Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31st.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

...and buy a motorhome!

Yesterday's post, titled "Sell your house!" garnered a lot of attention and some questions from people who might not have thought of the possibilites of retiring to full time motorhome life.

Full time motorhome life in order to travel!!

We've learned that motorhome travel is one of the best ways to really experience a country and meet with the locals at the same time.

Just how much travel can you do in a motorhome?

We think it's realistic that you can spend at least ten years exploring the world in a motorhome, and that's just touching on the countries that are EASY!

Our motorhome Sherman, and the view along highway 220 in the state of Pennsylvania.

How about this list...Canada, United States, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Wales, Iceland, all of Scandinavia, all of Europe...and let's not forget southern Africa including Botswana, South Africa, and of course Namibia!

How do we know this? Because our British friends Glen and Steve have motorhomed in most of these countries. They keep a travel tips blog at http://www.glenswatman.blogspot.com/ and up until Steve was diagnosed with leukemia last year, they had been traveling full time for almost 15 years!

They did it by buying and selling a motorhome on different continents. When we met them in July of 2007, they were in the middle of a two year motorhome trip to North America, and they had just finished buying and selling in Africa where they had spent the previous winter touring.

Of course you need the start off capital to buy the motorhome. But you don't need a lot. You can do this with between $10,000 to $30,000 dollars, in any of the countries we mentioned.

And once you've actually got the motorhome, you need to set it up to be self sufficient...solar power and batteries because very often, you won't be staying in expensive campgrounds. Once you're set up, you will be able to travel and explore for less than $1,000 a month. If you're careful and use good money management you'll learn how to live a frugal (but fulfilling!) lifestyle.

Glen and Steve's motorhome while in France.

There are some logistical things to consider, and it's not always easy, but there's always a way. Buying, registering, and insuring a vehicle as a foreigner in a foreign country can be challenging and sometimes you have to tell some little white lies such as finding a friend who's address you can use as your own...but there's always a way.

And, there are motorhome exchanges too. We're currently trying to find an exchange in South Africa, where we could use someone else's motorhome while we're there for a couple of months and in exchange, they could come to Canada and use ours for a couple of months next summer.

Other than the cost of the motorhome, and the costs of flying to and from these countries and your home country for occasional visits, you can travel the world for $1,000 a month. Glen and Steve have proven that it can be done, and we've shown in our travels so far that it can be done.

All you need to do is to try it yourself!

Sherman parked up for the night at St. James Parish Church near Port Dufferin, Nova Scotia, Canada.


23 comments:

  1. You need to be a multi talented handyman. If you have to pay rv repairmen to fix everything you may spend close to a $1000 a month. There outrageous

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    1. Not necessarily Carl, although for sure it would help to be a little bit mechanically inclined. We would never buy a motorhome with slide outs or leveling jacks...the two most common items that might need to be repaired by an RV repairman!

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  2. We sold the house and bought the motorhome, actually, we bought the motorhome and then sold the house. Look out World! Here we come! :c)

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    1. And, we have been following along on your adventures and can see that you are having the time of your life!

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  3. living the frugal lifestyle can be difficult at times but I know that the two of you have done it!

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    1. We have always been pretty frugal so really it is that tough, at least for us but for people you have always just gone out and spent money then it may be a little more difficult. We love living life simple and I think that is the key.

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  4. Will you be my mentor, Kevin? I'm in my fourth week and enjoying everything about full-timing. Heading to Crater Lake, Oregon today and will meet, up close and personally, with virtual friends, Dave and Marcia, of GoingRVWay.

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    1. Hey Mary-Pat. We are in Sisters tonight, Bend tomorrow and on to Prineville. Don't know if any of that is on your schedule, but if so, would love to meet you...and your friends.

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    2. So glad that you are enjoying your "new" life on wheels Mary-Pat, we know you will have a blast!

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  5. Yes it can be done, we bought our Motorhome and sold our house in 2006. Been fulltime ever since. We are not as frugal as you but have been doing it for just over $2,000. a month. So much to see and do and we love the lifestyle.

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    1. You are right, there is so much to do and see out there and motorhoming makes the traveling all that much cheaper and easier that staying in hotels and eating in restaurants all the time.

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  6. This is all very thought provoking. Something for us to consider in the future ?

    Sft x

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    1. Hope you do think about doing it, many people do this in Europe.

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  7. Wouldn't trade this full timing life style for anything although with our medical and health insurance costs we can't live on as little as Kevin and Ruth. But it's still less expensive than living in a stix and brix.

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    1. We agree with you Sherry, there seems to be so much more money tied up when you have a permanent house.

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  8. This life is not for everyone, but it is for me. I have learned and experienced so many new things in the last 14months. Bring it on!






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    1. You are quite right when you say it isn't for everyone but you don't know it until you try it. Really starting to miss Sherman now.

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  9. I've lived full-time for 21 years in the US. Would love to have a RV when I return to South Africa. Would be interested to know how that works for you.

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    1. We are still hoping that we will be able to do a motorhome swap with someone in South Africa but if we don't then we will probably just get a cheap car rental and travel around that way.

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  10. Hope this inspires a few others to hit the road and make the most of life rather than shy away from taking the odd risk.

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    1. We hope so too Glen and Steve. You two certainly inspired us and we haven't looked back since, thank you so much!

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  11. Have you found an RV exchange for South Africa yet? You may already know about http://www.gumtree.co.za (the "craigslist" of South Africa), which has a Swap/Trade category, and the National Parks forum groups (http://www.sanparks.co.za) are very active; you might try the Advice Needed or Meet & Greet categories to meet other RV'ers. I always get an answer when I post there, and the users are very welcoming.

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    1. Thank you for these links, Kevin has already been looking at them and for the moment, I think we will just sit on the fence for now with the motorhome exchange. We are hoping to find a house sit while we are there and we have also found that car rentals in South Africa are very inexpensive. Kevin is still going to keep his eyes open though because you just never know what might come along.

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