We lived out of our Toyota Sienna for 12 months. Was it small? Yes! Was it a blast? YES! Find out how we set our mini-van up for a year of travel.
Our “conversion” took a couple of days and about $100- it totally worked for us and we never looked back. We took out all the seats in the back and duct-taped up lightweight, reflective insulation for privacy and to keep the heat out, as we spent most of our time in the desert. Toyota Siennas have the fortune of having a completely flat floor in the cargo area, and no adjustments were needed to keep it level.
After measuring the back we ordered an odd sized futon from Amazon (midway between a full and a twin) and added a nice foam topper custom cut. We used full size sheets, pillows, and blanket. At night we often read in the back, on the bed, and leaned up against the front seats. The one thing we really splurged on was a nice cooler. We both had a medium-sized duffel bag we lived out of and did laundry about once very two weeks. Once we packed in our kitchen supplies we were ready!
Except all of our gear. And boy did we have a lot of climbing and backpacking gear. To give us more space, we stuck a car top carrier on top of the van and filled it to the brim. Plus then we put our stinky gear out of our living space after long days of climbing. Win-win!
Cooking was easier than we thought it would be. We followed the sun all year, so we mostly had warm, dry weather and cooked outside. In reality, Dylan cooked outside and I chopped and prepared food lounging in the bed. Life was good. On the few days of rain the hatch kept us dry and we cooked straight out of the back-quickly. Mostly, we avoided bad weather and moved along when it came through.
Because we were mostly in the desert, nights were usually cold! We would pull out our extra sleeping bags to supplement our bedding and turn on the propane heater before bed. The expensive, small cooler we bought made all the difference in dealing with the heat during the day. We never even used ice and would instead keep it in the shade during the day, and at night the temperatures would drop enough to chill it back down. It also helped that we switched to a vegetarian diet over the trip and did not need to store or deal with meat.
Minimalist living came more easily than I thought, plus a new gorgeous view out the van’s doors every day didn’t hurt!