Common Misconceptions

After traveling for almost four years we still laugh at the reactions we get when we tell people that we live full time in our RV and travel the country. 

After we explain our nomadic way of life to someone the reaction typically falls into one of these two categories almost every time.

One group seems to pity us. You can almost see them envisioning our poor family living practically homeless eating canned beans over an open fire. The puzzled look typically says it all and then we get to explain how we have heat, air and even running water.

In stark contrast comes the next group of people and their complete polar opposite reaction. Their eyes light up in wonder and confusion. They ask if we're retired or how we ended up lucky enough to do what we do. I’m sure they picture us on the beach with our coconut drinks in hand, toes in the sand and not a worry in the world. Of course this comes with almost a sense of envy wondering how we can afford to live such a lavish lifestyle especially at our ages!

What we find most amusing is not so much the reactions, but how they are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum over the same lifestyle.

So, which is it?  Well, neither. 

How can one lifestyle create such differing opinions? Well, there is obviously some misunderstanding happening when looking in from the outside.  I think the first group clearly focuses on our actual living space and material possessions, while the other group focuses on the experiences we must have with this lifestyle.

And that brings us to a list of common misconceptions about families who full time travel:

We must live like hobos, rambling from place to place. 

   Well, we do ramble from place to place, but even though our house is small it has all the functions of a normal home.  We cook fantastic meals in our tiny kitchen and, even sometimes, use our outdoor kitchen. We have more TVs than we had in a real house. We are constantly connected with wi-fi everywhere we go and we even have a fully functional bathroom in order to shower. It's pretty amazing. 

We live on permanent vacation. 

   We are with our kids every day and out at the beach posting on Instagram while others are at work. We are fortunate, but we don't live on permanent vacation. Our way of life came about by making the intentional choices and the sacrifices necessary to do things our own way.  That is what we did.  We didn't win the lottery. We left our 9-5 careers and headed (with our imaginations and a HUGE leap of faith) into the great unknown. This decision came after lots of prayer and an immense amount of planning for over two years to cushion our transition. Steve Jobs once said "Your time is precious, don't waste it living someone else's life." This thinking hit home for us and we came to a time in our life where we wanted control of our time and to manage our own life.

We still work, but for ourselves on our own schedule. It's not always easy and we don’t have endless funds.  We splurge at times by visiting the tourist attractions while other times we enjoy the simple pleasures of life.  We may never remember that re-run we watched years from now, but we can’t ever forget the feelings of hiking to the top of a mountain, swimming in that cascading waterfall or that amazing time out exploring with friends.

But, in these ways, our life still has to have balance.  The difference is our entertainment is ever changing and each day in this life feels like a blank slate laid before us.  A new day with  new experiences. 

      

We're homeless.  

   This is our home.  Our space is small, but it is our place of retreat.  We find it funny how often we get invited to leave our RV with nothing but the best of intentions of course, but our RV is our home.  And this is the life we have chosen.  Our RV is our beach house, lake house, farm house, city condo--the possibilities are endless! 

   We don’t live this way because we have to live like this, it is our choice to live in such a small space because of what it allows for us to see and do. We've chosen experiences and simplicity over space and material posessions.

We camp every night. 

   Camping is what started this whole pursuit.  We loved camping—tent camping—and we assumed that our overnight stays would always kind of feel like camping, but better.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.  There’s not bacon and eggs over an open campfire in the mornings or s’mores over an open fire at night.  We do love that kind of camping, but it rarely happens.  Our trailer is parked at a campground or a park, but our home is more like a rolling home base for exploration than anything else. Honestly, some days we still miss unplugging and "camping."

We're living the dream.

   Well, yes and no. What is interesting about living this way is that it encourages living to dream.  There isn't one dream and then that's it. We are constantly thinking of other possibilities. The dreaming doesn’t stop.  It feels like every time we accomplish something we add three more things to the list!  Then, bigger dreams surface.  After we tour all 50 states, there could be backpacking Europe, hiking the Appalachian Trail, or... who knows! Living this way takes the limits off and makes us feel capable of accomplishing anything.  We’ve seen that mentality in our teens, too.  They know they have a world of possibilites ahead of them. 

   

Also, on the other hand, while we may be living our dream, we still live day to day like everyone else with all the normal responsibilities.  We have our fun. We have our work. We have our struggles. We have laundry day. No escaping laundry day. Not every day is the picture perfect world you see on social media. Life is still life.  We are just fortunate enough to live ordinary life while on a grand adventure from one place to the next.

We have no community.

   There is an amazing community of people who live this lifestyle. Families with kids of all ages live this way and gather together through rallies and meetups. Plugging into this community makes all the difference in your full time travel experience. 

   We love to go and explore nature and see sights, but having great friends to share this life with is one our favorite things about this lifestyle. We are all so different, but yet the same in so many ways. We have amazing friends that we meetup with across the country.

   We know most people have a hard time imagining what it is like to live full time with our family in an RV. We get it.  So, we don't look for pity or envy over our lifestyle. We are just an ordinary family living our American dream.