Nowadays, it’s pretty to have some form of entertainment during the nights or rainy days. My van is no execption.
Internet (4G)
In my experiences, a lot of campsites offer WiFi, but its not uncommon to be pretty crappy quality.
Since my travels will be mainly in Europe and the roaming regulations have changed, there is no reason NOT to use 4G/LTE. Coverage is pretty decent, and if available I can try wifi anyway. Since not all my devices have their own LTE modem, I want just to use wifi.
I’ve installed a TP-Link MR600 4G/LTE router. Similar to a MiFi router, but it has some advantages: 4 gigabit ports, capable of up to 64 devices, and I was able to get it cheap 🙂
The device is unlocked, so if I visit a country which isn’t covered by roaming, I can get a local prepaid sim card and insert it.
Audio
I didn’t include a sound system in my build. Getting decent sound involves some good design, especially when it comes to speakers. You can’t just insert a speaker in a cabinet and expect good sound.
Thats why I choosed not to install any sound system, but to get a decent bluetooth speaker instead. After reading some reviews, I found an affordable one: The Doss Soundbox XL. Not very known, but from all reviews I have found, they were pleasantly surprised by the sound quality of a $50 speaker and could easily compare it with a 3-times more expensive speaker.
Not the smallest one, but it does sound great, and has sufficient power to have a small party also. No need for a massive soundsystem anyway, since i’m likely to piss off any neighbors 🙂
Television
I don’t watch TV very often. Also, didn’t want to install a huge expesive dish on my roof. And with the various streaming options and TV apps most providers provide, there is no need to in my opinion (You can get a whole lot of prepaid internet to make up for the cost of a dish and subscription)
Also, I didn’t have the space (and didn’t want to) install a TV in my van. Most of the times, I can use my laptop, will do the job fine. And with the bluetooth speaker I have decent sound on the laptop as well.
For movie nights, I have a small projector, the Blitzwolf BW-VP1. This is a tiny cheap one, but with surprisingly good quality for it’s price (75 eur, approx $85).
And it’s a LED projector, so much more efficient than a regular one with the regular bulbs. Light output is off course lower, but plenty enough for use in the van. And it’s 720p, so picture quality is fine, since I’m not able to project on a huge display.
Finally: Its small and light, important when traveling in a rather small van. I’ve connected a Google Chromecast to its HDMI input, so I can wirelessly stream any content over my van’s wifi network.