Travel Safety Tips

How to stay safe when travelling, living in a van or spending time in nature.

Image description: a white Ford Transit van with a window in the sliding door is parked up on a camp site, to it's right (behind it) there is a large, ancient tree. Shade from another tree dapples the white van in the evening sun.

SOCIAL MEDIA

If you use apps like Facebook and Instagram, it’s wise to update your travel locations a day or more late, or to never give away your exact locations. We personally update our rough location (county, mountain range or national park) the day we are moving on, and do not update our travels on Instagram in a linear fashion.

We do use a location sharing app with our parents, however, in case of an emergency. The app is called Family Locator and you can choose when to share or update your location, with a small ‘circle’ of friends or family.

WEATHER

There’s a reason the saying “keep a weather eye out” has been used since the early 1800s, as the weather can tell you everything about your next moves, where to park up and which activities are safe to do. For example, camping (in a tent, camper or RV) is not safe around trees if there are high winds, especially after heavy rains, or during storms due to tree falls. Researching which roads to travel by during certain weathers (i.e. mountain passes are often closed after snowfall or dangerous in icy conditions), is also important.

SECURITY

When wild camping, we park facing the exit so we can drive out immediately if necessary. Other security measures include checking for any previous crime reports from other campers on the Park4Night app, installing additional locks and having alarms. Our additional locks include a pedal lock, wheel lock and internal bolts (to name a few). We also have a guard dog which often puts people off parking too close to us.

Image description: Becky is wearing a dusky pink linen dress underneath a cream woollen jumper. She is stood in the woods, smiling at the camera, with a pile of sticks in her arms. Although most of the sticks are dead and dry, she is using them to practice building a shelter with her husband Jack, not using them for firewood. There are still leaves on the trees in the deciduous woodland, because they are hanging on for dear life and not admitting that autumn is around the corner, this picture was probably taken in October.

FIRES

The general rules to reduce the chances of wild fires are: have them on raised fire pits or on wet ground with a stone surround, never light fires in dry forests or around heathlands, pay heed to local signs regarding fires, and most importantly: never leave a fire unattended.

To keep us safe from gas and fires in our tiny home, we have built the oven-surround from cement board and installed an electric fan (Maxx Air Deluxe) above it. We also have a fire alarm and a separate carbon monoxide alarm with a digital display, which we check regularly. If we do have an incident, we have two fire extinguishers- one in the front cab and one near the oven.

I hope you found this quick list informative, if you have any other top tips you think might help fellow travellers, feel free to comment below! For daily van life updates and complete honesty about life on the road, follow us on Instagram @rewilding_our_lives.