How to Get Your RV Travel Ready

Sounds silly, right? An RV is, by definition, a Recreational Vehicle, so it seems like it should come travel-ready. And it does, to a certain extent. We learned about RV travel by trial and error. In our first few trips, we figured out what kinds of things we couldn’t live without and what things we thought we needed, but just ended up taking up space. Whether you are renting or have bought your own RV, these are the basic things you will need to do before taking off. **Note: this is for regular trips, like a weekend or a couple weeks. If you intend to travel for any length of time, check out my post on RV Storage Hacks, full of space saving tips and ideas about how to get everything you need into a relatively small space!

Stock your Kitchen

I have a lengthier post on How to Create your Perfect RV Kitchen, but here is a quick overview on stocking your kitchen: Space in an RV is limited, so before you leave, a major decision you should make is whether you’re going to cook inside, outside or both. If it’s hot where you’re going, you may want to stick to grilling outside. Even though the RV has air conditioning, I don’t love to cook and heat up the whole rig when it’s already hot. If you will be grilling, you need everything that goes with the grill (gas or charcoal, tongs, etc.). If you’re going to cook inside, make sure you have the right size pots and pans, particularly for the oven, because many RVs have smaller sized ovens. The only appliance I can’t live without is my coffee maker (I use a French press in case I’m somewhere without electricity). These are the other items you will need, even for short term RVing.

• Utensils
• Plates and cups
• Paper towels/napkins
• Salt/Sugar/Spices
• Condiments
• Groceries
• Coffee/Tea
• Dish soap
• Sponges
• Kitchen towels
• Dish drainer

Stock your Bathroom

The last thing you want on a camping trip is to find out you’ve left behind the toothpaste! Or the toilet paper! But the luxury of RV travel means you can bring along other less basic items to make your trip that much easier. Some trips are just weekend camping, where you don’t care what you look like and won’t need much in the way of toiletries. However, if you’re taking the RV on a different kind of trip, where you’ll be leaving the campground, going to restaurants or people’s homes, etc., you will want more of your regular routine. This is what we keep in our RV bathroom:

• Toilet paper (RV-friendly type! so you don’t clog!)
• Soap
• Towels
• Hand towels
• Shampoo/Conditioner
• Prescription/Nonprescription meds (Benadryl, Advil, etc.)
• First aid kit
• Band Aids
• Bug spray
• Sunscreen
• Brushes
• Toothbrushes
• Toothpaste
• Deodorant
• Lotion
• Kleenex
• Hair dryer
• Contact lens solution

Stock your Entertainment

Only you know what you like to do on a camping trip (fish, kayak, bike), but make sure you’re prepared for every scenario. If you’re planning all outdoors activities and it ends up raining, what will you do for fun? Some of our best times have been hanging out inside the RV, playing board games after a long day. Here are the things we don’t leave home without:

• Books
• Board games
• Cards
• DVDs
• Computers
• Phones and chargers
• Pool/Beach toys
• Bikes
• Other outdoor gear
• Camera
• Lawn Chairs
• Hiking Gear

Prep your Sleeping Arrangements

One of the luxuries of RV travel is sleep indoors, on a bed! Our RV sleeps 6 comfortably, but only if we have the right combination of sleeping bags, blankets and pillows. Our queen bed is always made, but, depending on how many kids we’re bringing with us, we have to determine ahead of time what bedding to bring for the other beds. The fold out beds (couch and dinette) aren’t that comfortable, so we put a puffy sleeping bag down as a sort of mattress before adding the blankets and pillows. Also, camping is fun, but it’s still a new experience for young kids – what will they need to make them comfortable through the night (their favorite teddy bear)? These are some of the things you may need:

• Sleeping bags
• Pillows
• Sheets and blankets
• Nightlight (so the littles aren’t scared to get up and go to the bathroom!) I like these adhesive kind.
• Earplugs (many campgrounds are noisy or near railroad tracks)
• Electric space heater (if you’re going somewhere cold, you don’t want to use up the propane by keeping the RV heater going all night. But make sure to use it safely!)

Be Prepared for the Nitty-Gritty

There are lots of places online where you can learn how to use your sewage system, hook up the electricity, etc. And hopefully when you bought or rented the RV, you got a crash course on all of these things. Therefore, I won’t go through how to do all that, but I will tell you some of the things you need to be prepared for the more mundane aspects of RV travel. Most RV stores sell a ‘starter kit’ with just about everything on this list.

• Bring disposable gloves for when you dump the black tank
• Have a small tub where you keep everything you need for hook ups (Connectors, gloves)
• Buy deodorizing pellets for the toilet (we use this brand)
• Make sure you know where to store the sewer hose (usually a space in the rear bumper) and you might want to get a hose extension
• Fill your water tank when you get to the campground even if you have hook ups (we’ve been places where the water was cut off unexpectedly)
• Buy a water pressure regulator
• Bring basic tools: screwdriver, small hammer, pliers

Great Guides:

These are the books that helped me so much as we were heading out for the first time. And I referred to them over and over when we traveled for almost a year!

So maybe this isn’t the most earth-shattering post you’ve ever read, but this is the sort of thing I could have used before we embarked on our first trip. The last thing I will add is this: we have traveled in our RV all over the country and RVers are a friendly, helpful bunch. If you get stuck, ask your neighbors! If you think of anything I left out, leave a comment!