I have a little secret: I love camping, but I absolutely hate tents. I have an intense aversion to tenting between the poles, the tarps, and everything else. It’s just not worth it, especially if it rains. What I do like is sleeping inside of a vehicle. I have driven most of the way across the country a few times, twice in a Wrangler Unlimited and once in a 4Runner. Each time, I slept in the back of the vehicle for portions of the trip. Not only does it save money over staying in a hotel, it’s a lot more comfortable than a tent.

That got my partner Kara and me thinking about RVs, and after looking at some, it’s certainly an option at some point. But we came across a company out of Canada called Vanpackers. We initially considered getting a minivan and outfitting it as a mini-camper, and they have kits for most major vans. It occurred to us that we already have a 2022 Subaru Ascent, and they sell an SUV car camping kit!

So, after some discussion with Vanpackers, they agreed to send us a kit, along with a Alpicool Y16 – 12V Electric cooler, a Martin two-burner camping stove, and their new 2’’ mattress. It all came with a nice Christmas discount, and we are super excited to get it all put together and installed. Over the holidays, we made a quick unboxing video. Comment below for things you’d like to see during our testing.

Again, let us know what you’d like to see in the installation and testing videos!