need your opinions: rv or hotel?

I would take a look at the Class B+ motorhomes by Roadtrek and Phoenix. The Phoenix with its two slideouts is particularly impressive.

With hotels most will not allow pets. Restaurants are fine in some area and terrible in others. In many areas I would rather grab cold cuts at a local market than eat at the local places. With our RV we can eat healthy food and eat anything we can find in a market and not be limited to what is on the menu at some local dinner or cafe. Lunch and breakfast are also a waste of time and money to search out the least bad place and hoping Yelp.com reviews are accurate and working them into the route planning.

With an RV we can pull off anywhere (ours is 23' long which is a tremendous help in this regard) and stop and have wine and cheese or fix a meal or simply enjoy the view. I noticed when I was in Yellowstone that none of the pullout were large enough for a Class A or C motorhome or for anyone pulling a trailer. Same applies to many areas where we travel and where we camp. Even stopping at a restaurant or a market for food is much easier with a shorter RV.

In California at the BLM and USFS campgrounds having an RV longer than 28" is going to severely limit the campgrounds where you will be able to find a space and many campgrounds do not allow for reservations so the few campsites that might accommodate a 32' RV may already be taken and any size RV or even a tent camper can take any space they choose.

Oops, stupid auto spell check!! I meant Mvander!

Meander, that is a good point about having something tangible!!

Aliners are awsome. Hope you enjoy it. Also I don't think anyone mentioned that when your done with your rv it will still have value. A motel stay or a meal don't have resale to help justify there purchase.

Another thought! If you buy a small motorhome (not more than 25ft) you can ship it to Europe and travel around Europe in that. This is our plan for when we have done a few more trips around the US and Canada. Trade the 5er and truck on a motorhome and then do the same thing in Europe.
Cheers

MLTS22:several of the things you mentioned are what helped us decide to stick with driving our own bed around, mainly the bedbug problem...of course, we also like to have our favorite beverages handy, too!! Mostly for us, travel is a way to relax and maybe even learn new things, but carting luggage and dog supplies in and out of hotels is not very relaxing. Plus, another recent poster mentioned talking to new people and our experience has been that that almost never happens in hotels. I guess we're just better off being outside!

2gypsies: I know what you mean:I appreciate it when people let us know what they did about something because it might help me!!

Canadian Rainbirds wrote:


One last thought: You make a lot of new friends and meet some very nice and helpful people when RVing. You meet the odd twit now and then too, but then you can just move! :)

You know, I think that is a BIG plus about camping that is often overlooked.

We often stay in hotels and never talk to our neighbors. Even when we are walking down the hall or riding the elevator with them, it is usually nothing more than "hello."

With camping, it is very easy and natural (at least to us) to chat with our neighbors, have a beer, swap stories, etc.

Of course, there are those who rarely leave their trailer/MH and never make eye contact when they are outside, but I've found those types to be fairly rare.

I haven't read all the responses, so I may be duplicating some here.

We started with tents, then tent trailers, then truck camper,then a very small and very old (1973) 23" class A, then a 1997 30' Class A gas and now 2002 32' DP.

First, let me assure you that a Class A is every bit as "drivable" as a class C. They may be a bit bigger but the visibility is far better. I would far rather drive a Class A than a Class C. Size for size, a DP is easier to drive than a gasser. Our 32' DP is much easier and more comfortable to drive than the 30' gasser we had previously.

Class Cs tend to have more sleeping options if you have several kids. Class As usually have only one bed and a dinette or couch that convert for sleeping.

Class As also tend to have more storage and to carry more water and fuel.

We travel with 2 medium-large dogs for 6 months of the year. Previously we had two large (95 pound) dogs. Traveling with an RV the dogs always have there own bed and are always "home".

Depending on size, you may need to tow a car as well.

You can see some of out travels on our blog including Alaska a few years ago. (Blog entries from Alaska from July 2010. Getting there starts with the June 2010 entries.)

One last thought: You make a lot of new friends and meet some very nice and helpful people when RVing. You meet the odd twit now and then too, but then you can just move! :)

Happy travels which ever way you go.

booshmom wrote:
so it's been a couple of months, we did a bunch more research, looked at motor homes, trailer/truck combos and virtually everything on the market and we bought: an Aliner!!

To the OP: Congratulations on deciding on your Aliner. It's a great start. If you find you don't like it, it will be easy to sell. If you find you need more room, you won't be out a lot of money.

Also, thank you very much to come back to your post and let us all know what happened! Wish more folks would do so. :)