Vacationing in a camper is fabulous.

I love camping and vacationing in my camper more than any other type of travel with or without kids.  Traveling with kids in a camper, in my opinion, is hands down the best way to travel. Camping in your camper truly is a family experience, you can even bring the dog (or the cat!). You may think you need a CDL to drive some of those rigs, but the truth is you don’t!  Depending on what type of RV you would like, you don’t even need to get a different vehicle to pull it.

If you don’t already have a camper or RV, why not buy one?

You can even find your camper on Craigslist for FREE.  If you don’t want to make a commitment to own a camper, you can always rent one and try it out to see if it suits you from a site like RV share.

Before vacationing in a camper you will have to decide on the size of the RV that suits your needs.

The Pop Up Camper

This is a great budget-friendly alternative to try your hand at camping. I personally love pop up campers and find them adorable. Check out the Pop Up Princess and don’t blame me if you want to run out and buy a pop-up camper tomorrow.

A pop-up camper can even have slide outs. The sky is the limit with these versatile little guys. You can pull a pop-up camper with any type of vehicle and it’s way better than tent camping because you have an actual bed, kitchen, and bathroom.

The Travel Trailer

A travel trailer is what my family currently has. I love my travel trailer. You can get any type of travel trailer you like, the weights vary, and we pull ours with our SUV. We ultimately chose a travel trailer because we needed to have our bedroom on one end of the camper and the kids to have their own bunkhouse in the back of the camper.

We live in our travel trailer full time and it’s fabulous.  We needed the bunkhouse setup where the kids are on one end and we are on the other because it’s our full-time home. If your camper is for fun trips and not your full-time home, you won’t need as much space as we did.

Airstream has come up with an adorable little travel trailer called the Nest. The Nest is expensive but tiny and has all the comforts of home.

The Class A Motorhome

A Class A Motorhome is a giant luxury beast on wheels. I’d love to own a class A, but the layout did not work for us. This is a great option for those who want their camper or RV to not be a towable vehicle. This type of camper can actually tow your car. One really great feature of this type of recreational vehicle is that you can stay right inside and drive away, you don’t need to get out of your camper and into your vehicle.

Class A campers can have slide outs and range in price all over the map with new ones upwards of $225,000. You can score an older model for under $10,000 so don’t let that monster price tag stop you from choosing the RV of your dreams.

The Class B Motorhome

Class B’s are nice in my opinion because are basically a tricked out van. An Airstream B190 is my dream. I’d love to have one of those little self-contained vans. They are smaller than a Class A and generally cheaper, but they can be all over the board. Anything Airstream makes is going to be top notch.

The Class C  Motorhome

Class C campers are kind of in-between Class A and B.  They have the over cab sleeping area.  They are bigger than the Class B, and they don’t look like a van.

Another perk of Class A, B, and C campers is that you can lay in bed while they are driving. Unlike my travel trailer where I have to sit in the car as we make our way down the road.

Another convenience traveling in a camper is having your own personal bathroom on the road.

When you are on the road and you have to stop to change a diaper there is no better cleaner place to change the baby than in your own camper. When nature calls and you can’t make it to a rest stop, just pull over and use your very own clean toilet.

When I travel for long periods of time, I like to stop at a restaurant and stretch out on my bed before I have to go back up and drive in the car again. The only time I miss not having a class A, B or C motorhome is when we are driving. I would probably miss my travel trailer the first night we had to sleep next to the kids. Don’t get me wrong, I like to sleep next to my kids once in a while but I like it to be a choice.

One of my favorite things about camping in a camper is that you get to enjoy the great outdoors and all that it has to offer but in luxury.

I don’t want to sleep on the hard ground and be stuck out in the elements if the weather is less than perfect. I love that I can climb into my pillow top bed and sleep with my Egyptian cotton sheets with my head on my down filled pillow.

Then, the next morning I can step out my camper and be in the woods, light a fire and enjoy breakfast cooked on a cast iron frying pan. I wake up completely refreshed, nothing hurts from sleeping in an uncomfortable bed and I’m ready with all kinds of energy to enjoy nature with the kids.

Price – High or Low there is something for every budget.

Camping prices can vary. You can camp for free or stay at a resort style campground, or anything in between. I’m more of a state park kind of gal. My kids like to fish and swim, we like to hike and spend time in the mountains and on the beach.

State parks are so inexpensive. You can get a site without any kind of hookups, or you can full hookups or partial hookups.  Whatever you want. I prefer a state park to a campground because you get more privacy and the focus is on nature and the outdoors. But that’s me. You may prefer a resort-style campground where you can go soak in a hot tub and swim in a pool.

There are different types of programs and you can buy camping memberships like 1000 Trails or Good Sam discounts where you can stay in a campground and enjoy all of the amenities. Campgrounds offer activities for kids and parents such as ceramics, crafts, and sports. You name it, you can find it at a campground somewhere.

Just because you are camping in a camper don’t think you are locked into staying at a campground.

If you have a camper you can go anywhere and do anything. There are even free places you can boondock like Walmart, Cracker Barrel or Cabela’s to name a few.  Boondocking means parking somewhere for free overnight.

Campgrounds can be fun too.  Even Walt Disney World has Fort Wilderness if that is your cup of tea. You can bring your dog along on that Disney Vacation, you can have groceries delivered and enjoy the great manufactured outdoors.  There is always something, somewhere for everyone.

Driving Your RV

Driving your RV can be a challenge but it’s really not a big deal once you get used to it. I prefer not to drive, but I don’t like driving a car so that’s just me. I like a chauffeur, but again, that’s me. I can drive a truck and trailer I just choose not to. If you are like me you can drive a Nest, a Pop-Up camper or a Shasta and that is not a problem. A little practice and you will be vacationing in a camper in no time.

Lake, Mountains or Ocean

I love the lake, the mountains, and the ocean. Lucky for me there are state parks and campgrounds in all of those places. I love to sit in my anti-gravity chair in front of a fire, eat vegan organic smores and just relax. There is nothing quite like sitting in front of a fire and you probably won’t find anyplace that has such a setup as the one you can create yourself.

Kids love to be outside and the fresh air is so good for everyone.

Kids love to find sticks and rocks and do the kinds of things kids ought to be doing. It’s hard to find anyplace that offers good clean (well not necessarily clean) outdoor fun when you are not camping.

Glamping Vs. Camping

I don’t really even camp, I glamp. Camping is a little too rustic for me.  Glamping is when you have all of your own luxury amenities in the great outdoors. The kids don’t care about comfort, they are just happy to run around outside and luckily for you, they will be really tired at night.

Men love to camp too.

Men don’t need camping to be as bougie as we women do usually. But they like to get outside, make a fire, and grill some meat. We women hardly even have to do anything when we are camping. That’s a big secret ladies. Camping is the kind of work that men enjoy. Go camping and watch your man in his natural element. He will do all of the dirty work and love it.

I can tell you my man does love doing all that manly camping stuff. He loves to take care of his family in a rustic environment. The hubby loves to take care of his family in any environment but you can tell he really enjoys it in the great outdoors.

So lets recap why vacationing in a camper is so fabulous.

You get the camper that fits your needs and your budget, you go camping like a queen, your kids are happy and play outside far from video games and they get off the couch for fresh air and exercise, and your man takes care of you and enjoys it. Any questions?