Traveling with kids and no bunks?

cltkids wrote:
Sounds good. And I agree that traveling cross country adds more ammunition to the bunk argument. We did a 4 week trip to the Grand Canyon area and a 5 week to Yellowstone and it was great and are memories I will never forget. My daughter recently moved out on her own and I miss her and the family trips already. I know you will have great memories.

Please post back what your decision was.

Those are the trips I'm hoping to take! I'll certainly post back with pictures of what rig we end up with :)

Sounds good. And I agree that traveling cross country adds more ammunition to the bunk argument. We did a 4 week trip to the Grand Canyon area and a 5 week to Yellowstone and it was great and are memories I will never forget. My daughter recently moved out on her own and I miss her and the family trips already. I know you will have great memories.

Please post back what your decision was.

Rick Jay wrote:
But wifey often seems to get very...um, shall we say "frisky" when we're camping. Not sure why, and I definitely won't complain. Not having that isolation between us and the kids would cause many opportunities to go unfulfilled. There, I think I phrased that so it won't get bleeped! ;) LOL)

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We opted for "living space" over dedicated sleeping space. Kids will sleep anywhere. They can even sleep on those jack-knife and pull-out sofas that would cause some of us to walk hunched over for a week. No problems for them. :)

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~Rick

LOL Rick I couldn't help but chuckle ... Having space between us and the kids is on my mind too :) and your point about living space is well taken.

time_to_go_now wrote:
... Making the beds was not a big deal. But, they very much missed having their own space. And I didn't like that their******was all over the place. We could not find many class A's that had bunks.
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But, my kids are now 6'0" and they barely fit on the bunks. So, the wife and I are trying to decide what is the next rig we will be getting. I doubt it will have bunks. I think we are at the point of air mattress on the floor.

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Thank you Jim - definitely food for thought - I like the bunks in that all the kids' junk is in one place and wife and I can "confine the mess" in one area - the best we can. OTOH mine are going to be tall so the bunks won't be the solution for forever.

holstein13 wrote:
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Since we are full timers, the bunk beds are very, very useful. Mostly because each child has a place for their stuff. There are wall pockets and three drawers under the bunks. That also leaves us the pull out bed for any guests.

Given your intended style of travel, I'd say you could go either way, but I doubt you would ever regret getting the bunks.

Hard to disagree with this last statement - this will really depend on what I'm able to negotiate with my employer, but I intend for our MH purchase to be followed with cross country trips every year, for weeks at the time. Instead of weekends or a week here and there parked at a destination, I'm hoping that we have the ability to be mobile and see the USA. I think bunks have the edge there for me, but in the end it will depend on the budget. We've got a few dominoes waiting to fall, and if they are just right - bunkhouse it is. If not, we'll probably land in a MH without but either way we're going to do some road trips!

Thanks to everyone for the tips :)

I'm a full time family camper with two kids, bunk beds and two bathrooms. Many of the responses above are from occasional families. You only asked for experiences from people without bunks so you can probably ignore my experiences.

You indicated that your kids are 5 and 8 so most likely, bunk beds will not be too small for them for many years to come.

I started with a 2011 10 person Fleetwood Storm 32BH. It was an entry level gasser and, in my opinion, the almost perfect weekend camping coach for a family on a budget. There were 6 separate sleeping areas in that coach and it offered many sleeping options. There were two dinettes, one in front and one in back. The front converted to a bed, but the rear one converted to bunk beds. I really loved this setup because when I camped with only my kids, they used the front drop down bed and I could use the rear dinette as my personal workspace. When we traveled through Zion, Bryce, Yellowstone, we set them us as permanent bunk beds and each kid had their own space.

One interesting thing about children is that they have friends who often like to camp with them. Having sleeping choices is even more critical when your kids have their friends with them.

Now we travel in a 45 foot luxury DP with a bath and a half. The bunk beds are 6 feet long and I've even slept in them when I picked up my in-laws in NYC and brought them back to Asheville for a vacation. I'm 5'11" tall and that's about the limit for my bunk beds -- but I was comfortable.

Since we are full timers, the bunk beds are very, very useful. Mostly because each child has a place for their stuff. There are wall pockets and three drawers under the bunks. That also leaves us the pull out bed for any guests.

Given your intended style of travel, I'd say you could go either way, but I doubt you would ever regret getting the bunks.

Most RV bunks get pretty small for almost grown up kids. What works really well now, may not in a few years anyway.

toedtoes wrote:
I think that desire to have "your own space" is more about how kids are brought up nowadays (I don't mean that negatively) than an actual need.

Back in the 70's and earlier, families lived in smaller houses with fewer bedrooms and fewer bathrooms. Sharing (and no privacy) was part of life. Nowadays, houses are getting bigger and families are getting smaller. As a kid, we had 2 parents and 3 kids in a 1400 sq ft house. Now, it's very common to see 1 parent and 2 kids in a 2,500 sq ft house.

In addition, in the 70s, most families had a station wagon and the kids were sardined into the back seat. Now, it's a minivan with each kid in their own chair - no touching.

I do believe that if the trips are fun, that the kids will "get over" their lack of private space, etc. and will learn to enjoy the togetherness. I know some of our best memories were when there were 5+ kids laying in the cabover bunk in the TC while my parents drove us to wherever we were going - we had a BLAST up there all sardined in for 4+ hours.

Very well said. Both my wife and myself, when we were kids, watched plenty of miles go by looking out the front window of a cab over camper!

I think that desire to have "your own space" is more about how kids are brought up nowadays (I don't mean that negatively) than an actual need.

Back in the 70's and earlier, families lived in smaller houses with fewer bedrooms and fewer bathrooms. Sharing (and no privacy) was part of life. Nowadays, houses are getting bigger and families are getting smaller. As a kid, we had 2 parents and 3 kids in a 1400 sq ft house. Now, it's very common to see 1 parent and 2 kids in a 2,500 sq ft house.

In addition, in the 70s, most families had a station wagon and the kids were sardined into the back seat. Now, it's a minivan with each kid in their own chair - no touching.

I do believe that if the trips are fun, that the kids will "get over" their lack of private space, etc. and will learn to enjoy the togetherness. I know some of our best memories were when there were 5+ kids laying in the cabover bunk in the TC while my parents drove us to wherever we were going - we had a BLAST up there all sardined in for 4+ hours.

I'm trying to figure out where to start. We have a Tiffin 35QGA on a FRED chassis. Call me in a year. Maybe I will sell it!

It is not just what you sleep the kids in at night (response to all the "use a tent" replies). Where do the kids like to travel while you are going cross country. We had double bunks in a 25' Aerolite trailer. The kids liked having their own space. Then we bought a triple bunk Jayco trailer. Same thing. The kids loved having their own space. Then we bought a class C. One kid had the over cab bunk. The other the sofa. The other, the dinette. Making the beds was not a big deal. But, they very much missed having their own space. And I didn't like that their******was all over the place. We could not find many class A's that had bunks. Until about 2007. When were actually going to buy a Fleetwood DP with two sofas and a dinette. Bought it off Ebay. Went to pick it up, and we decided to leave without it. So, we decided to buy the new Tiffin 35QBA. We have had it since 2007. It has worked out perfectly for us. We are leaving in five days on a 3,000 trip to Oregon.

But, my kids are now 6'0" and they barely fit on the bunks. So, the wife and I are trying to decide what is the next rig we will be getting. I doubt it will have bunks. I think we are at the point of air mattress on the floor.

The bunks worked perfectly for us since 1997. But, our needs have changed. And that is what happened every time I sold one RV and bought another. Our needs changed. You need to figure out how much time is going to be spent driving around. Versus parked in a campground. I am 9 years away from retirement. I suspect we will be buying two more RV's. One very soon that will take us 8 years or so. And then our retirement rig.

Not sure how much this helped. Just trying to explain our situation so that it may help you avoid making any mistakes.

I'm with the group that says air mattresses, etc. I think one of the things that makes camping enjoyable is that things are different from home. As long as the kids are being cramped into a too short or confined space, they will have fond memories of "roughing it by sleeping on the air mattress on the floor".

Bringing a tent along as they get older will be another fond memory as they can have their own space and fun without disturbing the old folks.

5 adults traveled in our 33' Class A with 2 slides and we don't have a dinette that makes a bed. We have a sofabed with an air mattress that sleeps 2 and bought a twin air mattress for the 3rd person. Son-in-law and grandson slept on sofa bed and daughter slept on the air mattress on the floor in front of the dining table. When we travel we stay so busy that we all go to bed at a normal time after watching some TV together. Get up early, stay busy all day and tire the out! Limit electronics.