Economics of RV vs hotel travel.

[LarsMac]

I think that you have missed the point of RV traveling. Thats fine as RV folks are not even close to the majority of travelers so feel free to do what you wish. If you are serious about considering an RV, I strongly suggest that you start by spending some time at a large RV show so that you will know what they offer in accommodations. Then come here with an open mind as we don't care what you choose to do but are happy to share what we do and why we do it. You might want to consider renting an RV at some destination to experience what avid RV folks are about. RV travel is never going to work for what you describe. Your name says "Soon to Retire" which made us think that you were asking about retirement travel. Many of us have lived in our RV 100% of the time once retired.

If you don't mind, why did you ask about RV travel?

I think you missed the point of the post you responded to. They only have a couple of weeks of time off and spending that whole two weeks getting to the other side of the country and back leaves little time to actually enjoy the other coast. Flying over, and renting an RV make a lot sense, if the point of the trip is to go to the west coast and explore that side of the country for two weeks.

 

[LarsMac]

DW and I are seriously thinking about giving up on the RV idea and just flying where ever we want to go and renting transpo there and doing the hotel thing. (not a germaphobe, and don't stay in fleabag places, so minimal concern there)
As our plans are indeed to see the country, that would NOT entail staying for a weeks, or weeks at at time at some Jellystone campground, but move somewhere new every couple of days.
These pros are weighing pretty heavy:

While we love driving cross country, this would give us more focused time at our preferred destination, (east coast, west coast, Alaska, etc),
When we need, or want to come home we hop a plane and are home in hours.
It would enable us the ability to travel in nimble fun to drive, extremely comfortable and newer vehicles.
No storing, maintaining, RV insurance, etc.
Ability to travel overseas, island hop, etc.
Maintain ability to pick up a cheap grill and char some critters outside when desired.

Still chewing on some things but starting to lean more in this direction.
I'm guessing this is not going to be a very popular decision here seeing as this is a RV site after all!

If I still had a stick and brick residence, I would do that. But we traded the Stick and brick lifestyle for the wandering life. And, so far, the RV supports the wandering lifestyle better than anything else that I can think of.
For the first ten years out of the military, I just wandered. picked up work where I was, or hitched rides to get to where there was work, or when I heard about a place, and wanted to go there, I stuck out my thumb to get there.

If I didn't have the RV, I might take up the Thumb, again. Though, I'm not sure how many folks would stop to pick up an old fart like me, these days.
"Easy going." That's my new Motto.

 

[rvlifer]

The best part of travelling in an rv is that the travel becomes part of the vacation. If you have the time and ability to get away from an itinerary you will often times find that stuff along the way is better than the end destination.

So many people rush to get somewhere and get so stressed out over getting to where they are going that it takes them to the end of the vacation before they really start to enjoy themselves.

Me and a buddy used to take long weekends where we would jump in the car, randomly pick a direction, and then we would randomly pick a new direction and when we came to a numbered route that went in that direction we would get on it and do it again. Once we didnt want to drive anymore we would find a place to stay with bars and restaurants nearby, hang out for a few days, then head back home.

i have found that rv travel is most fun whwn i use that same attitude. There is so much to see in the US that you will never find the most interesting stuff by making an itinerary

 

[Lou Schneider]

If I still had a stick and brick residence, I would do that. But we traded the Stick and brick lifestyle for the wandering life. And, so far, the RV supports the wandering lifestyle better than anything else that I can think of.
For the first ten years out of the military, I just wandered. picked up work where I was, or hitched rides to get to where there was work, or when I heard about a place, and wanted to go there, I stuck out my thumb to get there.

If I didn't have the RV, I might take up the Thumb, again. Though, I'm not sure how many folks would stop to pick up an old fart like me, these days.
"Easy going." That's my new Motto.

I gave up the stick and brick lifestyle 20+ years ago. Even so, it sometimes makes sense to leave my RV home in a weekly or monthly park (or in storage) and do the hotel fly and drive on a quick out and back trip

 

[Isaac-1]

Just to add to what others have said, we are part time RV'ers, I am retired, but my wife still works full time, though she now gets close to 40 vacation days per year (and about 1.5 days more every year she stays at her current job) , combine that with a 5 day work week and this in effect means 56 actual days if vacations are scheduled to book end with weekends, not all of which are used on RV trips. Plus I sometimes take solo trips, or weekend trips with my college age son.

Looking back on our RV travels since buying our current coach in 2016, I have to say the places I think about are as often the spur of the moment stops, and places we saw heading too and from the main destination as much as they are the main features of the trip. For example in Oct of 2019 we took a circa 3,000 mile nearly month long loop trip from our home in Louisiana to the Grand Canyon and back, well I did, my wife had to fly home from Arizona due to work schedule. When I think back on that trip, sure I think of the Grand Canyon, but I also think of Spending the night in Amarillo, TX and eating at the Big Texan Steak house, touring historic Santa Fe, NM and eating at a small mom and pop New Mexican cafe next door to the RV park, seeing Aztec national monument, Navajo National Monument, ...

 

[Sunnyfalls]

I think that captures the essence of sailing and RVing for us as well. There's just something about traveling to a far off destination with all the uncertainty and surprises along the way that somehow lifts one soul to a more joyous state and forces you to live in and fully experience the moment. You just don't get that by flying to some destination and checking into a hotel.

 

[Professor David]

doing the hotel thing. (not a germaphobe, and don't stay in fleabag places, so minimal concern there

First, no worries about stating your developing thoughts here at this forum. Everyone has their own preferences and life style. It is very good that you are doing your due diligence.

About motels/hotels . I've found that even the more pricey motels/hotel have cleanliness issues. I'm not a germaphobe either but I don't want to sit or lay in someones bodily fluids. Take a black light into a pricey hotel/motel to discover for yourself. Also, renting a hotel/motel room for several weeks/months really adds up. We also travel with two dogs which excludes a lot of motels/hotels. Even if we find one that allows pets, they tend to smell bad from previously poorly trained pets. Location is also a big difference when comparing hotels versus the amazing places you can stay in a motorhome/rv. When we stay in AZ in Jan and Feb, we get to stay right in the dessert with mountains all around us at a county park with rigs spaced out very, very far apart...no human develop in view. I don't think we could even find a house to rent that would be in such a great location and if we did...it would cost big bucks to rent ($300 to 500 per night). We spend about 4 grand going to AZ for two months in our motorhome. To fly, rent a car, stay at an average hotel ($150/night), eating out for all meals would cost us well over 10 grand.

just flying where ever we want to go and renting transpo

Plane travel is not what it used to be like. Long lines, grumpy travelers/staff, heavy security, seats are closer and closer together (I'm 6'3"...you are lucky if you are a small person these days on planes), highly defined schedules, delays, expensive especially from where we live in a smaller city/airport,....the list goes on. We use planes if we have to be somewhere like a wedding or funeral but not for pleasure in retirement. You will be retiring so you won't have to rush to someplace to be on vacation. We would also need to board our pets. We love being with our dogs...they are part of the family.

If you want to island hop then an RV is the wrong choice. We love the West and staying in the US. So many things to do close to our home like western SD, WY, MT, CO, NM, UT, and AZ...within relatively short driving distance.

 

[Isaac-1]

Ever increasingly my problem with air travel is that it does not get you there on time. Note I have not stepped onto an airplane since I became mostly retired in 2016 and bought our motorhome, though in the 15+ year before that I was flying places, mostly for work, but also vacation travel at least 3-4 times per year, and on at least 6 occasions I had significant delays reaching my destination ranging from 12-36 hours. In two cases I was left stranded at airports 150-300 miles away from home with estimated 1-2 days of delay before the airline could get me on a flight home, leaving me to end up renting a car and driving home on the last leg of the trip. Only one of these was due to weather issues at the airport I was traveling from / to, more often it would either be mechanical issues with the plane, scheduling / weather issues causing cascading delays due to planes being scheduled on 3-5 flights per day.

 

[jymbee]

We quit tracking travel expenses years ago. It takes a lot of the fun out of the vacation.