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Old 01-06-2016, 10:01 AM   #21
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I have worked out the numbers on a spreadsheet and staying in a TT is definitely cheaper for us as well as a preferable way to travel especially when you factor in comparable meals. An expertly BBQ'd steak with all the trimmings and a nice bottle of wine in a restaurant (that is able to properly cook a steak) will cost a tank of gas more than preparing the same meal back at the campsite. A couple of beverages at the campsite for my wife and I vs the same two drinks at the hotel lounge further tip the scales in favour of camping. During our trip from Canada to Disneyworld/Florida Keys for six weeks, we averaged about $100 per day, excluding DW park fees and other discretionary excursions etc. that we went on. Hotels and 3 restaurant meals per day easily north of $300 per day, based on our experience staying in hotels during the winter for hockey tournaments.


The other comparable is that my 28BHBE is the equivalent of a hotel suite with kitchenette and separate sleeping quarters which will run you an additional 40 to 50% over advertised hotel rate. Camping a couple of weeks a year probably won't cover the TT depreciation so it will depend on how many nights per year you camp. The additional TV cost is minimal because it is my daily driver and we would need an SUV in any event to haul kids and hockey gear and the 1-2 mpg mileage loss of my TV vs a comparable SUV is not that significant. Additional gas and maintenance costs might add up to $300 per year on average which would be one night in a hotel.


Finally, very good friends of ours spent over $1500 to eradicate bed bugs from their home which hitch-hiked home from a hotel. We had stayed at the same hotel as had the rest of the team and only one family brought the unwanted visitors home and it was certainly not an enjoyable experience for them. Avoiding this potential problem is priceless IMHO.
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Old 01-06-2016, 11:01 AM   #22
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Hattie, I have never suffered from those hotel items you mentioned. I think there are different levels of hotel room quality out there and I will leave it at that. Funny, you didn't mention the problems tenters have.
DH and I are very easy-going and positive in our adventures; we acknowledge there are problems of all sorts we'll continue to encounter in this journey through life, but in our opinion - most turn into great stories, learning experiences, and memories! Guess we're 'glass half full' people.

Both of us worked globally in the military, aerospace, and high-tech environments as people, project, and quality managers. Therefore all of our postings relate to our personal experiences and we both attest, as I'm sure many others would agree, that regardless of where we went or the number of stars for the lodging - there is no guarantee as to the quality of the visit. Alternatively, when you "own" the lodging (be it a tent all the way up to a full-blown RV, or even a non-rental condo), you control the environment (though not always the location's environment).

We started with tenting, then invested first in a used pop-up that was so much fun that after a few years, we sold it (at a profit) to purchase a new one. The second pop-up, now 31 years old (guess we really got our money's worth out of it), was given to our son in 2015 when we purchased our TT ~ may it last another couple of decades! Have we gotten our money's worth out of our purchases? You betcha - and we'd do it all again!!
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Old 01-06-2016, 11:12 AM   #23
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Old 01-06-2016, 11:24 AM   #24
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"By now it's obvious to all of you that I have saved absolutely no money."

Just some friendly Grandpa advice. Slow down on your spending, slow down your decisions, do more research, and spend more time in this and other forums reading threads.

One of the things I learned in my photography class was that some of the best photography is in ones own backyard...and the corollary is that many RVers find that if they spend more time in one location and put on less miles they discover more wonderful things right where they are.
Thanks for trying, but I'm also a Grandpa many times over...
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Old 01-06-2016, 11:45 AM   #25
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Ok, but usually it is young kids that can't save money.
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Old 01-06-2016, 11:53 AM   #26
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I have no problems singing the praises of RVs, I would not be here otherwise.

But it is not reasonable to talk about the problems of Hotels as if there were no problems with tents, tt, motorhomes, etc. It is all a personal choice all of this, with problems and compromises worth talking about for every choice.

If I accepted your complaints about Hotels, as some sort of justification to swear off Hotels, because someone caught bedbugs, I would have sworn off having a female companion/wife after I caught somethings (plural) crawly from one ex-female companion.
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Old 01-06-2016, 01:55 PM   #27
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Just a few words on the hotel vs. RV.


They don't build hotels a mile down dirt roads. In the middle of the woods, where you can talk to one another at over 10' without shouting.
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Old 01-06-2016, 03:38 PM   #28
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DW and I got to a point in our lives where we wanted to make a decision on how we wanted to spend our leisure time. Our choices were basically, roadtrip/hotel stays, backpacking/tenting, or RVing. So we decided to actually DO all three of them. Also, we are fairly young (both in our mid-30’s), so keep that in mind. I've traveled a lot more than my wife and had experienced all three methods and more at different points in my life, but this was to be OUR life together, so we went through it all together.
First was backpacking. I have backpacked all over the place, and I LOVE it. The solitude and peace is simply unbeatable. So we started there, also because I already had most of the gear we would need, so it was a natural place to begin. First trip, she got dehydrated, heat exhaustion, and it stormed like the dickens at night. Needless to say, she didn’t have a good time. So we adjusted our water requirements (I carried more) and watched her heat exposure. Second time was better, but still pretty bad for her, AND it stormed like the dickens again. She said “That’s it! No more!”
We had already been “tailgate” tent camping many times in our relationship, and she knew she wasn’t really on board with that one. She wanted hard walls, a door you could lock and AC/Heat.
Next was a road trip. This was her preference and what she was pushing for. My cousin was getting married and this was the perfect opportunity to make a lengthy road trip out of it. So we set off on a week and a half road trip across the central Midwest. We stopped in all the places we wanted to see and had leisurely driving days, and we stayed in “middle of the road” hotels along the way. The hotels turned out to not be so great, but at least they were clean for the most part (I think, I wasn’t carrying a black light). The biggest problem there was staying in a different bed each night and having to eat most of our meals out. It really just wasn’t for us. We wanted our own bed, our own commode, our own kitchen with our own utensils. They may not be “clean” but at least it’s OUR filth.
So then we borrowed her parents’ Class C MH and stayed a couple weekends out in it. That was it, she was hooked. She green-lighted a travel trailer purchase. I had already been eyeing them for about 2 years, so I was ready. We talked about it A LOT and went to a couple RV shows and asked a lot of questions of her parents and mine.
We bought our 2014 28BHBE in September 2014 and we LOVE it! We can’t wait to show our son as much as we can of this beautiful country. AND I get the benefit of getting to show him much of what I learned as a child about the great outdoors. Later when he’s older, he and I will go backpacking, and his mom will keep the home fires burning (and the AC blowing cold)!
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Old 01-06-2016, 03:55 PM   #29
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Before we bought a used 2012 Jayco x20e in 2014, I estimated we would be ahead financially if we stayed at motels rather than camping with the RV -- until 10 years down the road, when, moneywise, the RV would be the better choice. My wife repeatedly reminded me that RVing was not about the money, and she's absolutely correct. Still, that seemed like an awfully long payoff term. Now that I have more than a year's RVing experience and gas is down to $2, the pay back time shortened to 6 years. More importantly, I'm now certain we made the right choice, regardless.
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Old 01-06-2016, 04:53 PM   #30
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Regardless of the cost, I prefer to travel by truck and camper. It doesn't cost any extra to bring my children along, versus paying for 2 more airplane tickets. I sleep in my own bed, shower in my own bathroom.

Food for thought, I was in a hotel room yesterday investigating a stabbing and sex assault. The room had already been "cleaned" before we got there. None the less we located blood all over the sink and bathroom... despite it being "cleaned".

While we were there, multiple guests who appeared to be prostitutes decided to leave at 4 in the afternoon... shortly after checking in. I can only imagine what was happening on the sheets, on the carpet, in the shower... you get my drift.

One HUGE selling point for me is that I know every single body that has laid upon my bed in my camper. I know what has hit the floor when I walk around bare foot.

Cost aside, we love camping. Yes we paid good money for a trailer and I bought a 3/4 ton truck to pull it. We use our camper as much as a young couple with children can. We go to Florida every winter, something we probably wouldn't do if we didn't have the camper. We go to the lake at least twice a year, something we wouldn't do without the camper. We go to the beach once or twice a year... something we would do anyways... but its so much easier and more comfortable to have our own camper.

We go to local state parks with family and friends who also have campers. Our children get to enjoy the beautiful outdoors, spend time sitting by a campfire, swimming in a lake, going kayaking, spending a long weekend with friends, eating food cooked over a fire, running in the woods, etc. I can't put a price tag on that.

Growing up we had a little pop up and had a great time camping. My wife has a little more demand for certain "conveniences" when camping than I do, or else we would have a pop up too!

On top of all that, we can bring our dogs with us where ever we go.
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Old 01-06-2016, 04:57 PM   #31
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Campfires!
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