Frist, always use a checklist. When we first started out living in a RV, there were many things we had to remember. It was new to us, so the things that needed to happen before leaving was fairly long. But alas, I am getting ahead of myself.
When getting your first RV, you usually have a quick walk through only 10 or 15 minutes. In that 15 minutes, you are told where the water hook up is. How to turn on the pump. Where the dumps are at. Where the battery hook up is. When all is said and done, only thing that has happened is the delivery guy got his stuff checked off a checklist.
The dealership has everything closed up, ready to hook up, and they move it out to an open parking lot for you to drive off.
Back the truck up and hook up the hitch. Now what?
With our first 5th wheel, it was delivered, and set up. After seeing everything that needed to happen we asked the question, “What if we forget something?” In no way is the answer a good one.
In comes the Checklist.
We borrowed a Checklist from another RVer to get started. Made a few modifications to it. Made it our own so that it worked for our family and our rig.
Every trip we go down this checklist and make sure everything that needs to happen before we hook up is completed. A few things on this list are: Fuel up truck, close slides, make lunch, turn off A/C, wipe under the slides, check tire pressure. A few things you may not thing of: add water to tanks, open blinds, and secure the TV’s.
Everything on the list are things that may create a problem. May be an expensive error. May be a catastrophic mishap. We use this checklist to avoid breaking something unintentionally.
Below you’ll find a file linking to a checklist we have used and lived by. You can borrow our check list and make changes to it for your benefit.
We have also included this check list in the back of Our Travel Planner (click here to check it out) . A paperback book form of our planner that we use on a daily basis while planning our travels.
If you are like us, you want to travel all the time. Each location comes with new experiences, new people, new foods, new…you get the point. While we are at one place, we start thinking of the next place to go. Someone may have mentioned a new city to see, a trail to hike, or a waterfall to see.
Sometimes each of these things get scribbled onto a post-it note that may or may not get looked at again. This is NOT the most efficient way to go about planning a trip. But please do tell of any places we should see in the comments.
Lets take a look at the 5 resources we use to make planning a trip easier.
Internet
Google Maps
Phone
Road Atlas
Our Travel Planner
Internet: Once we have figured out where we want to be at next, we start looking at the area. This starts with an internet search of the area. Yes, some of the search is “What to do in ________” and this almost always gets a good starting point of things to do. If the list is short, it may keeps us to a shorter stay. If the list is long, we may stay longer in the area.
We check on the FCC website to make sure we will have cell coverage for work, or at least find out where there is bad coverage in the area we are looking at. This starts narrowing down where we will want to stay at what park or camp ground.
Google Maps: Plotting out the Points Of Interest (POI) we found on the internet search gives a visual layout of the area. Different pins show the stuff we want to do from hiking to eating, maybe even brewery and coffee.
Here we decide about the distance we would be willing to drive to see the POI’s on our things to do list. Normally we like to stay within 30 minutes of driving, but up to an hour is acceptable depending on availability, price, and amenities.
Also in Maps, we start looking for locations to stay. If it is a short amount of time, and cool weather, we don’t need full hook-ups and 50 amp electric. During times like today when I am writing this, we NEED 50 amp electric, along with Sewer hookup. 100° and higher weather means both AC’s and daily showers.
Most places have online booking and a website. Website shows how the campground looks, the lay-out and the amenities there. Booking websites are great, as long as they give you a conformations.
Phone: When the booking site is down, or they don’t have online booking, we use the phone. Yes you can still book a campsite on the phone with the campground directly. This also gets a chan/ce to ask questions like: “Is the pool open?” “How is the water pressure?” “How good is my cell service there?”
Road Atlas: This gets a quicker view of the major roads in and out of the areas we want to be in. Major roads are usually RV safe with a 13’6″ height, we need to be sure we fit. This combined with looking in Google Maps, we have a good idea of the route to take.
Our Travel Planner: This is a hard copy of a book. In this book we put each of the places we want to go. This has a layout per month, along with reservation information. Check in times and reservation information is now in a location to grab and go as soon as we hit the gates. Some places we go intentionally does not have cell service, or is spotty, so we do not have to rely on our internet to see our information. This book has been one of the best additions to our planning. It also helped reduce the amount of resources we use when planning.
We do try to plan more than one trip at a time because we are mobile. Our Travel Planner helps keep us organized and on track not over lapping or skipping days.
What resources do you use for your travels? Let me know in the comments.
Yes we have asked this question a time or two. Then we looked at our schedule, and found out that what others think the best time to visit National Parks are. Well, it does not line up with our available times.
Our son asked about going out to see the Grand Canyon. I had never been there, Sonya has passed through once, so we decided that is where the vacation would take us in 2023. We found a time that worked with work schedules and applied for the time off. We started planning.
The list started being compiled from an Atlas, a large book of National Parks, and of course, Google Earth.
We took out Our Travel Planner, blocked off the dates, and started penciling in our intended trip. Our Travel Planner allows us to keep all the information about locations and reservations in one convenient spot.
We packed up our home and hooked it to the truck and started our journey to north Florida to stage for the long drive west. During this slow move time, we made reservations to assure AC for the pup in locations that she was not welcome.
Our list of places to see include Arches, Zion, Petrified Forest, Roswell, and of course, a part of the Grand Canyon. This is a big list to keep track of and knowing the cell phones and cellular internet will be intermittent at best, everything got laid out on a calendar and the reservations and ticking information listed near the times we will use them.
When we set off on this summer adventure, it was before we saw the infographic put out by the National Park Experience. As we are headed west from Florida, and seeing temperatures on the rise from mid 90’s to the low 100’s I really wish I would have seen this sooner.
At the time of this writing, we are 5 stops in, headed west. The real adventure starts soon, and of course, we’ll try to keep some great photos coming for everyone.
Here is the graphic, and the blog it was in is linked below.
The whole family was participating in the rat race. But we were a multi-generational home. To accommodate everyone, we up-sized our house. Enlarged our footprint, and had to live bigger. This included more time for maintenance, cleaning, repairs, cleaning, and just taking care of the time sucks. We thought the pool would be a great addition. But that took money to upkeep, it was only usable part of the year. We used more time keeping it up than actually using it. The yard was great, but that required mowing, or paying someone else to mow. So this took time and money.
All these little things that are “normal” just seemed to take away from the time in the day to see the world, travel, learn, explore, and quality family time.
We finally decided to do what we though right for our immediate family system. Parents were all healthy and had moved out on their own. The oldest child had moved out. So now was the time for us.
Sonya and I had traveled significantly throughout childhood.
When Sonya was a child, she road tripped with her family all over the US, to include out west, and up to Alaska. She has checked off all 50 states, and 9 different countries to this day.
When BJ was a child, he hiked/camped with his dad. Along with road trips in the South East. I have 30+ states, and 3 countries.
When we got together, we day tripped a lot to different Florida cities, from Tampa, to Daytona, St Augustine, to Key West.
One year-2016, we packed up our youngest, only 5 at the time, loaded up a tent, a cooler, and some clothing and headed north. This road trip took us up the eastern seaboard all the way to Quebec Canada.
The trip was a huge success! We saw many of the “not destination” things that were interesting and historical, along with food. On that trip there were only a couple hotels, but a few friends to couch surf with. All in all we consider this a “trip of a lifetime.”
That trip reignited the want to travel.
Here’s the timeline. We tent camped for a while. Found an easier way to do it, a Wolf Pup tow behind camper. A glorified tent (with bathroom) on wheels. This was small enough to be pulled by a Jeep Cherokee, and big enough to sleep, cook, and entertain.
We outgrew this when our son reached about 4′ tall. He could no longer sleep on the dinette table sleeping area. It got sold, I wonder how that lil trailer is doing?
We then got back in a tent, but not nearly enough thanks to the heat and bugs in Florida.
We got a boat, loads of fun! How does this fit? Well, we camped ON the boat in Hontoon Island near Blue Springs, Fl.
Come 2019, before the great lock down of COVID, we discussed going full-time in a Camper. Many hours researching, looking, shopping, we settled on a 5th wheel bunk house.
2021: Purchased the camper, sold the house…It was go time.
From then, we have moved around Florida into areas we had visited, but never had enough time in. We have lived in the Keys. We have lived on a river. We have lived near the springs. We have lived near the beach a few times. In horse country, in the country, near the retirement areas, and we have yet to get to all the places we want to see in our home state.
Outside of Florida, we have RV’d into Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Texas. We will adventure farther out every time we get a chance.
This adventure is for us to see this state, and country we live in, along with looking at places we may want to settle down at in the future.
Follow, like, and share and follow along with our adventure. We may not be doing everything correctly, but we are doing it…
May is always a hectic time of year for our family as we wrap up our son’s school year and complete state testing, as well as my own since I am a teacher. Even though I teach year round, many students are trying to finish before summer, while several are starting my course for either a summer activity or to play catch up for school before fall.
We are back at our home base this month to accomplish these tasks, some family business, and take care of doctor’s appointments since we will be traveling around until fall. Anytime we are at home base, it seems to be a busy time with seeing everyone and tackling projects while we have all the tools and helping hands.
Last week we added to the mix our nearly 16 year old doxie falling gravely ill from her kidney disease progressing, so we made the difficult decision to put her down while we were home. She is now laid to rest next to her sister, our doxie, Angel, that passed a few years ago, on the family property. It’s been an emotional week, and inspiration to write was even harder to come by.
I also started a YouTube channel for cooking in the RV since we are total foodies on a budget and my allergies are a battle, so that has been taking up time. I’ve only just started posting there, but I would love if you would subscribe to There Is Always Takeout.
Over the years, this blog that has evolved from purely teaching to all things life, which is prompting a change. My husband has a blog and website for our traveling family, so we have decided to join forces and combine blogs.
Over the next several days, we will be exporting blogs from Addicted to Teaching and importing them to Barnes On The Move since writing is more my thing and video is more his. This will allow us to work towards a common goal and share the load. I’d love if you’d take the time to click over to our travel page and subscribe and interact there! We are still going to keep our social media pages as well, so you can follow and interact there (details below).
So, you will see this page fade away from your inbox in the near future, but I will still be posting about Food on YouTube, TikTok & Instagram, and we will post about traveling and family on Facebook, TikTok & Instagram. I’d love if you would take the time to follow along on the new journey, but if you were only here for education, I certainly understand if you won’t be joining us there. I wish you all the best and thank you for your support on this blog over the years!
Like or comment below, and share with others to support the blog. I post weekly about teaching, traveling and family. Until next time, you can find us on Facebook, TikTok & Instagram @barnesonmoveor follow our adventures at BarnesOnMove.com
We have been RVing for over a year now and have been “on the fence” about getting a portable dog fence.
Our pups loved having a yard to run around in and have missed that. But with Molly, our senior doxie, a reactor to some vaccines and cannot get them, it means we limit contact for both of them and avoid dog parks. That means they are on a leash if they are outside, or on their tie out if we are all out.
We have also had issues with some park resident’s pets either escaping or just being off leash, and wandering into our site. Since Luna and I were attacked a couple of years ago by a loose dog, we are very skittish. We like the idea of that additional barrier for when they, and we, are enjoying time outside.
On the other hand, it is extra money to spend and inventory to carry around. Some parks have limitations on height, or even if you can have them, so it is something else to think about. And since we move every week or two, it is an extra chore and time on set up and break down.
After going back and forth on it, we decided to give it a try, especially when we found an inexpensive option from Tractor supply (8 24″ panels with a gate were $39 at the time of this blog). We picked up two of them and set them up.
This particular set isn’t the sturdiest and doesn’t stake into the ground like some more expensive options, but it is extremely lightweight, folds up compactly, and works well for our little dogs. We opted to go around the back of our steps, so the two sets give them a good amount of space and they can go down the steps on their own if we leave the doors open on a nice day. The girls have enjoyed the freedom to be off leash. It is also light enough to be used indoors, a great option for when we travel and stay with friends or family and want to limit how far they can go or what they can get into.
We are currently at a park that doesn’t allow fencing, but, because it is lightweight and compact, it was easy to move them out of the way and set up. I’d love to get another set or two to give them more area and fence in our entire under awning area, but not sure we want to spend the money or have the cargo.
So, if you are like us and not sure, start with the less expensive option and only one set for a month or so. It will be a small investment and you can always add more panels or upgrade to another set once you have had a chance to try it.
Like or comment below, and share with others to support the blog. I post weekly about teaching, traveling and family. Until next time, you can find us on Facebook, TikTok & Instagram @barnesonmoveor follow our adventures at BarnesOnMove.com
I’m in several RV life social media groups, so interact with people at all stages of their journey. One of the most frequent questions asked from those just starting out is “what do I need to pack in my RV?”
The answer is simple: whatever you will need in your daily life.
But the process isn’t so simple.
When we live in a sticks and bricks, we have room, and how much everything weighs doesn’t factor in when making decisions.
But in RV life, space and weight are crucial, so must be thought about. Anytime something can serve multiple purposes, it’s a winner. If a lighter option exists on something you use, it may be good to replace it.
It also depends on what size RV and how long you will be in it. Our packing list for our 16 foot travel trailer for a long weekend is quite different from our 39 foot 5th wheel that we now full time in.
Some of typical living spaces may not be in your RV, some may be combined with another space, so be sure to think about that. Sketching out your storage space and listing what you’ll keep where can be very helpful, and save you from purchasing a rig that may not work for you. Keep in mind, just because the space is big enough, doesn’t mean you should fill it!
So let’s run through the spaces of a typical home and RV and what to think about when deciding.
BEDROOM This is a pretty basic list since the bed and clothing storage come built in. You will need bedding, possibly 2 sets so you have a back up if you won’t have quick access to laundry. You’ll need clothing for the seasons and activities you will participate in. Think about where you will be staying and how often you will have access to a laundry facility to decide. Most of us have too many clothes and that is a lot of extra weight, but, since we do laundry weekly, our rule of thumb is 7-10 days worth of clothing items, plus workout gear, swimwear and sleepwear.
BATHROOM This is another area where it can be easy to have too much. You will need your basic toiletries, cosmetics, linens (plus an extra set, depending on laundry routine) for both bathing and swimming, and don’t forget about pets, if they get bathed. We also keep a few extra throw blankets and scatter rugs in here for cooler weather or messy feet.
KITCHEN This is the area most of us overdo things. While there are plenty of gadgets that do one thing really well, there are a surprising amount that can do more than one thing and eliminate utensils or special equipment. It comes down to what is important to you. Most don’t have a dishwasher, so we keep enough cups, plates and bowls for our family of 3 for 1 meal, plus utensils, as well as enough storage containers to serve from and hold leftovers to feed us all a meal–these are our guide. Should we have company, we use paper plates! I love cooking and baking, so we made room for a nesting mixing bowls, a hand mixer, instant pot, coffeepot, and cook with 2 cast iron pans and a boiler, plus we have a Blackstone grill since we have always loved grilling out. A few specialty utensils and our set is complete and has served us well for over a year.
LIVING ROOM/COMMON AREA This area will be used for movies and television watching, reading and board games or electronic games. We have a small cabinet that houses all of our entertainment–so we downsized our games to travel or card decks, and all of our DVDs fit into small books and stack with our small library of favorite books, as well. Our game system is small and compact, so doesn’t take up a lot of room.
We also keep a couple of throw blankets for cooler nights. Since our RV has only a 2 seater loveseat, we added a lightweight beanbag chair for extra seating, in addition to dining chairs, and it has worked perfectly without adding extra weight. We also added an area rug that makes it feel like home an is an added layer of insulation for keeping cool or warm in the RV.
OFFICE We all work from home and love arts and crafts, so we paired down to what we need. A laptop and mouse works well and fits into a small storage bag for travel days or heading to work at a café. We have a small box for stationery, markers, colored pencils, drawing books, coloring books and craft paper, as well as scissors and a ruler. This has proven to be ample to keep us entertained on rainy days, along with our books and games. We also keep extra flashlights and lanterns in here, and our charging cords for our electronics. We used a divided tackle box style that we can coil our cords into and store them when not in use.
GARAGE Our 5th wheel RV has a large garage, so we can hold a lot, just as you would a garage in a home. We store tools and equipment for basic repairs or work and RV hookups. For entertainment, we have our snorkeling gear, inflatable paddleboards, fishing poles and a tackle box, bike helmets, a tote of outdoor toys, and a stroller/trailer for our dogs. We also fit our rug, folding chairs, solo stove and dog fencing for enhancing our outdoor space when location and weather allow. Our bikes don’t fit in here, but they do fit on a bike rack on the back (that we ensured was RV rated!). We also like to hike, so keep a small hiking pack, hiking sticks, thermos’s and a soft lunch box, as well as rain gear and a couple other backpacks.
PORCH/PATIO Most campsites have an outdoor space, so we set ours up with the gear we store in our garage. Some RVs even come with fold out porch/patios, but you’ll still need to store things when it is folded away, but you can still create this outdoor space. We had a hammock when we started out, but it wasn’t quick to set up, so we have since put it in storage.
This will just get you started, and as you learn to make these decisions, you will figure out what works for you. Weight is always a factor, so pay attention to what you have. If you plan to spend more time “boondocking” or “off-grid” (a.k.a. not plugged in and completely self-reliant) then you will want less weight to allow for fresh water, and full black/grey tanks when driving (1 gallon of water is 8lbs so it can add up fast!)
A shake down trip, or a few, will be vital to “test drive” the lifestyle and see what you need. Depending on how often you go and where, it can vary. We are lucky enough to have a home base we stop through every few months, so we can swap things seasonally, but this isn’t an option for everyone.
You may keep stuff you end up not needing, and you may get rid of things you did actually need. It will happen. Often you can replace them, and there are always donation drop offs along your travels to get rid of things you won’t need.
Are there things I forgot to include? Comment below and let me know!
Like or comment below, and share with others to support the blog. I post weekly about teaching, traveling and family. Until next time, you can find us on Facebook, TikTok & Instagram @barnesonmoveor follow our adventures at BarnesOnMove.com
Flagler Beach, Florida has become one of our favorite places to visit. In the last year, we have camped there 3 times, and have day tripped there many times before.
We love the old beach town feel of the place. They have been very strict about keeping buildings from growing too tall, they don’t allow building on the beach side, and have many small businesses in the downtown area. The Flagler Beach Historical Museum is right downtown and a great spot to learn the history about the area and people.
As you drive along A1A, you can see the dunes and the Atlantic clearly. They have many pedestrian crosswalks and stairs to the beach, as well as street parking. As you drive, be sure to watch for these.
We have tried a few seafood places, local breweries, coffee shops, and sandwich shops and all have been delicious. My only place I continue to return to is Sally’s Ice Cream Shop on the north end of town–they have so many choices, but the chocolate covered key lime pie on a stick is amazing, and definitely worth a longer walk on the beach.
There are several parks and trails in the area, other than just walking on the beach, and you can see all the different ecosystems that thrive along the coast, and the work to preserve them.
Bulow Plantation Ruins Historic State Park is also there and you can see and learn about an old sugar plantation destroyed during the second Seminole War. There are also many other state and national parks along A1A as you travel north towards St. Augustine. Marineland isn’t too far, if you want a more touristy attraction.
We love camping at Bulow RV Resort, as much for the location as for it being a part of our Thousand Trails membership as an Encore park. While it isn’t fancy, the sites are mostly level and spacious (they are grass sites), and have electric and water, with many also having sewer, but there is a dumpt station at the front entrance. Traffic on the road in can be bad since they share an entrance with a village next to it, and there are no sidewalks, but we haven’t had close calls with our daily runs or walks along it, or just staying within the park. They have a community building that has gatherings, and beverages at night, and the pool and laundry room up front aren’t spectacular, but are well maintained and get the job done.
If you are in the area,
Like or comment below, and share with others to support the blog. I post weekly about teaching, traveling and family. Until next time, you can find me on TikTok & Instagram @barnesonmove2or follow our adventures at BarnesOnMove.com, Facebook & TikTok at @BarnesOnMove
We dreamed of RV life for years and were thrilled to start our journey sooner rather than later. We’d heard so many horror stories, so we prepared, researched and thought we were ready.
Turns out, we weren’t.
We had a lot of great memories our first year, but we had a lot of issues, too.
NEW RV WOES Sadly, there is not a great deal of quality control on RVs that are new and, with full time use, things wear out quickly. Not to mention, it’s like living through an earthquake with every move. We lost a lot of travel time getting repairs done and not being prepared that some appointments were only to see the issue and get warranty work approval–which means multiple visits. If you have to get repairs, ask questions about your appointment. Will the repairs be that day, or is it just to diagnose? How long will they take? Can you still live in your RV while they work (some offer camping on site at night and they work during the day) or will you need to move out for the duration? Let them know it is your full time home if it is, this changes timelines a bit. And if they won’t work with you, go elsewhere. There are many dealerships that can do the warranty work, you just may have to plan travels around it.
SCHEDULING Even in RV life, there are still doctors, dentist, veterinarian, hair, dog groomers, chiropractors…all these appointments need to happen. Our first year, we just came back for them, but as we scheduled for this year, we selected certain months we’d be home and scheduled for during that time, unless we can take care of them on the road. This made life a lot easier.
MAIL This is a difficult one for some, but we’ve been lucky for two reasons. One, our home base family member gathers our mail as it comes in. If it is urgent or looks important, he calls and opens it for us. Two, I was able to set up with our local post office to get a daily email with an envelope scan of our mail, so I know what is coming in. This is great since I can give a head’s up to our family member about it in advance. I know some have a family member gather it up and mail it periodically to a known location, or you can always pay for a mail service in a variety of forms to bundle and mail, or even scan and email everything.
SOCIALIZING We heard it was hard to meet people, make friends and keep friends, and we thought we prepared, but not well enough. Since we RV in Florida, being outside a lot isn’t always possible to meet people, especially if you are only there for a week or so. We’ve met a few friends along the way and have stayed in touch, though. We have also struggled maintaining relationships with local friends at home. Even though we post on our private social media, they still miss it when we are there, or we are so busy we forget to reach out, or we just miss them as they are off somewhere. We have gotten better about joining FullTime Families, sitting outside, talking to people, and calling or texting our friends as we think of them.
WORK & SCHOOL We knew we would be closer together in a smaller space, but it took us some time to get used to it. The hardest part is overlap. As a virtual teacher, I do a lot of calls and zoom lessons or meetings, which means the house needs to be quiet and I need to be somewhere with proper lighting and workspace. My son is a virtual student, so deals with the same needs. My husband runs his own business, so has incoming and outgoing calls, as well as work to do. The good news is, other than class times and appointment calls, we can be flexible about who is working and where, but this can make for long, quiet days while we all get through everything, especially if the weather isn’t conducive to being outside. We’ve learned to talk about our week and our day, plan well, and created workspaces throughout the RV so we each have a quiet place if we all need to be on at the same time.
So, as we start year 2, we are doing it a bit differently. While we did get a new RV last month and will still be dealing with a lot of warranty work, we know what to expect and can ask the right questions or make the right plans this time. We are also trying to stay in locations longer, be outside and talk more, and invite our friends to come camping, visit, or get together when we are in town. Our son’s classes have a lot more flexibility and we are learning when we can all work at the same time in the same room, or walk to another room. This new floor plan has a bit more distance between living room and master, so they can watch a movie while I have a call or meeting in the back room. I have faith we will do better this year, but we are sure to still make mistakes and learn more.
Like or comment below, and share with others to support the blog. I post weekly about teaching, traveling and family. Until next time, you can find me on TikTok & Instagram @barnesonmove2or follow our adventures at BarnesOnMove.com, Facebook & TikTok at @BarnesOnMove
I have been a traveler all my life. The farthest back I can remember was when I was 6 and we went on a summer road trip from our home in Florida to see family in Alaska. We stopped so many places that, at the time were cool, but not significant. Today, I long to return to so many with my own family. That journey pretty much hooked me on travel. I was always ready to go somewhere.
As soon as I was old enough to drive, day trips were always on the itinerary, and as an adult, I have always had a trip either being planned, or brewing in my mind.
My husband and I have been traveling together for over 20 years and are always up for an adventure. Our travel style is like many others we have met–we have a tentative plan, even an itinerary, but are totally okay with calling an audible and changing it up.
We did a 3 week long tent/couch surfing trip several years back and planned an itinerary out to the day…it lasted 3 hours into our trip before we deviated. While our family prefers to know where we are, they are okay with a general location and check ins when we leave and arrive. It may seem intrusive since we are adults, but it’s not only safer, it keeps them from unnecessary worry.
We talk to a lot of people in our journey, both online and in person, and find that most travelers fall into one of three camps: the detailed planner, the fly by the seat of their pants traveler, or the general idea but up for changes traveler–like us.
No matter which type of traveler you are, be sure you are prepared by taking a few precautions.
SAFETY GEAR No matter how you travel, having safety equipment is a must. A spare tire, jack, food and water, blankets, cash, first aid kit, flashlight and/or flares, paper/pencil for leaving a note, and maps or a road atlas(paper, not just digital) are a few basic items to keep on hand.
GENERAL IDEA It’s okay to be spontaneous, but having at least a general direction or area will help you narrow things down, and help if someone needs to find you. This could be arriving to a certain point by a certain date and following a path between two locations, or just being in a certain area. This also helps with researching what to do and where to stay so you can see what major events are going on to either attend, or avoid.
BACK UP PLANS Not everything goes perfectly, so having something to fall back on is a good idea. This could be knowing of other places to stay, having multiple memberships to draw from, or just talking to multiple friends or family members in an area to have a place to stay.
POINT OF CONTACT Always make sure someone knows where you are and where you are going. In this day and age, you can’t be too safe, so even if you don’t have a formal or detailed itinerary, make sure you call or text someone with your plans. If something goes wrong, but they know where you are and that you’ll check in daily, at least you know help will be there. Also keep their information in the glove box of your vehicle or as an ICE (in case of emergency) contact in your phone.
So, which type of traveler are you? And what other precautions would you suggest be taken?
Like or comment below, and share with others to support the blog. I post weekly about teaching, traveling and family. Until next time, you can find me on Tiktok @sonya.BOMSquadleader, on Instagram at sonya_barnes_a2t , or our adventures at BarnesOnMove.com, Facebook & TikTok at @BarnesOnMove
