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 anyway you should have gone for the bus we're karen 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 the converted sprinter van to explore our own backyard we've spent the last week exploring the stunningly beautiful state of oregon 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 u.s 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 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 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so for the next 24 hours we are trading our van for this bus it's huge there's even a front porch oh 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've left this whole driver's seat as is like this is the original brown velvet scene they have this huge steering wheel with all 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 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 first day this is perfect so actually [Music] 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 standing at the kitchen and nate wants to get by me he literally can't fit by me like no are you doing this on purpose it's just this bottleneck oh broke a tailbone they have this giant sink which is so nice i can't even fit a cutting board in hours 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 magnus thing wow that looks 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 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 oh so excited 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 it's too hot getting down to the 30s tonight okay okay and last but not least time for the bathroom tour don't 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 on the front so let's 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 seven gallon hot water heater that cara 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 the composting toilet somehow connected to two and he's running all the liquids into the bigger tank so you don't 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 cool it's hard to heat a place where all the walls are made of windows i love the windows though like that's like my favorite part of bus tiny homes theater'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 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 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 uh get this fire started whoa push primary here upper handle to the right absorb this is the tiniest fire i've ever built look at this and then one tiny log looks like i knew what i was doing oh look at that all right 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 it was inspired by one of our friends cup of tj i've added my own little twist to it it 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 wow it's already so hot that's crazy i've never used an induction stove top before it's been on for like two seconds and it's already popping all right first i chopped fresh garlic and fresh ginger and saute it and 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 so 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 can i see you on the other side oh no it's kind of a weird restaurant but there's not really enough room for two rolls enjoy dinner why enjoy your dinner oh whoa sleep well we've developed a slight addiction [Music] [Music] coffee's ready [Music] turning 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 [Music] 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 capital 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 [Music] [Music] 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 [Music] it was so crunchy we walked two miles for this oh my gosh no way that was crazy we just walked out here to see the snowboard 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 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 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 yeah enjoy thank you so much i got a hot spiced cider oh super hot oh 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 we're still in 2020. it's so warm the heater in our van is still broken so this is rare 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 no for the connoisseurs out there this medium body pale l presents a rich and complex small character derived above that was my commercial voice the prices have been deeper and manlier this medium body pillow presents a rich complex small character derived from a bold blend of four different types of wonderful balance by five complementary variety of ups i think he got more country too [Music] you

Channel: Kara and Nate

Views: 1,600,416

Rating: 4.9433556 out of 5

Keywords: #vanlife, converted van tour, couple vlog, full time travel, kara and nate, kara and nate vlog, morning routine, off grid living, sprinter van, sprinter van conversion, tiny home, tiny home on wheels, tiny house, travel, travel couple, travel couple vlog, travel vlog, unique accomodations, usa travel, van life, van life couple, van life usa, van life vlog, van tour, vanlife, vlog, skoolie, school bus, school bus conversion, converted school bus, bus life, bus tiny home

Id: hyp2TRYQxWY

Length: 17min 53sec (1073 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 04 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/OhDeBabies]

It seems like Kara genuinely dislikes living in a van based on all of the side complaints and comparisons from this tour.

[u/reliableotter]

I'm guessing they posted this off of their regular schedule since it isn't really a video they normally do. It's just a tour.

Not really my thing, but it played in the background while I did other stuff, so they got my view time.

[u/LittleHiker]

Kind of boring, unfortunately. Fifteen minutes spent on a bus tour? Five minutes would have covered it.

[u/Mrlongdong21]

Anyone think they have gone downhill

[u/cattailmatt]

Ah, yes. The pure excitement of people when they first get to Oly!

. . . give it ten years.

BTW, seeing whales that far south in the Sound is super rare. I lived in Oly for ten years and saw whales in Budd Inlet a grand total of never. Eld Inlet? Never. Totem? Hammersley? Not one time. Case? Once. In over ten years. One time. Super lucky!