This post, I will be sharing our experience staying in a campervan also known as RV (Recreational vehicle) mainly in the USA. The places that we stay are known as RV Parks.
Before our trip, I have 101 questions and uncertain if this is going to be safe or even doable for 21 days. After travelling with my 2 girls aged 2+ and 5+, we survived and it was all worth it! The RV experience in USA was one of the best after hearing stories from my sister/friends who had done it in New Zealand and Australia.
As a typical Singaporean, I am more kiasu and fearful of the safety of my kids hence I told my hubby to book RV Parks almost everyday. An RV Park is like a hotel for our RV where we can park our RV overnight.
There are also facilities available and the basic ones include:
- Free Wifi
- Laundry services (Prepare to have loose coins - quarter coins). They have both washing and dryer which range between $1.50 - $2.75 per wash / dry services.
- Shower Facilities - It's like a public showering area but it's safe as they all have number lock. This is one of the better shower facility at Hollywood RV Park.
- Water facilities, a pipe to connect to your RV - For washing of dishes, showering within your own RV is possible too if you have a shower facility in your RV
- Dumping station - Based on what I know, the main difference between NZ/Aus and USA is the dumping station. It's is relatively straightforward in USA where we connect the pipe to the dumping pipe and it will all be done. Whereas in New Zealand , based on what I have googled - toilet has a small box (cassette) attached to the base that can be removed through a small door on the outside of the motorhome.
Some of the better RV Parks has nice big playground, heated pool and jacuzzi, games room and campfire ground.
If you like to save some $, you can also opt for free campsite which is easily available in Arizona and Utah. We did stayed for about a few days in free campsite. A free campsite usually has no connection as well.
Now before I continue to share about our unique experiences in the various RV Parks, I will recommend you to travel with an RV if you decide to travel around Arizona or Utah instead of the cities area because it is more expensive to park and drive an RV in cities. The parking fees for RV can cost up to USD40 in Santa Monica Beach when we were in LA. The roads were narrower and some places do not allow RV parking. In this trip, we travelled about 15 days in Arizona and Utah where we visited the National Parks - Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches and Grand Canyon.
Where to rent an RV?
Our RV was from : https://www.cruiseamerica.com/ . We rented from a third party website but this was the exact model we drove - 25 feet long.
Check the video below for our Campervan Tour:
How do you store your items in the Campervan?
Even though there are plenty of cabinets in the campervan, you do not store your luggage inside the campervan. There is a '' çar boot'' space for you to keep your luggages. Hence, it is better you for to pack what you need during your campervan trip in a lightweight travel bags. I packed in the way that each of us has a travel bag.
What do I need to bring for a campervan trip?
Moving to a motorhome means you do need quite a bit of stuff. The first thing you get your campervan is to check what is provided - do they provide utensils, knives, pots and pans and kettle before you go to the local supermarket to grab your essentials. For ours, I paid for these and it was all brand new. The bedsheet, towels and hand towel were also provided.
Things that you need to buy:
- Cartons of water as they do not recommend to use the water from the source for cooking/drinking.
- Shower essentials ( soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste etc)
- Cooking essentials (oil/butter, seasonings, utensils)
- Food (Make sure you plan sufficient food as some of the roadtrips can be long e.g. 6 hours)
List of RV Parks that we have stayed can be found here : RV Parks
Unique experiences that we had stayed in these RV Parks:
Opportunity to go to their big Supercenter as you will need to stock up for the long roadtrip.
After a morning hike, we were so tired and we went back to the campervan to take a nap. This was one of the best part of having a campervan, you can stop the campervan at a safe place whenever you are tired. This was taken after Zion National Park where our shoes were all soaking wet so we let it dry while we took a nap and cookEd our lunch.
Meeting other children from other countries and mingling with them was fun for our girls! One of the girls invited them to do rock drawing / colouring.
You can rent the camping chairs too. The girls were waiting for Daddy to start the campfire.
At Ruby's Inn RV Park, we set up our campfire and kept ourselves warm.
All the items needed to set up the campfire can be purchased from the store at Ruby's Inn RV Park. It was our first time roasting marshmallows and the girls were loving it!
Another memorable part about driving a campervan was being able to do the things that I wanted even when the kids couldn't get up on time such as catching the sunrise. The kids were still sleeping but I was able to hike up to see the sunrise.
I can also go and recee the place first before bringing the children up when they wake up.
This was taken at Arches National Park where my kids woke up 8a.m and had their breakfast. They were ready to explore Arches National Park!
Playground in Moab's RV Park. This playground is huge and the kids were excited about it!
Free campsite before heading towards Grand Canyon. We had no connection nor any facility that day.. just cooking ourselves a simple meal while watching the sunset as the kids play.
That night, we spotted one of the most beautiful sky.
Checking out the store at Orangeland RV Park in LA. Renting the fruit picker for free so we can go around to pick the fruits in the RV Park.
This was one of the most memorable RV Park .. the orange tree was right beside us and I recalled one of the afternoon nap, I woke up craving for the oranges. It was such a blessing to be able to pick the oranges and ate them fresh immediately.
Most of the RV Park has a table and bench next to the RV parking lot. You can have your meals outdoor or do any activities outdoor.
Check out the facilities at Orangeland RV Park - it has a swimming pool and games area. This RV Park is my favourite of all!
Hollywood RV Park has many beautiful wall art like these around. It's just so beautiful to walk around the area.
Another perk of driving an RV is convenience. Bringing a motorhome around makes everything better - less packing to do , we can upload our loots onto the campervan and continue shopping with worrying that we need to lug back to the hotel. If we forget to bring something, we just got to head back to take them or when we feel hungry, we just head to our campervan and whip up something quick.
One for the memory of our 21 days in the Campervan.
I would suggest to rent a week to experience it fully if 21 days is too long for you.
One tick off our bucket list and I can't wait to bring the girls on another exciting experience again!
