“Do you enjoy living in an RV?” It’s a question we often hear from family and friends, as well as strangers. Believe it or not, we don’t have an easy answer. The difficulty lies in the complexity of the answer. On the surface, this question is binary, either we like it or we don’t.
Most of the time, this question is asked in the same manner as one would inquire, “How’s it going?” The expected reply is short and simple, “Pretty good” or something to that effect. It’s odd though; when we are asked, “Do you enjoy living in an RV?” it makes us pause. We usually give the short response of yes, but deep down, our minds tell us the real answer is a bit more complicated than that.
First of all, RVs are not all that different.
The question of whether or not we like living in an RV is almost like asking someone if they like living in a house or apartment. The bulk of society lives in houses or apartments. That is the accepted box that humans reside in full time. Each box has its particular size and layout; this same principle applies to RVs. In an apartment you must contend with neighbors; this is also true with many houses and RV parks. The only real difference an RV has in regards to a living space is wheels.
Having said that, the RV lifestyle is different.
The first time we were asked whether we liked living in an RV, we took it at face value and responded with, “It’s like living in anything else, maybe smaller.” We have come to realize that the question they are meaning to ask is not about the box itself but the lifestyle.
Since our house has wheels, we can travel. We tend to stay in one place only a few months. The idea behind the lifestyle is exploration and discovery. The RV lifestyle carries a lot of unknowns. Some people find much of that scary. They can’t fathom leaving their predictable cities, working their predictable jobs, and venturing out without carefully planned predictable vacations. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that; stability and comfort are safe.
So, do we like the RVing lifestyle?
In a short answer, yes. The complicated answer is not always. Not knowing what job we will have or where we will be next year can be exciting, but it can take a toll on anxieties too. We love seeing new places and meeting new people, but we have to say goodbye to them in order to keep exploring. When everything works in the RV, traveling is a breeze; however, when you are on a thousand mile road trip and a mechanical problem arises, it’s not so fun.
In a nut shell, Murphy’s Law still applies when you live in an RV. If the pros and cons listed above sound like life to you, that was the point. Just like a stationary lifestyle has its highs, lows, elations, and frustrations, so too does the full time RVing lifestyle.
Full time RVing is just another lifestyle. There are always going to be challenging times and easy ones, no matter what you choose to live in or where you choose to live. If it weren’t for bad times, we wouldn’t appreciate the good times. For us, living this crazy nomadic lifestyle, we find that the good times we experience outweigh the bad, hands down.
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