Since my boyfriend and I met in 2020, we always said that we wanted to travel so much but our budgets didn’t allow the normal way of traveling with hotels and restaurants every day. The first two years of our relationship we spent occasionally traveling with cheap stays at hotels or sleeping in a car but when we started to think of a more a sustainable way of traveling, we came upon motorhome traveling and frankly, it rocked our worlds.
I’m sharing these 8 reasons why to choose to live in a motorhome because we ourselves learned about this way of traveling from the internet and without those people who showed that it’s possible, we would have missed a lot. Living and traveling like this has opened doors to new ideas, taken us to so many places, changed our perspectives on life and lifestyles and most of all – made us believe that we can build a life that we truly want or dream of, not something that is awaited from us.
So let’s dive into the 8 reasons why a motorhome is such a great thing to have for traveling and even living in!
A motorhome is larger and more convenient to live in
The most obvious reason why a motorhome is considered better than traveling in a car or a van is the size and the space it provides. Motorhomes, of course, can be on the small size spectrum or even huge but the average size of the motorhome allows an easier living experience where you can have even separate bed and dining area, kitchen and shower, storage compartments, and even a closet to hang your clothes.
All of that considering, a motorhome provides you with space that may seem unnecessary while traveling since you want to explore the outdoors as much as possible but from experience, on a rainy day or even in general living full time in a vehicle can feel exhausting if the space is very limited.
A dream that sells well on the internet is that you will spend most of your time outside and it can be true if your only goal is to find a peaceful spot and not explore the more urban areas. But in Europe, and if you travel without staying at campsites, you can’t take out your camping chairs and sit wherever you want. And weather can also be nice in certain countries and seasons but inevitably there will be days, weeks, or even months of rain and cold temperatures, therefore, you will out of necessity spend some time inside your vehicle. Space in that case can be a major factor in how comfortable and how many daily tasks you can get done inside.
You can have more belongings with you
Continuing the previous point, with a bigger vehicle and more storage options, you can bring more stuff with you that you couldn’t have otherwise. For example, living and traveling full-time in a vehicle means that you will need both summer and winter clothing and you will need enough space for that. In a motorhome, even though there’s still limited room for that, we can bring winter jackets with us and we don’t need to worry about space as much.
This point applies not only to clothing but other necessary stuff – for example, tools for fixing the car where you can bring not only the basic necessary ones but have an extended list of tools. For food and water, you also have more storage options so you can go more off-grid and not worry about the next time you can visit a supermarket.
Overall, it’s more convenient to have enough space for anything that you may need to bring with you. I consider myself someone who doesn’t need a lot and doesn’t buy clothes very often, therefore it’s still very surprising to me that even though I don’t have a lot, I don’t have empty spaces or cupboards in our motorhome so enough storage is very important.
You have dedicated space for showering so you don’t need to rely on campsites, gas stations, or gyms
As we live in a motorhome full-time and staying at campsites isn’t really an option for us since in Europe it can get pricey and we are all about budgeting, finding a shower can be tricky if you don’t have one in your vehicle.
When we started traveling in 2022 with a motorhome, once a week we were searching for a gym to have a proper warm shower since we didn’t have warm water in our motorhome and that was so exhausting – looking for a gym at unknown places, spending time to get there, shower, get back to the motorhome was just too much. And we could find gyms only in the bigger cities. It can sound a bit dramatic, but over time it started to feel like a chore not a relaxing time so we started to just boil some water in the kettle and shower in the motorhome. And compared to finding different gyms, it was so much easier and saved so much of our time.
Unfortunately, showers at gas stations aren’t that popular in Europe, we actually didn’t encounter any showers at gas stations on our Balkan journey and the chance to shower at our motorhome was very relieving.
I want to add that in warmer weather, showers might not be a necessity if you plan on swimming a lot but as a full-time living option, a shower in your vehicle can be very helpful no matter the season.
It’s cheaper than booking hotel rooms all the time and spending more money on eating out
Living expenses have been out of reach for a lot of people recently and even not so recently, and living in a motorhome helps, in that case, a lot. It might not seem so cheap at first since you need to buy a motorhome that suits your plans and needs and maybe even fix some things or install solar panels but looking from a long-term perspective, living like that saves you so much money by not having to pay rent or mortgage and bills.
Traveling is often considered very expensive and a lot of people believe that only the richest of people can travel full-time. And searching for plane tickets, hotel, or hostel prices, can actually sometimes seem like that. We are very passionate about traveling and didn’t want to wait for some future magical moment to start traveling when we could just start doing that but on a low budget, living in a motorhome, traveling slowly, and cooking food ourselves.
In places where prices aren’t that high, eating out might not be so out of reach but in most countries finding food for cheap may mean that the food isn’t that nutritious. And for that reason, living in a motorhome allows us to cook and eat healthy, save a lot of money, and not feel stressed about where to go to eat every day.
Motorhome is already built out so you don’t need to invest more money and time by building out an empty car or van
I’m not an exception in believing that building out a van and making it look like the cabin of your dreams is both an amazing and attainable goal. The reality is, to build a van that has not only a bed and a table but also a shower, a normal size kitchen, enough space for storage, and a well-assessed layout that is both comfortable and practical, is very hard. And not only the planning part is hard, but actually building it without any help from professionals or experience can be complicated.
Motorhome, on the other hand, is already built out and there are so many different layouts, designed for different needs and wants that the hard part is to choose which one you would like to have. Of course, there might be some details that you might not be in love with or some minor things that you would like to be done differently but overall, a motorhome is already built out for a comfortable living and traveling experience.
Not to be too critical of others’ abilities, but another major thing to point out is that a van is a DIY project where you build and fix things yourself, and not many people are professionals at that. Of course, you can research everything online and learn about all the steps of building out a van but in the end, it’s a project that from a subjective point of view can be done well but objectively looking, there’s no guarantee that the build is long-lasting or done well enough.
When buying a motorhome, a company has made it with many people working on the project, tested it, and has even years of practice creating those kinds of designs. In this case, a motorhome is guaranteed to be a better built-out vehicle than a self-converted one but of course, many people create amazing projects and convert different kinds of vehicles that we can just admire.
Compared to traveling without transport, you can drive anywhere you want and park in places you won’t get a chance to get to with public transport
If you have traveled without transport of your own, you know the feeling when you find an amazing place in a country that you visit but getting there by public transport is so tricky that you give up.
I have experienced that a lot and with your vehicle you can travel to any place you want to and stay there overnight as long as it’s allowed. I mean, it’s such a magical feeling of being so free of the limitations of public transport, the hours you spend in one and the money you need to pay sometimes can be ridiculous but driving yourself is just incredible.
After our journey through Balkan countries, the feeling of gratitude that we had for our transport skyrocketed. In Romania, we found that many remarkable places in nature were only reachable by car and I can’t even imagine how we would have seen so much if we were traveling by public transport. And the option to stay overnight at more rural places and explore not-so-well-known areas is one of my favorite ways to explore a country.
Since you have more space, you can stock up on food, water, and gas and go to places that are more rural and be able to stay much longer than in a vehicle with less storage and very limited water supply options
Continuing on the previous point, with your own vehicle you can drive where you have the desire to, and with a motorhome and storage options, you can stock up on things that you would need for a week or even more and escape the cities and urban areas and completely charge your batteries by nature.
Traveling with a motorhome allows you not only to stock up on food but water, gas for cooking, and anything that you will need to feel comfortable enough. Wild camping in a motorhome is truly dream-like – it feels like your own little home parked in spectacular places and can enjoy different areas to the fullest.
You can travel with family or friends and have enough space for more than two people where to sleep
Depending on the size of the motorhome, you can comfortably travel and sleep in the motorhome with more people than in a smaller vehicle. Even if you don’t plan on traveling with more people, the option to invite a friend or a family member to visit you and be able to accommodate them is truly a great possibility to spend some time together and most of all – comfortably.
This year, in 2023, we bought a new motorhome since our old one had some major flaws, one of them being the size – we had barely any space for both of us but since we are living in a motorhome full-time, it started to be an issue. Over the one year that we had the old motorhome, it seemed like a great idea to invite some friends to camp and explore new places together but at the same time, we understood that the space isn’t enough. Now that we have a bigger motorhome with two separate sleeping areas, we have already had friends over and it has been so comfortable and allowed us to make great memories together.
Living and traveling in a motorhome isn’t for everyone – it is a very specific way of living with very specific advantages and disadvantages that wouldn’t suit everyone’s needs. However, if you are someone who considers giving this experience a try, I highly recommend it, even if it’s for a short trip with a rented motorhome, it’s such a unique way of traveling and experiencing different places with a completely different setting.
Traveling and living in a motorhome has opened many doors for interesting opportunities, allowed us to travel so far and without any rush, to be so flexible with our plans, to enjoy more rural areas, and save money like no other way of traveling would allow us – living in a motorhome honestly has been one of our greatest decisions. Without the motorhome, because of our budget, we couldn’t have traveled so much, and stayed for so long and I’m so very, very thankful for that, and I hope to inspire others to give this travel style a try as well!
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