Trip Planning
Is It Worth Hiring Someone to Plan Your RV Trip?
Now that we’re a couple of years into the RV lifestyle, Pat and I finally have the time to take some longer trips. This year we’ll be taking our first extended adventures, and planning them has been almost a project in itself.
We spent hours researching destinations, mapping routes, comparing campgrounds, reading reviews, and making phone calls to secure reservations.
Once everything was finished, we sat back and realized just how much time we had invested in planning the trip.
Quite a bit.
Pat made a comment that got me thinking.
“It’s too bad there isn’t a travel planning service just for RVers.”
A few days later, while browsing one of the RV forums, I came across a discussion about a company that does exactly that.
How It Works
The concept is simple.
You provide your destination, travel dates, the type and size of your RV, and any places you’d like to visit along the way.
They create a customized travel plan that includes a recommended route, suggested overnight stops, campground information, and even an estimated budget for the trip.
For RVers planning longer vacations, that’s a considerable amount of work taken off their shoulders.
Different Levels of Service
The company offers several service levels depending on how much help you want.
The basic package provides a customized itinerary with recommended routes and campgrounds, leaving you to make the reservations yourself.
If you’d rather let someone else handle everything, they also offer a full-service option where they make the campground reservations for you and organize the entire trip.
It’s really a matter of deciding how involved you want to be in the planning process.
What Impressed Me
I had the opportunity to review one of the trip plans they prepared for another RVer.
It was well organized and included:
- A day-by-day travel route.
- Recommended overnight stops.
- Campground information.
- Nearby attractions.
- Reservation confirmation details.
- Estimated nightly camping costs.
- An overall trip budget.
It was obvious that a lot of thought had gone into the planning.
Is It Worth It?
Could you plan the same trip yourself?
Absolutely.
That’s exactly what Pat and I have always done.
But after seeing the amount of work that goes into a professionally planned itinerary, I can certainly understand why some RVers would find value in using a service like this.
If you’re planning a long trip, visiting unfamiliar parts of the country, or simply don’t enjoy the planning process, it could save you many hours of research and phone calls.
Our Thoughts
We’re still perfectly capable of planning our own trips, and in many ways we enjoy doing it.
But after seeing what a professional RV trip planner can provide, I wouldn’t hesitate to consider using a service like this for a future extended trip.
Sometimes it’s nice to let someone else do the homework so you can spend more time looking forward to the adventure.
After all, the goal isn’t to spend weeks planning the journey—it’s to get out there and enjoy it.