How to Plan the Perfect RV Trip for Your Family

Are you looking to plan an RV trip for your family or friends? Make it the best trip yet! Planning an RV trip for an entire family requires a lot of planning, creative thinking, and knowledge. Here’s some of our best RV trip advice for the vacation of a lifetime!

Choose the Right RV

Before you even leave for your trip, it’s important that you choose the right RV for your trip and the trip you have in mind. If you already have an RV that you plan to use, this step is a whole lot easier. If you don’t have your RV purchased or rented yet, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Cost

Larger RVs, RVs with more technology, and RVs that have better amenities are all going to cost more money. Before you purchase your RV, you need to figure out what is in your family’s budget. Keep in mind the general cost for the trip as well as the cost for food, fuel, and your internet plan.

Size

The biggest question for choosing your RV is whether or not you should get a long or short rig. A larger rig will give you the opportunity to take more with you, store more extra fuel, and have much more room to move around while on the road or parked. These larger rigs, on the other hand, burn up more fuel, have much less mobility, and are difficult to maintain.

That’s why we typically recommend a smaller rig for your RV trip, especially just starting out. One way of how to plan the perfect RV trip is to be prepared for anything, including difficult terrain, small parking spaces, and size restrictions. A small rig will allow you to access more areas unrestricted and travel for longer without having to refuel. However, you will have to travel with less and you will have less room.

Amenities

RVs will come with different amenities depending on the vehicle you choose. Before purchasing your vehicle, decide on what you need. AC units, bathrooms, entertainment units, and storage are all important to consider. Decide what you need and what you can go without.

Plan Your Fuel Stops

When traveling, it’s easy to get caught up in the scenery and forget to make a stop to fuel up. Unfortunately, many RVers have found themselves stranded on the side of the road without gas. To avoid this, it’s important that you plan every part of your trip out, including fuel stops.

Fuel stops include not only fueling up your vehicle, but also charging it and replenishing any other supplies you need to keep your RV running. Refueling will be required more often than other stops, so you should take care to plan out where fuel stops are available along the road.

Never overestimate how much fuel you can run on--always assume that you’ll have less fuel available to you then you do. That way, you’ll never run into a sticky situation where you’re stuck in traffic or in bad weather conditions without enough fuel to keep going!

Decide On Your Scenic Stops

One great piece of RV trip advice: consult with your family or friends on where they want to visit. Your RV trip will get much smoother if everyone gets to see something they’re interested in! Before you decide to depart on your trip, get your trip-members together and discuss what sites are important to each of you.
Planning out how to hit each destination that you want to visit can be hard. Try placing a marker on each location you’re interested in on Google Maps, and from there, you’re able to connect the dots and create the perfect road trip. Or, consult sites such as RVTrip Wizard!

Use Budget Hacks

RV trips can get expensive--there’s no questioning that. Fuel cost, food on the road, camping trips, and visiting points of interest can all add up quickly. Planning the perfect RV trip means budgeting, big time.

Budgeting doesn’t have to mean missing out on fun opportunities. If you budget all aspects of your trip right, you won’t have to skimp out on any great opportunities while on the road. Consider these budget hacks!

• Budget-friendly energy. Fuel, charging your RV, and running a generator all cost quite a bit of money. Installing solar panels is a great way to not only utilize renewable energy, but also to save money. Solar panels may be expensive to install, but in the long run will save you quite a bit of money!
• Plan a budget-friendly drive. Although you don’t want to miss out on any of the great sites, planning your less scenic drives to be budget-friendly is important for saving money. Choosing less windy or uphill areas is one great way to save. Driving through wind or uphill requires your vehicle to work harder, which means that you’ll be burning more fuel.
• Cook from home. While it’s definitely tempting to stop at fun restaurants or give in to the appeal of fast food after a long day of driving, cooking from home will save you lots of money. Plan easy-to-make meals before you leave, prepare ingredients, or even store meals in your fridge.

Unplug for a Little While

Ultimately, planning the perfect RV trip can’t go flawlessly without a little unplugged time. Spending too much time on your phone or laptop can take away from the great scenery. Of course, don’t unplug the whole time. Use your phone and laptop to keep up to date on your trip, family, and friends, without ignoring the drive around you.

Experience a Perfect RV Trip

While we can’t guarantee that you won’t experience a few bumps in the road, following our advice will help you plan a spectacular RV trip. Getting your internet through Nomad Internet will help guarantee your trip goes even more smoothly for everyone involved!