Camper any day over Hotel

[TCNashville]

We do the "hotel" thing once a year [during winter] and it's renting a beach front condo in St. Pete. Once April starts, it's the camper all the way.

[msturtz]

I travel extensively for work and always stay in hotels. The mid priced hotels cost $150 - $700 per night plus taxes and fees. Food etc is extra. I have also traveled on vacation in hotels as well. With a family of 5 it is expensive to stay in a hotel and eat out every meal. When my wife and I decided to take our daughter to Disneyland for her 5th birthday we initially planned on flying from Seattle and renting a car and staying at a hotel. When I did the cost estimate including park entrance fees, rental car, food, hotel, airfare etc. the cost was well over $5000! I decided to run the cost calculation with taking the TT towed behind our 1 ton truck with an 8.1L v8!. Even with sky high gas prices the cost was under $2k. This included fuel, park entrance fees, RV park fees etc. We ended up dry camping at rest areas on the way down and back and staying at an RV park a few blocks from Disneyland. A shuttle took us every day.

[Big Sky]

I prefer bringing my home with me wherever we go. Winter is the only time we go the hotel route and we don't like it nearly as much.

[Park Ridge Phil]

Pretty much did the same thing when our boys had hockey tournaments out of town. We don't like hotels either.

[glsimms]

Of course one thing we're all missing is the $40 to $50 thousand bucks we spent on our rigs, (TV plus TT), you can spend quite a lot of nights in a hotel....

Just sayin'.....

[Donedroolin]

I would spend all that money over again. I LOVE, LOVE, having my own clean bed and bathroom. Bringing my own vacation home on wheels where ever I want to go. Being able to go outside whenever you want and sit around or go for a walk. People are 100% friendlier at a campground then hotels. Yea you have the setup and tear down, but we are camping. We can cook whenever we want to. Go in and escape the elements. You dont have to hear people talking in the hallway or making noise in there room, next to you or above you. What can I say I LOVE my camper, oh yea I said that already. But you are right we did spend allot of coin on our rigs, But I LOVE them!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tunce the traveler]

And would you want to be on a Hotel Forum?

[NotoriousBig]

I'm brand new to this, and we took our very first excursion last weekend. Went dune riding in Moses Lake, and stayed at the Potholes State Park....beautiful! Admittedly, we are 5 star resort all-inclusive types for vacations, but I talked my DW into this RV stuff after 25 years. I did all the cooking, kept everything clean, cleaned afterwards and made it as chore-free as possible for her. Me....I had a blast cooking (Salmon, Prawns, T-bones, Hash browns/Eggs) on the new Coleman. Sat by the fire every night with an adult beverage, keeping warm and enjoying...freedom. My DW?? Shes ready for Banks Lake in June...jetskis and friends with RV's. Yep....I love Jamaica in Feb, but I also love Eastern Washington in the summer. Thanks for this forum folks....hope to be here a while=)......NB

[DocBrown]

We could go either way but we most certainly prefer the trailer. They both have their merits. And honestly, motels are no different than campgrounds. Some are great, and some just plain suck. Sometimes its nice not to tow something and have to setup after a long day of driving.

Every winter we do a getaway in Door County, WI. We get a kitchenette suite for far less than summer rates. We walk in, unpack, and in 10 minutes we're just relaxing. Its a great hassle free get away that doesn't break the bank.

1n 2007 we celebrated our 25th anniversary by taking a 2 day Amtrak trip in a roomette to Fresno, then stayed in a cabin at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite NP. It was an incredible experience and one we'll never forget. We'd do it again in a heartbeat.

But we also loved towing our trailer to CA and back in 2005. And again on a trip to Yellowstone a year later. Two more incredible experiences we'll never forget.

Cheap motels, like Super 8 and Hampton Inn? Some are OK, but all them are forgettable. We've done some flights to CA and stayed in cheaper motels while sight seeing, the sights were great, the motels, so-so.

[milw156]

Of course I prefer the camper any day over staying in a hotel. However I have several coworkers who can't understand why I would bear the expense of driving, owning a TV or a camper. My girls who are 8 and 6 will always have these memories of camping with the family and visiting the "flyover" or "drive-through" parts of the states. That's good enough for me.