Travel Research

I am the first to admit it-- I am a researcher. A planner, if you will. I read articles, reviews, order brochures, look at maps and generally just try to think of every possible angle when I am making decisions.

This is why my husband allows me to plan our bus trips. First, we try to think of a few possible destinations. Then, I start by looking at the Tourism websites to decide whether it is some where we could go and have fun for x amount of days. I really enjoy it!

There are so many places we have been, and so many places we want to go and see!

My ultimate bus trip would be to do a circle of the perimeter of North America. It would take a few months, and I think I would love it! (but that is another post)

So here are my steps:

1. Determine how much time we have for our getaway.

• a weekend?

• a long weekend?

• a week?

• two weeks?

2. Look on Google Maps to see if a destination catches our eye. (on a sidenote, we usually try to keep the driving to 3-4 hours a day for a weekend or a multiple destination trip-- or if we are going much longer we have a longer travel day at the beginning and end of the trip)

• is it child friendly?

• what is there to do?

• how far do you have to travel to get to the attractions/touristy things?

Google Maps. Easy to navigate.

3. If the desintation makes it this far, I start looking at RV parks. I always look at www.rvparkreviews.com first. I really like how its organized. It has all kinds of parks- public and private, in Canada, the US and Mexico. Members can write reviews and include the fee, the date and a rating. And, believe it or not, more campgrounds are showing up on Trip Advisor. I am a huge fan of Trip Advisor, and always write reviews when we return from our trips!

Things I am looking for:

• MOST important: can the park accomodate a 40 foot bus with tow vehicle? (sometimes they say they can, but the rvpark reviews usually have hints from class a motorhomes)

• what amenities do they have? Admittedly, we are NOT roughing-it type campers. Depending on the season, I like a nice pool, playground, etc.

• Where is the location? Is it close to the stuff we want to see? Will we have to drive to get everywhere?

• What is the atmosphere like? We've been to real "campgrounds" and ones that are concrete jungles.

• Does it have an affiliation with a club? We are members of KOA and Good Sam. There are perks. This is not a deal-breaker, but I usually check!

• Price should be a factor, but to be honest, it's not. We would rather have a place that we like and pay extra.

Sample RVParkReivew.com Review.

4. Once we choose a few parks, we look at the website. Then we search YouTube. Usually there is a promotional video, but more important-- campers sometimes take home video and post it. I love these! You get to see a real "sense" of what the park is really like. We have eliminated quite a few parks in recent research, just based on these videos.

Another great resource is Insider Perks. This is a website that reviews and makes videos of hotels and campgrounds. They have a YouTube channel. However, I do keep in mind that these are usually "promotional" videos and not "true" home videos.Nonetheless, it is usually a good starting point to learn about the area.

5. Next, we contact the park. We make sure they can accommodate us, ask if you can pick a certain site (this is why we try to plan early), and find out the cancellation policy.

6. We book the site, using our memberships if applicable. I print off the reservation and put it in my "bus binder" that contains all my necessary stuff.

 

7. We wait!

 

8. Once we return, I write a travel review for others. I use them all the time-- so I feel that I need to "give back" and share our experiences too.

9. Also, I keep brochures of everywhere we went- different outlier states and other places we might want to come back to. See the "inspiration" in the above flowchart! :)