How Will RVing Affect Your Marriage?

You’re thinking about traveling more often in your RV. Or maybe you’re considering plunging in full-time. If you’re going alone, making the decision is a little easier. But what if you’re married? How will RVing affect your marriage? 

It’s a question to openly discuss with your spouse. Don’t go into this lifestyle with blinders on. Let’s dive in and consider the benefits and drawbacks!

Benefits of RVing for Your Marriage

Living in a small space certainly has its advantages. Less focus on stuff generally means more focus on experiences. But aside from the material things, living in an RV with your spouse can bring you closer together, open communication, and lead to new experiences and memories. Let’s look at each of these benefits and discuss them further.

Spending Quality Time Together

If you’ve ever had a nine-to-five job, you know the lifestyle of leaving early for work, coming home late, and then hitting repeat Monday through Friday. And then, on the weekends, you have a to-do list–wash the car, go to the grocery store, mow the lawn, take the kids to ball practice. 

This lifestyle can tax a marriage because you have to intentionally carve out time to be together.

When you travel in an RV often, you most likely have remote work. This means you’re living and working in the same space all the time. Spending so much time with your spouse isn’t ideal for some of you, and the RV lifestyle might not be for you.

For those of you who welcome the opportunity to spend more quality time with your spouse, RVing full time can be amazing for your marriage. Instead of squeezing in quality time between work and chores, you go on a hike together. You can spend an hour tidying up the RV and then head out for a day of kayaking.

Improved Communication

As mentioned above, it’s challenging working and living together in the same space. This environment will force you to improve communication. When you get angry or frustrated, you have to have open dialogue because there’s nowhere to go.

Again, this may terrify those who don’t feel communication is a strength. But if you’re willing to accept this challenge, your communication skills will improve. You might consider going on a walk every evening to talk about the day, discuss upcoming travel plans, or have serious heart-to-heart conversations about your marriage. These opportunities will bring you closer together!

Trying New Things Together 

One of the most exciting parts of RVing is trying new things. Many choose this lifestyle because of the experiences it offers. Doing new things together with your spouse is a unique benefit to RVing. You can hike the Cadillac North Ridge Trail in Acadia National Park and take a breathtaking photo at the summit. Or explore Bar Harbor by taking a culinary walking tour together.

These adventures and experiences aren’t available to everyone. Embrace your travel lifestyle by trying new things and making memories with your spouse. Maybe try something your spouse wants to do even if it doesn’t interest you. You get one life–live it together!

Create Amazing Memories and Stories

When you visit family at Christmas or head home for a few months in the summer, you’ll have amazing stories to share. The fact that you’ve made these memories with your spouse makes them even more special. You’ll have photos and videos to last forever.

This is one of the most exciting benefits of RVing. You’ll treasure sitting around a campfire talking about your visit to the Gangster Museum of America in Hot Springs or your airboat ride through the Everglades.

Drawbacks of RVing for Your Marriage

Even though the RV lifestyle can positively influence your marriage, it can create tension as well. Keep an eye out for these drawbacks so you recognize problems popping up in your marriage and can address them before it’s too late.

Will Not Magically Save Your Marriage

If you’re already having issues, living or traveling in an RV will not erase them. Any underlying problem will still be there, even if you’re traveling. 

If you and your spouse constantly argue over finances, you will continue to argue over finances—same thing with trust issues and other common marital concerns. The amazing experiences and incredible views won’t hide or fix those problems.

You probably want to deal with these issues before you start RVing. If you don’t, the constant time together in close proximity could intensify problems in such a setting.

Harder to Get Space If You Need It

If you’re someone who likes to escape to a room for alone time or to relieve some situational anxiety, it’ll be harder to find that space in an RV. You could take a walk, but the weather might not always cooperate. 

Sometimes, we all need a break to breathe and calm down, whether it’s following an argument or dealing with stress at your remote job. 

RVing will challenge you in those moments, so be prepared for this struggle.

Additional Stressors Added

RVing adds unique stressors. For example, finding campsites within your budget, along your route, within a specific time frame can be stressful. If one spouse is responsible for doing the research and getting this done, the other spouse may not recognize or understand the pressure of that responsibility.

Backing in to a campsite and setting up upon arrival can be another stressful environment for both spouses. This is when communication is critical. You don’t want to start your stay angry with each other because the driver wasn’t listening to instructions or the other spouse wasn’t communicating clearly enough.

Even though YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok make it seem like RVing is all sunshine and rainbows. It’s not. As mentioned before, underlying issues in your marriage will still be there. Added stressors will appear. 

You’ll learn about yourself and your spouse in those moments. Be ready to offer grace when the driver makes a wrong turn or patience when your rig gets a flat tire. When your slide starts leaking, how will you react? Things will happen that you never had to deal with in your “old” life. How you respond in those moments can make or break your marriage.

RVing Can Change Your Marriage for Good or Bad

RVing will affect your marriage, but how is up to you. Will you have open and honest conversations? Be willing to try new things? Prepare to respond in love when things go wrong? 

The RV lifestyle can be life-changing. It’s a journey where you and your spouse can grow closer together and make memories forever or grow further apart. Consider the long-term impacts of RV life long before you hit the road.  

What are your thoughts on how RVing can affect a marriage?