Passport America Experience

[Capt_RonB]

We towed our travel trailer from Florida to Washington State this past summer logging 15,000 miles overall. We stayed in Passport America RV Parks a few times. Going into this trip we joined PA but I had my doubts about whether it was worth it. Now after the trip, I would say, definitely worth it.

We used both the PA website and the PA smartphone app to find camp grounds near our travel path. Both work quite well although the website map works better than the app. I would also qualify my comments by saying that we prefer camping on federal lands to staying in an RV Park but sometimes you need wifi or a laundry.

We stayed in a wide variety of parks, mostly in the north western parts of the country. The quality of the parks varied from marginal to excellent.

About the only negative thing we have to say is that some parks limit the PA discount to weekdays or not on holidays or limit the PA discount to 1 or 2 days only. These restrictions can be worked around and they're spelled out on the PA write-ups so you should know this going in.

Read the member reviews of the parks keeping in mind that there are a wide variety of expectations that color the reviews. Reviews by someone with a 40ft motor-home may not be meaningful to a camper with a 13ft Scamp and vice-versa.

All campgrounds have drawbacks, all have advantages but overall, Passport America paid for itself in the first 4 campgrounds we visited and we stayed in at least a dozen different PA RV Parks.

We'll renew our membership for next year's travels; easily worth it.

[tpi]

Good review. Passport America doesn't have to be something you use day after day while staying in amazing RV parks. Generally you have to use it 3 or 4 times a year at least to come out ahead. I get it for Pechanga and Riverside county parks and the rest is gravy. I won't go out of the way (much) to stay in PA campground but occasionally when traveling I find one which meets my needs. Such as when I was in Williams AZ last winter and stayed at Railroad RV park for about $20 per night.

[missourijan]

Excellent review Capt RonB, agree 100%. We have had PA for about 8 years and it has more than paid for itself. In 2011 we traveled from CA to the east coast on I 10 headed north all the way to Niagra Falls. It seemed to me that the east coast had more restrictions than the Midwest or west, but we worked with it and saved a bunch o' money.

[More_To_See]

This is about as well written and balanced a commentary as I can remember reading for a long time. We'll done.

[huntram]

Cspt. Rob,

And depending on your future plans and your age (lol) it might be worth looking into a lifetime pass. For $400.00 you'll never have to pay PA again. We did that when we were in our late 40s. We went full time in our mid 50s about 3.5 year's ago and have MORE then paid for the lifetime pass! It's not a destination usually for us, but it does keep costs down when getting there!

Capt RonB wrote:
We towed our travel trailer from Florida to Washington State this past summer logging 15,000 miles overall. We stayed in Passport America RV Parks a few times. Going into this trip we joined PA but I had my doubts about whether it was worth it. Now after the trip, I would say, definitely worth it.

We used both the PA website and the PA smartphone app to find camp grounds near our travel path. Both work quite well although the website map works better than the app. I would also qualify my comments by saying that we prefer camping on federal lands to staying in an RV Park but sometimes you need wifi or a laundry.

We stayed in a wide variety of parks, mostly in the north western parts of the country. The quality of the parks varied from marginal to excellent.

About the only negative thing we have to say is that some parks limit the PA discount to weekdays or not on holidays or limit the PA discount to 1 or 2 days only. These restrictions can be worked around and they're spelled out on the PA write-ups so you should know this going in.

Read the member reviews of the parks keeping in mind that there are a wide variety of expectations that color the reviews. Reviews by someone with a 40ft motor-home may not be meaningful to a camper with a 13ft Scamp and vice-versa.

All campgrounds have drawbacks, all have advantages but overall, Passport America paid for itself in the first 4 campgrounds we visited and we stayed in at least a dozen different PA RV Parks.

We'll renew our membership for next year's travels; easily worth it.