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Camping is not that cheap anymore; we pay about $45/night in Maine for a campsite with hookups. Most of the campgrounds we stay at have a swimming pool and a little camp store but there are campgrounds that are very expensive and we have no need for all the extras. .....
Hence, my recommendations to get solar and avoid the need for hookups. If you want to stay around the campground and enjoy the cable TV and swimming pool and the billiards table, consider motels, time shares and other options.
Hence, my recommendations to get solar and avoid the need for hookups. If you want to stay around the campground and enjoy the cable TV and swimming pool and the billiards table, consider motels, time shares and other options.
We have no need for billiards or tv. As I already said, nowadays we only go away for a few days at a time. When the motels are $150/night in season, I'll stick with the $45 a night campground.
Oh, as to costs:
In ~3 years of ownership and "full timing" (living in it as my primary home) my repair costs for my 19 year old airstream remain under my $50/month repair budget.
Nice area. I often do stealth (boondock) camping but I would not try it there. The local community, resorts and campgrounds are all making money off the visitor and they don't tolerate anyone visiting for free.
If you have pets (especially multiple or large) many "pet friendly" lodgings won't take you. Those that do take you and your pets often charge an additional non-refundable pet fee to the tune of $25-30 per night, sometime per pet per night. Gahhh! We traveled our first year in pet friendly lodgings and though we were only out a month and a half, we spent in the vicinity of 5K on lodging alone and we are talking lower-mid range lodgings, not the Hilton.
About a third of the time we had to call around to multiple places to find a place that would take our pets (2 airedales) even with several printed pet friendly guides and online resources at our disposal. More than once we were stuck driving hours past where we wanted to stop not due to no-vacancy but due to us having pets that were more than 15 pounds and the audacity to have two of them! Once, exhausted at 1am we had to beg a night clerk in a motel the last one for the next 160 miles to let us in. They mercifully relented and asked us to be gone by 6am to avoid being seen by the day shift. That was one short night. If people try to "sneak" their animals in and are caught, they are usually ejected and charged a fine at the same time. Read the fine print of an average room contract. It's usually there. If you plan to travel in lodgings with pets, you need to carefully plan out every stop and confirm that your lodging will take your type/number of pets before getting there regardless of what their website or literature might say.
Personally, I have cleanliness issues with many public lodgings. The only way to control our surroundings, travel agenda and our expenses was our travel trailer/RV. Different strokes for different folks. YMMV.
If you have pets (especially multiple or large) many "pet friendly" lodgings won't take you. Those that do take you and your pets often charge an additional non-refundable pet fee to the tune of $25-30 per night, sometime per pet per night. Gahhh! We traveled our first year in pet friendly lodgings and though we were only out a month and a half, we spent in the vicinity of 5K on lodging alone and we are talking lower-mid range lodgings, not the Hilton.
About a third of the time we had to call around to multiple places to find a place that would take our pets (2 airedales) even with several printed pet friendly guides and online resources at our disposal. More than once we were stuck driving hours past where we wanted to stop not due to no-vacancy but due to us having pets that were more than 15 pounds and the audacity to have two of them! Once, exhausted at 1am we had to beg a night clerk in a motel the last one for the next 160 miles to let us in. They mercifully relented and asked us to be gone by 6am to avoid being seen by the day shift. That was one short night. If people try to "sneak" their animals in and are caught, they are usually ejected and charged a fine at the same time. Read the fine print of an average room contract. It's usually there. If you plan to travel in lodgings with pets, you need to carefully plan out every stop and confirm that your lodging will take your type/number of pets before getting there regardless of what their website or literature might say.
Personally, I have cleanliness issues with many public lodgings. The only way to control our surroundings, travel agenda and our expenses was our travel trailer/RV. Different strokes for different folks. YMMV.
A sound argument for bringing your "house" with you! I'd like to do that as well someday - and I'm NOT going to board my dog.
Afraid I'm going to have a steep learning curve. Just me and my cousin (sometimes) and a nice big walking dog. I don't have a clue what all these classes of trailers are. I "get" Airstream. I "get" that I'm going to be awfully confused when the time comes!
What a great way to beat the costs of "stay-in-place" living! Also, I agree with jkliny that such a trip would be a super way to place the Chinese wall between working and retirement. Just moving forward is likely to alleviate many of what I suspect will be - in my case - second thoughts about having cut the cord. Starting off in the ol' retirement home right off the bat would, I suspect, lead to at least a bit of unwanted rumination.
But I've got a lot of ideas, lol! Just last night I was thinking (once AGAIN) to buy one of those 1920s huge old houses and turning it into a boarding house for genteel ladies of a certain age and modest means. No, I didn't see Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
I'm planning to buy a Class B motorhome ("camper van") in retirement and traveling FT in it for a few years; have been stuck in one place for ages and want to see the country. The plan is to, in the course of touring the eastern seaboard, decide on a beachfront property and buy that, using my RV to travel when it's rented out, which I'll do as much as possible to supplement my pension. I currently drive a compact economy car which wouldn't tow a trailer, and the bus design is easier to handle. A "tiny house on wheels," but it has everything one or two people need. And I was probably inspired by Steinbeck!
Happy trails.
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