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The beautiful "SB Rider" arrives in Brampton, Ontario...beauty eh?

So what is the real deal with RVing full time?

Have you ever been on a vacation that you just didn’t want to end? Well, full time RVing for the first couple of weeks is about as close as you can come to that.

For that first week or so, it’s exciting, its new, it adventurous, you’re traveling out on the open road, seeing new places, escaping the trappings of the conventional world, it’s totally awesome…

Then reality set in.

You then start asking yourself: “How are we possibly gonna live in a space less than 200 square feet, with two kids, two adults with full time jobs and actually see some sights along the way?”

And I didn’t even mention the whole home schooling / road schooling thing…

It may seem kind of obvious, but with full time RVing, a lot of things change.

Setting aside the massive reduction in living space square footage, maintaining a decorum of patience with loved ones in very cramped quarters, as well as totally taking properly functioning indoor plumbing totally for granted, some of the other changes families considering RVing full time may not consider include:

• Laundry:

If you’re considering getting an RV with a washer dryer hookup, don’t bother, they are a complete waste of money. If you do go that way, your laundry will take triple the amount of time it would take if you did it at home…

The reality is that most RV parks have washer/dryers on site and although it costs money to do it, the machines are larger and can fit in more. Make sure you bring plenty of quarters.

The great part about doing laundry is that escaping the RV for an hour or so is a welcome change and surprisingly…its actually quite relaxing. You and your spouse may actually argue of who gets to do laundry duty, just to escape the minor claustrophobia of the RV.

Another option is that if you have a 5^th wheel, pack up your laptop and go out and find a good laundromat. Although the laundry now becomes an event unto itself…and takes a longer time to do, it is a welcome break.

• Food Shopping:

In every town, there will be a new food shopping experience awaiting you in every grocery store. Every store has a different aisle layout and if you’re a guy who refuses to ask for directions (present company excluded of course), you’ll be wandering aimlessly up and down aisle after aisle looking for the Skippy peanut butter.

When you’re home, you might write out your grocery list by aisle to save time (if you actually possess that keen foresight). However, when RVing full time, good luck on that. Plan on extra time just to swallow your ego and actually ask the store personnel (if you can find them) where nearly everything on your list is. Make sure you bring a pen to write down aisle numbers.

And when you’re an American and you’re in Canada, best of  luck reading those French food labels…

• WI-FI:

If you’re living in an RV full time and still need to work, chances are pretty good that you’ll need a solid internet connection to not only stay in touch with friends and family but your work projects as well.

Unless you’re independently wealthy or retired, you’re going to need to work. And with most full time RV families; they rely on the location independence of the internet to help sustain their work duties.

So when you’re planning your trip, make sure the RV campground has solid WI-FI. Don’t just accept “yeah sure we have it” as an answer. Get tough, probe them for megabytes and download speeds. Sound like Steve Jobs interrogating his iPad technical engineers

Just in case, always have your wireless cards as a backup as well. Notice I said “cards”. We recommend having one from at least two carriers, just to be safe. How else will grandma get those oh-so-cute pictures of the kids draining the black water?

• Work time:

If you or your spouse (or both) work while RVing full time, do yourself a big favor and schedule work time the day before, so that both get it in when its needed. Sometimes the best times to do your work at night or early in the morning to make sure at least the bare minimum gets done. And when I say bare minimum I do mean it…

This kind of schedule is also a good use of time so that you can see the sights, visit friends and actually enjoy your time RVing during the daytime. It’s not so good on the sleep deprivation end of things though. Hey, there has to be some kind of price to pay for all this location independence, right?

Although there are many aspects of living in an RV full time that you need to assess prior to making the decision dive in and do it, these are just a few that you may not have considered. However, if in spite of these small issues, you are still interested in taking the plunge, the idea of RVing full time may be a very good idea to consider for you and your family.