Is camping a viable alterantive to hotels when traveling?

[Autism Family Travels]

Our big trip for next year is the Atlantic provinces. We are going to be setting up the sylvansport in one place, travel around using it as base camp, after a few days move to the next area, rinse and repeat. I will be making a few hotel/airbnb stops too just to get some comfort after a week or so. the wife and I will still be working so we will need a few days in normal quarters to crack on some work that would need to be finished while travelling.

 

[DMS1]

When we take long "camping \ off-roading vacations" we divide up our stays between boondocking and staying at KOA cabins to do laundry and real showers. For instance when we went to Colorado, we stayed in a cabin at the Ouray KOA and we also camped a few nights along the Alpine loop. We camped serval night in Moab and then also stayed in a cabin at the Moab KOA.

 

[MarioT'sCJResto]

Over the holidays my wife and I drove to CA in order to visit some family. On the way we decided to skip hotels and camp out, this turned out to be a great decision because we ended up finding an amazing hot spring in Nevada. Needless to say we ran behind schedule because we just had to test the water. Do you think camping instead of hotels when traveling is a viable option?

Here is a video of the hot spring we found by accident.

Over the past 12 years I have traveled the states, racking in over 25k miles before finally settling down to a full time WAH post in 2018. With that travel I had to basically pack up and go for up to 18 months at a time, driving from AZ to FL, AZ to MA, AZ to ID and so on I gave up the Hotel Scene and saved the luxury of room service when I decided to rack in more frequent flier miles. I found that renting cabins was my preferred overnight solution, and I ended up mapping all my road trips with my preferred KOA locations.

 

[Motoboss]

Never a motel/hotel!
This is our portable room to anywhere and everywhere

 

[grubworm]

there are a lot of variables to this question, but i look at it like this:

years back i did a 2 week southwest trip with an ex-wife and i spent over $2000 on motel rooms. it wasn't a big deal and i really did enjoy the comfort and stuff, but at the end, all i had was memories. now, had i spent $2000 on some really nice camp gear, i probably could have had as much fun and enjoyment AND have something in addition to the memories to show for the money.

of course she's an "ex" and would have gotten over half of it, but you get the idea.

the current wife and i are both retired and travel a lot and sometimes we will pull over in a rest area and spend the night for free, sometimes we stay in a state park and pay $30 for electricity and a hot shower and sometimes we get a nice motel room. it really just depends, but it is nice to have the options.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

That's the way we are looking at it now too grubworm. Our last trip to Nova Scotia we spent 3200(Edit, my calculations were wrong, closer to 2000 dollars) dollars on hotels. At the time, Colin needed his own room so we paid for a suite in Halifax for 8 days. Then a night in port au basques both ways, then a night in Sydney both ways. We bought our Sylvansport Go, and now, we are basically going to camp for weeks while travelling for pennies on the dollar of the hotel rooms. We can't wait to get back on the road with our improvements in our setup this year.

 

[grubworm]

That's the way we are looking at it now too grubworm. Our last trip to Nova Scotia we spent 3200 dollars on hotels. At the time, Colin needed his own room so we paid for a suite in Halifax for 8 days. Then a night in port au basques both ways, then a night in Sydney both ways. We bought our Sylvansport Go, and now, we are basically going to camp for weeks while travelling for pennies on the dollar of the hotel rooms. We can't wait to get back on the road with our improvements in our setup this year.

oh yeah, it can be pretty cheap. the wife and i did a week in north georgia at vogel state park and paid $20 something a night in the off season for full hookup and the heated bath house right next to us. spent $70 on food for the week....so for $200, we did an entire week of camping. of course i'd have to factor in the cost of our little camp trailer, but with camping costs like that, the little camp trailer will pay for itself pretty quick. PLUS, by having our own camp trailer versus a motel room, i never have to walk across the carpet and get poked by someone else's toenail cuttings or find short curlies in the "fresh" linen on the bed. there are more advantages than just money!

 

[Motoboss]

Euwwwww gross!

 

[Billiebob]

Yes.
Yes it is.

so on point, yes, yes it is

I had a job, kitchen design, we had a contract to renew the kitchen at the Jasper Park Lodge. I had several trips from Edmonton and even with accomodations provided every trip included a "vacation". a night at the hostel, a night in a tent in the mountains, I never went without a few nights "under the stars". But yes, from the opposite end, if you can camp out even when you are offered 5 star accomodations..... you can definitely down grade to a 5 star hotel when overlanding.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

oh yeah, it can be pretty cheap. the wife and i did a week in north georgia at vogel state park and paid $20 something a night in the off season for full hookup and the heated bath house right next to us. spent $70 on food for the week....so for $200, we did an entire week of camping. of course i'd have to factor in the cost of our little camp trailer, but with camping costs like that, the little camp trailer will pay for itself pretty quick. PLUS, by having our own camp trailer versus a motel room, i never have to walk across the carpet and get poked by someone else's toenail cuttings or find short curlies in the "fresh" linen on the bed. there are more advantages than just money!

AMEN to that. How many times have we had issues like that.