If you read the title, you know what this is – an admission of some of our biggest misunderstandings and overlooked details about the full-time RV life before we knew what we were actually doing (not sure we know now either). While this list could stretch for miles, let’s start with a manageable “Top 5 Things” that stood out when I sat down to write this.
First off – the space. It’s easy to sum this up by saying that we vastly misunderstood what we could give up while transitioning into this lifestyle. We were so heavily influenced by the van-life and tiny-living craze that we assumed we would make it work. Luckily, we took our time with the process – saving up money, looking at rigs on the weekends, watching vlogs, and reading books. We also invited our parents with us to look at a few rigs.
Mentioning parents – if you are young and have someone older in your life who you trust and cares about you, whether they are a parent or not, bring them with you to see some rigs. You don’t have to take their advice, but likely these people have been around the block more than you and will notice things you might not. These people know you really well and might reel in your expectations of yourself. My parents urged us to see a few Class A rigs when all we wanted was a class B or C. We kept saying we didn’t need all the space, and truthfully were a little afraid to drive a Class A beast like the one we currently own. My parents reminded me of how much I love to cook and that while I could make a smaller rig work, it’s not always just about making it work on the road. It’s about living your best life on the road. My stepdad gave us confidence that we would figure out driving the larger rig just like everything else.
Parental advice aside, I am glad we went with a larger rig for many reasons. Cooking and food storage space are not things to gloss over if you enjoy cooking for yourself. If you have pets – I promise they will enjoy the space and options of places to sunbathe while you work. We have remote online jobs that require us to be computer-bound for most of the regular workweek. And, speaking of work – zoom calls are a common daily occurrence, and with our current set up it is easy to get away from each other enough to avoid disturbing each other’s meetings.
Having said all this, it’s just about finding what space works best for you and your needs – so here are a few helpful tips:
Account for ALL of your hobbies and the realistic space they will require
Tour all kinds of rigs – even ones you don’t think you want.
Get things out of your head and on a page, and have recurring conversations with your travel buddy (if you have one).
So, while we were able to course-correct with our original assumptions about space before purchasing a rig – there is still one regret we have about our current RV – we chose a Class A over a fifth wheel. Once again – find the rig that works for you. However, there are some serious drawbacks to owning a Class A instead of a fifth wheel.
To start, dealing with the maintenance of two engines instead of one has not been a fun endeavor. If we aren’t having issues with our Jeep, we are having issues with the RV, and RV repairs are more costly and time-consuming than regular vehicle repairs. I seriously cannot stress this point enough. RV repairs will cost you SO much more, and even if you are handy, the tools needed for many of the repairs are not likely to be something you have with you on the road.
You can expect to see an RV mechanic multiple times during your travels – that is, if you can find one. That’s right – depending on your rig, you will be doing a lot, and I mean A LOT of calling around before you find a mechanic who is capable of working on your rig. And now that you found a mechanic, don’t hold your breath because he probably won’t be available to pencil you in for a while. And once they do finally see your rig – you can continue not to hold your breath while you wait for your hard-to-track down parts to come in (if they even make them anymore).
Long story short – if I could go back to before we started traveling, I would likely let myself in on this insight and avoid the trouble altogether. Obviously, fifth wheels will require repairs at some point; they just don’t have an engine. Two engines will always equal two times the stress and money. We love our RV all the same, and it has been home to us for almost three years now, but it has cost us a few times in the past, and I don’t think it is done yet.
Talking about the cost of repairs brings me to my next point – we had no idea just how much time and money it would take to renovate our RV. It’s easy to fall into the trap of assuming that renovating a space is a great way to save money, but be careful with that assumption. The cost of tools and supplies can add up, and while some money-saving hacks are great, they don’t always last or handle well under the wear and tear of everyday life.
One hack I’ve constantly rolled my eyes at is using contact paper to redo countertops. While this might look good for a bit, contact paper can gash easily and will eventually peel up or bubble over time. The point here is – if it’s a cheap hack, it might not be built to last. We thought we could tackle so many projects when we purchased our 1999 RV in such a short amount of time, and we over-estimated ourselves. If you’ve ever watched an HGTV show, you understand the empowering feeling you can sometimes get watching who house remodels. However, most of us aren’t Chip and Joanna Gaines and will need to account for a learning curve when tackling projects.
By no means would I ever detour someone from buying an older rig or a van and remodeling it. Remodeling is rewarding, and you will learn a lot about yourself and your new home in the process. I will say – reel in your expectations, reevaluate your budget, ask for help, and plan way more time than you think you will need.
Aside from misconceptions that deal directly with your living quarters, it’s important to discuss something slightly overlooked when getting into this lifestyle – health insurance.
If you are under the age of 65 and won’t be taking your job (and current health insurance) with you on the road, it is time to start reading up on your coverage options, like yesterday. If you have never had to shop for health coverage outside of your job, then this process will have a learning curve at the beginning. Taking the time to understand all of your options and how they fit your budget is a time-consuming endeavor. The whole process of just learning about all of our options took at least a week or two of my time, and about a month into our first selection of a health-share, we decided it wasn’t going to work for us.
You will come across many blogs from full-time travelers promoting a specific provider they decided to go with, but you need to understand a few things before just going with the plan your favorite vlogger has. Vloggers and bloggers are not healthcare advisors, and they might be getting some sponsorship for recommending their preferred provider. These bloggers aren’t you, and finding a plan that takes your specific needs into account isn’t going to come from their advice. For this reason, I won’t recommend a plan to you, but I do have some helpful tips to point you in the right direction.
To start – do some good old-fashioned research. Watch videos and read articles, even the blog posted by full-time vloggers; if nothing else, they will give you some ideas. Talk to a healthcare advisor once you have a baseline understanding of how it all works and what types of options might be in your budget. Healthcare advisors can sort through things with you, and your time with them will be best spent when you have at least some base knowledge of the topic. And, for those of you keeping insurance through work, remember that the plan you need will have to cover you across the nation, not just in one state (many options do not). If you aren’t so lucky to have insurance through a job, and you are considering a health-share, just keep in mind that they have no legal obligation actually to cover you. For that reason alone, many people have not received the coverage they thought they had been paying for every month (Adam and I included).
Alright – with that awful topic out of the way, let’s get back into something a little less stressful and a bit more in your control – booking RV parks. When we first set out on our adventure, we had no idea the cost of staying at an RV park or how far out to make reservations. I always imagined we could decide where we wanted to go and then make a call or two, and boom, we hit the road. No. Not. Even. Close.
Alright, so maybe my assumption was a bit naïve, but I had no frame of reference for this industry and what the supply and demand would look like. Truthfully speaking, it will look very different from state to state and city to city. The best advice I can give is to book out as far as you are willing to plan. Some RV parks will be booked a year in advance, and some you could show up the night of your stay (if you aren’t planning on staying long, that is).
We try to book about 2-3 months in advance when possible, but I will admit we might fall short of that even. This has hindered us in a few locations. Still, we are relatively flexible and willing to stay in neighboring cities to where we want to be (and when I say neighboring, I mean 30 minutes to an hour outside of our intended location). While this is likely not everyone’s preference, it works for us, and I’ll explain why.
We work Monday through Friday at least eight to ten hours a day. So most of the time, we don’t see the city or spots we want until the weekends anyways, so the drive isn’t a huge deal when we are spending the whole day somewhere. The cities outside the more popular areas are less touristy, less expensive, and less populated. If your destination is a major city, depending on the city, the RV parks central to those areas are typically not as nice as the ones that are out of the way. And last but not least – you will find some hidden gems by doing this. Cities and towns you would have never heard of, and friendly locals that will wonder how the heck you found their town and where you came from.
There are some areas you will want to be camped closer to, like Yellowstone or Moab, just because you will want to see all there is while you are there. We plan further out on some bookings, but we don’t on all of them. Find what works for you, and be prepared that you won’t get your first choice very often if you don’t book in advance. As you might expect, this lifestyle requires a lot of flexibility, so embrace it and always be open to learning and finding something new.
