposing the charging connector as the ferry docks. I don’t know how powerful that one is, but I know at least some are pushing 8.5MW…
(On some docks there’s a big shed for a battery bank )
Oh, and those are INDUCTIVE chargers. They never touch the ferry.
Time for a Toyota Hiace mate
You use the word twice a few times without commenting on the most famous twice (You buy cheap you buy twice) Get a Mercedes bruh lol Theres a new meme out about the first automated ford it drove straight from the factory to the garage hahaha
What’s the thing you call each other “my lord”, is that Norwegian?, sounds od to me..
Never the less, great video. Watch from cold South Africa.