HOW TO SPEND DOWNTIME IN AN RV

HERE’S A LIST OF TIPS FOR SPENDING DOWNTIME IN AN RV, INCLUDING ADVICE FOR LIVING IN CLOSE QUARTERS WITH YOUR TRAVEL PARTNER.

1. Be Aware Of Novelty Burnout

   Novelty burnout is when you grow tired of constantly seeing and experiencing new things. This is something that especially affects extended travelers and full-time RVers. When you have an RV, we know how tempting it can be to want to see every national park, book every awesome campsite and fully maximize your time on the road. But constantly being on the go can get tiring and start to feel really overwhelming. Simply being aware of novelty burnout is a good way to avoid it.

2. Create A Priority List And Build A Schedule

   We recommend starting with a short list of places you absolutely want to visit and then build a schedule around them. Make sure you’re giving yourself ample time to stay and enjoy each place. You don’t have to do and see everything all at once—take your time and enjoy each spot. You should make a point to schedule some time for yourself as well. Think about what relaxes and rejuvenates you, and build those things into your travel schedule. This will also help avoid novelty burnout since you’ll have regularly scheduled moments of downtime and you’ll learn to appreciate those grand adventures even more.

3. Pack Items And Activities For Inside The RV

   In order to enjoy downtime in your RV, make sure you’re packing items that actually allow you to do this. For example, Christina loves to read so she’ll pack a few books, while Ben will bring his favorite video games. Some other downtime activities include playing cards, doing puzzles, watching movies, cooking meals, listening to music or podcasts, drawing or painting, journaling, and meditating

4. Stay Connected On The Road

   Another great way to spend some downtime is by connecting with friends and family. When we aren’t busy traveling and enjoying the outdoors, we love being able to catch up with our friends through FaceTime and Zoom. In order to do this, we bring a mobile hotspot device with us so we can easily connect to the internet. We also have two different cellular network providers. This way, if we’re ever in an area where one of the cell phone’s doesn't have great coverage, the other one usually does.

5. Create Separate Spaces Inside The RV

   Sometimes it can feel hard to have true, relaxing downtime in a smaller space if someone else is always around. To help, try to designate certain parts of the RV for your downtime. For example, Christina will use the desk in our main living area to get some work done or scroll the internet and Ben will use the couch to watch TV or play video games (just make sure you wear headphones so you don’t disturb the other person). This might be hard if you live and travel in a smaller RV like ours, but you can still learn to do different things in the same space. And the great thing about RVing is that you’re usu

6. Maintain A Good Relationship With Your Travel Partner

   In addition to having separate spaces and scheduled “me” time, it’s really important that you maintain a good relationship with your travel partner—especially during any downtime periods. Afterall, you are spending a lot of time with them in a small space. One of the things we do to keep a strong relationship is team-up on daily chores. We like to divide chores based on each other’s strengths. For example, Christina handles most of the cooking, while Ben does the dishes. Christina will handle dusting and cleaning inside the RV, while Ben will handle dumping the tanks. Divvy up chores and responsibilities so too much doesn’t fall on one person. Another important thing is to resolve any conflicts quickly. Again, you don’t have a lot of space to retreat to in an RV, and there’s a lot that needs to get done, so we’ve found that it’s best to take a break, step outside, and then get back together to communicate calmly and resolve our issue as quickly as possible. You’ll soon realize that in an RV, you get over things a lot quicker.