There is nothing quite like an RV vacation experience. It’s both adventure AND boredom on wheels! For adults, it’s a time to slow down and relax. For kids, it’s a giant playground whether or not there really is a playground. We love loading up the RV and heading out for what our preschooler calls “a-venture!”
Here’s 10 Reasons Why You’d Love an RV Vacation Too:
1. Nature
There is a reason why most sound machines have many different options of nature sounds. Streams, rain, birds, a crackling campfire… it’s peaceful. It’s relaxing. It lowers stress. When you’re on an RV vacation, you don’t need the machine- it’s all around you!
This photo of my niece was taken in Western NC near one of our favorite campgrounds. It’s nice to see a teenager without a phone in their hands every once in awhile!
2. Happy Kids
If you have a kid that loves being outdoors, it is like living in a candy store for them. Kids are everywhere! Other campers expect to watch out for them on their bikes and scooters. There are playgrounds and (usually) scheduled activities like crafts and bike parades.
A memory that will FOREVER be close to my heart, is when our son was a toddler and started dancing at a karaoke event… a little girl joined in with him and all eyes took in this sweet moment. Priceless.
3. Campfire
One of the best parts of an RV vacation is the hour or two (sometimes three) before going to bed. It’s a time when everyone pulls a chair around and where some true memories are made. Conversation can go anywhere… it can make you laugh, cry, or both. It’s a rare peaceful time that you don’t get back just to catch up and truly listen to people you care about.
4. Campfire Cooking
In addition to the campfire, let’s talking cooking! Campers bring a grill and get creative. Most RV’s come with a stove and an oven, but typically a lot of the cooking happens outdoors. Food tastes better on an RV vacation!
Our family is big on breakfast! My father-in-law makes sure coffee is brewing. My mother-in-law has eggs and bacon down to an art. My sister-in-law’s sausage and grits beat any I’ve ever had in a restaurant. (I’m given toast duty since it’s well known cooking is not my area of expertise.) Our picnic tables become an outdoor breakfast buffet. It’s delicious!
5. Cost
An RV vacation is cheaper than staying at a hotel. At most campgrounds here in the Southeast, you can stay three nights in a campground for the price of one night in a hotel room. You don’t have the expense of eating out every night. But first let’s talk the biggest expense, the RV itself. Don’t go in debt for an RV, especially if you’ve never tried it before!
Our first “camper” was an $80 tent and a $40 air mattress. We survived and still loved it. Our next camper was a lightweight pop-up that could be pulled behind our small SUV. We found it on Craigslist for about $2500. By this time, we knew RV vacations were a fit for our family so we saved and bought a used RV off of Craigslist for under 10K.
If you’re sure an RV vacation is a fit for your family, then start small and start saving. Over time, a pop-up camper or RV will pay for itself when you skip the hotels!
6. Disconnecting
Most campgrounds have poor wi-fi service, if any at all. While our family all take turns complaining about it and relying on our data plans at times, it’s nice to disconnect for awhile. Mindfulness is a trendy topic for a good reason. How often do we just take in our surroundings and live in the moment? Especially without a cell phone pinging or a t.v. blaring. RV vacations reduce a lot of world-noise for awhile. It pulls you away from busy distractions for awhile. It’s less, which makes it so much more!
7. Friendly People
Campers are some of the friendliest people you will ever meet. It’s common to strike up several conversations with random strangers and quickly develop friendships. There’s always walking, chatting, dogs and kids everywhere. People are polite and the pace is refreshing!
8. Stories- New and Old
Camping trips are known for the unknown. Many of the things talked about around the campfire are things that happened on other camping trips. You just never know what you might see or what might happen!
My youngest niece, in the picture above, finds herself in the middle of just about every camping adventure. Like the time that she took off on her bike without training wheels and we were all there to cheer, the time that she had too much ice cream, the epic bunchem’s hair disaster that still a little too raw to laugh about (but we will) and many more!
I laugh every time Mr. SimpOL tells the story of being in a bathhouse when a toilet start overflowing and a younger guy yelled “Dudes….sorry…. sh*t… sorry!” and all those “dudes” scramble around to get out of the way and assess the situation. Funny sh*t happens on an RV vacation!
9. Organization
Organizing an RV is actually very easy because you have to be intentional and minimal about everything that goes in it. It’s fun to organize an RV! I plan on doing a post of some of our RV organization hacks soon since we are getting ready for our first trip of the season in just a few weeks.
10. Family
If this list was in order of priority, this would hands-down be number one. But I think every reason why you’d love an RV vacation centers around the time spent with your family. I can’t think of a better way to spend time.
When Mr. SimpOL and I were dating, we went to visit his family at a campground. I met his grandmother for the first time. She was in her mid-eighties and had her mind set on trying out a helicopter ride in a nearby town. We drove into town, she took the helicopter ride and said “it was fun but it messed up my hair-do.” Right then I knew my date was going to become my future husband because if he was anything like his spirited grandmother, he had good genes.
What holds you back from choosing an RV vacation?
Maybe you’re reading this and saying I hear you BUT… what about the not-so-great parts of camping…
The bugs?
A bathhouse, really?
Summer heat?
The prep work?
What if it rains?
Tight spaces?
Maybe all you can picture is the one famous scene (1:48 on clip) from the movie RV or vacationing beside the Gornickes!
(Heads-up… one bad word in the movie clip.)
I’d say this.
Yes, there will be some bugs. And some of the most beautiful wildlife you’ve ever seen.
Most bathhouses are kept really clean. It’s a selling point for a campground. In fact, we stayed at a KOA one time and my niece had to come in and check on me because my husband was getting worried. I was slowly putting on my make-up and enjoying being by a heater and watching t.v.- that’s how nice a bathhouse can be!
Summer heat? RV’s and pop-up campers have air conditioning and a lot of campgrounds have swimming pools. If you’re in a tent, you can find some shade by a creek or go for a drive during the hottest parts of the day. I hate to pull the “when was I kid” but, seriously, when I was a kid, our air conditioner was a box fan!
There is some prep work involved to get ready. My trick is that once something becomes torn or old (but still usable) I put it in the RV. This works for towels, sheets, dishes, silverware, etc. Since this keeps our RV full of the things we need, the only prep work becomes mainly food and clothes.
What if it rains? Then you do like my father-in-law and say, to heck with it, and hold an umbrella over your chair and campfire! You just can’t make these things up!
Tight spaces? What’s wrong with being in close living spaces with your family? We’re all so busy moving at the speed of life. What if we just slowed down and took in life a little bit slower? An RV vacation let’s us do just that. It’s awesome.
Try it. You just might fall in love with an RV vacation. I know I have. Happy Camping!