WE TRADED VANS FOR 24 HOURS (whose tiny home on wheels is better?)

We have spent over a year traveling around the US Living full time out.

Of our converted sprinter van.

Last week, we crossed an international border in our van for the first time.

We attempted to bring an illegal weapon into Canada.

And today, we're trading vans with our new friends and fellow YouTubers, Eamon and Beck.

You guys gave us the crunchy mattress to sleep on.

They've spent over three years living in their van full time and taking it all over the world. Unlike me.

Eamon is super handy, and him and Beck built their van completely free from scratch. Not only that, but it is their third van build, which means they took everything they learned from their first three years of van life to build the.

Ultimate tiny home on wheels.

Our van, on the other hand.

What's, like, the real danger? This thing going up in flames?

It's not that it's bad. It's just that we bought it before we knew anything about van life, and we've been too busy traveling to really.

Make any big changes.

So after they live in our van for the next 24 hours, I'm going to be super interested to see what these professional van lifers think that we should do to upgrade our setup.

I think we're getting a lot more out of this than they are.

So the plan for today is we're gonna tour each other's vans, then we're gonna swap keys and drive to our campsite for the night, where Nate and I will enjoy our upgraded van life experience. So much space. While Eamon and Beck.

What on earth?

Hate this van.

Ah.

Hopefully they won't be too disappointed.

Hey, Tara and Nate, you guys want to come in? Come on down. Welcome to the ultimate sprinter van. We're a little biased.

It actually is, though.

I'll show my bestie around.

Okay. Do you want to just live in this van together? Yeah, we can. Y' all can live in ours.

Okay, come on in, everyone. Welcome to the bathroom. So you just lift this guy up. Just make sure you're not parked on a slant, guys. We've got a composting toilet in here, and then a whole shower set up that I can't wait to see how you enjoy.

It's just torture.

This is our little nook, so we always have phone chargers ready for guests. I hope you extend the same courtesy to us. Another really cool feature of this space is that this converts into a double bed. So we have some kind of weird ways of doing it, but we have a foam mattress that comes all the way here, and we can sleep before. So invite me over For a sleepover. I don't know if I like it over there.

You mean you don't make your guests sleep on the ground?

All right, good night, Dusty. Good night.

I love, like, little details that encourage outdoor living.

I'll build you one of those.

Okay. Yeah, you just wait. We're gonna have a long list for y'. All.

This is another part of the van. We really, really like having a garage space.

You can even fit another passenger in here. All right, now we're gonna show them around ours.

Yeah. 24 hours starts out.

All right.

Ah, ca.

I feel right at home already.

One point for our van with the seat belt. Look at this. Oh, yeah.

I feel like I'm like, really Well.

I guess I'm just ready for this. Let's do it. Are you sure you want to do this? No. Take back seats.

A look at that guy. Wow. This van is so much quieter than ours.

Hello, dear family.

Whoa.

Woo. What was that?

They told us it could be a little funny to drive. That was scary.

Look at these trees.

I'm impressed with how quiet it is back there.

And we're on a gravel road. It's like.

All right, quick stop at the grocery store to stock up on a few things for tonight.

Between the two vans. Tonight we're gonna attempt to cook a three course Asian feast. See how this goes.

Something's happening.

Okay. So much space. I don't know if all this would fit in our van. We have a visitor.

Well, hello.

We bought these as a treat for you, but they do not fit in the fridge, so you're gonna have to break them down.

That was so nice of you.

And that too.

Naming.

And Beg just chopped up his entire.

Box of food that they bought that they have nowhere to put. Challenge accepted. Putting things away in a van is kind of like a game of Tetris.

Honey, I'm in a bag. I thought you were good at this stuff.

Tetris in this drawer it is.

All right, moment of truth.

We did it. A look at the baby. Hi. Oh, my gosh.

You're so sweet.

This is our home for the night.

Just going to get a little settled into our new home. Where's your bag? I see you Sunday. Merch.

Have you seen an outline in here?

Is there one in the nook?

No, it's USB too.

I found one.

This would become a problem in our van. We would have all of our gear just like, out in the open, Charging. But at least we found it.

I was kind of joking about Aamon fixing everything in our van, but I Think he's actually doing it.

Thanks, guys.

You're welcome.

Okay, so earlier today, Ayman and Bet.

Give us a quick tour around the van. But I thought it would be fun.

To dive into the details to see how these vans actually stack up against each other. Because they're the exact same van. They both sit on a 170 inch wheelbase.

However, the layout on the inside is completely different.

One of the main differences between our two vans is this induction stove. Normally, an induction stove would not get a point in my book because I think it sucks too much electricity. But they have 600amp hours of lithium ion batteries in the back, which means they can pretty much power anything they want with electricity. So one point for Costa B. Also, we've already touched on this, but their fridge is twice as big as ours. And when you live in a van full time, I just can't emphasize enough how important to fridge spaces. We can live out of this for a week. These touchscreen lights, they're really nice and fancy, but if I'm being completely honest, I prefer the manual dial that's in our van. Nobody gets points for that though. That's just kind of a personal preference. The sink setup is very similar.

Their sink is way bigger.

Okay. Their sink is a lot deeper. They get a point.

Wow.

Okay. Points for a bigger grocery drawer. Our van needs some points. Oh, okay. Our van. Oh. We don't even have a window behind the sink, do we? Okay. So everything gets another point for having a window behind the sink. So as you're washing dishes, you can look out and enjoy the view. Our door window has vents on it.

To get a little more extra ventilation.

So that's nice. That's one point per hour.

Yes.

Come on. I mean, I knew this comparison was going to be lopsided, but this is worse than I thought. Moving on into the back section of the van. This is where our vans definitely differ the most, specifically with the toilet shower situation. If you're very comfortable going to the bathroom in front of your partner, this is the perfect setup for you. There is no privacy if you want to cover yourself.

This thing is so heavy. Don't look at me. There's also a shower head in here, so somehow this entire area converts into a full standing shower.

Our van has a built in permanent shower that never moves. I love it because it gives me.

Privacy when I go to the bathroom.

So if it were up to Nate, our van would get a point for the shower toilet setup. If it were up to me, I would much rather have a big Open beautiful floor plan than worry about pooping in front of of my husband.

I just like separation.

And.

Please, in the comment section, let me know if you are comfortable going to the bathroom in front of your partner.

I'm going to win.

She would love it if I just, like, embrace being in the bathroom together. And that's just like, it's not how I grew up with my family.

The bathroom was a private space, knowing me.

Baby, Time to grow up.

Nathan's on the ground.

Don't worry about us. Hey, guys.

Oh.

I hope you're having a good time over there.

We are. We're just showing everyone how luxurious your van is.

Yeah, we're doing the opposite over here.

Can we give more than one point for a feature? Because if it was up to me, having a work area that was separate from the bed would be worth five points. The table in our van has more space, but because we have to convert the bed to turn it into an office, we never use it. So even though their table's a little smaller, guess what? They get the point. I really need to give our van a point. What do we have that's better?

Okay, moving on to the bed. This is the feature of the van that I've been most interested to try out, because if it works as seamlessly as they say, it's the most genius design I've ever seen in a van. And I think Eamonn designed it all in his head.

I'm not even kidding. Eamon drew it on a piece of toilet paper.

Literally, all you have to do to convert the bed is pull up the backrest on the couch and then pull out these little rails underneath. Boom, done. Bed conversion done in five seconds. And then all you have to do is just pull your fitted sheet over top, and boom, your bed is made.

Whatever the Nobel Peace prize is for design, Eamon deserves one of those for this invention.

Add 10 tally marks for Casabi.

Wow.

Not only that, if they want to get something out of the trunk, like, oh, I need more paper towels. Oh, they're in the trunk. Oh, got him.

Whoa. You don't even have to take the sheets off if you don't want to.

I'm so sad. I feel like we've been very content in our van this year, like, ever since we fixed all the big things. This is making me realize we still have a lot of work to do, but Aiden's doing it, so it's fine. Okay, so this bed is great. The design is great, but there is actually one huge way that our van outshines this one, literally. We have pretty much panoramic views in the back of our van. We have two windows on the back doors and then two giant windows on the side. And here we just have these tiny little windows that can open just a bit. I just love the natural light that comes in during the day.

So one point for our van.

We deserve a couple points for that.

Maybe one point for each window.

Four.

Okay, two points for our van.

Not four.

Okay, four.

That's pretty thin. It's not memory bow.

One more thing.

I just realized I can't find a trash can in this van anywhere. Or a place where you would put a trash can. So one more point for our van. It's not a big point, but it counts.

And also one point for their outdoor table.

I really gotta pee. Are you gonna leave or. I gotta go.

Get out of here or stay.

No, I'm out.

Come on.

It can be the new us.

No, I'm out.

Stay with me.

I'm out.

Alright, I'm about to have my first aminabake bathroom experience. We'll see how this goes.

Okay. This is a lot of work.

Move this over here.

Toilet.

I can't believe I'm putting this on YouTube.

You can come back, Nate.

How was that?

I really liked it.

What in the world? Listen to their water pump.

I don't know much, but that doesn't.

It doesn't sound like it's working.

Well, point for our van.

Get on that, Eamon.

So we just finished telling everyone how great your van is. What have y' all been up to?

To be honest, Nate dog, it's pretty.

Hard to move around.

Stop.

It's pretty hard to move around this space. So we both just found a place and we're staying still. We're not moving.

We finished your list and now we're just taking a nap.

You finished it?

You bet. Everything's fixed.

Are you serious?

You asked us to fix the front light. Like we don't have extra bulb, but I somehow fixed it.

He's mag.

In all fairness, Eamon and Beck have been doing this way longer than we have. They're kind of like our van life mentors. If we're being completely honest, they are probably the reason that we're living in, well, not this van, but in our van. Back at the beginning of 2020, when we were staying at a hotel in Singapore trying to figure out what in the world we were going to do with a travel channel during a global pandemic, I remember having a FaceTime with Eamon and Beck. And they said, oh, you should get a van. And I was like, hahaha, good idea. And then about a month later I was like about that van. And honestly, they helped us through the entire process. So any problems that they're experiencing over there with our van, it was their recommendation. So it seems only fair that they fix a few of the issues.

Only fair, of course.

So we're gonna scrap the point system because obviously their van is way better. But I do want to show you a few things on the outside of the van that are also very impressive. This wouldn't seem like a big deal to most people, but this is such a better design than our van. In our van, if you want to fill up the water, you have to open back door and then the tube and gravity don't quite mix. And so water kind of ends up pouring out into the back of our van anytime we have to fill up with water.

Oh my God, dude, it's literally leaking everywhere.

You're not ruining our van, are you?

Yeah. How do you know when it's full though?

You don't aan super impressed with our water setup.

Davan, on the other hand, you just fill up here from the outside. So even if you do spill some, it just all goes out here and it's not a problem. Should have hired a to build out our van out of everything that this van has going for it. I think the roof rack is by far my favorite part. Karen and I have talked about ordering.

A roof rack pretty much ever since.

We bought the van and just have never been able to make ourselves pull the trigger. But actually seeing one in action and getting to enjoy it, I think we'll have one before the end of the year. Not only that, but you can walk on these solar panels, so you have a ton of room to put solar on the top. They have almost double the solar that our van has, but you can still.

Enjoy the whole space.

It's like they had built one of these before or something.

Wow.

Another great thing about their van is comes with toys and we will probably hurt ourselves on.

Don't say that.

Have you ridden one before?

No.

So just like, look where you. Look where you want to go or look at me. Get it, girl.

I feel like I need to face this way.

She was riding the wrong way. Now look this way.

I look that way, I follow.

It's like a bad dance.

She's like, no.

Yeah.

I don't think this is the most conducive learning environment for a one wheel. It probably doesn't look like It. But this grass is just filled with huge holes. It's very unstable.

It's time to start prepping for dinner. Eamon and Beck are in charge of the main course, and we are in charge of the appetizers and the dessert. We just happen to buy things that I've never made before, and I'm cooking in a van that I've never used before, so what could go wrong?

Wow. Mango, tomato.

Just because we can. We're gonna do the chopping outside.

Careful with that.

It is way sharper than ours.

So it may look like we're just making fancy ramen noodles for dinner, and that's because we are.

Also. I just cannot get over how much space I have in here. I have multiple pots and pans out, food everywhere. I got rice going over here, and I just haven't felt, like, that feeling.

That I get when I cook in our van.

I just gotta get by you here.

What on earth?

Nothing's happening.

So I just had to borrow Eamon's phone because in order to use the stove, the inverter has to be on. And the only way to turn the inverter on is through an app, which.

Seems, like, pretty cool, but at the.

Same time, what if your phone dies? Just have to hit the on button right there.

There we go.

It's pretty slick having an app, but I would definitely want a physical button as a backup, so subtract a point.

Every time we're in a place with an induction stove, I'm like, oh, wouldn't it be so nice to have enough power to have an induction stove? Looks so nice, but I don't think I've ever actually enjoyed cooking on one. I'm cooking with two pots at the same time, and in order to turn on the back one, I have to, like, lift up the front one to press. Press it. But then when it, like, disconnects, it turns off. And then I have to, like, put it back really quick and turn the front one back on, and it's just kind of a pain.

Something's happening. What's going on? Is it coming from the back?

It's this thing. What do we do?

Turn it off.

That didn't help. What is it?

Not expecting this from Casabi.

Not gonna lie.

I've never heard this in my life. You broke it. Oh, that doesn't smell good, does it?

Are we catching it on fire? Oh, smell like something smelting? Kind of.

Does you smell it?

Yeah.

Inverters on? I can't tell. Like, did you put that stuff in your Hair again. That smells like burning. I think maybe it's a problem with the two sizes of the pots. Maybe Cassidy sucks.

You said it, not me.

I do not want that to happen again. So I'm gonna take one of my pots and go put it on our propane stovetop so we don't overwhelm this one. Again. That was a little scary.

Subtract a point from Casa B.

Hi.

There you go. Guys, this is. I'm back in my van. Everything's falling over. This is so pretty.

This is probably the most nutritionally dense meals this man has ever seen.

I'm not sure that's a compliment. No, it's not nutritionally dense. Okay, well, bon appetit.

Come, come.

Somebody come. Meat dog.

Wow.

Meanwhile, we are still attempting to boil the soup.

Wow.

10 out of 10.

Woo. There's so much flavor in this thing.

They've been here for like two weeks. I don't think they've scored a nine. Like, there's nothing less than a 10.

Out of 10 here today. We spent the whole day basically filming separately, and I've missed you both so much. I'm like, I wonder what Kara's doing.

Orange.

Also, it's really creepy how similar our lives are.

That's like, it actually is.

It's so nice.

Oh, it doesn't look too bad. I don't have a ladle, so I'm gonna serve my soup in a coffee mug.

Why don't you have a label? Kara, do you not cook in here? I would never know. It's so well set up.

Hot. Ouch.

I'm sorry. I'm gonna thumb one in your soup. And it burned me.

Here you are. Thank you. I haven't tried it yet.

Wow.

Now, what do you call this creation?

It's called.

Toilet water.

I would have to say it's water with a hint of tomato.

Oh, dear.

I don't like it.

Oh, it's so bad.

I love you, but I don't like it.

I don't even think I want another bite.

No.

This is gonna be the best thing ever had.

Yum.

Mmm.

Kara, you are such a good cook.

I can't even make some soup.

We're gonna blame it on the induction stove. It's so close. It's like a 2 out of 10. If it could have boiled the whole time, I'm sure it'd be 10 out of 10.

I'm sorry, but, like, I've never done this in my life. I feel really bad.

I'm gonna eat it.

Oh, my gosh.

Don't eat it.

Let's just move on to dessert. Ooh, look at that cream. For dessert, I am making mango sticky rice for the first time. And the recipe calls for brown sugar, which we don't have, but we do have maple syrup. So we are making a Thai staple with a Canadian twist. We'll see how it tastes.

That came out way faster than I.

Thought it was going to.

I almost.

I feel like I'm back in Thailand.

I'm still really nervous. I just can't have two failures in a row.

You know, I actually think this looks really good.

Welcome in.

Have y' all had mango sticky rice in Thailand yet? Yes. Oh, darn.

Presentation on point.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the soup and 10 being the best food you've ever had, let us know how it ranks.

The mango just doesn't feel that ripe, which has nothing to do with you.

Nailed it. Again.

If one is the soup, this is leaps and bounds. Better than the soup.

I think it's good.

I'd give this about a 4 out of 10.

Not restaurant quality, but, like, I'm happy eating is tasty. It needs a little more coconut.

I'm done with being mean.

This is a 10 out of 10 meal.

Does anybody else want some more maple syrup?

Wow.

It's like pancakes, meats, mango sticky rice.

I just feel so good about myself after hanging out with y'. All.

Laugh at your joke and stuff.

No, I was really saying, like, our van's not as good.

We're not as.

People are gonna think. We're so mean. We're over there making fun of their van. Is the camera on?

Oh, yeah. Mmm.

Cara, this is a 10 out of 10.

Yeah. This chip cookbook. If you want, I'll share my recipe.

It's.

Get out of my vibe.

Sorry.

Wow.

That's a 10 out of 10. Cara Nate redemption. That was amazing.

The store bought marshmallows.

Nailed it.

Big boy.

More.

Karen Nate. Almost as good as that sticky rice.

Good night, you guys.

Teeth were starting to feel fuzzy.

Oh, man, it's so great. Probably said that enough times.

All right. Thank you much.

I didn't even see this earlier today. Oh, check one more point for.

Rock, paper, scissors for who converts the bed.

Oh, not bad.

Good night.

Wonder how they're doing over there with their bed conversion.

Morning. I had a good sleep, but I will have to say I've missed the 6 inch memory foam mattress. Now where's the coffee?

Stuff it.

I'm not sure I did that right.

Get it, girl. Come on, you guys. Having fun yet?

What are you doing over there, K?

Breathing.

So far, it's been nothing but love and praise for this van, but we're about to attempt to set up the shower. We've been given no instructions, and this is probably the feature of the van that I'm most skeptical of. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love all the open space that it leaves, but. Alright, so we take the top piece off, open this up. What in the world?

Slide that out of the way. This metal piece probably goes in here. Come on. I'm sure if you actually know how to do this, it's not that hard. But this whole setup is slightly annoying. Pretty sure this is the shower curtain.

Okay, that thing's there. Where did this go? This plant moves.

There's living in here.

This is starting to look like a shower. Just missing like one.

What's going on here?

I'm not sure.

I like the way you hung up the curtain. That's not how we do it, but that works great. We set you up for a failure. Really? We didn't show you any of this. You'll find this sneaky guy here, and that just gives you the distance you need.

All right, well, I already know that this is going to be a lackluster experience because apparently no hot water is a known issue in this van. But I'm gonna try it just because we went through all the effort to set it up.

Have a good one.

Oh, I zipped my soap out of the shower.

Almost gotcha.

Dad. Exposed myself. Cold shower. Here we go. Currently, this is the water pressure.

It's just torture.

I'm like, shaking it. Wow. I'm not even gonna soak my body because I'm pretty sure it'll take me an hour to wash it off.

I think for the amount that we actually shower, this is such a better setup.

Whoa, baby.

Okay. I just didn't have the water on all the way.

Oh, wow.

Who were we to doubt them?

I'm gonna take a shower.

I have to say, I was super skeptical of the whole open bathroom convertible shower setup when we first got in this van. But after living in here for almost a day and thinking about how we really use our bathroom space, it now makes a lot of sense to me. And I probably prefer this setup. The truth is, when one of us goes number two, the other one usually leaves the van. So, like, it really doesn't change anything whether you have walls around you inside of the van, if you're the only one in there. And yes, this convertible shower is annoying. To set up, but we only shower maybe once a week when we're living in the van. So what I'm trying to say is not only are AIM and Beck awesome people and now really good friends of ours, but also incredible van. Good job, guys.

They're brilliant.

Brilliant, I tell you.

We are back at Eamon and Beck's cabin, and at the beginning of this video, we jokingly gave them a list of things to fix in our van. Not only have they fixed everything on the list, but now Eamon is undertaking the largest construction project that has ever happened since we bought the van.

And I'm getting tired. I might just give up now.

Here, Nate.

Also, I'd just like to add, I participated in helping Eamon do all of these things. So Eamon's getting a lot of credit. But there's an and Beck to that.

You know for sure.

I can't work without my sidekick.

Exactly.

Baby, another coffee.

We love living in your van, guys. Thanks for having us.

Anytime.

We should make this a regular thing.

Yeah, we're thinking we'd just trade.

Yeah, yeah.

Fair swap.

Fair swap for sure.

You don't need it? No.

So if you want to see how this renovation turns out and their entire experience living in an hour van, head over to their channel. We'll leave a link in the description below. No, you do you. I need you to finish this before we leave in the morning because otherwise we're gonna drive around with the half finished project for months. Because that's how it usually goes in our van.

Wow.

So what are you doing in there?

The confidence that you're instilling right now is concerning.

When in doubt, more screw.

Tell me how.

We.