Open Road: The Van Life Trip & Travel Planner for Everything Between the Sunset Photo and the Maintenance Log
July 26, 2026
Van life is equal parts freedom and logistics, and most of what you see about it online is the freedom half — the view, the coffee, the sunset over the dashboard. What doesn’t make it into a post is the maintenance schedule you’re supposed to be tracking, the budget that gets fuzzier the longer a trip runs, and the campsite from three weeks ago you can’t quite remember the name of when a friend asks where to stay. Open Road is a 65-page undated planner, available in both A4 and US Letter, built to hold all of it — set up your van and budget before you leave, log each day on the road, keep on top of maintenance, and look back on where you’ve been.
Setup pages: About Us, the van, and what’s actually in it
Before the first mile, Open Road has you fill in the parts that make the rest of the planner make sense. About Us covers your names, home base, trip start date and planned length, who’s traveling with you (pets included), your van life motto, and a spot for a photo from before you left. The Van page goes further into the practical details — make, model, year, insurance provider, roadside assistance number, fuel type and tank size, current mileage at trip start, and a checklist of systems your van actually has (battery bank or solar, water tank and pump, propane and stove, fridge, heater, toilet, shower, inverter, awning, roof rack, bike rack, backup camera, leveling blocks) — plus where the spare key is kept and any quirks worth remembering about your specific rig.
A packing checklist organized by what you’d actually forget
The packing and gear checklist splits into safety and tools (first aid kit, tire repair kit, jump starter, spare fuses, fire extinguisher, tow strap, spare tire), kitchen (camp stove, cookware, water filter, cooler, reusable dishes, coffee maker), and comfort and personal items (sleeping bag, camp chairs, journal, hammock, solar lantern, camera) — plus open space for “other things we want to bring” and, notably, “things we almost forgot last time,” which is exactly the kind of page that saves a return trip to a gas station forty miles down the road.
A trip budget that tracks categories, not just a total
The trip budget setup page holds your total trip budget, target monthly and weekly spend, and emergency fund set aside, alongside spending categories built specifically for road life — fuel, groceries, campsites and parking, propane, water and laundry, maintenance and repairs, activities, eating out, wifi and data, and insurance — with a monthly target by category table so a budget is something you’re tracking against, not just guessing at. There’s also room for how you plan to save money on the road and your biggest money worry, which is a more honest planning prompt than most budget trackers bother to ask.
A maintenance schedule so “I’ll deal with that later” doesn’t become a breakdown
A van is a home and a vehicle at the same time, and the vehicle half doesn’t pause its maintenance needs just because you’re living in it. The maintenance schedule opens with a pre-trip checklist — oil level, tire pressure and tread, all lights tested, coolant, belts and hoses, battery terminals, propane and CO detector, water pump and filters, roof seals, brake pads, tire rotation — and tracks last and next oil change, your trusted mechanic on the road, warranty details, and which parts or tools you keep spares of, plus a running maintenance log for the trip itself.
Daily logs, weekly expenses, and the campsite log that gives “that great spot” a name
Once you’re actually on the road, the daily travel log tracks mileage, spending, and highlights day by day, and the weekly expense tracker zooms out to catch budget drift before it becomes a surprise. The campsite & parking log records where you stayed, what it cost, and whether you’d go back — turning “that great spot near the coast” into an actual, searchable note instead of a half-remembered story. Route planning and a bucket list sit alongside these, giving your trip some shape without locking it down.
The parts that don’t fit a spreadsheet: meals, wildlife, and new friends
Open Road also makes room for the parts of van life that aren’t logistics at all — a meal planning page and grocery list for the practical side, plus a wildlife sightings log and a new friends log for the parts of the trip that actually make it memorable. Monthly reflection pages ask what’s working about this lifestyle and what’s harder than expected, a gear & equipment inventory and emergency & roadside info page cover the practical backstop, and photo memories and “the road goes on” close things out — because a long trip deserves a place to land, not just a stopping point.
Who this works well for
Open Road works whether you’re planning a two-week loop or living on the road full-time, with paper-and-pen pages that also work fine on a tablet with your favorite notes app. It comes in both A4 and US Letter, plus an editable Excel companion for the trackers you’d rather update from your phone than a notebook balanced on your knee.
Open Road: A Van Life Trip & Travel Planner is available on our complete Planners collection as a 65-page printable + editable workbook (PDF plus an Excel companion), 50% off for a limited time.