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📍 Tiny Home-On-Wheels

So you want to start living life on the road? It can go by a few different names: RV Life, Bus Life, Skoolie Life, Van Life. Whatever way you slice it, living in a home on wheels is significantly different from what most people experience in their sticks-and-bricks home. While you may adore going on long weekend camping trips in your travel trailer, that’s really a poor comparison to everything that goes into living full-time in a traveling home. So, how do you know that you’ll enjoy the experience before you jump into it headfirst? 

I’ve made that part easy for you with this 12 question quiz to help you assess if RV life is right for YOU! This is a resource that I wish existed all those months ago when Drew and I jumped right into the deep end of this traveling lifestyle. In truth, we had little idea what we were doing and we survived on a hope and a prayer through those long months of adjustment. Now on the other side, I see us as one of the lucky ones. While we adjusted well to our new life of adventure, we know others who weren’t so lucky. Let’s save you that kind of heartache, shall we?

Grab a pencil and piece of paper to keep track of your score, then read on to take this 12 question quiz to help you determine if RV Life is right for you!

Question 1 - Do you enjoy problem solving?

Let’s start with a big one! So many people try out RV living because they think that not having a lot of belongings will bring them a life of ease. Friend, please believe me when I say that nothing could be further from the truth. Since living in our Class A Motorhome, we have been busier than ever before. As I write this, I am thinking about all the things on our to do list. 1 - Patch the chip in our windshield, 2 - Replace the circuit board in our overhead vent fan, 3 - See what the heck is happening to our left side camera which suddenly stopped working. The list goes on, but I’ll spare you the details.

Any home on wheels will have a lot of moving parts which inevitably means more things that can go wrong and more parts that can pop loose as you drive down the road. You best be willing to problem solve these situations on your own because repairmen are expensive and typically have to be booked several weeks in advance. For many travelers, we simply don’t stay put for that length of time. Fixing these problems ourselves is the only real solution.

If you answered YES, give yourself 1 point.

Question 2 - Do you highly value your down time?

This goes hand in hand with the last point, but I just wanted to make it crystal clear that living on the road will mean significantly less down time. Partly due to the perpetually expanding list of repairs that need tending to, there’s also the exciting prospect that your travels will often land you in places ripe for exploration. More weekends than not, you’ll be motivated to get yourself away from your TV, and immersed your surroundings for a chance to taste some new cuisine, try out a new hike, or simply see the changing sights. Needless to say, you’ll have a lot less days spent vegging out in front of a computer screen, or curling up with a good book.

If you answered NO, give yourself 1 point.

Question 3 - Are you willing to give up simple luxuries?

I recently said to someone who asked, “RV life doesn’t make you give up luxuries, but it does make you trade them.” Want the ability to see more stars than you’ve ever thought possible? You better be willing to camp without electricity. Want to be able to wake up at the edge of the Grand Canyon? You should be prepared to be without cell service. Want to stay off grid for longer than a few days? You may be required to skip a few showers. Sure, you can consistently camp at RV Resorts and have endless amenities, but that isn’t the lifestyle most of us dream of when we envision life on the road.

If you answered YES, give yourself 1 point.

Question 4 - Do you get frequent road rage?

If you’re wanting to travel the United States, or any other large area of land, you should be prepared to spend a lot of time behind the wheel. I know that it can be stressful, and I know that it can be hard not to flip-off every idiot who cuts you off, but if you take one thing away from this quiz, please let it be this. You must be willing to let go of your road rage. If your blood pressure skyrockets every time you hit the highway then you’re going to feel trapped on this endless road trip of yours. You should be comfortable with long drives, and be willing to handle them in a calm manner no matter the traffic. Dare I say… you should actually strive to like driving. 

Attitude is everything, my friends. I know that this is easier said than done, and it may not be possible for everyone, but I do caution those who seriously struggle with anger behind the wheel to rethink this whole RV life thing.

If you answered NO, give yourself 1 point.

Question 5 - Do you need regular time away from your traveling partners?

For full clarity, I travel in a 32 foot motorhome with my husband and small dog. I get alone time during the hour or so that Drew goes to bed before me, while I am running errands as he works, and while we work in separate spaces of the RV while listening to different podcasts. This works just fine for us, but every relationship is unique and we all have different needs. Unless you are planning to travel solo, then you will absolutely see a decrease in the amount of alone time you receive on a day to day basis. If this sounds like torture to you, then RV life may not be suitable to your personality.

If you answered NO, give yourself 1 point (unless you plan to travel solo).

Question 6 - Does feeling lost give you a lot of anxiety?

Imagine waking up on the weekend with the goal to get in some grocery shopping. Perhaps you also have a few loads of laundry to do, and you have to send an important package through the mail. Before any of that can be accomplished on the road, you’ll have to pull out your phone and determine where the closest grocery store, laundromat, and post office is, and plan your route accordingly. Sometimes you’ll even enter reception dead zones which can cause your GPS to stop working. This recently happened to me while traveling through Key West, forcing me to stop by the nearest gas station and ask for directions. I have a terrible sense of direction, so feeling lost is a sensation that I’m quite comfortable with. I also don’t care enough about other people’s opinions to be embarrassed about having to ask them where the Publix is. If this sounds like your worst nightmare though, you’ll either have to figure out a way to push through that fear, or nix living on the road all together.

If you answered NO, give yourself 1 point.

Question 7 - Do you value excitement over routine?

It’s hard to keep a routine when you’re in a new place so much of the time. While daily rituals like your morning coffee should be able to be held consistent, you’ll be forced to sacrifice your weekly brunch with friends, and your Thursday evening yoga group. For me, since I only have space to exercise outdoors, rain means I must skip my daily workout. Being in a place with poor cell service means I also have to skip some scheduled calls with family. I have to admit that it’s not ideal, but with all of the stuff that you give up, you will be rewarded with endless days of adventure. You’ll have to value this excitement over your rituals in order for it all to be worth it.

If you answered YES, give yourself 1 point.

Question 8 - Do you get claustrophobic in small spaces?

This one is probably self explanatory, but let’s humor ourselves for just a moment. Sure, if you’re interested in living on the road, chances are that you want to spend a whole lot of time outside instead of in. However, the weather doesn’t always get the memo. We recently just suffered through a three day stint of torrential downpour in Orange Beach, Alabama. It rained so hard that we could barely get our dog to leave the rig and go to the bathroom. By the end of it, we were ready to see just about anything besides the same 4 walls we had been staring at for the past 72 hours. 

Now, I’m not asking you if you love small spaces. I’m asking you if the scenario I just described to you would put you in anxiety attack territory, because these days are bound to come along. 

If you answered NO, give yourself 1 point.

Question 9 - Are you organized?

Your home should be your sanctuary from the craziness of the outside world. It should be the place you can escape, relaxing into whatever style of comfort you have created for yourself. While your current home or apartment may have a place you can leave your clutter and walk away from, that will no longer be the case with your new home-on-wheels. In order to not get lost in a swamp of dirty laundry, unopened mail, and unwashed dinner dishes, you have to have some level of discipline when it comes to organization and tidiness. The mess may not have bothered you before, but it absolutely will in a tiny home where it can get unreasonable to live with very quickly.

If you answered YES, give yourself 1 point.

Question 10 - Are you afraid of bugs?

Last week I found a stink bug on my toothbrush. Yup, it was just chilling on my toothbrush head, staring right in my eyes as I all but covered it with toothpaste. This is one of the more disturbing examples, but the reality of RV living is that there’s no way to keep bugs out of your tiny home. RVs, buses, and vans aren’t sealed the same way a typical home is and there are plenty of spaces for critters to crawl through. It’s not exactly my favorite part of the lifestyle but it is something I have learned to accept. If you’re one of those people who screams bloody murder every time they see a spider, you’ll have to learn to face your fears very quickly.

If you answered NO, give yourself 1 point.

Question 11 - Do you depend on nearby friends and family?

A physical community of loved ones is something most people take for granted. Free childcare, help moving, life advice, mild therapy sessions, the list of benefits that your community can give to you goes on and on. Expanding the distance between you and your support system can be one of the hardest things that full-time travel will force you to adjust to. There’s nothing wrong with leaning on your friends and family, but if moving away from them means cutting off essential benefits that you depend on, then RV living may not be realistic for you at this very moment.

If you answered NO, give yourself 1 point.

Question 12 - Are you willing to change?

Before we get to the scores, I just want to reassure everyone out there who thinks this quiz may not give them a favorable result. RV life changed me in ways that I never expected. You may not be the most organized, the most carefree, or the most comfortable person behind the wheel. As long as you are willing to allow yourself to grow and to evolve then you will be just fine. We all change throughout the course of our lives, and this evolution is a combination of our life experiences and mindset. The only question really left to be answered is whether you want life on the road to be one of your life experiences. 

If you answered YES, give yourself 2 points.

Results:

13-11 points: You’re a professional nomad

Are you sure you don’t already live on the road? You’re practically a professional already. Don’t think twice before buying your dream home-on-wheels. Just be sure to share your adventures with us sometime down the road.

10-8 points: You’re a nomad understudy

You may hit a few bumps in the road, but what great adventure comes easy? I have no doubt that you’ll thrive in a nomadic lifestyle, even if you have to make a few adjustments along the way.

7-6 points: You’re a part-time adventurer

You definitely have potential to enjoy full-time travel, but there are also a lot of things that you may hate about it. Try going out on longer trips in your tiny home, and see how you adjust to it before starting to sell everything you own.

5 or below: You’re a stationary ally. 

You scored less than 50%. As your friend, I’m here to tell you that you deserve to be happy more than 50% of the time. Perhaps RV living isn’t the adventure for you, but that just leaves a lot of other opportunities out there for you to try. Follow your bliss, even if life on the road isn’t it.

Thank you all for joining us for this quiz. I hope it was insightful and gave you a bit of clarity about whether full-time RV living is right for you. If you have any questions, or think I left something out, feel free to leave us a comment down below. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter if you want to be notified when we put out new content about RV travels and nomadic living.

Thank you for joining us at Discovery Detour, where the destination is always unknown.