Well, here it is, July - we've been been stationary for nearly a year, and despite my best intentions, I haven't written anything on the blog since October.
It's harder to find things to write about now. That's not to say we haven't done fun and interesting activities, but the flow of life is much different than when we were traveling. The thrill and sense of freedom isn't quite the same. I've been working on being content with local adventures and rediscovering places I haven't been to in years (or never managed to get to before), but it's still not the same as when nowhere and everywhere was my home. I miss many facets of my traveling life. But...
Long term full-time RVing didn't work for us, for a variety of reasons. I'm going to detail a few of them a bit, in hopes that other families dreaming of life on the road who may read this blog think about these facets before embarking on their journeys.
I'm not saying one should not even start - quite the contrary - our trip has been amazing in so many ways, but it was also very difficult in others. I wouldn't give up the experience for anything, but I might have done a few things differently if I would have known.
1. Too far, too fast
We traveled over 50,000 km in 14 months; visited 10 provinces, 1 territory, and 17 (I think) states. That is a lot of ground to cover in what is really a short amount of time. In comparison, one full-timing family took 3 years to visit the lower 48 states. We rarely stayed anywhere more than a week - often only 4 days. The urge to move on and see more, more, more really took it's toll on the family dynamic and created a lot of unnecessary stress. In retrospect there were also many times when we really should have stopped earlier in the day - say before supper time - and been content with how far we had traveled rather than pushing on. If I were to do it again (or do it some more!) I would move much sloooooooooower.
2. Too many new things
Sell the house, move into a trailer, learn how to drive said truck and trailer combination, start homeschooling, get used to all the quirks of being on the road, switch countries (and figure out the logistics of communication, finances, etc) and move, move, move some more! It was quite a learning process, and just when we thought we had figured it out, something else would change. All in all though, I think all of our adaptability skills got deeper...(well, except those days where I would hit my breaking point - and then I had absolutely no coping skills. On those days it would have been nice to have a quiet, padded, soundproof box to hide in and scream when it all got to be too much?... or better yet, we could have just stopped moving for a bit! hmm.. I think I'm starting to see a theme here... slower is good.
3. Internet
This was a huge one. People take their home internet connection for granted. We certainly did! We were so used to having it all the time, and having it fast that it was a shocker to discover that many campgrounds have no or limited internet access. Not being able to get it - for research, communication, schooling, and leisure was difficult for all of us. It became that coveted thing that started to overshadow many things. The US RVers have it easier, because cellular data plans are far cheaper there than here (although it's not as good as it was even a year ago). Figure this one out before you go anywhere. You'll be happy you did.
4. Expectations
I talked of this in one of my earlier posts. I went into our journey with certain expectations and desires. These were not matched by the expectations and desires of the rest of my family. The inevitable disappointment and anger ensued.... and cue fight! (#647...) These conversations were (and are) both difficult and enlightening, and while we were able to work through and compromise on many of them, others continue to be problematic. But that is what life as a family is... give and take and find middle ground that everyone can stand on. If you're planning a trip like this, make sure that those conversations happen before the travel starts. That way everyone is on the same page right from the get-go. Talk to people who have done it, or are doing it. There are Facebook groups, websites, and forums where you can go to ask questions about everything and anything to do with full-time traveling. Use them!
5. Loneliness
We had the wonderful fortune to connect with an amazing group of people in Florida, through the Full-time Families rally. We traveled with or crossed paths with several families during our trip up the east coast - right until we crossed the border back to Canada. It was such a wonderful, eye-opening, and inclusive experience to connect with like-minded families who came from all walks of life. But for much of our travels we were alone, with only each other for company. Sure, there were plenty of friendly people at the many campgrounds we were at, and several short term friends for the kids, but no deep connections.
6. RVing Canadians vs RVing Americans
It makes a difference!
There are extra challenges to being a Canadian full-timing RVer that our neighbours to the south do not have to worry about. Much of it is due to our weather - we must leave the country if we want to RV in the winter (or deal with cold or wet weather), whereas the US residents just head to a different region. It also has to do with our (well actually, the State's) rules. As Canadians, we must return to Canada after 6 months in the States. This meant we had to leave our new group of American friends at the border and travel on without company. Bye friends! We did meet one Canadian traveling family who I still follow online, but we didn't manage to cross paths again after Florida.
Overall the RV culture is different in Canada than it is in the States - I think, due to the whole cold weather thing. We have much more of a summer camping culture where the kids are out of school and people who fill the campgrounds are either on vacation or out for the weekend. It's not quite the same vibe and as a traveler, you are a little bit on the outside of the group who have made that campground their second home (they are definitely friendly, just not quite as inclusive). Now, if we had just stayed put for longer, we might have made those Canadian connections... but that's thoughts for another time.
7. And last, but certainly not least - $$$
Traveling costs money. Traveling quickly and broadly costs more money (especially when you're driving a fuel pig around). How much you spend depends completely on where you are and what you want to do. When all was said and done, we didn't spend any more money than we would have if we had stayed in Airdrie and lived the life we were prior to our traveling (surprisingly our costs really weren't much different between the months in the US and months in Canada). But it was all money out, with nothing coming in. And that's not sustainable (duh!).
This is a huge topic of conversation on the US based forums/ groups. How do full-time families make a living? The answers are endless... construction, seasonal, workcamping, travel nursing, IT, web-based businesses, home based businesses, consulting....
But when that question is asked a little differently "How do Canadian full-time families make a living?" the answers dry up.
We, personally, never did figure out how to earn an income and travel, which is a bummer, because I would have loved to have figured this one out. (I'm still investigating this one with thoughts on the future, though.)
One further point to consider: travelers also can't forget the different country - different money part of the travel equation. Entering the US for the winter means dealing with the exchange rate. When we went to the US in the fall of 2013 the Canadian dollar was on par with the US dollar. When we crossed the border the Canadian dollar was worth 90 cents US. As I type today, the Canadian dollar is only work 76.5 cents. That's an ouchy, painful in the pocket book kind of difference which definitely makes one closely examine their cross-border spending. Certainly something to consider if future travels take you outside your country's borders.
So that's it. I hope you find these thoughts helpful in planning your own adventures, be they big or small, local or far-flung.
And never be afraid to embrace something that others consider somewhat unconventional.
It may just change your life forever.
