TRADING OUR VAN FOR A CONVERTED SCHOOL BUS (full tour)

So for the next 24 hours, we are trading our van for this bus.

It's huge.

Oh, this isn't going to be good for me. Holy moly.

Hey. We should have gone for the bus.

We are Kara and Nate, and we've spent the last four years traveling to 100 countries.

This is exciting stuff.

But 2020 brought us back to the US where we bought a converted sprinter van to explore. Own backyard.

No.

We've spent the last week exploring the stunningly beautiful state of Oregon.

I feel like I just need to take a moment.

And today we're driving north to Washington.

So, back in April, our lives, along with the rest of the world, were completely turned upside down. We found ourselves flying back from Singapore, quarantined in a cabin in the middle of the woods, with very little clue as to what we would do with our life in 2020.

We finally decided that we wanted to travel the US in some kind of self contained vehicle, but we had no idea what type.

We looked at everything from old Volkswagen buses to brand new fancy RVs, but there was a specific point in time where we almost bought a converted school bus. We ultimately ended up realizing that a van makes a lot more sense for the travel that we wanted to do this year. But it was a really fun idea at the time. So while I was looking for places to stay in Washington and I ended up finding this listing on Airbnb for a school bus that had been converted into a beautiful, tiny home on wheels. So we decided it would be fun to experience a little taste of what it would have been like had we made that decision to buy the bus instead of this van.

Hopefully we don't feel like we made a big mistake.

So for the next 24 hours, we are trading our van for this bus.

It's huge. There's even a front porch.

Nervous? You ready? Wow. It's beautiful.

It smells so good in here.

Hey, Karen, Nate. Welcome to the bus. We hope you love Olympia as much as we do.

So the owners of this bus built it out themselves, but they don't travel full time. And when they're not on the road, they park the bus in their backyard and they put it on Airbnb so that people like us can have the experience of what it's like to live in a bus.

So we just spent a really long time outside talking to the owner about the process of building out this bus. But the sun's going down, so we're going to try to squeeze in a quick tour before it gets dark.

Okay. They've done Such a good job with this bus. So we're going to show you around, starting with the front and working our way back. The whole thing is super modern and beautiful, but they have left this whole driver's seat as is. Like, this is the original brown velvet seat. They have this huge steering wheel with all of these random buttons and things. I just got used to driving our van, and I seriously cannot imagine driving this giant house and moving back. This is the hangout lounge area. They have super soft cushions. I'm gonna have to ask them what these are, because they're way better than ours. And when we first walked in here, we couldn't believe how spacious and open everything felt. And then we realized it's because they don't have a table that's here all the time or a desk or a. Or anything. Instead, they have these little TV tables just hanging on the side of the couch. They take two seconds to set up. But I think if I was living in here full time, I would want a more permanent table somehow. But for our stay, this is perfect. So actually.

There was a table under the couch the whole time, and it even converts into a second bed. Okay, back to the tour. This kitchen is so beautiful and spacious. I think one of my least favorite parts of our van is if I'm staying standing at the kitchen, and Nate wants to get by me. He literally can't fit by me. Like, no, you didn't jump over. It's just this bottleneck.

Oh, broke my tailbone.

They have this giant sink, which is so nice, I can't even fit a cutting board in ours. Like, I have to take the faucet off and, like, rinse it at an angle when I'm washing it so it doesn't get water everywhere. They have an induction stove top, which is our dream because it runs off of electric instead of propane. So if we could get one of these, we could be done with propane forever. But last time we were getting upgrades to the van, we tried to figure out how we could get one of these, and we'd pretty much have to redo our whole electric solar setup for it to work, and we just didn't really have the time for that. But one day, it looks like we have everything we need to cook a proper meal. Tonight. We have knives on this magnet thing. Wow, that's really strong. We have a way to make coffee in the morning, most importantly. And down here, we have a microwave, a water boiler, and. And a toaster, plus a big basket of pots and pans and cutting Boards, a properly sized trash can. Ours is about this big. These are all things that our van can't fit or handle. Their refrigerator alone is larger than our fridge and freezer combined. Oh, look at all that freezer space. Moving on to the bedroom. The whole back of the bus is the bedroom with this giant comfy bed. I'm so excited that we don't have to make into a bed. It's just here all the time. Both sides have one of these for storage. And underneath the bed they have these two.

Giant drawers. Look at all this space. Extra blankets, towels. I even have empty bins.

So there's one thing that I would have never expected to see inside of a bus, but it's probably my favorite feature. This is a proper wood burning fireplace.

Nothing makes Nate happier than getting to make a fire. And it's just so beautiful. Like, I love the black with the gold accents. They've even set us up with everything from the kindling to the logs. It's also freezing in here, so I'm very excited to have this. But if we don't feel like making a fire, which I probably wouldn't if Nate wasn't here, we have an electric heater, which I'm turning on right now. How hot's too hot? Getting down to the 30s tonight.

Okay. Okay.

And last but not least, time for the bathroom tour.

That one.

Push.

Okay. They have like a properly sized bathroom. A shower with a seven gallon water heater, which is enough to take like a regular 10 or 15 minute shower, plus a big enough gray tank that you don't have to worry about anything. Like it's. It's like a real shower. Wow. We have a sink with a vanity, much nicer mirror than ours, and our exact same composting toilet. So nothing new here for us. But if you don't know, Legos go in the front, solids go in the back. That's it.

We have a love hate relationship with our composting toilet. We've been pleasantly surprised by how much it doesn't make the van smell. But at the same time, it can be annoying to empty the liquids compartment, which we can fill up in one or two days. If we're living in the van full time. We have big time messed up. But Isaac has engineered his to fix that problem.

This is the 7 gallon hot water heater that Care was talking about. And then somewhere back in here, he's got a 33 gallon tank. And what he's done is he's put a hole in the two gallon tank that comes with with the composting toilet somehow connected the two. And he's running all the liquids into the bigger tank so that you don't have to empty it near as often. Which was a genius idea and something I'd definitely like to figure out how to do for our van.

It's so cold.

It's hard to heat a place when all the walls are made of windows.

I love the windows, though. Like, that's like my favorite part of bus. Tiny home.

The heater's now set on 90.

It'll warm up. We just turned it on, so that.

Wraps up the tour. I think it's pretty obvious that this bus is a lot more comfortable than the van that we're living out of. And it'll be fun to stay in for a couple nights. But it also wouldn't work for how we travel right now.

I think the power alone, we could never make this work there.

There's not a solar setup, so we could never stay off the grid. Grid. We'd always have to be in campgrounds or somewhere else where we could be plugged in. And then just also the way it was built, you can tell they didn't build it out with intentions of living in it full time. Because I haven't seen a closet. I'm not really sure where you'd store your clothes.

Yeah, there's a lot of storage under the bus. Like you could put a bunch of outdoor stuff under there. But like, I wouldn't want to go get my shirt outside.

It's like a weekend adventure mobile. And I think for that it's absolutely perfect. And I love how clean and simple and open the inside of this bus is. Now to get this fire started, push primary air upper handle to the George soon. About 20 minutes. Burning out lower knob. You need to add wood is neat. Okay.

This is the tiniest fire I've ever built.

Look at this. And then one teeny log.

Looks like I knew what I was doing. Oh, look at that.

Alright, since we have a big kitchen, we're gonna put it to use. And I'm making one of my favorite meals of all time because it is so easy. Peanut butter ramen was inspired by one of our friends. Cup of tj. I've added my own little twist to it. Nate says I always over complicate food. Just always have to add a few more steps. But I promise they're super, super easy and it's totally worth the extra effort.

Whoa. It's already so hot. That's crazy. I've never used an induction stovetop. Before it's been on for, like, two seconds and it's already popping. All right, first I chop fresh garlic and fresh ginger and saute it in a little bit of olive oil. Then literally just make ramen noodles in that same pot according to the package directions. That typically means add in the noodles, add in the boiling water, let it cook for a few minutes, and then add in the seasoning packet that comes with the ramen. And after that, all you have to do is add the peanut butter and add the toppings. So I typically add one scoop of peanut butter for every serving that's in there. So in this case, I'm gonna do two scoops. I like crunchy peanut butter. And then stir it in, and it'll get nice and creamy as it melts into the hot noodle water. Then when the peanut butter is all evenly distributed, that's when I add in my spices. I have cayenne pepper because the ramen I bought wasn't spicy. I like to just go ahead and buy spicy ramen, but they didn't have any. So I'm adding some cayenne, lots of sesame seeds, and some fresh lime that isn't coming from a little plastic bottle. And then I give it a little taste to see if it needs anything else.

Nope, that's perfect.

Pretty much filming chef's table right now.

Okay. If you make this at home, you have to promise me you will garnish it correctly. Chop up some fresh cilantro and some fresh green onions and sprinkle it on top. Trust me, it makes all the difference. But we didn't have any in the van, which is tragic, but it's still pretty good without it. Fanciest instant ramen ever. I hope you enjoy it too. On the other side.

Oh, no. It's kind of a weird at a restaurant, but there's not really enough room for two rolls.

Enjoy dinner.

What?

Enjoys your dinner.

Oh.

Whoa. Super deep.

Wow.

We developed a slight addiction.

Coffee's ready.

Turned into a beautiful day. The bus is parked about two miles outside of downtown Olympia, so we're gonna walk into town and check it out.

Okay. I am embarrassed to admit this as a 31 year old, but I did not realize until two days ago that the capital of Washington is not Seattle. We are currently standing on the grounds of the capitol of Washington in Olympia. So hopefully that was a fun fact for somebody else. And I'm not the only one in the world that didn't realize that.

We've made it downtown and we just walked out to the waterfront and it is so beautiful over here, especially since the sun is shining today. So we just found a restaurant right on the water. We're having fish and chips for lunch. Actually shocked that this is the first time that we're having this since being in this part of the country, but it just felt right.

It was so crunchy. We walked two miles for this?

Yeah.

Oh, my gosh. No way. That was crazy.

We just walked out here to see the sailboat go by, and then a whale came out of nowhere. This is amazing. I love it here. Back in Antarctica.

We normally don't seek out for a breweries when we travel, but the owners of the bus told us that this place brews the best beer in the entire world. Or at least it was voted the best beer in 2015. Specifically this beyond the Pale. Al.

I feel like I don't drink enough beer to truly appreciate this glass in front of me, but I'd say it's good.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Enjoy. I got a hot spiced cider.

Oh, super hot. It's so good. This is probably the best thing I've ever had at a brewery.

She told me this wasn't even on the menu yet. I told her I didn't like beer and she made it for me.

All right, we have one more night in the bus. Tomorrow morning, we are moving back into the van and we are heading north to Seattle. We bought this van. Did you just hit your head.

Back in 2020? We are still in 2020.

It's so warm.

The heater in our van is still broken, so this is rare these these days. Okay. Oh, darn it.

Enough of that.

This is how I really do it.

I think the last time you cooked this was the bike trip. Yeah, it was.

Did we do anything today to deserve these colors?

Fingers? No.

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I think you got more country too.

Sam.