{"id":640,"date":"2021-02-13T23:38:46","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T23:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/familytrailblazers.com\/?p=640"},"modified":"2021-02-28T05:57:27","modified_gmt":"2021-02-28T05:57:27","slug":"why-we-chose-rv-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/familytrailblazers.com\/index.php\/2021\/02\/13\/why-we-chose-rv-living\/","title":{"rendered":"Why We Chose RV Living"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our decision to go into full-time RV\u2019ing was not a spur of the moment decision.  It is one that evolved over the course of many years.  Both my wife and I love to travel.  Before we had met each other, we had each visited many different countries and done numerous road trips around the US.  Becky was actually more of a world traveler than I, as she had lived in many different countries and had backpacked through Europe after college.  I had only ever lived in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  But the draw to go off and see new sights, experience new cultures, learn about history first hand, and explore new areas was strong with both of us.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Becky and I spent a lot of effort working on our careers. We both had successful jobs and went back to school for advanced degrees. But we were at a point in our life where we were content, but also felt like something was missing. Life had to be about more than just working your tail off and waiting for retirement to enjoy the spoils of your hard work. We liked the idea of taking some time off (think multi-year sabbatical) and slowing down to enjoy ourselves more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially we were not looking at RV living at all.  We had read some blogs about people who could\ntravel and live internationally in some amazing places and not spend a lot of\nmoney.  Families could travel to\nbeautiful destinations on only $100 a day (for everything\u2026.lodging, food,\ntransportation).  It blew our minds that\nthis was even feasible.  We got pretty\nexcited about the prospect of possibly traveling in a full-time manner.  But after looking into it more, we decided\nthat we were not going to go down that route. \nThe biggest hurdle for us was traveling internationally with our\ndog.  We didn\u2019t want to have him\ntraumatized by air travel, and it seems like quite a few places have rules\nabout quarantining a dog that comes from another country.  So, another option that we started thinking\nabout was traveling within the US (maybe Mexico and Canada too).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Becky and I had both visited many different states.  I would say that between us, we had probably\nvisited more than half of the states in the US.  But the United States is HUGE<\/strong>.  There were still so many places to visit and\nthings to do.  So we were not compromising\nour love of travel by just sticking to North America.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will say that I was more eager to hit the road than Becky\nwas.  She was happily working on her\ncareer as well as focusing on our growing family.  Thinking about up and leaving everything behind\nwhile you are pregnant or with an infant is challenging.  I was celebrating my second Father\u2019s Day when\nBecky gave me a book titled \u201cLiving\nin an RV<\/a>\u201d by Alyssa Padgett.  Inside\nthe cover she wrote \u201cHappy Father\u2019s Day! \nLets go on a family adventure.\u201d \nWhen I asked about the gift, she said that was her way of saying she was\nready to give RV life a try.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially we wanted to ease into the RV lifestyle.  Maybe try renting an RV first or buy an RV and take it for a few test drive weekends here and there before officially selling the house.  But the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.  COVID-19 hit and it changed our plans quite a bit.  We ended up neither renting an RV nor taking our RV for a test run while we still owned the house.  In fact, it was probably one of the most uncharacteristic decisions we have made.  We just jumped right into full timing with our RV AFTER<\/strong> we had sold our house.  What if we hated living in the RV?  Would we be at each other\u2019s throats after spending so much time together in such a small space?  Would Lucas hate traveling and moving around so much?  Since we already had sold the house, there really wasn\u2019t an opportunity to change our minds.  Luckily for us, we have not killed each other (yet) and Lucas seems to really enjoy traveling and seeing all the different places.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Forsyth Park, Savannah, GA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here is our growing list of Pros and Cons for living the\nfull-time lifestyle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pros:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n