You’ve got the bus built and you’re ready to go full-time. But the question that keeps people up at night is, where do you actually put this thing? You can’t just park a 35-foot bus on any random street and call it home. Most full-time skoolie owners park at RV parks ($400-$800/month), on private land … Read more
You’ve found a couple of buses you like, but one’s gas and one’s diesel. The diesel costs more. Is it worth the extra cash, or is gas good enough for a conversion? Go diesel if you can afford it. Diesel school bus engines last 300,000-500,000 miles versus 150,000-250,000 for gas. They get better fuel economy … Read more
You’ve seen the beautiful builds and the summer road trip videos. But what happens when it’s 15 degrees outside and your home is a giant steel tube? Can you actually live in a bus through winter? Yes, you can live in a skoolie year-round, even in cold climates, if your insulation and heating are solid. … Read more
If you work remotely, or just want to stream Netflix after a long day of driving, internet is a non-negotiable part of bus life. I spent a lot of time researching this before we hit the road, and I’ve talked to dozens of full-timers about what actually works. Here’s what I learned. Most full-time bus … Read more
You’re planning your skoolie build and the water system feels like the most mysterious part. Where does the water come from? How does it get to your faucets? Where does it go after? I had the same questions when I first started digging into this, and the good news is it’s way simpler than you … Read more
This is the fear that keeps people from pulling the trigger on bus life. Your house IS your vehicle, so if it breaks down, you don’t just lose your ride. You lose your home. At least that’s what it feels like when you’re thinking about it from the outside. When your skoolie breaks down, you’re … Read more
I remember sitting down with a spreadsheet trying to figure this out before I committed to anything. Every YouTube video I watched seemed to give a different number, and half of them were clearly lowballing it. So I decided to actually dig into what real people spent, not just what they claimed in their video … Read more
I went back and forth on this for weeks and almost drove myself crazy. Every time I’d watch a tour of a full-size build on YouTube I’d think “yeah, that’s what I need, all that space.” Then I’d try to parallel park my friend’s truck downtown and remember that a school bus is literally twice … Read more
So this was something I worried about way more than I probably needed to. I had this image in my head of pulling up to an RV park in a converted school bus and the manager coming out to tell me to leave. And yeah, that can happen, but it’s way less common than the … Read more
When I was bus shopping, the mileage numbers freaked me out at first. I’m used to cars where 150,000 miles means you’re basically driving on borrowed time. So when I saw buses listed at 180,000, 200,000 miles, my gut reaction was to keep scrolling. Turns out that was completely wrong, and I almost missed out … Read more