In February of 2020, we explored California in an RV with our five kids. We had been discussing a cross-country road trip with the family for years, so deciding to take a smaller RV road trip as a sort of test run would have been a very practical idea. Although our California adventure came about a bit differently, it turned out to be an amazing and unforgettable trip. We were even more thankful for this escape when COVID-19 closed everything down, just a few weeks after our return home. So, how did we end up on a month-long RV adventure in California with five kids?
It was the very beginning of the fall in 2019. Mr. Smith has a bad habit of getting worked up about things well before they happen. He was already worrying about the stress of the upcoming winter, especially with trying to keep five kids entertained while cooped up in the house (little did we know what was coming in 2020!). I had this crazy idea about traveling to a foreign country for a few months, with warmer weather so the kids could play outside, where we would be able to afford a nanny, and rent out our home. I know, I know – you can always count on me for crazy ideas 🙂 Fortunately, Mr. Smith quickly talked me out of that one, and then suggested visiting California.
My sister moved to California with her husband about six or seven years ago now. We had yet to make a trip out there to visit her new home. The cost of flights for our family of seven never made much financial sense for any type of short visit. In brainstorming, we came up with a solution: we could go for a whole month! We could have some family time and then do a whole bunch of exploring. Just being able to let the kids run around in sunshine and warm weather would provide a reprieve from wintertime cabin fever.
Renting The RV
It was clear right away that renting an RV would be the most budget-friendly option for our family. Hotels and restaurants get expensive very quickly with five kids. We also wanted to spend lots of time visiting places like National Parks, beaches, and even playgrounds – and cover as much of California as possible!
There are many options for RV rentals. We researched and compared costs for all of them. They can be very tricky because there are basic rental charges (usually per day), and then there are tons of additional fees for things like generator hours and extra mileage.
We decided to go with an all-inclusive “Winter Special” with Road Bear. The special was based on renting an RV for the whole month of February. There was a good amount of included miles. One of the biggest pros to this special is that the RV came equipped with most of the household-type supplies, including bedding, towels, pots, pans, dishes, and a coffee maker.
Travel To California
At first, Mr. Smith had his own crazy idea about trying to drive an RV from home, across the county, to California. It was quickly apparent that this was not very practical. We would waste so much of our precious exploring time, the miles on the RV would not be included, and Mr. Smith would be incredibly exhausted!
We decided that it was time to take the kids for their first ride on an airplane. These seven round-trip tickets to California ended up being our biggest expense for the trip. We researched, compared, and tracked flight prices over several months.
Southwest Airlines ended up being the best deal for us. One of the biggest factors was baggage, as we needed a full month’s worth of supplies for everyone. This airline (as of February of 2020) allowed two bags for free per passenger, plus other kid stuff for no charge. We were quite the site in the airport – five kids with backpacks, twelve suitcases, two child carrier backpacks for hiking, three big kid car seats, and one double stroller.
School
One of the first questions everyone seems to ask about this trip is what we were doing about school. We chose to travel for the month of February because it seems like the worst part of winter (sick of the snow and cold), but also because the kids have a full week off of school for President’s Day. We were looking at only three weeks of school being missed, which at that time, did not seem like very much.
We approached the teachers and principal months ahead of time (Second Grade and Fourth Grade). We explained that there would be lots of educational experiences and waited for some type of lesson plans. They basically told us that they were not happy about the kids missing so much school, but there was nothing they could do about it.
The teachers unfortunately did not prepare any work for the kids, so we had them write up detailed journal entries for each day of the trip. In addition, they earned six National Park Junior Ranger badges, which involve completing various types of assignments in workbooks.
My Job
Another thing that everyone wants to know is how how I, as someone with a full-time job as a trial attorney, was able to take so much time off from work.
In November of 2017, I started working for a new law firm. My pre-pandemic responsibilities involved about 50% of my work hours spent in court or other appearances and 50% spent doing remote work such as reports, research, and reviewing records. I approached my boss with this proposal: I would keep my calendar clear of in-person appearances for the month of February and instead of using up almost all of my vacation time for the year, I would use two weeks of vacation over four weeks. This meant that I would only need to do half-time remote work, or about twenty hours each week.
In making this proposal, I stressed that it would be helpful to the firm if I was still available and managing my cases . . . versus completely checking out for four weeks and expecting them to keep an eye on everything for me. They considered it and approved my request.
Budget
We have always tried to choose budget-friendly trips for our family, as we have big goals and are just not really the Disney type. Our last big trip to Washington D. C. and Virginia cost about $300. The main expenses for this adventure were airfare, RV rental, and gas. We already had a National Parks pass from our trip to Maine in Summer of 2019. We bought groceries and cooked most of our own meals in the RV, so the cost of food was not that much different from being at home.
I had read somewhere that a four to five day trip to Disney, with airfare, costs at least $1,000 per person. Our goal was to get in a full month’s vacation/adventure for about what it would cost for all seven of us to go visit Mickey Mouse for less than one week.
The total cost for a month-long trip, including all of our travel, living expenses and the extra stuff, for seven people, came in at less than $10,000.
Once we had these big issues figured out and knew we could actually go on the trip, the real planning began. Our next step was to start researching different destinations in California and planning out a flexible route. I will continue to add new posts in this series about our amazing trip, re-experiencing the adventure with all of you! Please feel free to ask any questions along the way.
