Starting RVing with a PUP behind a minivan - thoughts?

A popup is a great camping solution for a family of 5. It will tow much easier behind the minivan than a regular travel trailer or hybrid, because it folds so low and adds only a little bit of wind resistance. Most popups will very easily sleep 5.

If you watch your local Craigslist ads now, you'll stand a good chance of seeing a few late model, lightly used popups for sale; someone else has already taken the biggest depreciation hit on these, and you might pick up a bargain.

I started with a popup, for one summer. My wife was unhappy about sleeping in bear country with canvas sides. For just two of us I did not see the point of messing with two sliding bunk ends (we didn't need the extra space for anything); sometimes the trays would get a little crooked and jam when pushing them back in, too. So we sold it. Since then we've had a succession of increasingly smaller travel trailers. My DW no longer wants to camp, so now I've moved back to a popup... but it's a hardside popup called Aliner. I sort of wish I had started out with the Aliner; maybe I wouldn't have bought and sold so many others!

You might take a look at these hardside A-frame folding trailers while you're at it. They are now made by Forest River under the Rockwood and Flagstaff brands, and also made by Jayco and Starcraft. I've seen some of them discounted as low as $11K (new). They sleep 4 pretty easily, but the 5th kid could sleep on the floor (with legs under the dinette, pretending it's a cave). Setup and takedown takes about 1 minute, whereas a popup will take more like 10 minutes IIRC. Here's a picture of a floor plan: Rockwood A122

BTW, you definitely want to have your trailer at least a month before your big trip. Take it camping someplace close to home for a night or two to find out what you are forgetting to pack, what accessories you need to buy, how everything will fit, how the appliances operate, practice setup and takedown, etc. You also will find out then if something needs fixing. That way you have less chance of getting any big, bad surprises during your special trip.