5 Tips for Feeling Right at Home in an RV Park
Traveling in a recreational vehicle is an excellent way to feel comfortable, even if you’re hopping between different campgrounds and states. You have the opportunity to bring the comforts of home with you while still camping and enjoying the outdoors.
However, an RV and the surrounding campground doesn’t just feel like home as soon as you arrive. It takes a bit of time – and some extra touches – to truly feel comfortable. This is especially true when you’re driving a new RV or renting one for the first time.
Here are some of our best tips for feeling right at home while staying in an RV park in a recreational vehicle or travel trailer.
1) Pick the Best Spot to Park Your RV
When you’re choosing between different RV camping spots, you need to think about what kind of benefits your family would appreciate the most.
- Would you be more comfortable if you’re closer to the restrooms or the park’s store?
- Do you like being more separated from those camping nearby?
- Are you looking for a pet-friendly spot?
- Do you prefer a site that has trees bordering it rather than other campers?
Travel trailer parks or RV grounds often let you reserve your spot in advance, especially if they’re in national parks. We highly suggest doing this so that you can put plenty of thought into picking the “homiest” spot – rather than just taking the last option available when you show up.
Also, keep in mind what your RV requires:
- Do you need electrical hookups?
- What about an outdoor grill?
- A fire pit?
- Do you need a spot you can pull through instead of needing to back up?
The more you can think about the amenities you need to truly feel at home in your campground, the better spot you can pick ahead of time.
2) Bring Your Own Dishes, Silverware, and Cookware
Like we said, one of the best parts of traveling by RV is that you feel like you’re camping, yet you don’t have to sacrifice the comforts of home. That’s why we recommend bringing real dishes, silverware, and cookware to use while you’re on vacation.
Not only does it feel more comfortable to use real items, but they’re much more eco-friendly than paper or plastic utensils and serving platters. Even free RV camping usually gives you places to dump all of your trash, but the less trash you can produce, the better.
Kitchen supplies we typically remind people to bring include:
- A nice coffee maker
- Pots and pans
- Cooking sheets
- Seasoning and cooking basics
- Knives, forks, and spoons
3) Splurge on Making Your Bed Comfortable and Cozy
Back in 2012, the National Sleep Foundation released a poll that revealed there’s truly no place to sleep like home. People sleep better and feel more comfortable in their own bedroom than they do in a hotel or another person’s house.
If you drop by the closest RV park to grab a couple of zzz’s while on the road, you should feel just as at home in your RV bed as you do in the one in your home. Fortunately, that’s not a hard goal to achieve.
Purchase your own mattress, sheets, pillows, and blankets – rather than using the ones that came with the RV. Even if you’re just renting an RV, you can add your own bedroom touches to make the mattress and environment feel more like the one at your place.
Also, keep in mind that camping and RV parks might be louder/quieter or darker/brighter than you’re used to in your own bedroom. It never hurts to bring things like blackout curtains or sound machines to ensure that you can make your RV bedroom feel more at home.
4) Invest in Your Outdoor Set-Up
Even if you’re moving from place to place, one of our top RV travel tips is to make your temporary campsite feel more like your own backyard. There are many quick, easy ways to personalize the area and make it feel more familiar to your family.
For instance, most campgrounds allow you to put up extra lighting, like Christmas lights or cute lanterns. You can also add decorations, signs, chairs, and other furniture to make it an environment you want to spend time in.
Although we definitely encourage visitors to make their RVs feel like home inside, the efforts shouldn’t stop there. Do your best to make the entire campsite feel like home by bringing some of your unique ideas out into the yard.
5) Don’t Forget the Small Touches
Part of feeling “at home” comes from the personalized details you scatter around the living space. Whether this is a selection of family photographs, decorations, or items you’ve collected, it’s about making yourself feel comfortable.
Even when you’re picking between free RV camping spots and moving from place to place, you’ll feel much more at home if you are able to call the spot your own with some special touches. One of our biggest suggestions is to embrace whatever special holiday is coming up – put up a mini Christmas tree, hang some lights, or stick American flags around the perimeter of your RV or campsite.
In Conclusion
Most people don’t live 24/7 in their RV, and yet they still want it to feel like home whenever they jump into a cruise around the country or spend a long weekend at a campground. Fortunately, that’s fairly easy to do if you bring your own items and spend just a little time decorating and planning ahead.
Here at Cool Sunshine RV Park in Alamosa, Colorado, we want you to feel as at home as possible. That’s why we provide you with dozens of comfortable amenities, including WiFi, pet-friendly areas, laundry facilities, showers, bathrooms, vending machines, and even a putting green.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to us to learn more about our best-in-class RV amenities – or to begin the process of booking a spot for your RV or trailer. We want you to have a worry-free vacation, so we’ll do everything to make our campground outside Alamosa your next home-away-from-home.
Want to feel comfortable and right at home while traveling in an RV? Here are some must-follow tips to make your RV camping trip comfortable and enjoying the outdoors.