The Ease of RV Vacations

In this Baby-Boomer traveling video by Seasoned Traveler you can find out about how easy and cost effective it can be to take a holiday in an RV.

George: Those who love the RV life say vacation’s in the truck or the trailer are better and easier than say flying hundreds of miles from home, renting a car, paying for a decent hotel and eating out three times a day, not to mention the cost of side trips. Using an RV means packing and unpacking only once. Eating what you want when you want it and avoiding fast food places or high priced restaurants. A study by an independent analyst group called PKF Consulting concluded a trip in a motorhome generally costs 70% less than more traditional vacations even with the inflated cost of fuel. But others are not so sure. They say it costs much more to enjoy the RV life so you try it and determine which is better and more affordable for you. For babyboomers, it’s a new and different experience as some RV folks say, when you buy the bus, you’re buying a lifestyle with it. As with everything, there are pros and cons to owning a recreation vehicle. On the plus side, you can leave home when you want, go where you want to places where trains and planes often don’t go. No schedules to worry about. No long lines at airports. No luggage restrictions. All that you need is at your fingertips and there are great views from all those big windows. You can tow another vehicle to use while the RV is parked at the campsite. The vehicle behind is called a towed. You have a wide selection of campsites with a variety of amenities. RV sites may be in places where there aren’t hotels or you can drive into the wilderness on your own. While you can often be on your own, campsites often get crowded especially in the summer. You can take pets along without paying a hotel surcharge and there’s a real bond between you and other RV-ers. Female: They’re very friendly, very helpful and yet they stay with themselves at times. I just thought they were a wonderful group of people. George: Here’s my favorite part. You sleep in your own bed on your own sheets and pillows. You use your own towels and your own dishes. And now the downside, you can often feel cramped and confined. Most people who love RVs started small, found them too tight and had to buy up to something more expensive. The ride can be very bumpy on some roads especially for those not sitting in the front seat. Dishes and other items aboard can clatter loudly or move about. RV trips can be more expensive when fuel prices are high and the distances are long. Popular campsites book up fast and it may be hard to find the location you really want. Crowded campsites can be noisy especially when there are lots of children and lots of animals around. It’s an integral part of the RV experience but it can be a very unpleasant one. It’s draining the tanks. Here’s something to be aware of especially if you rent an RV. The last time I rented an RV, this hose was full of holes so when I let the black water out, all of the sewage came flowing through the holes which made an unpleasant job even worse and then there’s the nightmare of the flat tire. When my family and I rented one of these babies a few years ago, we had a flat tire in rural Nebraska. Fortunately, we were in the town of Ogallala and we weren’t out on some deserted country road. The rental company responded very quickly but it still took three hours to locate a local contractor to come and change this tire. There’s no way you can change it and so you just have to sit and wait. While many RV-ers disagree, some say that because these boats are so expensive, you have to use them frequently to justify your investment. That may prevent you from taking other trips say to Europe or Asia or that ocean cruise you may want to experience. If you decide to buy, you can get competitive interest rates on your loan. Most folks finance for about 10 years. If the RV is your first or second home, mortgage interest may be deductible from your taxes. Ask about this before you buy and ask your insurance agent for appropriate coverage for the vehicle. RV dealers tell me that your motor home will depreciate by 20% the moment you drive it off the dealer’s lot but these are easy to resell given all those babyboomers trying to jump on the RV bandwagon. Do your homework before you buy. Consult the NADA consumer recreational vehicle appraisal guide for prices or check the Kelly Blue Book on Motor Homes and Travel Trailers. You can buy an RV online but most folks don’t do it. They go to a dealer to negotiate the best price possible. And remember all those options. Don’t let anyone talk you into extras you really don’t want. Once you make the purchase, understand that repairs may take longer and are likely to be more costly than for cars or pickups and make sure you have a good roadside assistance plan for trouble on the highway. You might want to consider joining an RV park group. What you do is you pay a fee and it lets you reserve spaces in the group’s campsites so that you won’t get caught short and speaking of campsites, the number is actually falling. Of the four RV parks I stayed at on this trip, two are closing down for reasons that may surprise you. Male: RV parks, the only reason they really close is because the land is more valuable as another business like a shopping center or residential housing or whatever it may be. But there are probably less and less RV parks today than there were maybe 10 or 15 years ago but what you’re finding is new mega parks opening up. Big mega parks, 500 sites, 1000 sites to accommodate the people that like to travel and go stay in a place for maybe a month or two. George: For millions of people, the RV life is synonymous with the good life. They love it even though they have some complaints. Time now for some bests and worsts. First some of the best thing about owning a recreation vehicle. Male: You’re almost like being at home, you’ve got everything in there. Male: Freedom and it’s yours, it’s clean. It’s a lot better than a cruise ship because I know who slept in this bed last night. Who was in the bathroom last. George: And now a couple of bad things. Female: The price of fuel right now. Male: It’s small at times, you get bad weather and a couple of days, 28 foot gets down to about 10 or 12 feet it seems like. I feel cramped sometimes but as long as you get outside on days like this, it’s great. George: I hope this information has been helpful for you in deciding whether an RV is right for you. Before I go from Florida, listen to this from comedian Jerry Seinfeld, he once said, my parents never wanted to move to Florida but they turned 60 and that’s the law. I’m George Bauer. Thanks for joining me on the road this week on the Season Traveler. Travel well and travel safely.