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Silvertwinky · 01-11-2005, 12:17 PM

I sometimes hear negative comments about RVing from people who don't have one or care to enjoy the amenities of traveling with an RV, that I thought it would be a good thread subject.

I’ve always heard the old saying…”There’s no place like home,” and when we’re on the road our home is with us!

People think differently and have their own opinions. I find it interesting when I hear so many of them say something like “my idea of going on a vacation is traveling and then staying in a motel room when we get there.” They seem to imply it would be too bothersome of an ordeal to travel and stay in an RV. Oh, my favorite one goes something like this… “Do you really think you can save money that way?”

They just don’t understand do they? What are some of the things you have heard people say?

stephen.s1 · 01-11-2005, 12:21 PM

Sounds like a thread one might read on the RV Net...

Good luck..

Silvertwinky · 01-11-2005, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephen.s1

Sounds like a thread one might read on the RV Net...

Good luck..

Yeah, I started one there also!

eljay · 01-11-2005, 12:38 PM

"It just sounds like something you'd do"...Now what does that mean exactly?

sfixx · 01-11-2005, 12:46 PM

For me it's not hotel room or camper it's tent or camper! I'm tired of loading up the car with all the stuff one needs for a camping weekend and having to set it all up when I get there. Then at the end of the trip having to pack up RAIN or shine.

I'm also tired of motels: dragging the luggage inside for a family of four can be a real workout, especially since your car is usually 200 yards from your room

I've only RV'd once in my '61 Scotty, and I'm spending a lot of time prepping my new TT for something that I only anticiate is better. I guess I'll just wait and see...

come on spring

Steve

**Stefrobrts** · 01-11-2005, 12:54 PM

My husband was one of those. But he's turned into a believer. Having your own home away from home is so much better than a hotel every night (at least the hotels we could afford to stay in). Heck, even the couple times we splurged and stayed in a really nice hotel it had it's problems.

My favorite comment was from my father in law. After our two week trip to OK and back, we were telling him about our adventure, and how we'd stayed with a friend of the family for two nights in OK. He said "Well, it must have been nice to sleep in a real bed and have a shower after all that time on the road!" Like we'd been roughing it! We explained to him that our trailer has a shower, and a perfectly comfortable bed. It's not like we were travelling like unwashed hippies for two weeks in a bus! But I guess that's how he pictures it!

Folks who haven't tried it just don't understand.

dmreilly10000 · 01-11-2005, 01:20 PM

Most motel rooms are filfthy places. Go here for in eye-opening article:

http://www.restassured.com/app.html

Here is a part of this article:

"In a piece titled "Clean Sweep," the network magazine used black lights and chemical analysis to expose the overall failure of maid services in rooms priced form $60 to $700 per night.

Basically, the show revealed that the average hotel bedspread has a lot in common with Monica Lewinsky's blue Gap dress. "Primetime" also found urine stains and fecal matter on dresser tops and, of all places, television remote control units. Apparently, in many hotels it's SOP to use the same rag to clean both sleeping quarters and bathrooms."

At least in your own Airstream, you are not lying in someone else's dried bodily fluids. YUCK!! And your pillows have not been used by someone else as sexual aids. Remind people of this when they look down their noses at RVs.

Silvertwinkie · 01-11-2005, 02:00 PM

You know, growing up we camped. Now, with an RV of our own, we don't camp cause it saves money. We don't camp because it has all our personal stuff and not someone else's DNA everywhere.

We camp for two real reasons.

First, we enjoy it.

Second, we've been places in the middle of nowhere under large trees, tens of miles from the nearest town, where the stars are so close you'd think you could touch them. The air so fresh you'd think it was just put there minutes before. To hear the wind through the trees watching the sun reflect off the water of an inland lake that your RV is parked next to as you cook lunch with the nearest campsite hundreds of feet away seperated by thick woods for $10 a night..........

Don't know about you, but to me, it just doesn't get much better than that! But to each their own...room service and get there now (instant gratification) has it's place for some folks.

Rhodie · 01-11-2005, 02:03 PM

We all know some who are to "prissy" for these accomodations, but then they never liked to camp anyway. For us that do this is a perfect solution as you can't really "get away from it all" in a hotel IMO, and I have my very own bathroom wherever I go

This is the first "toy" Dan's wanted, and the best purchase made in our entire marriage aside from our home. We can take the dog (or we wouldn't go anywhere, period!) and I can drag along all my "stuff"....computer, knitting, etc along with the kitchen sink

Silvertwinky · 01-11-2005, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfixx

I'm also tired of motels: dragging the luggage inside for a family of four can be a real workout, especially since your car is usually 200 yards from your room

I've only RV'd once in my '61 Scotty, and I'm spending a lot of time prepping my new TT for something that I only anticiate is better. I guess I'll just wait and see...

come on spring

Steve

I've found that it is sometimes a lot of work but I guess it's the enjoyment I felt when I would hook up and travel down the highway towing our home behind us. After many camping trips and vacations rv-ing; I've found that it becomes easier and easier with each new adventure. Things I learn along the way or something I pick up on will make the next trip a little smoother. With that, it becomes more enjoyable when you finally get everything worked out. It's kind of an art so to speak.

rseagle · 01-11-2005, 02:39 PM

I've heard the “my idea of going on a vacation is traveling and then staying in a motel room when we get there” from my neighbor. Ironically, he's a saleman/technician for an RV supply store here in town.

How many hotels can you hear the Whip-Poor-Will at dusk?

Or the warmth, the suttle flickering light and smokey smell of a campfire on a crisp Autumn evening?

They just don't get it!

**jcanavera** · 01-11-2005, 02:41 PM

We camped at first for the pure economics of it. At the time 1971 or so, I think it was about 2.50 a night at the state park. The 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville brought us to the point of wanting our own bathroom and our first travel trailer, a Hi-Lo. Adding air conditioning brought us to the level of who cares what the temperature is, we can go anywhere. At that point the realization came that we could stay some very nice places for very few dollars. How many folks could get a beach side room at Myrtle Beach or St. Augistine Fla. for $20-$25 a night?

Now when you get into the new Airstream stage as we are, justification of cost is quite near about impossible, but on the other hand I can't tell you the number of folks I know who invested considerable sums of money for a condo in a resort area only to get bored after a few years. Yes there is probably some appreciation of that investment, but you also have the hassle of selling, commissions, moving of furniture etc. In our case we go where we want, and never get bored.

Jack

TomW · 01-11-2005, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silvertwinky

...What are some of the things you have heard people say?

Ya know, I'm neither a philosopher nor poet. But after reading your post (which BTW was really hard to quote with all that font stuff), The Rules for Being Human, authur unknown, popped into my mind. In particular the following passage:

Others are merely mirrors of you.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something something you love or hate about yourself.

FWIW,
Tom

sovereignrwe · 01-11-2005, 03:35 PM

Tagging on to the slight bunny trail of Condos, We spent a few years thinking about buying a cabin on a lake, preferably with 20+ acres.

The more research we did, the more it became clear that our weekends would be spent driving to and from the cabin, and once there, working on general maintenance items for a good share of the time. Yes, it was an investment that would show a return, if you ignore the time invested in upkeep.

Did I mention that our weekends would be filled with this ritual? When would we see the Grand Canyon, or Yellowstone, or the Gulf of Mexico, or the Black Hills, or the Bridges of Madison County, or ...

The result is yes, we would get the nature and camping experience, but it would always be the same lake. It would always be the same woods. Most of all, it would be primarily just us and a neighbor or two.

The last point of "just us and a neighbor or two" can also characterize a hotel visit at it's very best. Has anyone ever called someone they met in the room next to your's 6 months later? Ever sent them an email just to see how life was treating them and how the kids were doing? Is there a www.holidayinnforums.com that you have shared experiences and held intelligent discussions? I doubt it. (So that you don't waste your time looking, the URL is still available if Holiday Inn thinks anyone would bother logging in to talk about how much they love their stay.)

Why own an RV (in our case Airstream TT)? Anyone reading this post, or stopping in to welcome our trailer to a park they stay at, or stopping by as a non-owner wanting to talk about our Vintage Airstream is a great reason for getting out of the "Comfort Inn" and getting into a "home on wheels - where friends are always welcome".

Did I mention that just parking the AS in our driveway has introduced us to more people in our neighborhood in the last 7 months than we met the previous 5 years? Yes, we live in a "metro" area.

Our trailer has enriched our lives in so many ways, something I can not, and would never say, about a stay in a hotel room. That enrichment has only just begun for us.

garry · 01-11-2005, 04:27 PM

Lot's of folks quote what "they" say about lot's of things. I have never figured out just who "they" are.

In this case the more "they" are then the less crowded the camp/RvPark ect. will be and that is just fine by me. I didn't want "them" around anyway.

Garry

Silver Bullet · 01-11-2005, 05:18 PM

about camping than has been already said "except" this; "No sticky fingered hotel/motel room maids to worry about when travelling with valuables!"

Oscar

campcollector · 01-11-2005, 05:48 PM

My brother was always gloating about being able to use his cabin in the woods and not have to stay in a trailer. Well I went with him to his cabin, twice in one month and all we did was repair broken stuff. Vandalism from breakins and sweeping up rat poop off the floors, not to mention the stale smell of a closed up building. Good thing I brought my trailer so I had a place to sleep without hearing mice running across the floor at night.

maxandgeorgia · 01-11-2005, 06:13 PM

We find something absolutely predictable and yet unexplainable in the thrill of pulling out of our driveway, looking back to see our trailer following us, packed with provisions for the days and weeks ahead; looking ahead to the bends of the road that lead us to new discoveries, new friends, and old; grinning ear to ear at how well life has treated us and how in love we are with each other and this wonderful adventure of vacationing in our Airstream home. Come on, Spring!

Tarheel · 01-11-2005, 06:42 PM

We looked into boating as a way to see our country but were limited to waterways, distance per day of only 60 miles and lack of transportation when you dropped anchor for the night. We tried timeshare and golf packages. Never new anyone when we got there and met very few on a very personal level. Bought our first Airstream and met like people. We still travel solo but usually meet fellow Airstreamers while out. We go to local as well as regional and national rallys and always see familiar faces. The friendships that we have made in the last 5 years Airstreaming will stay with us for the rest of our lives. In the 10 years that we have traveled prior to owning an Airstream I cannot think of a single person that we have met that we have kept in touch with. Its just an entirely different lifestyle for us.

bikrmikey · 01-11-2005, 07:22 PM

I don't worry about justifing my actions. I simply have the reply "It's an Airstream thing you wouldn't understand." Although none of my good friends are
anything less than accepting.

I know why I go the way of RV travel, I can get away from the controlled and generic environment that is the norm for this country. And I have my cabin at the beach, lake, forest... all in one.