A motorhome vacation can be pretty exciting, as the trip can be as adventurous as your destination. But it can also be exasperating if you don’t plan your trip properly.
Here are some steps you need to take to make sure everything runs smoothly:
- Pick the right motorhome for the trip: While budget considerations are obviously important, you also need to think about your family’s space requirements and your ability to handle the motorhome when you drive. It has to be big enough to have everyone sleep inside comfortably, but not too big that it will give you nightmares when you drive it.
- Practice driving the motorhome: If you haven’t been driving motorhomes before, then you really need to practice. Make sure you know how to make turns and go through fuel stations, and familiarise yourself with the way the motorhome affects your braking.
- Learn how to set up a campsite: You need to know how to unhitch, level, and hook your motorhome to water and power sources.
- Make arrangements for everyone’s possessions inside: It is best if each member of the family has their own cabinet space for clothes and other personal effects. Take only what you need, and make sure you have spare keys for everything. Bring outdoor equipment, such as lights and chairs, and tables. Plan where everyone will sleep.
- Prepare a first aid kit: This should contain all the basic first aid supplies, including bandages, ointments, scissors, and emergency medications. It’s also a good idea to have an emergency kit, including a torch and extra batteries, a spare cell phone, and a charger.
- Choose your destinations and routes: You may want to visit some motorhome vacation online forums and see which places and routes are recommended. For the most part, you will spend most of your vacation outdoors. The motorhome serves only as a place to stay in during the travelling and the sleeping parts of your vacation.
- Set the driving arrangements down on paper: Who drives when, and for how long? When do you plan to take breaks along the way? When can you choose to extend your stay at a particular place for an extra day or so? Your schedule should give you a guide, but should also be flexible enough that you can change some things whenever you want. After all, a motorhome vacation should involve some spontaneity.
- Tell a friend or family member back home where you will go and the routes you will take: Check in at pre-arranged times so that they’re assured that everyone in your party is all right.
Before anything else, you had better take some motorhome insurance first. With motorhome insurance, you can get coverage for any damage for your home (including damage due to vandalism) as well as coverage for your motorhome equipment and your personal effects. Motorhome holidays are lots of fun and give you lots of freedom but this means you already have enough to think about so take out decent insurance to give you one less thing to worry about.