The RV

When we were a family of four and we had first started thinking about this trip, we wanted to do it in this:

It was ideal – or so we thought.  It was small, lightweight and for the four of us, was everything we would need.

Then we walked into something that looked a little like this –

Our transportation needs changed in an instant!  At once we realized that we didn’t need to sacrifice our comfort to be able to travel.  So our search now has turned to an RV, at first a Class A, then a Class C and now we are back to a Class A.  Simply for the room and number of slides that we can get in a Class A versus a Class C, for us it makes sense.

Here we go – this is the first part of many, many, many more to come on the subject of the RV!

Selecting the Right RV for YOU

Selecting just the right RV for you and your family should be a family affair, after all, you are all going to be living in it together.

Only you can decide what is best for you, your life style, and also for your budget. DO YOUR RESEARCH – educate yourself before your start shopping.  Don’t be fooled by a gimmicky salesman who cares more about his paycheck than he does YOUR needs.  He doesn’t know you from Adam, nor does he care about your family, so be aware, be wise and take your time!  Don’t fall in love with the first RV you walk into, it’s easy to do, believe me.

Remember who will be doing the cooking and the cleaning and who will be doing the driving. We’ve based our needs and wants on what I need for the way we live and what Mario needs for the way we will drive, where and when we will be driving.

ALL new RV’s look lovely but not ALL new RV’s are suited for your lifestyle.

For example, we have to have an RV that has a bathtub, it will be a small one, but with little people around, that is of utmost importance to us.  As is storage, LOTS and LOTS of storage.  We will be homeschooling all three kids on the road so there has to be space to keep the school supplies we need at the time.one

The right RV for you is the one that you like—not necessarily the latest and greatest of those who don't understand the needs of a family just the latest and greatest gadgets.

There are so many different manufacturers, different floor plans, different models and different lengths that it can become incredibly overwhelming when you start out.  Take your time to figure out what works for you.  We’ve been looking for over two years now and still have not made any concrete decisions.

There are a few terms that you will need to know, terms that will for sure have an impact on the size and type of RV that you will purchase, especially when it comes to Weight Capacities. Think about it this way, you don’t want to fall in love with an RV with a Net Carrying Capacity (NCC) of only 400 lbs. when in actual fact you need at least 1,500 lbs. of "stuff" and may still need room for more!

The terms you need to familiarize yourself with off the bat are these:

GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) – This is the maximum permissible total weight of a vehicle, including all fluids, passengers, and cargo. We have found that many newer RV’s have a GVWR of 18,000, 20,500, 22,000 or even 24,000 lbs. for gasoline models and diesel RV’s can be as high 60,000 lbs.

GVWCR (Gross Vehicle Weight Combined Rating) - The maximum permissible combined weight of a vehicle, including the weight of the towed vehicle.

GAWR (Gross Axle Weight Rating) – This is the maximum permissible weight that can be carried by an axle. The specifications should list a weight rating for both the front and rear axles. Older models have a front axle weight rating of 6,000 or 7,000 lbs. and a rear axle rating of 11,000 lbs. Adding the two axle weight ratings together equals the GVWR.

It is possible to overload either axle but still be within the overall GVWR for the vehicle. It is also possible to overload a tire or tires on one side and yet still be within the allowable axle rating. More on this later

NCC (Net Carrying Capacity) - The Net Carrying Capacity rating— also referred to as Cargo Carrying Capacity (CCC)—is the weight of “stuff” that can be loaded into the vehicle and still be within the allowable GVWR.

You will find many a site on the internet where fellow newbies and RV enthusiasts alike share questions and answers, most brutally honest, about anything and everything regarding your potential purchase.  You will benefit from their experience so don’t take it personally!  Learn from those who have been in your shoes before, become education on what to stay away from as well as what you should be looking for.

Next up (when we post about RV's anyway) is Features of an RV ...

Travelling with Kids is Possible!

Having both experienced the joys and wonder of travel when we were younger, Mario and I discovered that passing that same idealism onto our kids was something that was important to both of us.  Having realized together that we were becoming increasingly sick of the materialistic life that we lead day to day to day, we wanted to be able to give more to our kids than the same day to day to day.

As we continue planning our trip of a lifetime, we look forward to the day when we can pack up our house, step into the RV and begin our adventure, all of us full of excitement, trepidation and joy!

Don’t You Think the Girls should be Older?

A question posed to us often, but we both think that there isn’t any ‘right’ age to do a trip like this.  Children are adaptable.

Realistic Potential?

The first thing we have read about traveling with kids is not to expect too much, include activities that they will enjoy as well as things that are educational. Find a candy store off the beaten path, lunch at a café not listed in your guidebook.

Do something cheesy and touristy that kids will like and you will probably dread.  Apparently, they will love you for it!

Remember that after all, they are only kids.  They don’t want to do an all day tour or have their every single day scheduled.  It’s a good idea to plan for one major activity a day and include play parks, water parks and kid stuff as much as you can bear.

It’s also a good idea to plan for a chill day once a week, where you can plan and prepare for what’s coming up next.  Include the kids in the planning.

What about School?

You gotta’ love our educational systems propaganda.  Again, children are adaptable.  Traveling for a year around Europe is an education in itself is it not?  Our plan is to stock up on workbooks, books, find websites, sign up for homework help and do our own brand of homeschooling.

All of our research points to children that are ahead of many of their peers once they have returned to a regular school system after extended travel.

But why with Your Kids?

Really, what’s more important than spending time together as a family?  We know that at first it will be difficult to be together 24/7 and there will be times when we just need a break, but we are looking forward to growing together as a family, watching our kids grow and learn before our eyes.  Magic!

What about Our Stuff?

We have already begun the process of minimizing our lives, from clothes, to toys, to books.  The less we live with now, the more we will be able to live on the road.

Danger … Danger …

It’s easy to think that the world is full of danger; the media fills our TV with it every day.  If we are afraid to show our kids all the wonder the world has to offer, aren’t we teaching our kids to live in a bubble?

Goodwill abounds in every corner of the world, you just have to go and find it.

How do we include the Kids?

Because the girls are maybe a little too young yet to understand the full scope of what we are planning, we have instead talked to them about the places we plan to go, shown them pictures of places, castles, towns and told them the history and stories about the places we will visit.  So far, it seems to work, they are more interested about the Princesses that lived in the castles but hopefully that will change by the time we actually hit the road.

What about Their Health on the Road?

Besides the usual physical we will all have prior to leaving, we will get any shots, medications, etc. necessary for the road.  We will keep updated on any health concerns in the countries we will be visiting as they become available via websites for Canada’s Public Health and the WHO.  We will also purchase Travel Health Insurance which will ensure that we are covered for whatever unforeseen sickness, broken bone, etc. may arise.

Aren’t We Worried?

In a word – kinda’.  There are a lot of things that could happen but we can’t spend all of our time worrying about what could or can happen.  There will be a host of things that will happen that we can’t even imagine but we are prepared to roll with the punches.

Things will indeed happen that we have no control over, that’s life.

What’s next?

Well, taking our family on the road.  There’s a long road ahead of us and we plan to see a lot of it.  We are excited to show our kids that life is more than iCarly and Wizards of Waverly Place, that there is more out there than their backyard and friends will be there no matter where we go.

Research, Research and more Research

We now have a list of destinations, must see and want to see and hope to see.  It’s time to pull up your sleeves and dive into the Research Phase!  Next to the budget this is the most intensive phase of planning.  What are you going to do, what do you want to see, what looks interesting, where are the campgrounds, are they RV friendly?  So many unanswered questions and so many places to go so where do you start?  Good question.  You may not know but there are thousands of companies that spend hours every year planning the best trips for you, friends, families, etc.  Here are some of our favourites so far:

Lonely Planet – Just like the guide books, this site hosts a ton of information and since you can find everything from when to go, things to do and practical information it’s a great place to start!

World Travel Guide – While this site is very much like all the other travel sites, we did find a few interesting things and places to go here that we didn’t find on other sites..

Fodor’s – I didn’t think that I would like this site, simply because I always pictures Fodor’s as the travel guides for older people, but was I wrong.  We found so many places on here that we didn’t on the other sites we were on.  This has quickly become one of our favourite sites for planning.

Time Out – We used this site mainly to find out about festivals and local places to go that the other sites don’t detail as much.  We like the TimeOut magazine much more than the website.

Travel for Kids – Travel for Kids combines fun things to do with practical tips, plus best bets for family hotels, family tours, fun food, travel tools, and staff recommendations for children's books about destinations all over the world.  This is by far our favourite site so far.

These are just the sites we use, there are plenty more on the internet.  And I’m sure we will find more as we go along and we will share them with you when we do.

Next up is the most important section to us.  This is the information we gathered to make sure that what we were planning was going to be possible with our kids.  And that the wonderful world of year long travel was an experience to be shared with our kids and it would be fun for everyone!

Budgeting for Our Year Long Trip

2 - Budget

Now you have listed of all the places you’d like to go. It’s time for a reality check.  Unfortunately, you probably don’t have the money to see everything that’s on your list. An unfortunate truth to be sure. You’ve made the commitment to plan an entire year of your life, you’ve accepted you’ll be living out of an RV the size of a small room in a house with your family and yet you’re restricted by something as trivial as money.

Create a Budget
We cannot stress enough how important this is. Start with a sheet of paper but soon enough you will wind up using a spreadsheet of some sort.

We started with two numbers; the first is the amount of money we would ‘like’ to spend on our trip, the second number is the most amount of money we could possibly afford to spend. Be honest with your numbers, otherwise all of your planning becomes a colossal waste.

Our two numbers were $50,000 for the amount of money we would like to spend and $75,000 for the most amount of money we could possibly afford.

At $50,000, we had $4,166.66 per month. We started out with this as a template:

We are also using the website www.budgetyourtrip.com to find out average travel costs per country we plan to visit.  This will help us ensure that we are spending our money in the most effective way possible.

While we use the above template to budget our trip, we have to take into consideration that there are many one-time costs that we have to include in our budgeting.  These are things that we have researched very well and have decided that we want and need both for the RV and personally to make our trip much more comfortable and enjoyable.  That being said we don’t know the exact costs of some them so we have guessed for now and will include proper costs once known.

Cutting Down the List
Armed with an idea of how much money we want to spend and an estimate of how much it will cost to see all of the many places on our Destination list (keep in mind that this list will most likely change over time) it’s time to make some tough decisions. We have tried our hardest to make our estimate and our budget match up and in fact, for this first draft, it does – YEA US!!!

Since we are going with our kids, we need to keep in mind that we will have to go to places that will appeal to all of us.  Not every single place, but they need to enjoy themselves as well.  We found a great website (www.travelforkids.com) that we are using to find places that kids will have fun going to as well (more on that in the next section).  We have marked our list with “MUST SEE” destinations.  We have then taken it one step further and marked the remaining destinations from 1 – 5 based on the following criteria:

-          Is it kid friendly?
-          Will we all learn something from it?

We thought it would be important at first to think about how long we would like to visit each destination.  But then we started thinking would happen if we absolutely loved The Loire Valley and decided to stay for 3 weeks instead of 5 days?  Or hated Paris (perish the thought) and left after 3 days when we had intended to stay for 10 days?  That would throw off the rest of our ‘itinerary’.  We threw that idea out the window and decided to budget instead based on country.

 
This is a trip of a lifetime, don’t cut places you’ve always wanted to see just because of the cost!  You may never get the chance to do it again – so do it right the first time!

Next up let’s discover the gajillion places available on the web for you to research your trip and all of your possible destinations. FUN!

Destinations - The Dreaming Phase

1 - Destinations
The first step you should always make it to be sure you are ready for a one year trip in an RV with kids. Once you've decided that you are and committed to the planning, it's time to start.  This is definitely the most fun part of the trip planning. It is during this part that you get to leaf through all those magazines you see in line at the grocery store, flip through books in a section you wouldn’t otherwise visit and browse the internet for something other than clothes and electronics and let your imagination go crazy!

Grab a sheet of paper - it’s time to start planning. All those places you’ve always wanted to visit, throw them on the list.  All those places you see on travel shows and your favourite TV shows, throw them on the list.  All those places you’ve heard about from other people who have been there and bragged about it, throw them on the list.  Don’t worry about how far apart they are from one another, or how silly they may seem. Put them on the list anyway - this is your trip after all.  So have fun with it, nothing is too far away, or too impractical!

Discovering New Destinations
Now sit back and revel in your work.  Look at that list, how wonderful does it feel to have taken that first step?  And I will bet you anything that it includes one of the following: Paris, London, Amsterdam?  Or maybe all of them?  Good on you!  There’s a reason those locations are so highly coveted since visiting them is akin to reading the classics.

But what else it out there? We started with books. There’s also the internet, and there is a ton of information and once you’ve written a well organized list the internet is great for researching specific locations. Get a book, lots of books, it will be worth the cost and you won’t be able to put them down.  Trust us!

Take Your RV to Europe
This is the first book we bought and awaited anxiously for it to arrive in the mail.  We had to order it on Amazon but it has quickly become our bible and I’m sure will remain that way for years to come.  The Milavsky’s have detailed pretty much everything you could ask for in this book from readying your American RV for Europe, to shipping, to useful tips in each country they visited.  LOVE!

RV the World
While this book is literally about RVing the World, there is so much information crammed into this book, the Contents pages are enough to start you salivating!

Europe in a Motorhome
This is my current read.  This is a cross between a novel and travel book.  Not much is held back in this book since the Jackson’s traveled with their 13 year old son.  It’s an entertaining and eye-opening read! It also has a great list of European campsites.

Europe by Van and Motorhome
Too much information is never enough and while many of these books contain similar information, each one has provided some new and interesting tips, tricks, lists and stories.
 

Lonely Planet – Mediterranean Europe

Of course what would travel be without Lonely Planet?  While this is the 6^th Edition  and they are currently printing the 10^th Edition we covet this book since it is the second we purchased after making the decision to do this trip.

This is what our initial Destinations Lists looks like:

We are continually updating our Destinations and we will post all of our new updates as we complete a new list.

Next up we will get practical and look at what you need to know before you travel.  As well we will take a look at the often unfortunate aspect of cutting your fantasy travel list down to something practical for you and your family.  Also known as the “Budget”.

How we Plan to Plan Our Year Long Trip

0 -Contents
This guide is created to help you plan your very own year long trip. It will offer you travel packing tips, travel planning hints and other such suggestions. Use it as an independent guide, or with other resources. We used SO many resources it would be hard to include them all, but when we found something that was outstanding we included it!

Introduction
So you’re thinking of going on a one year trip – with kids? First of all – you are CRAZY. Secondly - sounds like a great plan – go for it! But what do you need to know before you head out? First off know that it’s not impossible. More than likely it is very well within your means. It will just take a lot of planning, saving and a TON your time. This guide is designed to help inform you of everything you need to know to plan your trip.

Best of luck, and good planning – it may just be the most fun you’ve ever had.

Index:

0 - Contents
This is what you’re looking at: A breakdown of everything to come, and briefly what information you can expect to find there.

1 - Destinations
How we chose our destinations and what your first steps towards planning a year-long RV trip (with kids) should be. Obviously there are so many places you’d love to see – but you might be surprised what’s out there, beyond your realm of knowledge and things that would never think of!

2 – Budget
This is the BIG ONE. Everything becomes reality here. You will explore your list of possible destinations and it will be culled down to something much more practical. Issues of money, how much will you need – and what you will need it for – are discussed in this section.

3 –Research

You need to a whole lot of research before you head out if you want to make the most of your journey. Where should you go? What should you do? And what should you look for? All these answers and more and explored and answered here.

4 - Traveling With Kids is Possible!

We could go on and on in this section, but this will give you a very good idea of what to expect, how much it will cost, education issues on the road, being prepared for (almost) everything and as many tips, tricks, issues and resources as we possibly can.

5 - RV – Purchasing and Renovating

All of the information you could possibly need to research, purchase, renovate and ship your RV to Europe or anywhere else you may want to go.

6 - The Important (and Some Not So Important) Travel Gear
So you think you’re all ready to hit the road? Have you made sure to get all the gear you need? All the gear you will ever need is detailed here, as well as some links to where you can get it. You may be surprised by just how little or how much you need. That depends on how many of you there are!

7 - Medical Requirements & Travel Insurance
You and your family are the most important thing you’re taking with you on this adventure. Make sure you are up to date on all of the various diseases, viruses and other nasties that may be floating around outside all around you and your loved ones. Find a travel doctor, talk to them about risks, and get all your immunizations and medications needed. The importance of good travel insurance is also discussed in this part.

8 - Saying Goodbye & Staying in Touch
Just because your grand adventure is taking you in one direction, it doesn’t mean other peoples’ lives stop and wait for you to return (as much as you would like to think it does). There are a number of ways to say goodbye and a number of ways to keep in touch while you’re away. They are all discussed in this section.

9 - Have No Fear …
Everyone runs into the unexpected, but that shouldn’t ruin your adventure and why you shouldn’t feel bad if it should happen to you along the way.

Things you may Overlook – Our well researched “Travel Tips and Tricks”
People have been travelling for years, and each trip brings them new tips, and tricks that they’d not known about on previous journeys. Learn from past experience, and if you’ve got a good secret that might help your fellow travelers, why not post it here?

10 - Our International Move

All of the tips and information you could want or need related to moving your life from one country to another – practical information such as legal information, banking, work, housing and education. A whole lot on decluttering and minimizing your stuff, packing, storage and shipping and even a little on settling in and culture shock.

Our Year Long Trip

How we are Dreaming, Planning and Going to Travel Europe

How it all began –

It started as a thought and a fleeting one at that.  But it kept creeping back into my mind and soon became an idea, one that I was sure Mario would never go for.  Then that idea popped out as a question, posed more as a rhetorical one.  And then the thought that became an idea, the idea that became an idea that became a question now had an answer. “Why would you think that I wouldn’t like to do something like that? I can’t believe you thought I wouldn’t do something like that!” he said as we drove the highway from Salmon Arm back to the cabin in Sicamous.

It was the week of Mother’s Day and we had planned a few days at the cabin to get away from everything and that weekend became one full of research, conversations and what-if’s, how’s and why not’s!  Instantly we had started taking notes, looking at the calendar and going to RV and Trailer lots to see what we would need.  We were a family of 4 and never thought that in a year from then we would be expecting family member #5!  Soon all of our dates, plans and research came to a grinding halt – the reality of having another baby 5 years after the first two put a whole new spin on these big plans!  We couldn’t take a baby on the road, what would we do in a small space with a newborn – were we nuts?

Then, after the fog cleared and we were sleeping more than 3 hours at a time we realized that indeed we could still plan our trip, we would just have to delay it a little, as in a couple of years.  Our intended departure date of March 2012 changed in an instant to March 2014!  Two years of planning ahead of us.  Was that going to be enough?

 
We decided one night after all three girls were soundly asleep that if we didn’t start to plan now, we may never do it.  We may be like all those other people who dream about doing something like this but that is as far as it ever goes.  We were determined not to be ‘those’ people, so we forged ahead and began planning – for the five of us!

Let the Planning Begin!

We took to the Internet to see how many other people there were like us or if we had completely lost it!  To our surprise there were many others who wanted to shed the chains of materialism and ‘keeping up with the Jones’ and took to the open road.  First word – RELIEF!  We weren’t crazy after all!  First question – Where and what do we do now?  How do we plan, where do we start?

We came up with an outline of sorts to organize our thoughts, our plans, our numerous lists, brochures, maps, and everything and anything in between.  We are travelling in an RV that we are purchasing, renovating and shipping over to Europe on a boat so our planning includes a section on all of that.

Now our plans differ from just this outline since our plan is to move to Croatia once our travels are complete.  We have added a section at the end that includes those plans, but more on that later.

 
What follows is what we came up with and we included all of the necessary information we used for research; websites, books, RV purchasing and renovating, you name it we’ve included it.  It won’t work for everyone but it worked for us and we think it is a great place for everyone to start.

Stay tuned ...

And so it is ...

So it shall be.  I finally decided to get off my duff (for lack of a better word) and start this journey my little family has endeavoured to begin.

What's the journey you ask?

On or around March 20, 2014 we are leaving Canada for a year long RV trip around Europe!  That's crazy you say?  Indeed - crazier even with twin girls who will be 7 at the time and a 2 year old.  What's that you say ... it'll never happen!  Ha, ha you jest.

Well, here's the deal - follow along as we purge our home, plan every detail from places we want to go, to budgets, to gear we are taking, our purchase of a RV ... you name it, we (well I will really) put it on here.

Really, when I look at the title we decided to call our first little blog (little in the sense of us not knowing at all what we are doing) it should have been more to do with planning our travel but our first stop along our planning adventure is living a more minimalist life.  Decluttering and freeing ourselves of the things that are not so important so that we can live a more unmaterialistic life with our kids!

Can't wait for the craziness to begin?  Neither can we!