On the road

Three Canadian women on the ups—and downs—of living the #vanlife

Written by STACY LEE KONG

You’ ve probably seen the pictures pop up on your Instagram feed: a gorgeous slice of landscape framed by the open back doors of a camper van. Beautifully designed, minimalist interiors complete with chic bedding, hardwood floors and a shocking amount of hidden storage. And, of course, perfectly composed shots of the people who live (and travel, and often work) in them.

There’s no data on exactly how many Canadians have ditched their mortgages or rent in favour of living out of a van, but news coverage suggests the number of people embracing a nomadic lifestyle spiked during the pandemic—whether due to remote work opportunities, soaring home prices, the itch to travel, joblessness or all of the above. Meet three women who downsized their lives and hit the road.

1. While she ’ s staying put for now, Soon uses her van for day trips and to get around on evenings and weekends. “After work, I can drive to the beach and enjoy dinner with a view, or sit on the roof and have a glass of wine at sunset. ” 2. “Cooking is not an important part of my life, so I wanted my kitchen to be functional but not the star of the show, ” says Soon of her pintsized space. 3. The bench hides a composting toilet. 4. Closet space was non-negotiable: “I wanted to have dresses that weren ’t rolled up in packing cubes and blouses that didn ’t need to be constantly ironed. ” 5. The dining table seats two people and can be folded down into a bench. 6. “I love the freedom the van brings. And it’ s nice to always have your bathroom and snacks with you wherever you go, ” says Soon.

EMILY SOON LAUGHS about it now, but she didn’t realize people actually lived in camper vans at first. She had rented them for vacations before; she just never thought it was possible to make a van a home. But after the pandemic forced her to move back home to Canada from Australia, where she had lived for close to eight years, she felt ready for a new adventure. “I wanted to travel and didn’t want to have to rely on booking a place to stay in each location, so the thought of having my own vehicle and built-in accommodations was exactly the flexibility I was looking for, ” she says.

Soon ended up buying a 2014 Ram ProMaster van in May 2020 and hired an Alberta company to outfit it for her. She picked it up that October and moved in by November—but still hasn’t really travelled anywhere, except for the odd day trip.

“I just live in my van year-round, ” she says.

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“It’s a lot more space than I need. ”

that I couldn’t travel across Canada [because of COVID-19 restrictions], I was knee-deep in renovating it. I thought, ‘I have it, so I might as well live in it while I figure out what I want to do. ’ ”

Her plan was to stay put for a few months, and then go on an extended trip. In the meantime, she would be able to spend time with family and friends, whom she hadn’t seen often while living abroad.

A year later, Soon has a full-time job on B.C. ’s Sunshine Coast, where she works in the tourism industry. She has set up her van on the same property as her company ’s headquarters; in addition to having a very short commute, she uses the on-site shower and washing machine, and she doesn’t have to worry about running afoul of city bylaws. (Even before the pandemic started, cities across Canada and the U.S. began enforcing existing laws that

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prohibit vehicle camping, or even passing new ones in a bid to deter overcrowding.)

And she loves small-space living. “For the last dozen years, I’ ve lived in very small apartments or I’ ve rented a room, so I’ ve always lived minimally, ” she explains. “It’s actually a lot more space than I need. I’ ve got so much storage!”

In fact, her cubby holes, hidden drawers and other clever design decisions—not to mention her real-talk videos on what #vanlife is like—have gained her more than 29,000 followers on Instagram. Recent posts have covered less-than-glamorous (but very necessary) behind-the-scenes tasks, including winterizing the van’s pipes and cleaning her composting toilet. She also shares the safety features that give her peace of mind as a woman living alone: a heavy-duty car alarm, a satellite phone in case she finds herself without cell reception, and carbon monoxide and smoke detectors.

If there’s a challenge to living this lifestyle, it’s prioritizing what’s important to you over what’s commonly done. Soon made design decisions rarely seen in other vans: Her bed is permanent instead of convertible, and she incorporated a full-length closet so she can hang her clothes. She also sacrificed some precious under-bed storage because she wanted to be able to sit up with a high bun on her head. (She measured!) Minimalist she might be, but to make it work, she has a storage locker where she stashes her off-season clothes and other bulky items.

“The lifestyle is so glamorized on social media, but everyone’s version of van life is different—mine doesn’t involve travelling, ” she says. “My biggest tip is: Don’t try to do someone else’s version just because that’s what you think it should be. ”

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1. Marty is a very laid-back travel partner, says Inson. On driving days, he mostly sleeps; when they ’ re exploring, he ’ s full of energy. Plus, he “ makes for a great guard dog. His bark resembles that of a much bigger breed. ” 2. The countertop hides a built-in, full-size shower. The curtain attaches to a GoPro mount on the ceiling. 3. The bed converts into a kitchen table, which is the perfect on-the-road work spot. 4. Though she is a social media manager by trade, Inson doesn ’t plan her own van-life content. “When I make an Instagram post, it’ s truly a raw moment that I’ m going through at the time, ” she says.

“I stopped telling myself I couldn’t do things because I was a single woman. ”

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IN APRIL 2021, not long after Emily Inson packed up her life in London, Ont., and headed out on a cross-Canada trip with her miniature dachshund, Marty, something went wrong with her 1977 Ford Econoline. First, the van wouldn’t start. Then, gas began pouring from the engine. Worse, she was in rural Quebec and whatever French she’d learned in school had long deserted her.

“This was during the pandemic and, unfortunately, the people around me wouldn’t help, ” she says now. “I also had a language barrier working against me. I shared the whole experience with my Instagram followers and soon I had thousands of people giving me suggestions. It was incredible!”

One follower’s advice stopped the gas from flowing, and Inson soon found a local who could give Marty and her a ride to a hotel. The next morning, her van was towed to a mechanic, who was able to fix it. She was on the road again quickly, hooked on the sense of community she found online.

For Inson, a freelance social media manager and consultant who bought her fully converted van in January 2021, the connections she’s made by sharing her experiences with her social

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media followers are one of the best parts of living the way she does—and not just because they ’re always ready to offer mechanical suggestions.

She decided to embark on this adventure in 2020, not long after her mom was diagnosed with a serious illness. “My mother, who worked so hard her whole life as a registered nurse, finally retired with big dreams of travelling, only to get sick with an incurable lung disease. Life is too short not to live the life you want, ” she says. But it was her own journey toward self-love that spurred her on to make a change. “I used [the beginning of the pandemic, when we were all in quarantine] to work on myself, my self-worth and my self-confidence. I stopped telling myself I couldn’t do things because I was a single woman. ”

Instead, she took a chance. She bought her van from a Red Deer, Alta., seller, sight unseen. On paper, it was perfect: It came outfitted with a fridge, a four-burner stove, an oven, a deep sink, plenty of hidden storage and even a projector for movie nights. Best of all, there was a full-size convertible shower. And, luckily, it more than lived up to her expectations; aside from a paint job and some

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5. Inson loves cooking in her van: “I have a stove, an oven and plenty of pantry storage. ” 6. Inson, pictured with her co-pilot, Marty. 7. When people find out that Inson ’ s van is a 1977 model, they assume she ’ s a mechanical pro. “I’ m not, but I have learned a lot, ” she says.

minor tweaks, the van didn’t need much to make it feel like home.

The next month, she took possession and drove the van from Calgary to London, Ont., with Marty as her co-pilot. The duo has since driven across Canada and much of the U.S., including a sixmonth jaunt from Ontario to San Diego, California, which Inson says has been her favourite stop so far.

From her first posts on social media, Inson hasn’t just been sharing the unvarnished truth about van life, like how she handles late-night bathroom breaks or what she does when the van just won’t start; she has also been taking her followers along the bumpy road to self-discovery and acceptance. And they have responded enthusiastically to her honest approach.

“Living in my van and travelling from coast to coast has empowered me and reassured me that this is the exact journey I am supposed to be on, ” says Inson. “I have recently started accepting my body and, for the first time in 34 years, I wore a tuckedin T-shirt. I’ ve never felt more confident. I was blown away by the response and support I received from my community. I feel so fortunate. ”

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1. A self-proclaimed “ pure nomad, ” Goyette enjoys the freedom that comes with van life and the ability to make spurof-the-moment decisions. 2. The musician wired the van herself, which is one of her proudest van-life accomplishments. 3. Goyette and her van, which she calls Joyce, before the renovation began. 4. Goyette looks for parking spots that get plenty of sunlight during the day to make the most of her solar panels. “In the winter, I have to climb on the roof to clean off the snow, ” she laughs.

BACK IN 2016, Joanie Goyette had a dream: to build herself a tiny living space somewhere in her home province of Quebec. As a singer, she was often away from home for weeks or months at a time, and it seemed more practical to go small. It never happened. Instead, she joined the touring production of Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza and put her tiny-home dream on hold.

When the world shut down in March 2020, Kooza was between stops in Seville, Spain, and Lyon, France. Goyette didn’t know it at the time, but it would be more than 600 days before the production could begin touring again.

“When the pandemic hit, I knew I needed a project. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and I realized I would still like to live in a tiny house, ” she says. “And I still wanted to travel. I had never really travelled across Canada—that’s how the van life idea started. ”

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Goyette bought a deep-red 2020 Ram ProMaster and set to work converting it herself with her dad’s help. “It was a nice fatherdaughter project, ” she says. She opted to take the DIY route because she wanted something very specific: an interior that could function as both a living space and a music studio. In addition to bright shiplap walls, variegated butcher block countertops and a warm wood ceiling, the van, which she’s dubbed Joyce, has a convertible area at the back that can function as a bed, a couch or an “office/keyboard holder/dinner set-up, ” as she described it in an Instagram post last year. There’s also a “terrace” on top of the van that serves as a stage for outdoor performances.

But while the final product is beautiful, Goyette might be most proud of a more practical feature: the electricity, which she wired all by herself. “This was the most challenging part of the build, which is why I was so happy when I saw that everything worked!

ROAD TRIPPIN’

Wanna go for a drive? Here’s what you need to know before you embark on your own van-life adventure

1. GO FOR OLD

Emily Inson of the Almost Van Life says there ’ s a reason she opted for a 1977 Ford Econoline: the repair bills! “They don ’t make things like they used to. I would recommend buying an older, well-built model, ” she says. “My van has no computers, so when it requires fixing, it’ s just parts; this means repairs cost a lot less. ”

2. MAKE SPACE

When Emily Soon, the content creator behind

Em ’ s Van Life, started designing her van, she had to get creative and make the most of every inch of space. “Everything in the van has a purpose, or multiple purposes, ” she says. If you ’ re struggling to downsize your possessions, she suggests keeping “ maybe ” items in storage for a couple of months. If you don ’t need them during that time period, donate them.

“When the pandemic hit, I knew I needed a project. ”

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“I find a calm spot to park the van, open the back doors, and write or play music, ” says Goyette.

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And now I know a ton about electric wires, wiring, electric circuits, solar energy, all kinds of batteries—and patience. ”

Goyette did enlist a professional to install the rooftop solar panels necessary to provide the van with power. But it was worth the investment, she says, because it gives her the freedom to live totally off the grid—in all types of weather. (The van has a heater that runs using the van’s gas tank, which has been a lifesaver during the freezing winter months.)

After four months of building, Goyette set out toward Vancouver Island, documenting her journey on Instagram with shots of sunsets, nature and photos of Joyce “in the wild, ” parked in front of snowy landscapes, forested backdrops or alongside new friends she made along the way. Some of the trip’s highlights include driving through the Rockies, and visiting Prince Albert National Park in Saskatchewan and the Okanagan Valley in B.C.

“I started this journey during the pandemic, when I was alone, ” she says. “I’ ve met incredible nomads while crossing the country, and others on social media. This community is amazing—everybody is willing to help, give tips, share experiences. And I love that it’s super diverse. ”

Now that Kooza is back on tour, Goyette isn’t spending as much time with Joyce. But she’s hoping she can live in the van full-time when the tour heads to the U.S., because she’s been missing van life.

“The freedom is amazing, ” she says. “When I left Quebec, I thought my trip would last for three or four months, but it turned into a new lifestyle. ”

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6. Goyette ’ s creative side has come in handy during her time on the road. “So many things can happen that you don ’t have a plan for; you have to think on your feet, ” she explains. 7. It took four months for Goyette and her dad to outfit the van.

3. SECURE THE GOODS

“Keep in mind that you are building a home in a moving vehicle, ” says musician and van lifer Joanie Goyette. “You will climb up and down hills. You will stop abruptly or take a quick turn. Anything you bring into your van will need to be secured. ” Soon swears by Velcro, double-sided tape and non-slip silicone pads to keep things in place.

4. START SMALL

Before you head out on an epic, cross-country journey, Goyette recommends taking a short, two- to five-day trip to work out the kinks and get familiar with your new home. “Don ’t go too far from where you built the van so that if there ’ s a major problem you still can fix it, ” she says.

5. SNOOZE SAFE

Finding a safe place to sleep is key. Inson usually opts for truck stops and rest stops, or uses the iOverlander app to find a campsite or a place to park. The parking lots of parks, hotels, big box stores and 24-hour businesses are frequently used by van lifers. Find a well-lit spot and keep your keys handy in case of emergency, cautions Inson.

[ C U R TA I N C A L L ]

The dark side

If you find deep, uninterrupted sleep hard to come by, the amount of light in your bedroom could be the culprit. Artificial light is linked to poor sleep quality, and most blackout curtains don’t live up to their name. Sleepout, created by an insomniac and his partner, is a portable blackout curtain that uses suction cups to block out light bleeds. The Kickstarter sensation was funded in just two hours; since then, night shift workers, nap-needy toddlers and even Olympians have benefited from its technology. The only downside? Actually having to get out of bed.

The Sleepout Curtain, $120, sleepoutcurtains.ca. LEARN TO BREATHE BETTER page 42

We need to talk about incontinence

Thanks to a laundry list of factors, the Leak Ness Monster will eventually come for many of us. The good news? There are lots of lo-fi ways to treat it

Written by LEAH RUMACK Illustration by ALLISON + CAM

My friends and I talk about pee in much the same way we talk about the latest episode of a mustwatch TV show—albeit if said show had episodes like The Case of the Bathroom We Couldn’t Find in Time or We Jumped on a Trampoline and Deeply Regretted It. But unlike so many other previously taboo topics like menstruation and childbirth, urinary incontinence is the one subject that women still only whisper about. And it’s true even though the Canadian Continence Foundation estimates that one in four women will experience it, and not only in our Golden Girls years—the Canadian Urinary Bladder Survey found that 33 percent of women ages 40 and up are on this tinkle train. Many family doctors don’t bring it up, either. I’ ve had the same doctor for 15 years, and despite the fact that she’s gazed into the abyss of my vagina as many times as an accountant opens an Excel doc and we’ ve spoken at length about everything from uterine fibroids to sexual pleasure, she’s never once asked me if I suddenly peed all over myself when my cat launched a surprise attack on my head. (I have.)

Thanks to a laundry list of factors that can include genetics, hormonal shifts, pregnancy, childbirth and the effects of aging on our tissues and muscles, the Leak Ness Monster will eventually come for many of us. The good news is that there are lots of ways to treat it.

“Incontinence really affects women’s lives on an everyday basis, ” says Nathalie Leroux, an obstetrician/gynecologist with a sub-specialty in urogynecology and a professor at the University of Montreal. “When I treat patients for abnormal menstruation, I’m fixing one week a month. When I treat patients for incontinence, they ’ll come back and say, ‘You’ ve changed my life. ’ ”

WHAT IS URINARY INCONTINENCE?

The two most common types of urinary incontinence are stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and urge incontinence (UI), though many women will experience a mix of both.

Stress incontinence, explains Sinéad Dufour, a pelvic health physiotherapist and associate professor at McMaster University, is more mechanical, while urge incontinence is more physiological. If you pee when you laugh, cough, jump or, say, get assaulted by a cat, that’s stress incontinence. If you have to urinate all the time, or you only get about a half-second warning between thinking “Gee, I think I have to pee” and actually peeing, that’s urge incontinence.

One reason you can experience SUI is from damage to your pelvic floor, a group of muscles that sit like a bouncy trampoline at the base of your pelvis and support your bladder, rectum and reproductive organs. While vaginal birth is a common way to injure your pelvic floor, doing lots of high-impact sports or constant straining when you’re trying to poo will also do the trick. The pelvic floor controls the sphincter around your urethra, and when your floor is working it responds automatically to increases in intra-abdominal pressure.

“Sneeze, move suddenly—even if you’re yelling at your kid—these are all things that can increase intra-abdominal pressure, ” says

Unlike so many other previously taboo topics... incontinence is the one subject that women still only whisper about.

Dufour.

“The pelvic floor is supposed to say, ‘Okay, sphincters, it’s time to come together, lift up and close!’ But if the pelvic floor isn’t working properly, that pressure comes down instead and urine leaks out. ”

UI happens when the detrusor muscle, which is in the lining of your bladder, becomes overly active or spastic and squeezes out pee before you can make it to the bathroom. There isn’t one specific reason that the detrusor starts to throw a temper tantrum (especially as we age), but it can seriously cramp your style. “I hear horror stories of women standing in line in the grocery store, getting that urge and looking around, going ‘Shoot, is there a washroom?’ then boom! The next thing they know, it’s like Niagara Falls, ” says Dufour.

SO WHAT CAN I DO?

First, says Leroux, your doctor should rule out more serious possibilities like an infection, stones in the bladder or cancer. But after that, depending on which type of incontinence you’re experiencing, conservative treatments like exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor and bladder training (where you practise holding your pee) should always be your first line of defence. More serious cases may need to level up to things like medications, injections, lasers and surgery.

A healthy pelvic floor helps fix SUI and UI. Rehabbing a damaged one—and maintaining your bouncy, refreshed pelvic floor from that point forward—usually involves a regime of Kegel exercises (squeezing your pelvic floor to strengthen it). Ideally you should book at least one session with a pelvic physiotherapist for an assessment and to ensure you’re doing your Kegels properly, but a good way to figure out where your pelvic floor muscles are is to try to stop your pee midstream—those are the muscles you want to use. How often you need to do Kegels depends on your circumstances—a doctor or pelvic physio can recommend an individualized regime for you—but according to Leroux, a good general rule is about 30 to 50 squeezes a day.

“I want it to be for my patients like brushing their teeth, ” says Leroux. “Maybe they do them every time they ’re at a stoplight or every day in the shower, but they have to keep them up. If you only go to the gym once a week, you won’t see results. ”

If you have urge incontinence, Dufour also recommends limiting common bladder irritants like coffee, alcohol, tomatoes, vinegar and fizzy drinks. You will also need to retrain your bladder to go longer between toilet sessions. While how often you pee obviously depends on how much liquid you take in, a healthy average is between five to eight times a day—about every two to four hours—and not at night, unless you’re postmenopausal, in which case once at night is normal. Dufour says that you should be peeing for at least eight seconds each time—less than that and your bladder probably wasn’t full.

The most counterintuitive part of treating UI is that the things you’re probably doing to protect yourself from being that Niagara Falls-in-the-grocery-line lady will only make things worse: By always keeping your bladder as empty as possible, you essentially teach it that every time you feel a little tickle you need to go to the bathroom. This results in a hyperactive bladder that will eventually just start to go without you.

Dufour says that using an incontinence product can help build confidence when you’re starting a pelvic floor or bladder-training regime, but they shouldn’t be your long-term plan. And don’t just reach for a period pad, either.

“That’s a big no-no, ” she says. “Menstrual products aren’t designed to collect urine and pull it away from your skin, and you’ll get all sorts of abrasions on your vulva if you use them for that. ”

Instead, there’s now a wide range of stylish incontinence underwear on the market that look and feel just like regular underwear—which means even if you have taken an unexpected detour to Niagara Falls, you can keep calm and Kegel on.

Designed to look and feel just like underwear

At last, an incontinence garment you actually want to wear. Women no longer need to compromise comfort or style thanks to TENA Stylish Incontinence Underwear’s body-hugging fit and cottonysoft stretch fabric. Available in sleek black—emphasis on the sleek—these are designed to look and feel just like regular underwear.

They also provide maximum absorbency with triple protection against leaks, odour and wetness so you don’t have to worry about staying dry or feeling bulky.