RVing America Month 5: The End of Full Time RVing?

Thanks so much! Its great to be back in Florida this time of year – only wish it would cool off just a little 😉 Are you guys in Florida now?

Hi Karen – thanks so much for following along on our journey! From Colorado and living in Oregon?! Definitely two of the most beautiful states in the US!! We enjoyed our time in both places so much. Not sure what’s next for us but will definitely keep you posted!

Thank you, Frank. It really is crazy expensive! I don’t think we spent this month money anywhere – maybe NZ? Trust me – Europe and Asia have been sounding better and better. If it were up to Charlie, we’d probably be there now 😉

Thank you so much, Mo! Glad you have enjoyed the updates. We appreciate you following along!

Oops sorry for the delay! Just seeing your comment now. That’s such a tough question to answer. It really depends on what you’re looking to do and your lifestyle. Thailand is probably more our jam. Moving to a country where the dollar goes a lot farther, really allows you to improve your quality of life. We like our little luxuries, so although we really enjoyed our time in the RV, it was pretty expensive! You can do it cheaply if you do a lot of boondocking, but that means making sacrifices (water usage, internet, power, etc). Where as in Thailand, you can splurge on things you wouldn’t be able to here (massages every day!!). But to each their own. The nice thing about the RV is having your own transportation and being able to pick up and leave whenever you want. However, thats not necessarily as easy as it sounds and was a lot more work. In our opinion, living in Thailand and walking everywhere or calling a Tuk Tuk is so much easier. Getting your dogs there is definitely possible, though I know its just another obstacle. But we had friends that brought cats over so its definitely possible.

Oops sorry for the delay! That’s such a tough question to answer. It really depends on what you’re looking to do and your lifestyle. Thailand is probably more our jam. Moving to a country where the dollar goes a lot farther, really allows you to improve your quality of life. We like our little luxuries, so although we really enjoyed our time in the RV, it was pretty expensive! You can do it cheaply if you do a lot of boondocking, but that means making sacrifices (water usage, internet, power, etc). Where as in Thailand, you can splurge on things you wouldn’t be able to here (massages every day!!). But to each their own. The nice thing about the RV is having your own transportation and being able to pick up and leave whenever you want. However, thats not necessarily as easy as it sounds and was a lot more work. In our opinion, living in Thailand and walking everywhere or calling a Tuk Tuk is so much easier. We’ve had some experience with the hospitals in Thailand and all were very positive. The cost for what you get is pretty incredible compared to the US. I had an MRI done there for less than what I paid for one in the US with insurance. I also got my prescriptions meds (migraines) there over the counter for a fraction of the price than I do in the US. Hope this helps!

Its a Ram 2500 Cummins Turbo Diesel. We started with a Nissan Titan and right away knew that wasn’t going to cut it. Charlie’s always been a Chevy guy, but we talked to a lot of people and everyone said if you’re pulling something, go with the Dodge. After hearing this over and over again and doing lots of research, it was an easy choice!

Hey Nathan! Thanks so much for the comment and following along on our travels! If I had to pick the top 3 hardest things, I would say:

1.) Finding places to stay in the places we wanted to be. We loved staying at State Parks the most but they often required booking months in advance (except maybe for week days). And of course we wanted to visit all of the popular National Parks but it was difficult to find places to stay near them. We always managed to find something, but usually would have to be during the week and then we had to be out by the weekend which limited our time there.
2.) Travel days! I dreaded travel days mostly because it was always a new route for us, new roads, etc. I always tried to research the route and roads as much as I could to make sure there were no low clearance areas, check for gas stations we could get in and out easily, etc. We got ourselves into a few situations with gas stations and roads that had me getting out in the middle of the road directing traffic for Charlie – never a fun situation to be in! -_- So, needless to say, I was always anxious on travel days.
3.) Just the daily struggle of work/life balance. As I mentioned, we are still working full-time so staying connected was important. However, we much prefer being in nature camping like the State Parks or off the grid. But most of the time, the State Parks and off-grid meant no cell service. So we ended up at more RV parks than we wanted to be in just for cell service and convenience of trying to work. At that point we were thinking, we might as well be in an Airbnb or hotel (for the same price). Also, when we did find places to stay near the National Parks and stuff, we were usually limited on time there (as I mentioned above) so we wanted to spend our entire time exploring and not working. This made it really difficult to keep up with work!

All this being said, our issues mostly stemmed from just not planning in advance. You mentioned you don’t want to be moving around as much as us so I would just tell you to plan and book ahead! Book your sites ahead of time for weeks, months, etc and you can avoid so many of the issues and stress we encountered. If we were to do it again, we would definitely book in advance. We were just so against that in the beginning because we like to just go with the flow. If we are over something, we want to be able to move on. If we like somewhere, we want to be able to stay longer instead of having to leave to make it to our next reservation. We thought that would be possible with RVing, but quickly learned that wasn’t the case! Especially in the summer! It just puts a lot more stress on the trip constantly trying to figure out your next move. Hope this helps! And I hope not to deter anyone from RVing. I just want to give everyone the full picture based on our experiences! Safe travels!!