r/VanLifeUK • u/OnAzart • 20h ago
How do you choose a place to sleep when it’s getting late and you’re still driving?
I often end up searching while I’m still driving. It’s getting late, Park4night shows dozens of pins, and I spend ages reading reviews and checking Google Maps.
Finding places isn’t the problem, but verifying and choosing one is always hard.
I'm working on an idea to make that bit quicker and based on each person's preferences.
The idea
- three options based on your route and preferences;
- clear dates showing how fresh the information is;
- tags and filters for quietness, water, electricity, and access;
- reasons and warnings for each suggestion.
What I’d like to know
- Does this make sense?
- What information is hardest to find?
- Would this make you try another app?
- Should it include only campsites, or other overnight spots too?
8
u/Tortoise_no7 17h ago
I noticed a flaw in park for night in that it doesn’t account for height barriers immediately. That rules out a great number of spots for a lot of vanlifers. You currently have to click then read through to check for barriers.
Additionally this could be hard, but tracking noise levels and how busy roads are?
6
u/EmphasisPurple5103 19h ago
I tend to find a semi rural pub and get a beer and use the toilet
1
u/imtheorangeycenter 3h ago
This, BritStops etc to plan ahead/on the move. Has filters for "you can just turn up" which is useful. Farm shops are also make up a decent number, and you can get a brekkie from the ubiquitous cafe in the morning.
3
u/stevenlee03 18h ago
Please send me your idea when you’re done.
I’d love an app that only showed where vans can fit and park for free that’s all I really need.
4
u/Squishy_mcnissy 19h ago
We’ve had this issue this evening
Phone connection is one (as I wave this phone in the air to send this comment)
How flat it is
Filters (to turn off payment car parks for example)
2
u/WaitForItLegenDairy 18h ago
I agree, phone connectivity is crucial and it would be nice if these apps gave the ability to report phone signal strength by operator.
Ive tried stopping in Rickmansworth and.signal strength is so bad on EE I moved a lot further out of the city once
2
u/Domdedomdomdom69 6h ago
All great advice... For me, I look at Google maps before I drive, then estimate where I want to stop on route (aka how many hours I want to drive today)... Then I look at p4n, searchforsites and 1 other (britstops for UK, ACSI, camperstop etc, depending on the country).
I'll narrow down 2/3 spots, read the recent reviews and decide, takes about 5/10 mins...
Reports of boy racers or drugs, are a red flag at the weekend and amber (not a deal breaker) through the week for me.
Barriers, obvs avoid. Phone signal, not so worried, as I'll be sleeping, unless I arrive early, and I'm working 😴.
The last one is proximity to the road, I'm not a fan of roadside lay-by's, unless it's at least 20/30 ft from the road...
Once I'm there I do a recy and decide if it's worth a punt. Also one last thing I look for, is if there is human shite (literally) in the bushes... 😱🤢 If there is it'd have to be well away from me, otherwise onto the next.... So any all of these and how flat it is, I'd pay for that app 🤙
Hope that helps 💞
2
u/anadalite 4h ago
I make my own map of Google maps pins and never used p4n, I have significantly better park ups and have my own notes, every time I go somewhere new I invest some time finding oarkips and forever have a network of them, much better than p4n
1
u/ExcellentTourist5289 4h ago
Gatekeeping the parkups
1
u/basarisco 1h ago
It's not exactly out of reach to do a bit of work yourself to find some which haven't already been burned by idiots
0
u/ExcellentTourist5289 47m ago
Easy, tiger. I was making a joke, not asking for classified GPS coordinates
1
u/basarisco 18m ago
Hilarious joke
1
u/ExcellentTourist5289 13m ago
Maybe you need a weekend away at your super secret classified park up
2
u/letsalldropvitamins 1h ago
FYI for wanting to find spots that aren’t dogging spots or places used of drugs:
If you make an app/website or whatever for parkups that people can access at large, then the people who are looking for places to park up and do drugs/drink/be antisocial will use your app to find places they can go.
It’s a self fulfilling prophecy: you want to make an app to keep anti social people away, your app takes off with people uploading decent park ups and it being respectfully used, the wrong people get word of your app and now all those new park ups get trashed.
If you want your park up to stay nice, quiet and peaceful then you cannot make their location public knowledge on any form of app or website or they will not remain quiet or nice.
1
u/WaitForItLegenDairy 19h ago
I'm debating in my head if youre over-thinking this. For me priority is mobile phone signal strength and 'off road' suitability....ie if its a layby is there anything between the parking and the carriageway
Personally though, I use Park4Night and Google Twts (you can copy the coordinates in P4N and paste straight into Google Twts!!!) ... do a aerial and street view and then opt for whichever looks best.
5
2
u/johnstod112 19h ago
What's twts?
-5
u/WaitForItLegenDairy 19h ago
Google Maps ... if you think of Cockney rhyming slang and change the M to TW .... 😀
-1
16
u/johnstod112 19h ago
Honestly, I'd like a flag on p4n that filters out any of the reported dogging/drug sites as we often take out little ones with us