At one point, air travel was the quickest and easiest method to sample a new place. Nowadays, a lot of independent travellers are starting to doubt if it still offers the best overall experience. Increasing ticket prices, additional costs for luggage, airport wait times and more and more inflexible travel schedules have transformed flying into something less like the thrilling beginning of a trip and more like a hurdle to be dealt with.
Travel, for backpackers, digital nomads, expats and budget-conscious travellers, has never been about just convenience but rather about freedom. You could say it’s in the nature of travellers to reveal themselves through the stories of the places they have been, the experiences they have had and the people they have met. The desire to be able to decide the time and place of their comings and goings is probably the reason why most of the travellers have switched to making motorhome road trips.
Travelling by motorhome means not only changing the way you get from place to place but also completely altering your experience of the world. Residing in a motorhome can be described as a lifestyle which gives you a constant feeling of liberty, road freshness and those little moments when you just happen to stop and explore a place that has caught your attention. In that way, motorhome travel lends itself well to both short fun escapes and forming the basis of longer-term itineraries out of relatively unfamiliar countries.
Airports Are Turning From a Source of Convenience to a Source of Stress
For a very long time, the primary benefit of flying was the ability to travel quickly from one point to another. Still, considering the whole journey, flying sometimes loses that edge.
The typical passenger nowadays goes through a sequence of tiring activities: waking up early to catch a taxi, spending long hours at the airport, running late flights, and ending up tired after collecting luggage. Then, at the same time, one has to deal with high-priced baggage fees, last-minute cancellations, and tickets that continue to get more expensive; all these factors make convenience the last thing on the mind.
Independent travellers usually carry more than what the typical tourist has. Hiking equipment, camping gear, photography equipment, sports gear, or even remote working essentials can easily exceed airline baggage allowances. What is more, every new bag generally means paying for an extra seat.
The use of a motorhome removes many of these restrictions. If there is a space to accommodate you inside the vehicle, then what you can bring is only limited by your own physical limits and this is without the worry and consideration of weight and paying for additional bags. Just think about the freedom of road traveling for those who are planning longer trips.
Flexibility Matters More Than Speed
One of the main reasons why people love independent traveling is the freedom to change their plans.
When you fly, you are stuck with a schedule. Besides, you usually book your hotel back in the day, so no changes without a high cost. In case you find a great place or a local shows you an amazing spot, it will be difficult and expensive to change your plans.
Actually, traveling in a motorhome is probably the type of life you want to live, firstly.
When you own a caravan, home is wherever you are. You are free to keep the same location for sleeping if you like the surroundings. With Lagoa’s soft and pleasant air, you will hardly notice any temperature change all day until night. What if the weather gets worse in the mountain area? You can always go to the seaside. When the red sun sets over the water, it is as if the whole of nature has been set aglow.
Those travelers who prefer authentic experiences to the most planned holidays will find that such a degree of freedom is very hard to rival.
Motorhome Travel Might Be Less Expensive Than You Think
At first, someone might think that renting a motorhome would be way more expensive than just buying a cheap flight ticket.
Actually, just focusing on comparing the cost of an airline ticket is not a good way to compare prices.
Normally, a trip consists of:
- Return flights
- Checked baggage fees
- Airport parking or transfers
- Hotel accommodation
- Car hire
- Fuel for local transport
- Restaurant meals are usually the highlight of the trip
Motorhomes are the one thing that can save you from buying all those things separately.
On a motorhome trip, your travel and overnight stay are combined in one place. And since the majority of motorhomes come with kitchenettes, you won’t have to eat out all the time, thus saving money. What’s more, campsites are typically a lot cheaper than hotels, and they are usually a bit away from the main tourist spots.
Traveling couples and families will see their savings mount even higher on long trips. People who choose to buy a motorhome and travel in Europe for a few weeks will realize that it is the cheapest way of living on the road by not only avoiding always paying for flights, hotels, and local transportation between some destinations.
Slow Travel Results in an Enriched Experience
There are hardly any independent travelers who decide that visiting the highest number of countries will be the main goal of their trip.
Rather, they value unforgettable experiences, deep conversations, and discovering places that are not full of tourists.
Motorhome travelling is the perfect way to complement this type of exploring at a slower pace. Travellers, instead of landing in big cities and doing the most popular tourist things only, can take the beautiful coastal roads, see national parks, mountain villages, and forests, visit vineyards, and small communities hardly connected by public transport through motorhome travel.
Europe is a great place for this type of journey, which is a never-ending story. From the Scottish Highlands to the Norwegian fjords, the French countryside to the Spanish coastline, several of the most enjoyable experiences on the continent are far from the main airports.
Slow travelling not only gives you a chance to enjoy local produce but also to interact with inhabitants and get new perspectives of the place you are visiting beyond postcards.
Accommodation on-the-go
Experienced travellers agree it’s very disheartening to be forever packing and unpacking everything.
Changing a hotel involves thoroughly sorting out your luggage, finding the hotel desk, leaving the hotel, and being in another strange room.
That experience becomes completely different with a motorhome.
- Your bedroom goes wherever you go.
- Equipped with a kitchen, your vehicle becomes your home.
- Try to keep your things in the same order no matter where you are.
In fact, instead of going from accommodation to accommodation, it is only a matter of choosing where to park for the night. Whether it is a view of a beach, next to a forest, or close to a mountain trail, your accommodation will be there with you wherever you are going.
The consistency that you get from it is also a major reason why even the longest trips hardly ever become stressful and on the contrary, they are quite comfortable.
Discover Destinations That Airplanes Are Unable To Reach On Their Own
The main role of airports is to connect major cities. Motorhomes do the job of connecting everything that lies between the cities. Many spectacular parts of the world are actually situated quite a distance from railway stations or airports.
Remote beaches, secret walking tracks, peaceful lakes, and beautiful villages generally do not have comfortable public transport facilities and can only be conveniently reached by private vehicles.
It is the use of a motorhome that empowers holidaymakers to uncover such places, which are hardly ever visited, without being dependent on complex public transport links or expensive taxis.
For others who dearly wish to venture away from the ordinary route, these hidden gems do frequently prove to be the most wonderful parts of an entire trip.
Preparing Before You Set Off
A motorhome trip can be the most liberating of experiences, but some planning is required before you begin your journey. First, choose whether hiring or buying a motorhome suits the type of travel.
Research your one or more routes thoroughly. Start by checking out the local traffic laws and figuring out where the campsites are located (if you are going to use any), as well as toll roads and parking restrictions.
Registering only to visit the borders will yield a different set of requirements than staying and you should find out all the details for crossing borders. Get all of your paperwork in order before leaving.
Part of responsible travel does include the right motorhome insurance as this not only helps to protect your mode of transport, but can also make all the difference to having a happy experience, giving peace of mind in knowing everything is covered should problems arise.
Finally, do not attempt to schedule your whole trip down to the minute.
Many of the greatest memories you’ll have from traveling will come from spontaneous side-trips, recommendations from the street and history that arises when you make a last-minute decision.
Conclusion
Motorhome travel is unlikely to eliminate the desire to travel by air, and really, there would be no reason for it to do so. No doubt, airplanes are still useful for very long trips and situations when time is a big factor. But for those travellers who desire independence, dislike being locked into set plans, want cost-effective ways to travel, and would most of all like to have real, local experiences, nothing can be compared to the freedom of a motorhome, and the airlines provide only an incomplete experience in comparison.
A motorhome makes your travel something more than a set of prearranged dates or a trip from one point to another. Instead, it changes it to a journey where each day presents different opportunities for you. It frees you from the numerous inconveniences of the contemporary airline industry, gives you more freedom in managing your money, and reveals to you the sights that few tourists ever get to witness.
Nowadays, as a greater number of backpackers, foreigners living abroad, and wanderers choose to travel slowly and meaningfully, it is no wonder that motorhome travelling is one of the most popular choices today. After all, sometimes the best part of the journey is not rushing to get there but having the freedom to tell where the road is taking you next.
