OVERALL
The hosts are lovely people and very responsive.
The van is well equipped, safe, and immaculate! As good as the pictures make it look.
The amenities could benefit from some editing.
The listing could benefit from disclosing more detail more clearly up front.
Some of the communication was confusing/disappointing.
The Outdoorsy platform gets in the way of the experience.This is a five star van with five star hosts. The hosts are lovely people and were very responsive the entire way before, during and after the reservation.There were some things that I wished were different.
At the end of the trip the hosts asked a lot of questions about my experience and genuinely wanted feedback. I shared all of this with them. I realize my feedback is based on my own preferences and circumstance. May be applicable to others. I am so grateful to the hosts sharing their love of the outdoors with others and making their Epic Van available. I do look forward to renting the "Super Bus" and seeing the hosts again.ABOUT ME/US
My situation is I'm a former back-country enthusiast. My husband and I used to go out into the wilderness for a week at a time carrying all our supplies. Unfortunately there was an accident that left him with disability. In the last few years we have been able to start experimenting with other options that might work for us and we have discovered van camping. Part of what makes it work so well for us is my husband has a lot of sensations where he thinks he has to go to the bathroom and needs to be able to try frequently (even if he doesn't need to go). So having a van with a toilet makes things so much easier for us, especially in the middle of the night, and especially if it's raining outside. Also, temperature control is a factor. So being able to have heat and other options to be warm really help. So that gives an idea of some of what is important to us.WISH LIST
Like I said, five star van, five star hosts. Here's what I wished was different:Some of the communication was confusing/disappointing.
I think some of this could have been cleared up if the listing had some more detail:PARKING
You cannot park your car on the owners property or in the neighborhood (there is no street parking). I didn't find this out until after I confirmed my reservation and was unable to cancel. And I happen to ask. If I hadn't, I would have shown up with car full of stuff and scrambling to find somewhere to park my car. When I asked the host about this they replied that "most people just Uber." I supposed if you live close by you could ride share over and bring the van home to load it. But this was not possible in my circumstances. I was coming with a car full of gear and leaving straight from the pickup for my trip. Also, a ride share from my location would have been over $100 each way, and I'm traveling with someone who has major disabilities. The host made some recommendations for how to navigate the situation. One included parking at a municipal airport about 15 minutes away and taking ride share from there. I ended not doing that but did some research and ended up contacting the church two blocks away and said I would make a donation in exchange. They were lovely and let me park there and it was easy walking distance. So that ended up working out great. So I recommend contacting the church about parking if you plan to arrive and load up at the van.NO USE OF AWNING
I saw in the pictures that there was an awning mounted and was excited because I knew the forecast had a lot of rain for our trip. I didn't find out until after confirming the reservation that the hosts don't allow use of the awning on the trip. Apparently they are easy to damage and expensive to replace. So I get it. Would have been good to know up front.SEPARATE AGREEMENT
Outdoorsy says to never communicate or transact with the host outside the platform. A few days before my trip started I received a DocuSign agreement directly in email from the host. It turns out this is within the policy that Outdoorsy allows. So know that you'll be signing a separate agreement with this host.STORAGE
Storage includes:
A closet that fits a carry-on luggage with some space above. There is a rod and hangers, but we didn't use it that way. I left those with the host before we left.
Under bed storage (if you're not using dinette area for eating)
3 cabinets above the bed/dinette areaThere is a narrow area behind the bed that has a little bit of room to shove things. We brought our own camping chairs (easier for my husband to sit in and stored them there).
There is a small amount of room behind the driver seat for some things on the floor and more if you're not using the jump seat for other passengers.We were able to fit:
1 piece of carry on luggage
A duffel bag of about the same size
A laundry basket full of gearMost of the time all our stuff was staged on the bed throughout the day and we'd clear it off/put it away to sleep.AMENITIES
There are some essential amenities that could use editing:
Bedding: I've rented camper vans from Cabana twice before and the bedding is standard for what you'd see in a hotel: two standard sized pillows, a bottom sheet, flat sheet and down comforter. Cabana even had all their stuff from Parachute (high end)! This van had 4 lumbar/throw pillows (with "faux fur" covers that are not removable, so I'm not sure how those get washed) and three "faux fur" blankets and a bottom sheet. Had I not brought my own bedding we would have been cold and uncomfortable and really disappointed. I'm so glad I brought my own pillows, comforter and blanket.
Utensils: there are plastic utensil kits on board, but they are flimsy and the fork and knife are really not effective. It would be have been nice to have metal utensils.
Cups: there were only plastic cups. Would have been nice to have some mugs for hot drinks.
Cookware: there is an awesome induction plate for heating things. However, there was only one pan that works with the induction plate. Which kind makes it impossible to boil water or cook anything that requires a pot. There was a "camping" pot and tea kettle but these don't work with the hotplate because of their material. The hotplate literally won't turn on if there isn't a magnetic charge from the cookware. It took me some fussing with the cookware and reading the hotplate instructions before I figured it out. What I came up with a solution was to put the pan on the plate and then put the pot in the pan to apply heat. I thought that was maybe intentional to save on space, but when I mentioned it to the host they said it wasn't and they actually had never tried using it before and didn't realize how the hot plate works. There is a microwave on board but I'm one of those people that doesn't use microwaves to cook food.
Mesh screen: the mesh screen over the door would have been awesome if it worked. There is a side that zippers and side that closes by magnets, but you can't have both sides closed at the same time so bugs still come in. It seemed like the tension on the installation was making it so that it wasn't working properly.
Backup batteries for light remote: this was unfortunately a source of disappointing communication with the host. We got on the trip and I tried to use the remote and it wasn't working. I messaged the host and they responded immediately. They said it might need new batteries and said "it was just easier" to use the switch on the main panel at the front of the van. This was an upsetting response. It actually wasn't easier for us. I was traveling with my husband who is disabled with a brain injury. He gets easily confused in new environments and gets up many times in the night because he thinks he has to use the bathroom. Having a remote for the lights would have helped us tremendously. We happen to bring headlamps and I stopped at a market and bought replacement batteries and was able to use the remote as well.
Backup cartridge for the toilet: I have used camper vans with water based toilets, but had never used the vacuum seal cartridge before. I searched for videos on YouTube to learn about it but none of the talked about the volume limit relative to flushes. The hosts said the cartridge has about 12 flushes. When we went through the checklist for the van I asked about how to use it and how to most efficiently manage flushes. Apparently there is "pee powder" that turns your pee into a mushy sand so you can conserve flushes. However, when all is said and done you are limited to the volume of the bucket inside the toilet. And it's not just your pee and poo going in there, it's all the TP and the material of the vacuum seal. We got 6 flushes in and used the entire available volume. This left us with a whole night and the next day without the use of a toilet. And for us, this was a major bummer given my husbands needs. I ended up having to walk with him in the middle of the night from our site at the campground to the facilities. He could barely make it. Had our trip been longer this would have been a real downer. The owners charge extra if you use more than one but would have appreciated to have another one or two on board and have had the option to use them and be charged later based.
Dish towels: would have been nice if there were more dish towels and rags on board
Wash cloths: would have been nice if there were wash cloths for shower
Dust pan and hand broom: would have been nice if this were on board, hard to keep the floor clean otherwise
Rubber "door/floor mat": would have been nice if there were a mat for wiping off shoes before entering the van, or that could be laid down in the van over the floor that you can easily shake out or wipe off after things "dry out" and not worry about damaging the floor or rugs.Lastly, this has nothing to do with the hosts, but I found the Outdoorsy experience and platform really got in the way of the entire experience and caused friction at almost every point. Not worth putting a review of Outdoorsy here. I've given them feedback separately and mentioning it because it impacted my experience. Especially the beginning. And that made the start unpleasant.At the end of the day I'm SO appreciative of the hosts, their responsiveness, and especially for sharing their love of the outdoors with others and making it possible to do in such luxury and with all the conveniences one might want or need. Even if they didn't change anything I would know how to come prepared for my next trip to make it everything I needed/wanted.
