Get to Know Us

We started www.Camperpals.com to document and share our journey of converting a van into a campervan and to tell the stories of our road adventures. What began as a fun side project quickly grew into something far beyond what we could have imagined.

What started as simple updates about our build turned into in-depth guides and "how-to" articles.
Years later, we’re still updating and creating new content to support the vanlife community — and we take this responsibility seriously.

Our Goal

Our mission is to publish comprehensive, fact-based guides and step-by-step instructions on all things related to DIY campervan conversions.

From early planning stages (building your knowledge) to the practical aspects (building your campervan) — we’ve got something for everyone!

Our Experience

With backgrounds in mechanics, construction, electrical engineering, and a creative approach to problem-solving, we were well-equipped to tackle our first campervan conversion.

Over the years, we’ve gained even more experience and knowledge, putting us in a great position to help you!

1. Life Before Vanlife

The Problem with Our "Old" Life?
To be honest, there wasn’t really a problem! We had everything we could wish for: stable jobs with benefits (Jacob as an engineer and Amanda as a finance wizard), a cozy apartment, and friends to share adventures with. We weren’t big spenders (apart from sports gear!), so we considered ourselves “rich” — we could afford all the fun we wanted (within reason, of course).

But we’ve always loved traveling, discovering new things, and meeting people and cultures worldwide. When we reflected on what truly made us happy, a clear pattern emerged: we loved exploring the world!

Initially, we dreamed of traveling through Europe by train, but even leaving Sweden felt like a giant leap. As we talked more about what we wanted to see and do, it became clear that adjusting our plans to train schedules wasn’t ideal — especially in Southern Europe, where timetables can be “flexible.” That’s when the idea of converting our own campervan was born.

2. Redefining Normality

Life was good, but could it be better?
We lived a comfortable life, but as we approached thirty, we realized the years were beginning to feel repetitive. The thought of working full-time and taking only short (and expensive) vacations every year wasn’t satisfying… So, we asked ourselves: How can we create a lifestyle where we can enjoy all of this while still young and healthy?

Change in the Air!
Around this time, our friends had just returned from their second rooftop-tent road trip, this time through Poland. That sparked our thoughts about doing something similar.

By then, Amanda had secretly been dreaming of living in a campervan for quite some time. She’d spent countless hours watching YouTube channels of people building and living in their vans. Eventually, this became the catalyst for our first project: building our own campervan.

Less Income — How Did We Turn the Dream Into Reality?
Change is often easier said than done. It’s all about balance. It’s not just your income that changes, but also your storage space. Every purchase has to be planned, both financially and spatially. It’s no longer as simple as buying a bulk pack of toilet paper at a better price and storing it in the closet.

We also had to ask ourselves some tough questions: How much does it really cost to build and live in a van?
At the time, there wasn’t much clear information out there, so we decided to document every penny spent — both on the conversion and on vanlife itself. Hopefully, this could help others who wanted to follow in our footsteps!

Van Build Costs

We tracked every single penny and hour of work required to build our van. Everything is organized by category and task, so it doesn’t get more detailed than this! We hope it helps!

Vanlife Costs

We publish all our travel costs. There’s data from several years that you can use as a base for planning your own trip and conversion. Don’t forget to adjust the numbers based on your lifestyle!

Reduced income

Tip: Quit Your Full-Time Job = Less Income! You’re Welcome.
At first, we didn’t plan to become “real” full-time vanlifers — who does? Our original plan was to travel for about a year (using our savings) and then settle down on the West Coast.

And here’s the crazy part of the story: we decided to create a website — Camperpals.com. The idea was to keep ourselves busy during rainy days in the van (by sharing our travel photos and stories).

We’re not entirely sure how or why, but the website ended up becoming a massive reference for van conversions. It might just be one of our best ideas ever because, while our day jobs made vanlife possible, Camperpals.com turned it into a lifestyle.

We can’t say this enough: THANK YOU for using our links, downloading diagrams from our shop, or sharing the information with friends.

Without YOU, we couldn’t keep doing this. It’s that simple! 😊

3._Redefining the Dream – The Never-Ending Pursuit of Happiness

Life is about finding balance. We shifted from a life centered around work to one focused on travel and adventure. Moving from one extreme to another has been incredible, but long-term, too much of a good thing is rarely sustainable…

A good story always involves a journey, allowing its characters to evolve. We can’t live the same dream forever. Our story needs to have many different chapters, and to grow, we need new goals, new projects, and new dreams. It’s not about flipping our lives upside down again — it’s about making small adjustments.

The pandemic forced us to settle down for a while, and that made us realize it’s actually nice to have a home to return to when the world turns upside down, when we’re sick, or when the van starts to feel too small. Living in a van comes with many compromises; we’ve had to give up several passions that once defined us as people. Now, we want to reclaim some of the versatility and richness we once had.

At this moment, our ultimate balance would be traveling 6–8 weeks a year while enjoying home life the rest of the time. It’s a high expectation, but if we managed to make our #Vanlife dream come true, maybe we can turn our new #LifeBalance dream into reality too. We’ll see...