When we’re not going on bicycle adventures or travelling long-term in an RV with our kiddos, we like to be inspired to go on other trips. Travel is a way of life for us, not just something we do on vacation days.
While there’s nothing wrong with the former, it’s just not how we live, and there’s drawbacks and advantages to both lifestyles, as with everything in life. Personally, if it was only up to me, I’d sell everything I own and live on the road permanently. But to accommodate everyone’s wishes in our family, we have agreed to keep our home base (for now) and go on grand adventures as often as we can.
One of the ways we get inspired to travel more (while giving back to the travel community at the same time) is by hosting travellers in our home through Couchsurfing and Warm Showers. We have met so many wonderful and interesting people by being hosts, and while some people may think we’re a little crazy, we enjoy every minute we spend chatting about travel with other enthusiasts.
Another way I get inspired to travel is to follow travelling families on social media. If you plan on taking off in an RV with your family, here are some Instagram accounts I recommend following. The reason I recommend Instagram is that you get to see photos of these families out and about, enjoying the travel lifestyle, which is a quick boost of inspiration, versus a longer time commitment for reading blog posts.
While blogs are wonderful, when you’re planning a long-term trip with young ones, you might not have a lot of time to read blogs. Instagram is a quick way to get connected to other travel families. Some even meet up along the road, which is pretty cool. And something else that’s super neat?
Some of these folks design stickers for their adventures and trade them! I’ll be doing that at some point or another (and I’ll use Stickernut to do it, since they’re Canadian and it’ll be loads cheaper to do it through them). Anyway, here are some of the families you should definitely check out on Instagram if you want to be inspired for RV travel! Please note I’m also including #vanlife folks, because after all, conversion vans are pretty much like mini RVs 🙂
1. Unhitchd
While there’s no info on this account’s bio, there are plenty of pictures to make up for it. This account belongs to a family of 5 living full-time in their RV, sharing gorgeous photos of their adventures along the way. Check their photos out here.
2. Ditching Suburbia
While I’m not a big fan of aggregate accounts that share other people’s posts instead of their own, I made an exception for this one, because it reposts photos of families like mine, who value time together and a rich, real-life education over sticking with the status quo and accumulating “stuff.”
Check out @ditchingsuburbia for inspiration to make your family travel dreams a reality. If you’d like to be featured on their account, use #ditchingsuburbia. The website that goes along with this account is worth checking out as well, as it offers plenty of resources for the RV hopeful.
3. Jarrett and Kristin (plus their three kids), The Touring Camper
@thetouringcamper is curated by a travelling family of five. They share not just photos of the places they’ve been, but also resources to help you plan your own trips.
4. Amy and Jeff (plus their two kids), On The Roam Again
This family of four (plus a dog and a cat) travel full-time in their RV, and they share photos of all the amazing places they explore together. Check them out @ontheromaagain.
5. Craig and Bryanna (plus their four kids and a dog), Crazy Family Adventure
The blog Crazy Family Adventure was one of the first things online that inspired us to start travelling more with the kiddos (though travelling had always been on the back of our minds; the travel bug bites hard and doesn’t let go of adventurous souls). It was after reading about this family of 6 that we went on our cycle adventure. Craig and Bryanna share gorgeous pictures of their adventures on their Instagram.
6. Nathan and Marissa (plus their 2 kids), Less Junk More Journey
I started following Less Junk More Journey when they were a family of three who had ditched the “American Dream” to spend more time with their daughter. They’ve since become a family of 4, and continue to share gorgeous pictures of their beautifully designed home on wheels, as well as of the places they explore together. Totally worth checking out their Instagram.
7. Living the Class C Life
This family of 5 travelled for 1.5 years in a Class C RV, and have just recently settled in Texas. Scroll back through their Instagram to see some great pictures of places they visited and be inspired to take your kiddos on the road.
8. Follow us! @DIGWriting
As many who read this blog know, I spent 9 moths travelling in an RV with my husband and three children. We are still sort of on the trip as of this writing, except we’re not in the RV anymore; we’re renting an apartment in London before “settling” back in our home in Kingston.Â
We’re keeping the RV and this is definitely not our last adventure, but we’re staying put for a while to rebuild our funds and make our next plans. Scroll back through my Instagram to see some of the gorgeous places we visited, and to learn that life on the road with three kids is extremely rewarding—so rewarding, that I can’t wait to do it again. You can also read about our trip on this section of this blog.
9. The Zapp FAmily
I saved the coolest for last! The Zapps, Herman and Candelaria, are a couple who decided to drive their 1928 Graham-Paige car, in which they also lived, from Argentina to Alaska. 19 years later, they have visited over 73 countries on six continents… and their family has also grown. And yes, they did all that travelling in that ’28 car!
Each of their four kids was born in a different country, and this adventurous family has made life on the road work for them, with inspiring videos and photos to tell the tale. It’s all in Spanish though, so if you don’t speak it, just be inspired by the many stories that have been written about them in the media. Do check out their photos @familiazappfamily on Instagram, and their YouTube channel as well (the channel has English subtitles). Their book just made its way into my reading list, too 🙂
Other people you might want to follow if you want to be inspired for RV Travel with kids (or without)
In addition to following families, you may also want to follow folks who are working on converting their vans, renovating RVs, or converting school buses. Here are some of those people.
1. Patrick Nickell, @sdpaddyvan
Patrick is building out his van while he pursues a nursing degree. He shares photos of the build, and occasionally of the delicious food he manages to make during his busy life. If you want more of the food posts, he also has a food-centric account @thatisstupidgood
2. Kate Mullen, @theroadtoadventure
I’m not the only one who wants to see every national park in the US! (I also want to see every National Park in Canada). If adventuring in the outdoors is your thing, and if you dream of visiting a great portion of the natural beauty of the United States, give this gal a follow. She’s on a mission to visit every US national park and monument, and she’s Instagramming her journey as she travels in her conversion van.
These are just some of the inspiring accounts on Instagram. There are so many lovely families making life on the road work for them. If this is something you’ve always dreamed about, be sure to start planning for it.
Remember: a dream is only “just a dream” until you turn it into a goal. After that, it’s only a matter of time, planning, and action before it becomes reality.