Renting an RV, driving around having everything you need with you, complete freedom of where to go, what can be better? You never need to worry about accommodation, since you have your bed right there with you, you can cook all your own meals and you have a vehicle that can bring you everywhere all at once. At least, that was what we thought before we went on our trip. Here are some things that would be good to consider BEFORE you start your journey, so you don’t make the same mistakes we did. 

Good to know: we booked our RV through Cruise America and are very fond of them! However, every company gives different experiences!

 

 

1. RV Facilities
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First, you need to consider what kind of RV you want to rent, how many people are you going with, and what kind of facilities you want to have on the road. We rented a four-person RV with three people, which was a good choice for us. It would’ve been cheaper if we actually went with four people, however, space-wise this was a good choice as it is a smaaaall space.
Then there are the facilities. We had an RV with a fridge, sink, stove, toilet, and shower. We would definitely recommend having the sink, fridge, and stove there, which makes it easy to cook all your meals whenever you want. This can also save you a lot of money that you would otherwise spend on eating out (and you are able to store lots of ice cream!!!)
The toilet and shower really depend on your needs. Because you only have water in your tank, it was not possible for all three of us to shower without filling the tank in between. For this reason, we mostly showered in the RV when we were at a campsite where we could connect to a water station. There were always showers at the campsites, so having our own didn’t add a lot of value. We also only used the toilet in emergencies, since you had to dump it out very often otherwise. Most of the time we just stopped at gas stations or parked close to a restaurant or Walmart so we could go to the bathroom there. This brings us to our next point: where to park. 

 

2. Where to park

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WALMART: A lot of times we just parked next to a Walmart. This means you have a store and a toilet nearby. Most Walmarts would let RV’s park, without any trouble (except for the Walmart in Las Vegas, that woman is still haunting us). Just make sure to park a little bit away from the entrance so you’re not in the way. There’s also a risk that they send you away if there’s already tons of RV’s or if you’re staying more than one night, but otherwise, we didn’t have any problems. Just close the curtains and you have a lot of privacy and do not forget to lock your door. 

PARK4NIGHT: Another option is to use an app to see where you can park like park4night. This did not work out very well for us. The idea of these apps is that they show places near you where you can stay in your RV for the night. We tried this one night and we immediately got stuck in the sand in the place where it said to park AND we got woken up by the police saying it was illegal to stay overnight in that area. So we definitely won’t say you can blindly trust these apps, but you can always try (or just use your common sense and do not park on sand with a 3000 kilo RV).

CAMPSITES: The safest options are campsites. These were very convenient for us since you can connect to electricity and water. You also have access to bathrooms and you know you won’t get sent away. It does cost some money and sometimes you have to book it in advance. The best part that campsites have that you can’t find anywhere else: they’ll have a dumping station.

 

3. Dumping stations

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As in the name, dumping stations are places where you can dump everything in your tank. Even if you don’t have a toilet and shower in your RV, every once in a while you have to empty your tank from the sink. Campsites have these stations most of the time, but it’s not always easy to find one. Especially not when you’re parked at free parking spaces. I have to be honest, we still haven’t found the best way to find these stations. Twice we just secretly used a campsite’s dumping station without paying, but I wouldn’t say that’s the best option. Maybe just try to be careful with the amount of water you use and stay at a campsite every once in a while. 

 

4. Consider the season

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When thinking about your roadtrip, consider what season you’re going. In the summer, some places can be very hot, so you might need some extra A/C in your RV. We went in the winter, which meant we had to watch out for freezing. Beforehand, we didn’t even consider it was going to freeze. We were going to the West Coast, isn’t it always nice there? But at some national parks, it was freezing temperatures. When you have water in your RV, the pipes can freeze and do severe damage. You either have to empty the water tank and use anti freeze before going to a cold area, or stay at a place with electricity so you can keep the heater running. We used this last strategy, which worked very well. In winter, there are also a lot of storms and icy roads which leads to some parks closing down for the season. If there’s someplace you really want to go, make sure it is actually open in the time you want to be there. Definitely something to keep in mind when planning places to stay. A lot of parks have maps where they show what roads are closed and what roads are open. We checked these maps every day, but unfortunately, we had to skip some parks because the roads were closed all the time. Also, know that your RV is in no way able to drive up a mountain without 4WD. Some parks see it as a requirement that your RV has 4WD in order to enter the park or parts of the park.

 

5. Book the RV through the company's own website

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When you’ve done your research and it’s time to book the RV, there are several sites you can book it through. We booked it through the ANWB, which is a Dutch company that was able to book the RV for us. We know this company very well and knew it was trustworthy. However, when we arrived at the RV company itself to collect the RV, we noticed the prices were significant lower if we had booked it with them directly. The websites are definitely trustworthy although they might have a low rating. Cruise America for example has a rating of 3.0 something, so we thought it was not as trustworthy as ANWB. This rating does not say much of their trustworthiness, but it does say something about the quality of the campers. It is important to note that an RV is prone to more accidents as it is a massive vehicle and sometimes thing do not go as planned. Thing definitely went wrong for us, but we still had a great experience with them!

 

6. Insurance

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We booked the RV with insurance, cause we definitely didn’t trust ourselves. Turns out we didn’t actually do any damage! Good for us! Still, the insurance helped us a lot to not worry too much while driving, so we would recommend it anyways. It’s good to see what your insurance entails: a lot of expensive options don’t really cover things you actually need.
We had two main problems on our trip: one time we got stuck in the sand and one time we had a flat tire. Getting stuck means you need a tow truck, this is never included in the insurance. A flat tire is almost always included and we would really recommend making sure this is included since it happens to almost everyone. 

Ps. we actually did not pay anything for the tow truck as the kindest lady ever called her insurance company and pretended it was her RV that was stuck in the sand, so the towing company came and got us out for free!

 

7. What to bring

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Of course you need to bring everything you usually bring for your trips, but there are some things that are convenient in an RV. We had a huge suitcase, which is nice for in a hotel, but when you’re in an RV, you have small cabinets for all your stuff and no place to leave a big suitcase. We had to put it in the shower or it would move all over the place while driving. So bring a foldable bag! Next to that, bringing slippers to wear inside is really recommended. You only have a small space which WILL get dirty in no time if you walk in and out with your shoes on all the time. Lastly, a lot of RV’s also come with facilities like towels, so check that before you bring too much. 

 

8. Driving

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Then it’s finally time to take your trip! Driving in the US can be easier than in other countries, since everything is built on having a lot of people driving at the same time. So don’t worry about the size of your RV! There are a lot of big trucks, which means roads are wide and there is endless parking space. It is important to realize you are bigger and heavier than when driving a normal car though, so don’t drive on unpaved roads or you will get stuck like us. Some parking spaces don’t allow vehicles bigger than a certain size to park there, so make sure you know your size and check these signs! We got a ticket for parking in the wrong space because of this.

 

Lastly, just have a lot of fun! Even though we hope you will now be able to avoid all the mistakes we made, there will always be something that goes wrong on a trip like this. Our advice is to not stress too much and enjoy. Make sure you have a buffer in your budget, see the funny side to a bad situation, and definitely have a lot of fun!