How We Plan Our RV Travel (From Idea to Campsite)
Planning RV travel sounds simple… until you actually start doing it.
When we first got into RVing, we quickly realized there’s a lot more to it than just picking a destination and hitting the road. Between finding the right campgrounds, planning safe routes, and making sure everything lines up with our schedule, it can feel overwhelming at first.
Over time, we’ve built a system that works for us. It’s not perfect, and it doesn’t try to be, but it gives us confidence, keeps stress low, and allows us to truly enjoy the journey instead of constantly worrying about what’s ahead.
This is exactly how we plan our RV travel from start to finish.
Deciding Where to Go
For us, choosing a destination usually starts subconsciously with the weather.
We don’t camp outside of mid-to-southern Florida during the winter, but we’re perfectly comfortable staying in Florida during the summer. After living here for several years, we’ve gotten used to the heat, so it doesn’t really slow us down.
We also plan around people and experiences. Some of our trips have been built entirely around spending time with family and friends or simply being in the right place at the right time. For example, we stayed near Indianapolis for the 4th of July and near Minneapolis over Labor Day weekend so we could enjoy time with family, attend events, and experience things like the state fair.
When we pick a location, we typically try to stay around 21 days. That gives us two full weekends to explore the area, plus time in the evenings after work. It’s a great balance that lets us settle in, experience a place, and still feel like we’re moving forward in our travels.
Mapping the General Route
Once we know where we want to go, we start mapping out the general direction of the trip.
We don’t get into the details right away. At this stage, it’s more about understanding the overall flow — how far we’ll be traveling and how many stops we’ll realistically need along the way.
We’ve learned pretty quickly that we don’t enjoy long travel days. Early on, we did a 7-hour drive and both agreed that it was too much. It turned what should have been an exciting travel day into something that just felt exhausting.
These days, we try to keep our drive days under 4–5 hours, with most of our trips actually landing closer to 2–3 hours when possible.
We’ve found that keeping our drive days under 4–5 hours keeps the stress down and makes the whole day feel more enjoyable instead of rushed. You have to remember, it’s not just the drive itself. There are a few hours before you even leave getting everything packed up, and a few more hours once you arrive getting set up again. What sounds like a 4–5 hour drive can easily turn into an 8–10 hour day.
We also tend to stick with more direct routes. In our experience, they usually have better road conditions and fewer surprises like tight turns or low clearances, which makes for a much smoother and more predictable travel day.
Dialing in the Route
Once we have a general plan in place, this is where we start dialing everything in.
This is also where RV Life Trip Wizard becomes a big part of our process. It allows us to plan safe, RV-friendly routes that take into account our rig size and helps us identify things like fuel stops along the way, which removes a lot of uncertainty before we even leave.
If you want to see exactly how we use it step-by-step, we break it all down here:
👉 How We Use RV Trip Wizard to Plan Stress-Free RV Routes
That said, this is just one piece of the overall process. Once the route is mapped out, we shift our focus to finding the right places to stay and making sure everything lines up with our travel style.
Choosing the Right Campgrounds
Picking the right campground is just as important as planning the route.
For us, there are a few must-haves:
Full hookups with 50 amp service
Access to laundry facilities
Nearby conveniences like gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants
Strong reviews with easy access for getting in and out
Beyond that, we’ve learned what kind of campgrounds we enjoy most. We like a balance between quiet and social parks, prefer medium to larger campgrounds, and enjoy having a mix of nature while still being close to everyday conveniences. That combination gives us the best of both worlds.
One lesson we learned the hard way is booking too late. There was a time we waited too long and missed out on the campground we really wanted, which forced us to completely change our plans.
Since then, we’ve created a simple system to make sure we book early and stay ahead of reservations. We use Apple’s Reminders app to track every campground we plan to stay at throughout the year. Each location gets its own reminder, along with notes for the exact dates we want to book.
From there, we figure out when reservations open and set the reminder for that day, usually right around midnight. Even though some bookings don’t open until 1 AM Eastern, setting it earlier gives us time to double-check everything and be ready. If a campground allows bookings a full year in advance, we book it as soon as possible. In those cases, we either set the reminder a year out or align it with when their booking window opens, such as the start of the calendar year.
One small tip that has helped us a lot is setting the reminder to “Urgent.” This ensures our phone makes a sound even if it’s on silent. There have been times we’ve gone to bed and relied on that alert at midnight to make sure we didn’t miss a booking window.
At any given time, we usually have 6–8 months of bookings mapped out. Some campgrounds allow reservations 3 months out, others 6 months, and some private parks allow a full year in advance. This system keeps everything organized and gives us confidence that we won’t miss out on the places we really want to stay.
Planning for Internet & Connectivity
Internet is a big part of our lifestyle since we both work remotely.
Early on, we would check coverage before booking every campground. Now, with our setup that includes RoamLink, T-Mobile, and Starlink, we’ve built enough redundancy that we feel confident almost anywhere we go.
That doesn’t mean every location is perfect. Some places offer great speeds, while others leave a lot to be desired. We’ve also experienced a couple of campgrounds where both cellular and Starlink struggled due to poor signal and heavy tree coverage.
In those moments, we made it work since we were only there for a few days. It wasn’t ideal, but it reinforced how important it is to have multiple options available.
Now, one of the first things we do after setting up is run speed tests to make sure everything is working as expected so we can avoid surprises during the workweek.
Final Checks Before Booking
Before we finalize anything, we take a step back and double-check everything.
One thing we always review is the next campground we’re heading to. A day or two before travel, we’ll look at the layout of the campground and the roads leading into it. This helps us avoid surprises and gives us a better understanding of what to expect when we arrive.
We also:
Read through reviews carefully
Use Apple Maps to explore the surrounding area
Review our route again before travel
Even with all of this, we’ve learned that things can still change. Construction, accidents, or unexpected road conditions can always come into play. That’s one of the reasons we keep our drive times shorter. It gives us flexibility when things don’t go as planned and helps keep stress levels low.
Travel Day Strategy
When travel day comes, we keep things simple.
We plan our departure time based on the campground’s check-in time. For example, if check-in is at 2 PM and the drive is around 3 hours, we’ll usually leave around 10 AM. This gives us a buffer for traffic and accounts for the fact that we drive around 60 MPH on the interstate to keep things safe.
A good travel day for us is exactly what you’d expect — nice weather, low wind, and an easy drive.
A stressful one usually involves heavy winds, rain, or navigating through busy cities. When that happens, we slow things down, stay alert, and focus on getting there safely rather than rushing through it.
Our biggest rule is simple: slow and steady wins every time.
Author’s Note
For us, planning isn’t about removing the freedom of RV life. It’s what allows us to actually enjoy it.
Having a plan gives us peace of mind. It helps us know where we’re going, how we’re getting there, and what to expect along the way. It also gives us a bigger picture of where we want to go throughout the year and helps us stay on track with those goals.
More importantly, it allows us to actually enjoy the lifestyle instead of constantly reacting to problems.
At the end of the day, that’s what this is all about.
If you want to take a deeper look at how we map out our routes and plan each travel day, check out our full guide here:
👉 How We Use RV Trip Wizard to Plan Stress-Free RV Routes
