Packing - My greatest packing time saver has always been to leave the RV as fully stocked as possible. You might find it is well worth the small investment of buying extra kitchen supplies solely for the RV. Inexpensive coffee pots, toasters, utensils, gadgets, flatware, dishes, etc. can be left on your RV year round. We also have linens, cleaning supplies, and even camping gear on ours. Don’t forget to bring along extra blankets, depending on the weather. For the kids I keep toys, craft items, puzzles, and board games stored on the RV full time. Kids find great pleasure in finding a toy that has been out of sight for a period of time (in between trips). When we leave on a trip, I only have to pack our food and clothing. When packing clothes, a family should always pack light. This is added weight that your RV must carry. Be realistic about what you will use. It is very easy to over pack so reconsider those extra pair of shoes or dress for a “just in case dinner”. Stick with comfortable, easy care items that can be layered or worn more than once between washes. It’s important to find an area that will be the kid’s space, a place they can hang their coat or stack their t-shirts. This gives kids some responsibility and it’s important they have their own drawer or shelf.  Back to the top

The second cooking appliance that I have stocked on my RV is a crock pot. For those busy days of sightseeing, biking, or going to a theme park, it is so wonderful to come back to a pot roast, carrots, and potatoes waiting for you. It is faster than fast food. Careful menu planning really aids in easy RV cooking. Due to the limits on storage space, I try to plan meals that can share ingredients or do not require any specialty ingredients. I also like to precut and clean vegetables before a short trip. Another great time saver is to prepare a casserole before a long travel day. A hot chicken, tuna, or Italian casserole can be just microwave minutes away when you reach your destination.

When buying hamburger meat, rather than tossing a 3 pound package into the freezer, consider pre-making a meatloaf, meatballs, or hamburger patties first and then freeze (raw). This way when you want a nice meal, just thaw, bake, or grill. Only the side items will need to be prepared. The family size frozen chicken breasts packages from your local grocery store are also great selections to keep in your freezer. They can be cooked in the microwave, crock pot, stove, or on the BBQ grill. For lunches while traveling, we usually find a rest area, retail parking lot, or travel stop to pull into for preparing sandwiches or warming up a leftover casserole. Anytime a family can cut out restaurant dining, especially while driving, the savings can go towards other expenses – like higher gas prices or propane.

Bottled water is a staple on our RV. If you travel across the country going region to region, one might find the taste of campground water to be inconsistent. Once on a stay in the Midwest our water supply was from a local well, and we could smell the iron minerals in the water. Even our filter was unable to extract the foul odor from the water. Fortunately, not all water is this bad but if you like consistency from campground to campground for your drinking water needs, we recommend keeping bottled water (by the gallon) on hand at all times. We usually travel with only 1-2 gallons (for weight issues) but keep 6 gallons on board after arriving to our destination.  Back to the top

Laundry - Laundry is always the most daunting of tasks when traveling for weeks. With two small children it never ends. If you will be using your RV frequently for longer trips, I highly recommend a washer/dryer unit. Some RV’ers will tell you these are a waste of money, but if you have children I cannot express how valuable they can be. I have owned two appliance styles, the washer/dryer stack unit and the elite “all in one” unit. My favorite was the stack unit as it had a larger wash/dry capacity. Unfortunately, these only fit in larger fifth wheels or travel trailers. The small “all in ones” can be found on many newer motor homes today. On these your wash loads must be small and will wrinkle if over loaded. I currently have the “all in one” and find it more effective to hang dry large heavy items like blue jeans.

Most private campgrounds do have laundry facilities, and as a general rule of thumb they will be maintained typically on an equal level as the rest of the campground. Remember though, some other campers may have washed shoes or animal bedding in the same unit you are in line to use for your delicates. Laundry units on an RV can be a luxury or a necessity depending on your needs and usage. We priced the cost of a laundry unit and compared it to the cost of doing laundry in the campground facility, based on our travel patterns. For the amount of time we spent in our RV combined with the number of laundry loads our family creates, we found our unit would pay for itself in one year. For us it was an individual choice and an economic necessity.  Back to the top

Toys/Crafts - Keeping the children happy on a trip keeps the parents happy. We keep both inside toys along with small outside playground toys on our unit. If we will be at a destination for a few days, I find a local craft store and purchase craft project supplies that reflect the region or season. One of our best trips was in December when we spent a day creating ornaments for our 3’ tall Christmas tree which we had in the RV. Kids of all ages enjoy crafts and it is a great way to spend quality time together as a family. Some of my favorite travel keepsakes have been made by our children, otherwise known as our local artisans.  Back to the top

Driving and Kids - Asking children to endure long days of driving will no doubt be one of the greatest challenges for any family on vacation. Small children probably will not be able to sit awake in a car seat for 8 to 10 hours without breaks to stretch and activities to keep their minds occupied along the route. As your kids get older driving these long distances does get easier. When our children were smaller one of the best ways we found to simplify our driving was by traveling at night. By starting our trip at bedtime, we found our kids would sleep almost until 6:00 A.M. For over 8 hours my husband and I would have a little peace and quiet. We would stop only for fuel, and a nice breakfast and stretch break would be enjoyed when our kids woke up the next morning.

During daytime driving there are activities that work for keeping some kids happy, but lets face it not all kids want to color, draw, or play travel games. The internet is full of suggestions for games to play with kids, but don’t feel like your trip will be a failure if they find these boring. For more challenging kids (as ours are on occasion), try using a portable video player. If all else fails, watch movies. Parents don’t need to feel like failures if they resort to watching DVDs. In the past, we’ve used a laptop computer and a portable video player with monitors mounted to the back of our front seats. Sometimes, we can play two back-to-back movies without hearing a word coming out of the backseat. Some players can also be set up for video games.

When not watching movies, our kids do enjoy reading the road map, and we usually spend a lot of time talking about the states we are going through, the sites and activities we will be doing there, etc. My husband is not able to read a book while I drive, but I can usually read for an hour or so without getting car sick when he drives. I let our kids pick books which I will read aloud during the drive. Finally, we will spend time singing along to CD’s which contain children’s songs.  Back to the top

Pets - Another reason to consider traveling in an RV is pets. Most hotels don’t allow pets and finding one which does can be a painstaking process. We’ve all seen news stories on unclean hotels, and who knows what hidden health issues exists with hotels that allow dogs, cats, etc. Fortunately for RV’ers, most campgrounds do allow pets. When a campground allows pets, do anticipate some restrictions. Always tell the campground operators about any pet(s) which will be present, and be sure to mention your pet’s breed and size. If you plan on bringing your Pit Bull chances are you will be turned away. Expect to keep your pet on a leash anytime it is outside the RV (cats included). Most campgrounds will not allow you to leave your pet outside for sleeping at night or during the daytime should your family leave the grounds. Furthermore, most operators will not let pets remain outside for extensive lengths during the day time even while you are home. Crying, barking, or annoying pets will usually not be tolerated either by campground operators or your campground neighbors. Most operators are insistent that RV’ers scoop the poop immediately, and some require pets to be walked to designated areas for this chore. Fortunately, we haven’t encountered too many situations where the pet policies are violated. Usually violations are resolved swiftly by better campground operators.

Be aware that some RV parks do not allow pets, especially dogs. I’ve never bothered to ask any of these operators why they’ve made this policy. Perhaps there are underlying personal issues with some of these operators or maybe past incidences by RV’ers who violated pet policies caused this action. Nevertheless, this is another reason why pet owners must follow all pet policies so that other RV parks don’t become inhospitable to our beloved four legged family members. If you do travel with your pet, be sure to bring shot records. A variety of reasons call for this, but foremost should you need to board your animal for an emergency, many facilities will require these records. Other reasons to have shot records might include traveling out of the country or if your pet decides to bite someone. We also encountered a campground once which required the pet’s rabies vaccination records.
 Back to the top

Health Documentation - Depending on how long your family will be away from home, parents may want to bring along children’s immunization records or other health records. One never knows if an emergency trip to the hospital will occur and having these records may help doctors treat the child. We keep ours in a folder stored in an overhead cabinet. If you plan on traveling a lot, having a nationally recognized health insurance provider simplifies finding a doctor or health care facility, especially if an emergency occurs two thousand miles away from home.  
Back to the top

Campground Issues - It may be fair to say that RV’ers who travel with kids are looking for a different experience in an RV park than those who travel without them. Since we travel with ours, we prefer a family RV park which offers amenities for children and everyone wants a safe environment. There have only been a few occasions which we had a problem finding a good campground meeting this criteria. We would gladly pay a little more each night to have a playground, pool, and sleep peacefully. If you book a site only to arrive and find your accommodations are not what were promised, don’t be afraid to leave. Furthermore, if you do need to leave abruptly on account of conditions, be sure the campground is not charging you any fees (unless you do spend the night there).

Don’t hesitate to ask frank questions of an operator’s facility during the reservation process as most should answer honestly. With gasoline prices high, we believe RV’ers will be more selective about their vacation spots and accommodations in order to receive top value for every dollar spent. Fortunately, most typical RV’ers going to family vacation destinations will not encounter a situation so bad that prompts them to leave.  Back to the top