RV ownership has seen huge growth recently as more people opt-in for a fast-paced lifestyle. According to the RV Industry Association, more than 11 million U.S. Households currently own an RV and the reason for this trend is pretty obvious – RVs are convenient and easy to move around. Imagine being able to take your home (including children, friends, dogs, and more) wherever seems appealing enough; that’s the kind of flexibility an RV offers. But besides all that freedom, what is it really like to live in these vehicles?
Brief Overview Of RVs
RV is an abbreviation for a recreational vehicle. It is a type of vehicle designed to imitate an apartment and usually consists of a kitchen, bathroom/toilet, and a living room. While it typically resembles an apartment in many ways, the differentiating factor between an RV and a normal apartment is the wheels on the RV that enable it to move around – just like any other vehicle.
Living In An RV
Living in an RV is an experience worth having at least once because it offers a wonderful way to live a life of freedom, work while traveling, and also be able to take the entire apartment wherever seems best. Just like the song from Aladdin, It is a whole new world. Living in an RV can also be said to be a mixture of pleasure and inconvenience. In other words, the lifestyle comes with things to enjoy and also challenges to deal with and the following points shed more light on this.
Things To Enjoy While Living In An RV
The most notable advantage of living in an RV is the freedom, flexibility, and convenience it offers to travelers and more things travelers will enjoy in an RV include;
- Reliable Shelter: Unlike tenting and some other camping types, an RV offers a comfortable shelter against harsh weather conditions such as rainfall and sunshine.
- Opportunity To Work And Explore Conveniently: For those who work remotely, an RV offers an amazing way to truly enjoy the remote lifestyle. It feels amazing to be able to write a book for a few hours then take a walk afterward to a waterfall to draw in some inspiration. For creative professionals, there’s no better way to get inspired than sitting in front of nature just watching the trees and grasses moving melodiously to the wind. Feels great!
- Privacy: Camping is great and millions of people also know that so you won’t be the only one on that green field enjoying the sunset. Tents are great for camping but they are mostly made from fabrics that are usually not effective enough in keeping out the noise. RV owners on the other hand can have all the privacy they need and even more when they have their doors and windows closed. By the way, the wheels on the RV are not for fancy so RV owners can always move a few yards away whenever they want more privacy.
- More Room To Carry More Items: With an RV, travelers can come along with their bicycles, tents, clothing materials, and other things they need to enjoy a wonderful adventure. A Toy Hauler RV even comes with enough space for those who want to carry bikes, kayaks, and other heavy items to their destination.
Challenges Of Living In An RV
While its advantages are numerous, there are still some inconveniences that accompany living in an RV and they include;
- Parking Inconvenience: RVs cannot be parked just anywhere. They must be parked according to the rules of the environment. While some campgrounds allow parking of RVs, others do not allow it and this is usually a grave inconvenience for RV owners. In some cases, the size of the motor home may be the cause of the disapproval as some campgrounds only allow certain sizes of RVs into their parking spaces. To overcome this challenge, RV owners should always create parking lists before embarking on their adventure. Paid parking facilities offer hookups such as water, electricity, and dump stations while free RV parks and many campgrounds do not offer these hookups so that’s one thing to put into consideration while creating a parking list.
- Dumping Sewage and other Liquid Waste: RVs have tanks where wastes are stored and these tanks must be emptied occasionally (weekly or less). For those already cringing, this chore is necessary to avoid the smell. Wastes from RVs are usually disposed of in dump stations. Many paid parking facilities have these hookups and sites such as RV Dumps even offer directions to the nearest dump stations.
- Electricity: Many paid parking facilities offer electricity for RVs but those who live in secluded environments are usually left to do it all by themselves. In this case, a simple solar installation or generator might be the only option.
- Other Challenges: Leaking roofs (only common in old RVs), Pest infestation, water-induced damages, network/access to the internet also make up the list of challenges RV owners occasionally have to deal with.
Conclusion
The challenges might seem quite scary but these are nothing a good parking facility cannot solve. Those who want the peace and calm of living with their RVs in the woods or some other isolated place will need to put in a little more effort into making it more convenient and worth their while.