We Tried Van Life in OMAN (full tour)

[Music]

good morning from Oman the little

country on the corner of the Arabian

Peninsula this 1985 Unimog with an

incredible camper conversion is going to

be our home for the next week as we

explore this country's epic nature Best

Day Ever this is day two from beautiful

Coast lines to massive deserts rugged

mountains and even hidden Oasis this is

amazing this country has it all but the

best part is wild camping is legal

throughout the entire country another

epic spot we'll hit the road soon but

first let me catch you up on how we got

here and give you a full tour of our new

[Music]

home this is awesome hey little girl so

this morning when we woke up we could

see this herd of goats on top of the

mountain across the valley and they've

spent the morning making their way all

the way over to where we camped last

night all right car's attempting to make

friends what could possibly go wrong

swe thought you new guy shepher Cara is

watching over her flock she is loving

this also that's my phone that she has

in her hand which means I now have

10,000 photos of goats on my phone to go

[Music]

through all right so two days ago we

picked up the Unimog from a company

called Freedom Overland in Dubai they're

the ones that get credit for the

incredible build and we are super

grateful for them letting us use it for

this trip I'll be honest when we

originally planned this trip I did not

realize how big big the learning curve

was going to be for driving a unimod so

the day started with a driving lesson

which if I'm being honest was pretty

intense especially on the busy streets

around Dubai it's hard to

find

play there we go this thing has eight

gears and it drives unlike any vehicle

that I've ever driven before then it was

time to make the 2-hour drive to the

Omani border which just happened to

coinside with rush hour traffic in Dubai

this is such an intense place to drive

something this big for the first time

thankfully we breeed through the Border

like almost a little too easy that's it

we'll see when I drive away if they come

to uh search the car our goal for the

night was to make it all the way to the

capital city of Muscat but we quickly

learned that the time that we saw in

Google Maps needed to be doubled because

the top speed of the Unimog is 49 mph

and going uphill it is incredibly slow

we going to make it up this hill I don't

know we're losing speed so fast from

there all that was left to do was drive

to the top of this mountain where we are

currently parked but this isn't where we

intended on camping our first spot was

quite a bit lower than this it was a

Lookout Point and we literally were

parked right next to a Toyota Corolla

but then I saw this little dirt road

going up a mountain that looked pretty

intense but I decided what's the point

of driving a Unimog all the way to Oman

if you're not going to try to get to the

most epic camping spots oh gosh this is

actually

nuts so yeah thankfully we' survived

last night we have an epic place to Camp

I breathed a deep I relief when we

finally made it up here last night but I

don't feel like I've been able to fully

exhale because we still have to make it

down this morning but first we'll give

you a

tour our friends are still here by the

way we have lived in a lot of vehicles

over the last few years we spent 2 years

living in this van during Co and we've

tested out a lot of other setups but

this has to be the coolest looking

vehicle that we have ever lived in plus

there is one super unique feature that

takes this thing to the next level that

we will show you at the very end I'm

going to show you around the outside and

then Carol will show you around the

inside this thing is from 1985 we're

pretty much driving an antique Overland

vehicle around Oman these lights also

feel like they are from 1985 you can't

see anything driving at night which is

pretty dangerous considering how many

camels there are wandering around Oman

but I'm excited to get into the desert

and test out these light bars they're

illegal to use on the road here boom

boom

wow right coming on the side check out

how tall these tires are so we got Mass

military grade tires on this thing that

we put to the test yesterday afternoon

we're pulling a house up the world stev

road so this might sound kind of dumb

but when I was looking at this online I

actually thought it was smaller than our

van something about the way it's shaped

and the way the photos were taken it

just looked like this this little cute

vehicle but this thing is a monster it

is literally three times bigger than it

looks in the photos so it turns out the

Unimog is 3 ft taller than our van but

it's 2 ft shorter so that's why it has

this really funny but super cool looking

shape so this is the original Unimog

like this is the 1985 vehicle and

everything you see on the back half here

was custom built from aluminum by

Freedom Overland and it's all powder

coated in this super cool silver color

with red accents this is our 90 L diesel

tank and then these are our Max tracks

that we can use in case we get stuck in

the

desert that was terrifying but what I

really like is this holder also

doubles as an outdoor table so as you

can see where you enter the camper is

quite High compared to the ground so

we've got these extendable stairs which

are a little bit of a pain but once you

finally get them set up they're a lot

sturdier than they look plus the stairs

make it feel super homey so the back has

a super unique design the entire top

half opens up and then down below you

have a spare tire and these back boxes

for extra storage there's a generator in

the bottom in case we need more power

and then we're not even using this

because there's so much storage space in

this thing coming around to the side

more storage down here on the bottom

right now we're keeping our our air

compressor hose in here another Super

unique feature that I like about the way

they've designed this Unimog is they've

actually done a conversion on the air

compressor that's used for the brakes

and you can attach that hose to the air

compressor underneath to air back up

your tires if you need to so that's a

pretty cool design once again I don't

think this is going to work but I just

got to

drive inside this little storage

compartment we have our lithum batteries

we have 340 amps of batteries which

feels a little small for this vehicle

but it also has an alternator char

charger which means that it charges as

you drive and I think we'll be driving

every single day so power is definitely

not going to be an issue for us on this

trip and back here we have all the rest

of the electrical setup this electrical

setup is so pleasing to the eye compared

to the mess of a cabinet that we have in

our van this thing is amazing lots of

cool design choices and a few

questionable ones one of the

questionable design choices being that

in order to turn on the inverter you

actually have to come outside and hit

that button there should definitely be a

way to do that from inside here we have

our gray water tank and our black water

tank both of which are 100 L which are

huge we may not have to dump these

throughout the entire trip but if we do

there are buttons underneath the

steering wheel that make it super easy

it's always a good thing you don't have

to carry your pea bucket through your

home oh I need your help okay put the

camera down I need your help all right

now let me show you around the cab which

is honestly I think super cool because

of how old it is so these seats remind

me of the old seats that are in my

grandfather's VW which I really like and

then all of these old physical buttons

there's something so satisfying about

getting like a real click when you're

turning on and off the headlights this

giant steering wheel makes me feel like

I'm driving a bus and there are eight

gears in this thing which makes it a

little challenging to drive especially

because when you're downshifting this

won't mean anything to you if you

haven't driven a stick shift but like

let's say you want to go from 5ifth to

third or from like 7th to third so like

you were going fast and then you're

coming to a stop you have to go into

fifth and then go over into third it's a

pretty complicated setup it took a lot

of getting used to but after 9 hours of

driving from Dubai I think I finally

have the hang of it there we go this is

how you switch from Two Wheel to

four-wheel drive we do have AC in this

thing which is really nice but

apparently they couldn't get the old AC

working so like none of this here

actually functions it all comes out at

car's legs which is great for me I guess

because I'm so close to the engine here

like the front of this thing is really

short there is a lot of heat that builds

up under here and I have to have Cara

put her legs up on the dash so that the

air can actually flow over in my

direction this is a backup camera which

is essential because of how big this

thing is so down here there are a few

more things that increase the learning

curve this is parking brake this is Ford

in Reverse I've never had Ford and

reverse on a giant lever like this

normally when you're driving a stick

shift there's just like a gear that you

put it in here on the handle so in my

jeep that I drove growing up I always

had to go all the way to the right and

then up and that was reversed so I've

tried to do that a few times muscle

memory is such a fascinating thing Nate

has not driven that jeep in over 10

years and his brain still wants to put

it in the same reverse spot as his Jeep

and over here we have the glove box

which I really like because it has this

little nod to the Past on it the Unimog

actually started out as a military

ambulance so it's cool to think about

the life cycle of where it started and

where it's ended up next to a herd of

goats on top of a mountain in Oman all

right let me take you up

top

whoa I'm serious I have almost fallen

out of this thing so many times because

I go to step and I just don't realize

how far down it

is not really a good way to get get all

the way on top a little terrifying

especially with this wind okay for how

much space we have up here there's

really not a whole lot going on we've

got a vent for the bathroom one 2 3 400

WS of solar and that is an air

conditioner okay and now I'm getting

down because I feel like I'm going to

get blown away good morning from the

future me and my goat friend would just

like to thank our sponsor for today's

video which is ag1 who we absolutely

adore well you think you want to try it

buddy I mean how could you resist

whoops this is just a slight preview of

what to come trust me you're going to

want to keep watching because somehow

Aman just keeps getting better and

better let's just say road trips don't

bring out the best version of myself

when it comes to nutrition we like to

call ag1 our nutritional Insurance

because it fills in the gaps in our diet

when we're doing stuff like this just in

case you haven't heard just one serving

of ag1 contains 75 vitamins minerals and

Whole Food sourced ingredients that

support whole body Health from your

digestion and gut health to energy level

I so thankful we discovered it when we

did gosh four years ago now and we've

been drinking it ever since all you do

is mix one serving with a little bit of

cold water preferably and that's it well

hi do you want to try ag1 this might be

the cutest ag1 ad ever what do you

think H I think these goats eat grass

which contrary to the green color this

doesn't taste like grass it actually has

a sweet fruity flavor to it like I said

Nate and I absolutely love a W and I

think you will too so if you scan our QR

code on the screen or click our Link in

the description below with your first

purchase you'll receive this Shaker the

jar and they'll even throw in wait for

it a free bottle of these vitamin D3 K2

drops which we also take every day

here's proof that's all we have left and

you'll get five of these travel packs

for free I'm so excited to show you

around the inside this is one of my

favorite builds we've ever lived in

there's so many things I love about it

there are a couple things that I would

probably do differently it's very

apparent to me that this was designed by

men but I'll get to that later let me

start with the biggest most beautiful

feature and that is this door one of the

reasons we're so excited to Overland

Oman is just the campsites themselves we

know we're going to have some really

cool spots and we're just going to be

able to back into an epic spot and then

simply open this

door and boom like Nate said the Unimog

is 2T shorter than our van but it

seriously feels we have double the space

and a huge reason for that is because

the bed is above the cab which just

opens up this entire room but the best

part is that's not the only bed if you

had more people this bench turns into a

second bed and it is so simple literally

just turn these knobs and boom it's huge

you could easily fit four people in here

maybe even five if you have a small

person small child lays here two adults

lay here I mean this just blow blows my

mind but the fact that it's so easy just

makes it a million times better the bed

and our man takes forever to set up and

take down and so we just never do it

it's just a bed all the time which takes

up more than half of our space ow so

easy I'm still learning obviously now if

you've seen any of my tours in the past

then you know that I love storage and

this is like the storage of my dreams it

is everywhere we unpacked everything

from our huge suitcases into this place

and we bought the entire grocery store

and we still have leftover storage Nate

has all of his clothes up here and I

have all of my clothes up here I can fit

more if I wanted to plus there's some

hidden storage beneath this bench nobody

would ever know it was there so we have

some important things down there like

our passports backpacks and then there's

also so much space under this bench now

let's talk about the kitchen this is

another one of my favorite spots of any

van build and they did an awesome job

but like I said

definitely designed by dudes because

they didn't

prioritize um the cooking we have

this um what do you call this we have

this little camp stove it's portable the

whole thing folds up and goes into this

drawer which is actually really nice and

in the short time that we've lived in

here I've actually come to enjoy this

quite a bit I like that you can put it

away and have all the counter space back

if you're not using it and if you wanted

to cook outside on that little extra

table you could do that so I'm coming

around to it by guys thanks for hanging

out honestly that's one of the

highlights of the trip for me already I

don't know how it gets any better than

this we're parked on top of a mountain

all alone overlooking the ocean with

mountain goats I think they might just

be regular goats oh we have all the food

we bought up here in these cabinets we

have all of our drink related things in

this drawer plus our produce a few glass

things that I didn't want to like fly

out from up there just in

case this drawer is what we have over

plates and bowls and utensils I don't

even remember what this oh there's

literally nothing in this drawer except

for an apple and a pair and that should

technically go in this drawer this is

crazy here we have a dtic fridge which

literally just ate all the groceries

that I put in it yesterday there's a

teeny tiny freezer here we have a decent

Siz sink and beneath the sink do I even

need to say it look at all this storage

we have our trash down here some

cleaning stuff towels and a 10g water

heater also I love how all these drawers

have a lat so they don't fly open when

we're driving oh no what drawer flew

open now across from the kitchen we have

a microwave which is pretty cool but

honestly I'm a little scarred from

living in hour van and running out of

power a few too many times I'm sure we

could use this for a minute or two and

be totally fine but I'm going to try not

to use it because we're going to be in

some pretty remote places and I do not

want to use all of our power so just in

case we need some more storage I'll just

put stuff in there speaking of things

that suck up power

we have an air conditioner which we do

not have in our van but once again I

don't think we're going to be using it

just because it doesn't really seem

worth it plus after sleeping on the

beach and sleeping on top of this

mountain with this ocean breeze we have

not even needed it it feels amazing on

this wall we have our control panel and

I love how simple and accessible it is

up here we have our freshwater tank

levels so we have 200 L of fresh water

and we can see exactly how much we have

left in our van our water tank is hidden

beneath the bench and we don't have this

so we're just guessing how much water we

have left like we never actually know

which could be a little stressful

beneath that we have the gray water and

blackw tanks which once again in our van

we don't know if our gray water is full

until it starts literally leaking onto

the road so this is just so nice to have

now this screen is all things power

battery solar stuff we have 340 amp hour

so right now we have 294 left which

means we have 87 % of our power left

we're bringing in a positive 5 amps I

don't know why the screen's flashing

that just happened recently hopefully

that's not a bad thing yeah moving on

into ow the bathroom yes we have an

entire bathroom it is shockingly Big you

just push

it not so sure about this door I'm sure

it was great when it was new

but follow me I feel like there are

houses with bathrooms this big there's

like a normal shower head a nice big

sink this toilet is like a marine toilet

you use it like a normal toilet it's

great doesn't sink most importantly I

also love the floor in here it just

feels nice it really does oh also

there's a fan that bends which is always

a good thing in bathrooms in small

spaces going back to the dude designed

theme there are two things in here that

are missing two two very important

things in my opinion there's no mirror

even in the bathroom this could be a

full length mirror easy this could be a

mirror this could be a mirror we got it

we got it can't check my fit fit check

I'm just saying the second thing I would

think is a little more important to

every gender and that is a table we

technically have a table it's just in

here and it's made to go outside yeah so

we have outdoor table and chairs which

I'm sure we will put to use I've

actually found myself sitting here like

in the mornings with my coffee my little

breakfast this kind of acts as a table

but for one person but yeah Nate doesn't

really have anywhere to go I know not a

big deal for this week long trip but

just thought I would point it out now

last but not least the bed it's pretty

tall so they've provided some stairs

that surprise each step can open up I

have all of my toiletries in this top

one this drawer we've put all of our

electronics and when it's time to go to

bed we've just been using them to get up

here like this I'd say this is about the

width of a double bed pretty good m

mattress not very tall as you can see if

you're claustrophobic this might be a

problem especially if you're on my side

it gets even lower however the length is

great like I have at least 2 fet down at

the end so if you're tall this is not a

problem at all unless you mess it up my

favorite part though is this window

right here that opens I've woken up 2

days in a row to the Ocean Breeze in my

face conveniently right next to the bed

which I always appreciate we have two

USBS to charge our phone and these run

off of the 12vt battery which means the

inverter doesn't even have to be on for

these to work but all the other plugs

this one this one and this one those all

run off the inverter that pretty much

does it for the inside now let us show

you what is without a doubt our favorite

part of this whole Camp let's see if I

remember how to do this are you ready

for this

yes we have a balcony this adds like

5T at least this changes

everything all right before we drive

down the mountain Cara is going to make

us our last supper Nate I mean lunch you

cannot say that is it going to be that

bad I don't know I genuinely don't know

we don't do stuff like this think we are

not professional off-roaders I trusted

the Unimog and kind of got myself in a

little too deep to turn around last

night for some reason going back down

feels more intimidating than climbing

up

tahini yesterday we stocked up on all of

these beautiful locally grown fruits and

veggies I've made us little um kind of

like tacos I don't know what else to

call it flatbreads maybe and then salads

pretty much all the same things but in a

ball GL you're enjoying that last meal

stop all right you ready for this

no put these on so you can't see the

fear in my eyes let's do this bye goat

bye goat

wow what an adventure this is a pretty

intense start just getting up over these

rocks I'm not even hitting the brake the

gear the gear is just holding us I'd be

burning up The Brak if I was using the

brake all right it's about to get

exciting at least I'm distracted with

these beautiful views this looks like a

roller coaster it just disappears oh my

gosh this is terrifying oh this might be

the most intense part of the whole thing

holy crap all right we got this we got

this woo oh my gosh there's no way you

can appreciate how like this we are

right now mhm wo that's just as exciting

as I thought it was going to

be take your your seat belt off you know

where the door handle is yeah I don't

like it when you say that we're just

crawling down gosh nothing does this

Justice you have no idea how sketchy and

scary this is we go down go

down wow we're so IAL right now oh my

gosh all right we're so close literally

we're so

close Jesus Take the

Wheel we made it it was all worth it my

heart is

pumping that's gross are you having to

pick that up yes that's all used toilet

paper I don't be touching things

Rose what watch out you

see there's a dumpster right at the

bottom of this mountain making it the

world's best campsite thank you all

right let's find some gas let's

go more goats I hope people watching

this video like itats

that's a awesome truck oh thank you so

one interesting thing about Oman and I'm

assuming this is because it's an oil

rich country is that the gas prices are

actually fixed so the sign by the road

where you would normally see the price

it's just a logo and right now the price

is fixed at25 Omani Ral so we put in

almost 66 L and it costs 17 Omani Ral to

basically fill this thing from a quarter

of a tank to

full okay now we are heading to our our

new campsite for the night Google map

says it should take 2 hours which means

it'll probably take 4 but that's okay

get out of the road little guy check out

this

[Music]

Oasis we're driving through our first

Like official mountain town and it's

just amazing we're surrounded by these

gigantic mountains and all the homes are

so ornate and beautiful there's also

something about the white houses

contrasted against the dark mountains

we're just going to be getting more and

more remote from here on out so we just

stopped to get some cash at the ATM and

run a few more errands and I'm so sad

that we're here during Ramadan because I

love stopping to get a coffee on road

trips and there are three coffee shops

in this one strip they're all closed cuz

they're all fasting I don't know I might

not be getting any uh local coffee in

Oman how cool is this

town these houses are

H what is this

place

wow so cool also believe it or not we've

actually been to Oman before it's been

several years but we came here for 5