Table of Contents Show
Living in an RV while traveling the country and seeing some of the most remarkable landscapes is an exciting lifestyle. However, many RVers jump into RV life and quickly discover that there are some things they miss from their sticks and bricks.
We traveled for five years and, like many RVers, experienced the stress and angst of doing without some of the modern conveniences typically found in residential homes.
Today, we’re going to share several things we missed from living in a sticks and bricks while we traveled. Let’s dive in!
Why Did Getaway Couple Stop Full-Timing?
Not long ago, we posted our video “Where Is Getaway Couple?” and broke our extended absence from YouTube to provide a life update for us.
If you want the whole story, you can watch all 43 minutes. However, we’ll give you a condensed version if you’re in a hurry.
The biggest reason we went silent on social media was for our health. Constantly traveling for several years, working from the road, and still trying to take time for ourselves was very difficult.
As workaholics at heart, we struggled to maintain that work/life balance while traveling due to the difficulty of having a consistent schedule.
We needed to take an opportunity to catch our breath and get ourselves back into the proper headspace.
We had been toying with the idea for some time about getting a home base. The pandemic was the straw that broke the camel’s back for us.
We saw how important it is to have a place you can return to for seasons of the year or when chaos happens.
You must take the proper steps to avoid putting yourself in a tough situation when events or restrictions change and are out of your control.
Will Getaway Couple Travel Again?
While we sold our Grand Design Solitude 375-RES, we’ll still travel. We’re in the middle of renovating a truck camper that we’ll be using for future adventures.
We love the idea of a truck camper as it will allow us to travel further, faster, and get into some areas that simply weren’t possible with our monstrous fifth wheel.
We can’t wait to return to the road to see new and exciting places again!
What We Missed About a Sticks and Bricks
While we enjoyed traveling and experiencing new places, we missed some things about living in a standard home.
Here are several things we missed while traveling full-time for five years.
High-Speed and Unlimited Internet
A reliable and quality internet connection is essential when you work remotely. However, we quickly discovered that getting a high-speed connection wasn’t always going to be easy.
We also learned that finding unlimited data plans wasn’t easy either. One of the hardest parts of full-time traveling was ensuring there was a connection to get our work done.
Starlink wasn’t a thing when we first hit the road. This meant we had to spend a tremendous amount of time planning our travels and ensuring there would be access to the internet.
We quickly learned that while campgrounds or RV parks may provide an internet connection, it’s usually pretty terrible.
We’re enjoying having a high-speed internet connection where we don’t have to worry about managing data or making constant adjustments to our setup.
We can be more efficient and get work done faster in our sticks and bricks rental!
Pro Tip: Here’s what RVers really think about Starlink for RVers.
A Dishwasher
While some RVs come with dishwashers, ours didn’t. We had to do dishes the old-fashioned way, by hand.
The lack of counter space meant we were constantly doing dishes to avoid cluttering up the counters in our rig.
Now, we have access to a dishwasher helps save us time. This means having more time to spend together doing things we enjoy.
Keep in Mind: Sick of doing dishes by hand in your RV? An RV Dishwasher is an option!
Long, Hot Showers and a Bathtub
We were able to boondock in some pretty epic locations during our adventures and often challenged ourselves to see how long we could spend boondocking (we managed to boondock 100 days in a row once!).
However, being successful at boondocking means you have to be a master at conserving water and making each tank last as long as possible. Sadly, long showers aren’t possible if you’re planning to boondock for very long.
Even when we were hooked up to a full hook-up campsite, the water heater was only 12 gallons in our rig.
While this is plenty for a shower or two, you still couldn’t take your sweet time in the shower and expect it to be hot the entire time. If there’s anything worse than a short shower, it’s a cold shower.
Manufacturers have to make use of every inch of space in an RV. However, very few are willing to sacrifice space to include a bathtub.
Are there RVs with bathtubs? For sure! However, ours didn’t have one, and Rae missed taking a relaxing bath at the end of the week.
Pro Tip: Check out the 5 Mistakes People Make When Showering in an RV to ensure you’re not making any of them!
Space
Most RVs feel very large, roomy, and spacious when you’re walking through them while RV shopping.
However, when you start filling your rig with your possessions, the walls quickly close in on you. This may not be a big deal for weekend adventures, but you can quickly develop a sense of claustrophobia when full-timing.
Even the largest RVs are only 200 square feet to 300 square feet of livable space. You better love the people living in the RV with you because it will be tight.
Get used to bumping into each other in common places like your rig’s living room and kitchen spaces!
The place we’re renting also allows us to have a designated space for work. This makes it easier for us to disconnect from our jobs and enjoy our lives outside of it.
While we still get work done from our phones from time to time, going into our office space helps us get mentally into work mode.
Consistent Temperatures
It seems that 80% of the time, you’re either too hot or too cold when in an RV. Due to a lack of insulation in most RVs, regulating temperatures is next to impossible.
You’ll also discover that heating systems unevenly heat your RV, which can cause cold spots throughout an RV.
Being able to have consistent temperatures throughout our living space was something we missed. We’ve set up shop in Florida, and there’s no way we could imagine living in these crazy hot and humid conditions in an RV.
We’re not a fan of the electrical bill it takes to cool the house, but it’s worth every penny not to sweat while we’re sleeping.
Not Having to Manage Power
One of the things you take for granted in a sticks and bricks is managing power. Utility lines send power from the electrical grid straight into your home to power all your electronics.
You rarely worry about running multiple heavy-duty appliances simultaneously. You can often use the toaster, microwave, and coffee maker simultaneously without tripping the breaker or overloading your electrical equipment.
Many times in our RV, we would get caught up in making meals or working and trip the breaker because we used too much power.
Not having to worry about charging our batteries or how much solar we would get in a day is something we missed.
Ease of Receiving Mail/Packages
Who doesn’t love doing some online shopping? However, while we were on the road, it was often challenging for us to receive packages or mail.
We did use a mail forwarding service, but it wasn’t easy if we wanted something fast. We often went weeks or months before requesting our mail, and it was often a pain when we did.
Being in a sticks and bricks allows us to take full advantage of our Amazon Prime account.
We can get packages in a day or two, sometimes even the same day. This was a distant dream when we were on the road!
Keep In Mind: How did we get mail while on the road? There are a few options for Mail Forwarding Service for Full-Time RVers!
RVing Helped Us Appreciate the Small Things
We had a tremendous RVing experience for five years, which helped us appreciate the small things in life.
They may not be major things, but there are some aspects of living in a sticks and bricks home that we missed while on the road.
While we wouldn’t trade our five years of travel adventures for them, we’re enjoying these conveniences while we have them!
What do you miss most while you’re on the road?
Although we only travel for a month or two at a time before returning to our sticks and bricks, we miss family the most. We have 2 young grandkids that live 20 minutes from us, so we see them regularly, and it is tough to be away from them.
Washing machine…trying to find a GOOD,laundromate can be horrible,frustrating and time consuming