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After RVing to all 50 states and touring a dozen international locations by motorhome, our household of 4 has loads of expertise RVing right here in America and RVing overseas.
With journey restrictions winding down, Heath and I’ve mentioned at size what we wished to do subsequent. Ought to we RV full-time within the States once more? Or ought to we go on shorter journeys and maintain working towards our objective of RVing all over the world?
In the end, RVing all over the world received out!
RVing America Versus RVing Overseas
Increasing our consolation zone and difficult ourselves are enormous motivations for Heath and me once we take into consideration journey. After six years of full-time RVing within the States, RVing right here merely doesn’t stretch our consolation zone anymore. I may navigate RV life in America in my sleep.
It’s one of many primary issues that makes RVing overseas interesting to us. It’s a brand new problem, and it opens us as much as experiencing so many lovely locations.
Each nation we’ve visited to this point has been totally different than the final, however I wished to share just a few of our ideas on the primary variations between RVing overseas and RVing right here within the States. Let’s begin with the apparent.
1. You could drive on the mistaken aspect of the street.
As excited as I used to be to lease our campervan in New Zealand, I used to be equally scared of driving on the left aspect of the street and the proper aspect of the automobile. So as to add insult to damage, New Zealand has only a few purple lights and as a substitute has multi-lane roundabouts. Are you aware how laborious it’s to navigate a proper flip in a three-lane roundabout on the mistaken aspect of the automobile and the mistaken aspect of the street?
Unsurprisingly, New Zealand has a really excessive accident price, largely as a consequence of vacationers like us. They do an incredible job of labeling the roads to compensate for this, and our rental additionally had notes and arrows on the windshield to assist remind us to remain on the left aspect of the street. Maybe most useful is that the gear shift, blinkers, and windshield wipes are on the identical aspect you’re used to within the States.
You’ll be on the proper aspect in most locations, identical to within the States. However when you plan to RV within the UK, Japan, Australia, or New Zealand, you’ll need to be ready for this! (Final yr, we RVed in Japan, New Zealand, England, and Wales after which visited Grand Cayman. Now, I routinely drive on the left aspect and get honked at. Oops!)
2. You have to to study to drive a stick.
Truthfully, there’s no higher description than simply watching this video:
Heath knew drive a stick…on paper. However in actuality? Not a lot. Many RVs overseas are handbook transmissions, so studying drive one is a necessity. In distinction, I’ve by no means seen a handbook transmission RV manufactured within the States. You’ll find leases with computerized transmissions, they’re just a bit more durable to search out and generally costlier.
3. All the pieces is larger in Texas America
“You might have a small rig then?”
“Yeah, it’s fairly small.”
The supervisor on the vacation park leaned over the desk and peered out the window. “Oi! That one’s huge!”
In America, the smallest RVs are about 21-24 ft lengthy. Even Sprinter vans might be this lengthy! Overseas, that would be the dimension of the largest RVs. This can be a enormous adjustment for us mentally. A seven-meter (23 ft) campervan feels small as a result of within the States, our final RV was 40 ft lengthy and had three slide-outs!
You positively received’t be seeing RVs that massive overseas.
4. You’ll be able to’t drive simply wherever.
In America, it felt like we may take our RV nearly all over the place. Positive, there’s the occasional size restrict, such because the Pacific Coast Freeway’s 30-foot restrict and sure roads in nationwide parks. However on the whole, we run into few limitations. (The most important ones I can consider are propane-free tunnels and low clearances round New York Metropolis!)
However the older the nation, the tougher it’s to navigate in an RV. Once I say roads are tiny, I imply TINY.
And plenty of cities and particularly cities received’t permit RVs to drive in. In Italy, for instance, these are referred to as zona traffico limitato or ZTL. If we noticed a ZTL signal, we knew we couldn’t go in that route… Or at the least shouldn’t. Positively ended up parked in a single within the video above 😂🙈
Earlier than we RV in every nation, we Google search “suggestions for driving in ________” and may normally discover an e book or weblog put up sharing site visitors indicators, what the roads are like, and issues to concentrate on earlier than we arrive within the nation. This can be a enormous distinction between RVing in America, the place most roads can deal with giant vehicles and RVs.
5. A rose by some other title…
RV. Camper van. Caravan. Motorhome. Tenting Automobile.
Each nation calls it one thing totally different, and BONUS, in most international locations, it’ll be in a distinct language. Don’t fear, we’ll put up footage on Instagram of l’autocaravane.
Equally, campgrounds will all have totally different names. The UK and New Zealand have vacation parks, Italy has campeggios, and we’ve RV parks.
6. These campeggi although 😍
Talking of campgrounds…
Campeggi are INCREDIBLE.
Once you solely have a motorhome and no automobile, you’re locked in whenever you get to a campground. Italy understands that, and the campeggio expertise may be very all-inclusive.
Actually.
We stayed at an all-inclusive campeggio in Orbetello on the coast of Italy. There was a personal seashore, swimming pools, a number of eating places, a grocery retailer, gelateria, a restaurant, a schedule of actions, a number of playgrounds, children’ bogs full with toddler-sized showers, and so forth.
They even had a senza glutine (GF) menu at meals so I may take pleasure in ravioli and eggplant parmesan like everybody else. (Okay, now I’m hungry.) Campgrounds like this entice households, making them much more engaging to us now. Ellie made mates (who solely spoke Italian) and had a lot enjoyable taking part in within the large toddler pool.
We camped below large timber, smelled saltwater within the air, and nonetheless had entry to every thing we would have liked all week!
7. Free tenting abounds overseas*
*not together with Canada or Japan
Italy and all of Europe are recognized for plentiful free in a single day tenting choices. (I do know what you’re considering—superior campgrounds and free tenting choices? Why am I not there already?!)
New Zealand has a popularity for freedom tenting or what we would name boondocking within the US.
To say it’s wonderful is an understatement. There may be free tenting all over the place.
Free tenting within the US is virtually unique to the west coast the place there are extra public lands. Even then, the lands are distant and infrequently tough to entry in bigger RVs.
In New Zealand, we had 30 MBs down, and we have been camped on this large lake surrounded by mountains on each aspect. We stayed so long as attainable earlier than we needed to dump our tanks..and promptly returned. It’s certainly one of our favourite free campsites on the planet 🌏
8. Two phrases: Chemical bogs.
In all of our RV leases so far, the RV has had a cassette bathroom. RVs within the States have them too, notably smaller rigs just like the Winnebago Revel. This implies you could dump your cassette bathroom nearly each day as a result of it isn’t very giant and can replenish rapidly.
Nevertheless, chances are you’ll not dump your cassette bathroom in the identical place as you dump your gray water. In Italy, we dumped our cassette in chemical bogs particularly for this goal. In New Zealand, I recall Heath rolling our cassette bathroom like a suitcase throughout the parking zone to dump it in a public lavatory.
I actually can’t let you know if it is a professional or a con. But it surely’s positively totally different!
9. Hookups
The entire hookups will likely be utterly totally different overseas versus in America. Completely different electrical cords and plugs. Fully totally different water hookup. (There is no such thing as a fixed water hookup, so you’ll fill your tank and use your pump.) No dump station at your campsite.
And, when RVing throughout Europe for instance, each nation may have totally different hookups and rules round propane, making this hookup notably complicated. There’s a entire web site devoted to determining propane throughout European borders.
In case you lease an RV, the rental firm will cowl all of this whenever you decide up your rig, so that you’re not completely misplaced whenever you attempt to hook up for the primary time!
10. Canada is principally America however with cheaper healthcare.
There are usually not many variations between RVing in America and in Canada, although it’s technically “overseas”. I extremely advocate planning a visit throughout the border, when you can, as a result of Canada has a lot magnificence to supply and is stuffed with tenting alternatives.
Since it’s our neighbor to the north, you’ll most likely drive your individual RV fairly than lease one, however RVs in Canada are similar to US rigs.
(However critically on the cheaper healthcare factor… Once I was sick in Canada, I bought a prescription for $80. Once I bought it refilled within the US, it was $400, and the bottle was half the dimensions. It could’ve been cheaper for us to drive again to Canada and get a brand new prescription than to fill it at dwelling. I take into consideration this on a regular basis.)
11. Public Transport 🚃
I don’t suppose I’ve ever ridden the bus in America.
I’m scratching my head, however since I don’t stay in a significant metropolis, it has by no means been part of my life. And apart from the shuttle bus in Glacier Nationwide Park, we’ve by no means used public transport as a part of RV life both! We nearly all the time had a automobile.
Overseas, this has been a fixture and one small factor that stretches our consolation zone nearly each day. Since many cities are inaccessible by RV (to not point out, I don’t need to drive an RV in Paris!), public transit is one of the simplest ways to get out and discover. Many campgrounds, notably in France, included bus tickets in our campsite value so we may depart the motorhome and discover.
We additionally rented bikes in New Zealand and Italy, which was one other nice option to navigate.
12. Thanks for delivering my bundle, Amazon.
So this may be attainable overseas. I haven’t tried it as a result of I don’t suppose it’s. However typically within the States, we’ve had Amazon packages, DoorDash deliveries, and extra arrive straight to our campsite.
I’ve by no means tried this overseas, largely as a result of comfort like it is a very American idea. Within the States, we anticipate issues to open once we need, ship straight to us regardless of the place we’re, and arrive quick. In case you put “the massive gray motorhome with the silver Honda in entrance” into the outline on Uber Eats, you anticipate your tacos to be delivered straight to you. That is so particular to America.
Overseas, we’ve struggled to search out eating places open earlier than 7 PM, and virtually nobody delivers exterior of cities. It’s one thing we didn’t understand we did so typically within the States till we went overseas and didn’t have the choice.
13. Languages, clearly.
This felt so apparent I wasn’t positive if I ought to embrace it. However you’ll want to grasp one other language, even in Canada and Mexico. In all of our travels to this point, since tenting is a tourism trade, workers at campgrounds converse a number of languages.
Signage is nearly all the time additionally in English or makes use of symbols/footage which can be universally understood. So language could be a distinction, however not as massive of a deal as you may suppose.
14. You spend extra money.
The obvious con to RVing overseas versus the States is the associated fee. The price of residing (I’m speaking fuel costs, meals, and eating places) will fluctuate extensively relying on which nation you’re RVing in. And on prime of that, you’re paying for an RV rental. That is usually hundreds of {dollars} a month.
Once we determined to spend two months campervanning throughout New Zealand, we acquired a quote for over 10,000 New Zealand {dollars}! We bought artistic and labored with the rental firm to create content material to offset that invoice, however we nonetheless paid properly over $5,000 for our rental.
On prime of the RV rental, you’ll most likely pay for flights and inns as properly. We’ve taken 3-4 nights in a lodge or Airbnb to regulate to jetlag. I extremely advocate this when you’ve got the time, however it’s an extra expense. Visiting cities in RVs is tough, so it is a nice option to discover a metropolis, modify to a distinct tradition, and really feel energized earlier than you hit the open street.
As a result of RVing within the States was all the time full-time for us, we knew it wasn’t a trip. Internationally, it’s laborious not to consider your journey as a trip—even when it’s long-term. We all the time eat out extra and pay for extra experiences overseas than we’d in America.
15. We attempt issues we wouldn’t in any other case expertise.
Have you ever ever heard of jetboating? Ridden a cable automobile to a mountain peak? Made your personal sizzling tub on the seashore? Seen a mud volcano?
I positively haven’t accomplished any of these issues within the States…besides trip a gondola or two. (However the one in Italy was NEXT LEVEL.)
I like how journey always exposes you to belongings you wouldn’t or couldn’t in any other case expertise. We’ve seen wonderful issues within the States…however there are some issues that merely don’t exist right here.
Like mountaineering at night time suspended on hanging bridges that join a forest of redwood timber.
Or leaping on a trampoline in a cave…? This was certainly one of my favourite journey experiences ever, and one which my candy four-year-old LOVED!
16. And lastly, every thing is an expertise.
I began this put up by sharing that one of many issues that Heath and I like about journey is the way it stretches our consolation zone. It additionally offers you an opportunity to be captivated by on a regular basis experiences.
Getting ice cream.
Grocery purchasing.
Going for a stroll across the campground.
All these little issues really feel extra magical whenever you’re someplace new.
Sure, that does imply some issues are additional difficult, like discovering fuel stations and refilling the propane tank.
But it surely makes day-after-day somewhat extra memorable.
