Mi gente, we spent an entire month on the road traveling around the US in an RV as a family. A whole friggin’ MONTH on a road trip… in a 30 ft. RV… CON NIÑOS! That’s 8000 miles and 11 states. Y dejame decirte, I learned some things. Demasiados “things”! The lifehacks I learned ABOUND, y’all! Now that I’m on el otro lado, I feel like it would be criminal not to share my new found knowledge with you guys. Basicamente, I’ve done all the recon for you already! I’ve gone thru the “oopsy-daisies” and the “uh-ohs” so you don’t have to. I got you fam!
Admitedly, I can’t sit here and give tips sobre el truck that you should pull with or how to set up the hitch. No te puedo decir nada about the best way to hook up the grey tank, or how to back into a tight spot with a 30 ft. trailer. The technical RV stuff was all en las manos de mi marido. Thanks Aaron! He was and is much more experienced in that area, but the “living” bit- that’s ALL me, folks!!
I definitely have something to say about that.
El unico long term road trip that we’ve ever taken was when we drove around the UK for 9 days. And while that was quite the learning experience, we never actually slept on the road. So this trip was entirely new for us. RV living es MUY differente, especialmente when you triple the time away. There are big things to keep in mind, little things worth remembering, and lots of things to plan for ahead of time.
Ah, let’s just get on with it, shall we?
Here are my tried and true tips for anyone attempting a road trip aventura con la familia! Vamonos!
“Money can’t buy happiness. But it can buy a camper, which is kind of the same thing.”
-Anonymous
What You Absolutely Need on the Road:
1. A kick ass, fully-loaded RV- (obvi:)
First things first: get a great RV.
Our travel trailer- AVI (short for Aventura)- is amazing. The brand is Grand Designs and we went with the “Transcend Explor” line. Don’t scrimp here, friends. Comprate a great camper that really meets tus necesidades; make the investment. It’s worth it to have a traveling casita that is comfortable and in great shape. Lo ultimo que quieres is to be stopping to fix things along the way. No way! Get all the gadgets you need, splurge for the backups, and invest in items that will benefit you long term like solar panels, a 12v fridge, and a generator.
Yo se porque lo digo. You get what you put into it.
Also, don’t be afraid to customize the outside of your camper. Our Avi was pimped out with hand-picked personalizations. We got her a cute tire cover from Amazon que dice “Adventure Awaits“, y tambien un sticker map of the US that was super fun to fill out as we traveled. Errbody on the road got a taste of our style as we rolled down the highway. You know I loved that!! 🙂
- If you’re gunna have a “home on wheels”, make sure its in tip-top shape and totally matches your vibe.
2. Bring whatever you need to feel at “home”. Periodt!
I can’t fully relax until the space I’m in feels “homey”. No tiene que tener all my “things” but it needs to have the “things” that make me feel most comfy. Otherwise me siento like I’m in a hotel room. Nope. For our month away I brought unas cositas that really made Avi feel like our little rolling home.
For me, it was a few plants, some blankets and pillows, my blue tooth speaker for music, fotos de nuestra familia, art work, pops of color, and a beautiful rug from Ruggable. That worked para mi. For Aaron, it was practical stuff, like our exercise bike and his favorite coffee maker. Para los niños, it was their sleepy friends (all 6 of them), their Legos, and their own artwork for the space above their beds.
The “things” differ for everybody, but they are important. Escuchame bien, my friend, before taking any RV trip, I’d sit down con una lista of “things” that I might need to take an empty shell and make it cozy. Personalize it and check it twice. You’ll thank me later, for sure!
- What are your “things”?
3. Bring practical shit that you use daily but overlook
Pro tip: don’t forget the items que usas on the daily. That shit is important! ESP if you are gunna be on the road for longer than a week. Yo hablo de the tools that you use every day but maybe don’t put much thought into.
Por ejemplo, mirrors. RVs are notorious for having crappy, tiny ass mirrors that you can’t really use to get ready. But who thinks of mirrors when they are packing? Nadie. That’s a mistake. Trust. One order of stick on mirror squares, changed mi viaje entero. I was able to get ready with ease and give myself much needed self care makeup moments. :)Think of how rough I would’ve looked if I had to use the sliver of mirror in the 3 inches beside my bed? Ha!
Also…
Otras cosas que you might not think to bring but totally should: mattress toppers, nightlights, a bedside lamp, a noise maker, a diffuser to cover musty smells, a wall clock, extra pillows, a shower mat, a laundry bag, plastic wine glasses, books, and movies. You don’t realize how often you reach for these things, fam.
Don’t go without them, it’ll will be the difference between surviving a trip and enjoying a trip.
4. RV family essentials: a list….
Making lists – it’s not for todo el mundo. I get that. *BUT* tienes que admitir, lists come in handy when you are packing up an RV for a family for 4, for a whole month. Mine was chock full of things I didn’t wanna forget, things essential for our survival. Now, after seeing mine, es posible que pienses, “Damn, she overpacked!”. Maybe, you’re right, but we didn’t need for ANYTHING on our entire trip! Not one thing! #winning
Here is a short list of some of the random RV odds and ends that you don’t wanna olvidar when packing for a trip across the country.
Packing List:
- dehumidifier
- fan
- Instapot , airfryer, toaster, and a basket of kitchen utensils
- table trays ( if you don’t have a bench)
- extra blankets ( it gets cold)
- oil diffuser ( both for light and pleasant aromas)
- dvd player and movies (for when you don’t have Wi-Fi)
- command hooks (get so many, you use them for everything!)
- door mat (so much dirt in the desert!)
- first aid kit (used this quite a few times)- meds too!
- camping chairs, grill, and outdoor mat
- cordless vacuum ( you use it daily)
- water filter and reusable water bottles
- small baskets and collapsible bags for trash/accessories
- mesh bags for different sets of toys
- board games and playing card
If you enjoy watching these tips instead of reading them, Please check out my latest Youtube video about this subject. Please like and subscribe, if you enjoy the content! 🙂
“Camping: The only “vacation” where you work harder preparing meals and caring for your living space, than you do in your own house.”
– Anonymous
How to Survive:
1. Make mornings intentional and relaxed, even if they have to be quick
Las mañanas in an RV are magic. IF privacy permits it, you can leave your curtains abiertas and awaken to morning light flooding over the most gorgeous natural landscapes. Oftentimes, with kids, mornings be crazy AF. Everybody rushing a comer, to get ready, and to pack the car for a big day of driving ahead. Es MUCHO but it doesn’t have to be. I encourage you to give yourself the extra morning hours to wake up right.
Before you jump into the grind, relajate. Meditate, work out, sip tu tazito de café in quiet peace. Maybe cook up breakfast to the soothing sounds of a chill playlist or just go outside and stare at el cielo as it brings forth a new day. It sounds idealistic and unrealistic pero…
Sunrise is worth waking up for.
And besides, enjoying that bit of slow before the FAST pace of sight-seeing comes is vital para tu salud mental.
Peaceful mornings beget peaceful attitudes which beget peaceful drives. Fact!
2. Relax. Stop and relax for a bit. Everyday.
Life on the road can be grueling. Its hard on tu cuerpo to be in a car for hours at a time. It’s hard on tu mente to be overwhelmed with new experiences and new places every day, all day. Lastly, Its hard on tu energía to be in a confined space with kids without a break.
The remedy for all that “hard”: find time to relax.
Understandably, relaxation looks different for different people. Para mi, it meant going out for a short walk around our campsite once we settled in, kicking up my hiking boots, and listening to music. I tried to do that at least once a day. I found that el movimiento was good for my tight muscles, el reposo was good for my overly stimulated energy, y la musica was good for my frazzled mind. It was my perfect formula. It doesn’t have to be yours, though.
- What calms you after a chaotic day? Do that! What restores your cool after being surrounded with chatty children for a full day straight, add THAT to you daily routine. Haz lo. Be diligent about incorporating that into your schedule. Your health depends on it, lovies.
3. Stick to your normal routines and family schedules
Mira, kids need routines. Adults do too! Esp when school and work is involved. I’d highly encourage you not to toss them by the wayside cuando buscas aventura. It IS possible to have fun and get shit done. Those things aren’t mutually exclusive.
Personally, one of the best things I learned was to maintain a normal sleep schedule. That meant alarms for almanecer y dormir (this was esp. vital for the kids). Parents know, staying up too late can ruin the following day and can eliminate any chance for adult alone time. Get those kids en la cama at a decent hour every single night! You will thank me for it.
Another thing, set aside a regular time for “work”.
While we were traveling, the kids tenian virtual classes and El Marido (as a business owner) had a load of work to catch up on diariamente. Skipping out wasn’t an option. Todos, with our noise-canceling headphones on, spent a few hours of driving time a day to get our individual responsibilities handled. When signal wasn’t accessible, or time ran out, we did it once we were settled at a campground.
Obligations don’t go away just because you are traveling. Neither do well-established sleep schedules. Keep those up. Yo he aprendido que routines actually help keep the family grounded and thriving… and they make it possible to sustain the travel for a longer period of time.
4. Make time to connect with your bunk mates. Hug, talk, kiss, cuddle… etc.
Sounds redundant for me to suggest making time with loved ones, whilst you are traveling non-stop with loved ones. Yo lo se, but hear me out. No lo es. Sometimes the ” go, go, go” of traveling can make you singularly focused on the plan, the itinerary, the details of what you are doing. It’s bien facil to overlook the humans around you when travel takes over.
I learned the importance of just making the concentrated effort to check in once a day with cada miembro de la familia. Holding a hand for a few minutes always made my kids smile. Stopping to give my husband a hug while we were on a hike… felt like stress medicine (para el y para mi).
Don’t get so busy traveling que te olvides what the purpose is… and that’s to connect.
So connect.
Big gestures aren’t necessary. Little things can do the trick. A smile. Some car games. A cuddle before bed. They go a long way.
- Pro tip: Take some of the daily burdens off your plate ahead of time to ensure quality time with the fam is possible. Pre-make meals, select clothes the night before, do work while you’re on the road so that your free time is free time- and intentional time.
“May your adventures bring you closer together even as they take your farther from home.”
-Trenton Lee Stewart
The Best Parts of Being on the Road:
1. The incredible vistas… from the comfort of “home”
Anyone who knows me, knows que estoy obsesionada with a good view! Beautiful vistas are kind of my thing. I’ve even blogged about them before. Views are what you travel for, no es verdad? Now imagine seeing outstanding new places from the comfort your own kitchen… every single day! Yuh, it’s cool.
Having your safe space, your home, with you while still waking up en un nuevo lugar… that shit is fire! In my opinion, it’s what makes RVing so damn cool, and its why so many people are doing it right now. Last year, RV sales went up by 4.5% (that’s almost 500,000 units sold), and it’s not hard to see why.
Wanderlust + home in one package!
Menial tasks become fun when you are doing them enfrente de un gorgeous scene. Fun tasks, like sipping wine con tu amor, become downright sensational. The views never get old; they never get boring. Cuz if they ever do… siempre puedes ir to a new and better place.
I’m not gunna lie to you, I’m a little pissed that now that I have to cook dinner with the same view night after night. Ha! Might have to plan another trip soon!:)
- What mundane activity would be better with a view?
2. Opportunities to hike and really interact with the great outdoors
La ultima ves que I was out west, I hit the Valley Of Fire in Nevada. It was my first time hiking, and me enamoré with exploring the wide open spaces of the desert. I loved that you could see for miles, that the views were estupendos, and that the likelihood of a huge animal creeping up on you was minimal. 🙂 Avi provided us la opportunidad to see every bit of the wide open spaces that aren’t normally available to us, and fue increíble!
Let’s face it, most of us fly into a destination and only ever explore las areas que son within an hour of that city. A camper, without a doubt, makes it possible to witness the untouched places that most people rarely see. Y no solo eso, but to explore them too!
Now, lemme be clear…
We are NOT a hiking family. Just wanna say that upfront. I am afraid of heights y animales salvajes. Juli has a bad toe that hurts after lots of walking. Once things get too strenuous, Noah’s done. And Aaron, pues a Aaron le gusta los hikes but he’s stuck with the rest of us:) We are who we are, BUT, we hiked everyday for 4 straight weeks and that’s saying something.
We made the most of adventure! Tu puedes hacer lo mismo!
Explore wild places and leave no trace, my friends.
3. The memories you are able to make
My favorite travel buddies, my forever crew.
My biggest joys and my biggest pains in the ass. 🙂
Como los amo! What fabulous memories we made on this adventure!
This is my journal entry for April 4, 2021: “The family went “bouldering” at Sand Harbor beach, Lake Tahoe today. We climbed all the huge rocks at the edge of the pristine water. Doing it as a team of 8 was pretty damn cool. Doing it while the sun was setting and a man was playing an acoustic guitar in the background- fucking MAGICAL! Our day ended with a hike that involved the kids pushing a huge log into the lake and the dads competing about who could skip more rocks on the water’s surface! I don’t believe in perfect days. Each day typically has its ups and downs…. but this day was REALLY damn close for me.”
You can have memorias asi tambien! What I mean is, that deciding to create the story you want for you and your family is all it takes. Make those memories happen! Whether in an RV in the middle of no where, or from the comfort of your home. Vale la pena.
- What is your family thing to do with you family when you travel?
4. Marking places off your “wish list”
Monument Valley. Sunsets over the Grand Canyon. Watching the bats fly from South Congress Bridge in Austin. In-N-Out Burgers on the west coast. Old Ghost towns from the days of the gold rush. We all have our bucket list of places to see and things to do.
I believe that traveling at your own pace and off the beaten path te da la opportunidad PERFECTA to finally knock all those items off your wish list. There’s nothing holding you back. Detours are the whole damn point of RVing, fam!
Muchos de mis momentos favoritos on the road involved driving up to a place I’d always yearned to see and finally feasting my eyes on it in real life!
My only pro tip: research fun actividades and buenos lugares para comer in each city BEFORE you start driving because the likelihood of you having great signal in the boonies is low. It helps significantly if you already have your “wish list” options jotted down, planned and scheduled… that way you don’t miss out!
- What spots are on your road trip “bucket list”?
“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery. Air, mountains, tree, people. I thought: this is what it is to be happy.”
— Sylvia Plath
What I’ll Keep in Mind For Next Time:
1. Research beforehand. Know exactly what to expect. I didn’t.
RV parks are not about privacy, they are about location and amenities. Boondocking is not about amenities, it’s about peace, nature, and privacy. Know la diferencia. I didn’t understand until too late into our journey. La proxima ves, I will be meticulous about selecting where we stay and how we enjoy different locations.
Another thing, tienes que planear your fun pit-stops BEFOREHAND. Stopping on a whim is just not an option in a big RV. You can’t just hop off la carretera to see that cool thing… you gotta know it’s coming and prepare. Not only that, but there typically isn’t a safe lugar para parar on the side of the road. We missed the Salt Flats in Utah because of this. Too hard to stop, too hard to turn around… had to keep trucking. Que pena!
Oh yeah,
Don’t trust Google maps to send you down la routas ideales; do recon on the roads you’ll be riding on before you go. It’s worth noting que not all roads are great for RVs. Some are windier than expected, otros son “one lane”. And still others are lacking guard rails- something we figured the hard way on the mountain roads of western Colorado.
Best tool for planning an RV trip: The Dyrt app. It was a total lifesaver para nuestra familia as it provided us with a place to upload our own personalized travel itinerary maps complete with our booked RV resorts and scheduled pit-stops. El App tambien tiene BLM and US Forest Service maps for you to use offline so that you can find fantastic FREE spots to do dispersed camping in. Seriously, love this app!
- What Apps do you use most while traveling?
2. I will devote more energy into creating “me time” moments.
Taking time for yourself isn’t selfish. Say it with me. Y otra ves. Rinse and repeat.
It’s not selfish to walk away or to carve out time to be away from everyone else. EVEN ON VACATION.
The key es balancia. Balance that I didn’t perfect on our month long road trip. Estaba TAN enfocada en trying to keep us connected and trying to keep our schedules, that I wore myself out. Ultimately, everyone got quiet moments except me. Disafortunadamente, I spent mine prepping meals, cleaning up, or making reservations.
Next time will be different.
Next time, I’ll know better. I will lean in to self care more often en el proximo viaje… even if it means leaving tasks undone. It’s something I have to work on.
Pro tip: Los raros momentos of prolonged me-time that I did have were only made possible by the use of headphones! My noise canceling earbuds helped me “escapar” for a few blissful moments, even when I was surrounded. Sometimes just closing your eyes and putting on some music can make you feel like you are having some alone time. Amiright? Soo necessary when you can’t actually be alone. I’ll do more of that next time!
- Do you have a hard time making room for “ME TIME”?
3. No more than 5 hours on the road a day, and a 2 night minimum at each stop.
If you don’t listen to any other piece of advice in this whole blog post, listen to this one: TAKE YOUR TIME! Pon atencíon, mi gente! This could make or break your entire trip. Going too hard, trying to see too much, traveling to too many locations… it can wreck you. It wrecked us. Consequently, a full on panic attack and a complete overhaul of our trip itinerary was what it took to correct el TREMENDO error en judgement that made us overextend ourselves on the road.
You don’t want that. I don’t want that for you.
Take your time.
Asegurate que your drive time is under 5 hours a day. That will ensure you (as a family) don’t get over-tired, grumpy, y que tengas enough energia to explore your final destination. Also, try (si puedes) to stay in each campsite at least 2 nights. This gives you, por lo menos, one slow morning to just enjoy relaxing. If this sounds hard to do, it might mean that you need to tweak your schedule or limit the amount of places you see this time around.
Trust me on this one. Haz lo despacito. Don’t rush. Conserve your energy and your good vibes. We learned the hard way how important this tip is. Afortunadamente, we learned the lesson early on and salvaged the second half of our journey.:)
- Do you tend to overdo it or not do enough?
4. Leave space for spontaneity and unplanned adventures.
Ok, so yo se que dije earlier that having a plan was super important (it is), pero you still gotta leave room for unplanned adventures. That goes in line with not overbooking your time. Spontaneity is one of the benefits of RV camping. YOU are at the wheel and tienes la authoridad to change routes/plans on a whim. And that’s a good thing!
Being open-minded enough to change course will help ensure everyone’s felicidad. Sometimes, it means listening to the desires of the crew. If they don’t wanna hike ese dia, change plans and drive to a city for some urban exploration. If it rains, go with the flow enough to be open to driving past tu destinación and move on to sunnier spots. Or maybe just stay longer to let the weather pass.
Things don’t always go according to plan y that’s ok.
Ultimately, nos dimos cuenta of how much more fun we had when we only had a rough draft or a blueprint for each day instead of a hard plan. We liked knowing what city we would be driving to and where we were gunna stay, but leaving everything else open for discussion fue nuestra salvación.
Can’t even tell you how much that changed our contentment levels! I would highly suggest staying “open”.
“Time spent camping isn’t spent, its invested.”
-Author Unknown
Espero que you enjoyed these RV tips for families who are new to that camping life. We certainly aren’t pros, pero we have learned a good bit from our month long aventura! So much, and yet, we still have loads yet to learn!:) The important thing is we created some of the best memories of our lives, and that’s exactly lo que quiero para TI!
Let me know what you thought of these tips and if you incorporate any of them into your future family vacays! It would totally rock my world to know that I helped to make your trips a little easier or more enjoyable. At the end of the day, that is exactly why I do this blogging thing anyway! I wish you all the best as you begin your newest journey!
Los quiero,
Joana
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