When we first decided to give the RVing lifestyle a try, I knew there was a lot I didn’t know. Because of this, I did a lot of research before diving in, and I knew enough not to make any huge mistakes. Still, there were some things I wish I had known then, as knowing these things from the start would have made life a whole lot easier that first year on the road.
Here are the top 5 things I wish I had known.
Take It Slow
When we first hit the road, we traveled fast. I wanted to see everything all at once and could never wait to hop from one place to the next. The problem? This meant we never got to fully enjoy any one destination. It also meant that, as full timers, we were constantly exhausted and got burned out really quickly.
Once we slowed our pace, our travels became much more enjoyable. We were able to completely immerse ourselves in each place and really get to know every destination we visited. We also spent less on fuel each month, and found ourselves feeling much more relaxed and able to tackle day-to-day tasks like school, work, and chores.
I feel like this piece of advice applies even if you aren’t traveling full time. Rather than trying to see and do everything whenever you visit a place in your RV, pace yourself instead, choosing a couple of attractions and allowing yourself to fill the rest of your time with wandering, exploring, and fully enjoying the place.
Things Will Break (But You Can Fix Them)
The thing about RVs is this: things break. We learned this fact very quickly during the first few months of our full-timing adventures. Our refrigerator stopped working right after we hit the road, we had a light fixture go out shortly after that, and leaks kept cropping up left and right. Fortunately, I learned early on that I could repair the vast majority of issues that came up with our rig.
By using YouTube videos, I have fixed everything from a broken toilet to a leaky vent fan, and I am not even a particularly handy person. I wish I would’ve realized how very repairable RVs really are from the get-go because it would’ve saved me a lot of strife when things started going wrong right off the bat.
Note: Maintenance also helps avoid issues and is super doable on your own.
Community is Key
We traveled for a full two years without any RV friends whatsoever. We did see friends and family whenever we returned to Oklahoma, but other than that, it was just our little tribe of three against the world. This was fine for the first few months because we were moving quickly and having the time of our lives exploring new places. However, it got old pretty quickly, and after a while I was in desperate need of friends.
Fortunately, we stumbled upon the Fulltime Families community and attended our first RV rally in southern California (in the town of Menifee, to be exact). This one event changed everything about how we traveled. Suddenly, we had a community to turn to when things didn’t go right, along with new friends to plan our travels with. We quickly went from “traveling to see attractions” to “traveling to see new places with friends”!
If we had not found this RV community, I don’t know how much longer we would have lasted on the road. If you’re traveling full time, find your people. Even if you’re not a full-timer, finding fellow RV friends to hang with can make your travels more fun.
There are Ways to Save
I’ve always been a very budget-minded individual. As such, I went into RVing looking for ways to save money. That said, I didn’t really know what exactly I was looking for, and this meant we definitely spent more money than we needed to in the first several months of our RV life.
If you’re hitting the road full time, know that there are a lot of amazing ways to save money on the road. The Thousand Trails campground chain has saved us thousands upon thousands of dollars in campsite fees by allowing us to stay at any member campground free of charge. Meanwhile, we save hundreds of dollars each year on attractions by investing in reciprocal memberships such as ASTC and NARM and planning our travels around the included attractions.
Whenever we’re staying in areas without Thousand Trails campgrounds, we often choose to boondock for free rather than pay campground fees. We’ll also seek out free fun such as hiking and library events, as well as save on food by avoiding eating out.
Go with the Flow
Finally—and most importantly—I wish I would have known how incredibly important it is to just let go and go with the flow. You see, I’m a planner by nature. I like to know exactly what to expect at any given time, and even to this day I will plan a trip down to the minute. The thing is, RVing never, ever goes as planned, something that used to drive my type A personality crazy.
The good news? I have learned to relax and let things play out. I do still plan things, but my plans are always loose and I am well aware that at least some aspects of those plans will change. I also make a “plan B” and a “plan C” in case my first plan doesn’t work out. This helps me feel like I have some control over the situation when things happen to go wrong.
Once I learned to go with the flow, I was better able to fully enjoy the ride without so much stress.
And there you have it, 5 things I wish I knew when we first got our RV! To sum up, you just need to slow down, learn how to repair things that break, find a traveling community, save money smartly, and go with the flow.
Hopefully these tips will help you get the most out of your own RVing adventures!
