30 years of Practicing Minimalism

[Simplemind]

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We have had ours just a little less than two years. We gave it a hard go the first year and went out about 14 times the first year. I enjoyed it but learned I wouldn't want it to be my only type of travel/vacation. It isn't cheaper than hotels in my experience. Not with low gas mileage and park fees. It does allow us to travel with the dogs so basically we look at it as a dog house on wheels. The plan this year was to take it out a few times but return to our far flung travel. Then the pandemic hit along with DH having another stroke. So our other travel plans have been canceled and I'm working on refunds. We will go back to the RV and places fairly close to home until the time (Please God) that DH is up to traveling again.

[Teacher Terry]

Simple, I thought you had one but couldn’t remember. Sorry about your husband’s stroke. We had 4 dogs when we took ours. Surprisingly we took 3 in our car and one was 80lbs. The other two were tiny. Now we just have 2 small dogs. We found it more expensive also.

[Tybee]

I really like seeing the pictures of the trailors and the Minnie--Alan, that thing is gorgeous, very color coordinated. And the Minnie is exactly what I would chose if we could swing it.

[Alan]

I really like seeing the pictures of the trailors and the Minnie--Alan, that thing is gorgeous, very color coordinated. And the Minnie is exactly what I would chose if we could swing it.

Our travel trailer is a Minnie too, my wife's first project with her Cricut was to personalize it.

[jp1]

I appreciate reading everyone's thoughts on the pluses and minuses of RV's. I've gotten mixed reviews from the people I've known IRL over time. My Uncle/Aunt loved RV life so much that when they retired they lived in one for 15 years. Winters in AZ at an owned plot in an RV resort, summers in various national parks working a dozen hours per week or so as camp ground laundry room attendents to get a free space for the summer, and spending 4-6 weeks each fall and spring seeing the sites while getting to/from AZ. My sister and her wife, on the other hand, like theirs because they can take the dog and cat with them, but they don't feel like it's cheap, or even easier than planning a hotel based trip since a lot of the places they want to stay need to be reserved in advance.

As SO and I ever so slowly advance towards retirement in the next decade or so we have been discussing what that will look like. In theory I like the RV lifestyle, the freedom, always sleeping in my own bed, bringing whatever pets we have, being able to stay IN parks, etc. The downsides, though, concern me. One of the things I like about vacations is not having to cook or clean. Yes, eating out is more expensive but the upside is that I don't have to plan a menu or wash the dishes. And if SO sticks with his current mega-corp job for another six-ish years (he has to work for them for 20 years to get this) he will have lifetime employee rate benefits at all of mega-corp's hotels around the world. That alone would make the hotels vs. RV's discussion tilt strongly in favor of hotels despite the other negatives that they may have.

I guess I say this only to encourage (ask?) everyone to keep telling your stories so that I can learn from them. SO and I have a bunch of years yet before we need to be making any major retirement decisions, but if I've learned anything over the first 52 years of my life it's that time passes way more quickly than it seems to be doing at the time.

[Tybee]

Our travel trailer is a Minnie too, my wife's first project with her Cricut was to personalize it.

That is really neat! Your wife could go into business with her decals!

[JaneV2.0]

Our travel trailer is a Minnie too, my wife's first project with her Cricut was to personalize it.

Good job! So far, I've avoided adding a Cricut or similar to my trove of art supplies, but they look all kinds of fun.

[Txbeauty]

I started this thread as a minimalist perspective but I am so glad it became an RV thread! Why? I am considering this as a home down the road, my minimalist home! Keep the info coming. I don't need anything big or with fancy bells and whistles.