Obsidian The Luxury Van

All around the experience of the van and the owners was hands down incredible. The van was like a high end hotel on wheels with the owners having thought of everything. It was the perfect covid getaway and recharge. I highly recommend this van and owners to all!

We had a great time taking this van to Palm Desert. Alyssa’s customization of the van was very contemporary and fashionable. Our long time RV friends were very impressed with the design.

Had the best SoCal road trip in the Obsidian...Bright with plenty of storage this little tiny home was the perfect home base to return to after days of exploring!

This van was dope! The owner was a great host and was super responsive to our questions and when coordinating pick up and drop off of the van. We booked this last minute for a weekend trip to Joshua Tree and it turns out we just got lucky because a cancellation had just made it available. The van was equipped with more than we could ever think of for a trip to the desert. It has a heater which came in clutch for those cold desert nights, a beautiful tiled shower with hot water, a two burner stove top, filtered drinking water and tons of storage. The owners provided linens, towels, kitchen and cookware and a french press that made our mornings that much better! The table was super easy to convert to a bed each night and back again in the morning. My only regret is not getting any cute pictures of the inside of the van before we returned it. Would recommend this van and definitely plan to rent it again sometime! :)

This is going to be a comprehensive review! We were the second renters of this van and it was AMAZING. We were a bit apprehensive bc it looked too good to be true and didn’t have reviews (turns out its just brand-spanking new to the rental world). My partner and I were looking for a way to salvage a previously planned Cali Trip from Covid and the wildfires and this van made that happen in a safe and super fun way! Quick summary the van was comfortable, cute, fancy, and rugged. We hiked, went to the beach, explored cool soCal towns, and had a great time. The owner was invested we have a great trip and it showed in the details and her responsiveness. I could not recommend this rental enough. More details below:

The owner was the best and walked us through everything before out trip so we felt confident on all of the appliances beforehand. She also gave us a ton of great suggestions about things to do around the are. She was responsive whenever we had questions and was really invested in us having a wonderful time.

The driving: driving this van was waaay easier than we thought. We both have experience driving in big cities and I rocked a mini van for a while we felt comfortable. But it is a lager vehicle. It handled turns like a dream and the backup camera made parking a sitch! Its 22 feet so fits in most state campsite restrictions . We drove it on an odyssey from San Diego, to Sequoia, and then Down the PCH back to San Diego and it drove like a dream. It got pretty good mileage for a vehicle its size and weight. *I would caution that I would only drive this baby in mountainous and hilly terrain if you have experience driving in the mountains bc those switchbacks were no joke.*

The bed was super comfy and easy to bring down. The owner has a mattress pad they wipe down after each rental. My partner and I are 5’4” and 5’7” respectively and we slept really comfortablly. She also had towels, cleaning supplies, and some spices coffee and tea for us. The towels were wrapped in an adorable ribbon, which made van camping seem quite fancy. Nice touch.

There was a closet with plenty of storage for our two carry ons and camping bags. There was a closet with a hanger which really delighted me bc I love organization. There was a clothes organizer and a couple of shelves with baskets... perfect for 2 people.

The amenities: The van comes with an induction stove so we made French pressed coffee, tea, and eggs each morning which was a delight. We also got bougie and had pasta after hiking. It has mini fridge with tiny freezer. We bought ice at the beginning of the trip as a precaution in case the fridge didn’t stay cold… and it stayed frozen! It has AC and heat (should you need it) and filtered water for drinking. It also had a shower with a water heater so the water was warm! The toilet is a compost toilet (we opted for gas stations and campground bathrooms just for the sake of convenience regarding #2). We did use the toilet to go um….#1… which filters into a jug you can empty pretty easily. It requires you to get comfortable with your body, but after all… you’re in a small home so you’ll be getting cozy anyway.

The van has solar panels so we liked the eco part of that. We surprisingly didn’t use too much power, about 10% daily on average with cooking, washing the dishes, lights and temporarily running the fan. With the van in the sun each day it regained about 8% on average from solar. Its something to be cognizant of if you’re in shaded areas and using a ton of power, but we had the van for days and didn’t need to charge it manually (though that is an option should we need it). Also, different components use different aspects of power. Some is solar, some gas, and some battery. The owner told us which energy facets came from where… but we forgot and never had an issue with all of the systems.

We had a last minute hiccup at the end when one of the mugs crashed into the stove right at the end of our trip. It shattered the beautiful stove. It came out of our deposit per the outdoorsy policies. But the owner could not have been more chill and transparent about it, which really assuaged our worries about it. We were mostly upset that we had wrecked something in this van that really felt like a home away from home.

This van was the perfect for our Cali getaway and we will be recommending it to all of our friends. Seriously, this is the van you seek.

This was such a cute stay! Alyssa thought of everything we could possibly need and it was a great weekend getaway.