4 ms·

I'd like to put forward the pinnacle of this theory: Get a tiny shithole. Travel trailers are dirt cheap, once they reach a certain age, and they're shitholes,

I'd like to put forward the pinnacle of this theory: Get a tiny shithole. Travel trailers are dirt cheap, once they reach a certain age, and they're shitholes, once they reach a certain age. There really isn't much you can do to fix up a really old travel trailer that isn't one of the "collectible" sort (Airstream, mostly, but there are some others with collector value). They don't cost too much to heat/cool, even if poorly insulated, because they're very, very small (a couple hundred square feet). They've also got wheels, so you can drive them south when it gets cold and north when it gets warm. And, unlike tiny houses, you can park them in most RV parks, which provides the hookups you need to live comfortably (though the older and shittier your trailer is, the fewer parks will take you, but you don't want an expensive and fancy RV park, anyway, as that defeats the purpose of living in a shithole tiny house). I say all this only half jokingly. I live in a 32 year old Avion travel trailer (one of the collectible sorts, all aluminum and very expensive when new); not quite a shithole, but not exactly pristine, either. I genuinely recommend it for folks who have the freedom to do so.

sakopov 10y ago
How frequently do you travel? Do you work remotely and if so how do you manage to find internet connection? This is something I've been very interested in for some time now.
- SwellJoe 10y ago
  It depends on a number of factors. For the first four years, or so, I traveled a lot, rarely staying in one place for more than a month at a time, and sometimes less than a week. For the past year, because I'm traveling with a girlfriend who likes more stability, and her cats who hate driving, we've been taking it quite slowly. We've mostly stayed at least a month wherever we stop, and we've been in our current location for about four months. I work remotely, yes, but always have, even before traveling. Internet has gotten outrageously expensive in recent years, as no one offers unlimited data. I spend about $250 (sometimes as much as $300) a month on Internet (it used to be under $100) from two providers, and still often find myself out of data near the end of the month. So, you should budget for that, unless you want to spend a lot of time in coffee shops and libraries and such. I have friends who travel and spend much less, but they don't work from their RV as much as I do. It's a pretty flexible lifestyle; one can, and people do, park the whole summer in one location and then move south for winter and spend the whole winter in the desert or southern California, or Mexico. Others travel nearly full-time. It's the benefit of having a fully self-contained home with wheels.
- hn_user2 10y ago
  Can't say from experience since I am in the research phase. But I like the outdoors so I want to be able to boondock. So my current plan is a Wifi Device from Verizon, plus Satellite Internet, plus lots of Solar and Batteries. This is not cheap, and I am pretty sure it will not resale very well. The satellite dish alone is like $7,000 (http://www.rvdatasat.com http://www.rvdatasat.com). But I know I'll be working remote for some time, and why not just go hit the National Parks for a bit. Of course, still need to pick and choose. Not sure I could rely on a view to a geo-sat from Yosemite Valley for example, but up high at Tuolumne Meadows should be fine.
  - SwellJoe 10y ago
    I considered satellite when I first started, but the cost is very high, the latency is very high (I have experience with satellite internet as I've helped design caching systems for cruise ships and other satellite linked networks; while the up/down speeds aren't terrible, interactive stuff is painful), and the places where you can't get 3G/4G data in the continental US has shrunk quite a bit over the past decade or two. I spend a lot of time in deserts, which have surprisingly good coverage, even quite far from civilization. Being flat, and all, makes it reach quite far from towers. Mountains are problematic, but even then, you can often find a place to park that's in a pocket of coverage...or you can hike or bike to a high point where you can get coverage. And, as you note, mountains are potentially problematic for satellite coverage, as well.
    - sakopov 10y ago
      Do you just tether internet from your phone? I've been looking at service like Karma [1] which seems to receive good reviews from RVers i follow on YouTube and they charge an incredible $150/50Gb. The prices are just outrageous. [1] https://yourkarma.com/pricing https://yourkarma.com/pricing
      - SwellJoe 10y ago
        I had Karma, but they did a double bait and switch (they offered unlimited with a bandwidth restriction, but then changed it after a bunch of people signed up, and then changed it yet again the month after, due to complaints...in both cases, the deals got worse and the pricing got more expensive for my use case), which made me hate them. But, I use Sprint and T-Mobile. Karma is on the Sprint network, so the same network, but with slightly better prices. I have a 40GB plan from Sprint ($127/month, including the hotspot and the line fee), and 16GB spread across two devices on T-Mobile. And, yes, my phone can tether, but I have two hotspots, as well. I use T-Mobile for the Binge On feature, which is zero-rated Netflix, Pandora, Spotify, Amazon Video, YouTube, etc. So, when I'm streaming, I use the T-Mobile data, and for anything else I use Sprint. And, yes, prices are outrageous. It wasn't always this way. Clear used to offer unlimited data for $40/month, and I had an unlimited data plan on my T-Mobile phone, as well. I kept the actually unlimited plan for many years, even after T-Mobile no longer offered an actually unlimited plan. But, then they started blocking hotspot usage (even on a rooted phone; not sure how they were detecting it was being used that way), so I had to switch to another plan, which was more expensive and much more limited. Anyway, it works out to about $250/month; if I weren't sharing it with my girlfriend (who does a lot of streaming), it'd probably be plenty. I never used to use more than about 30GB/month when it was just me. I watch a lot less TV when it's just me.
gnarcoregrizz 10y ago
RV parks are usually just full of retirees, and they are also expensive ($100/night+ for the centrally located ones in cities). The nice ones usually put a limit on how long you can stay there too. I ended up boondocking most of the time but that gets stressful and old pretty quickly. Parks and BLM land seemed to have more younger people semi-permanently living on it though. One thing I noticed about budget RVs (newer ones at least) is that they aren't built to last. They are built with really cheap lightweight materials and probably won't last a few years of full time living, never mind water leaks and all of the other mechanical issues of having a home on wheels. The better built ones go up in price very quickly, to the point where you're at the price of a cheap home, but one which is guaranteed to depreciate quickly. A classic, well build RV might be a better bet. However, ultimately, a motorhome might not be a bad bet for some people's situations. Its certainly worth the experience!
- SwellJoe 10y ago
  "RV parks are usually just full of retirees, and they are also expensive ($100/night+ for the centrally located ones in cities)." I have never paid more than $100/night for an RV park, including in the most expensive cities in the country (Los Angeles and San Diego are in the stratospheric range of ~$70/night). Sure, there are "luxury" RV parks that are a bit more expensive, but the usual nightly rate is somewhere in the $30-$50 range. Weekly and monthly rates are much cheaper. Boondocking is great, and there's tons of great options, particularly in the west. But, you don't have to do that, if you like having hookups. It's possible to live month-to-month in some great cities for $300-$600 per month. I have spent as much as $1650 for a month in an RV park (again, LA and San Diego), and I've skipped staying in RV parks in some cities because they're so expensive (Silicon Valley falls into this category). "A classic, well build RV might be a better bet." Yes, that's usually my recommendation, when I'm advising people. There have been well-constructed RVs in every era since the 70s, but newer ones are very expensive. If you have some tolerance for, or enthusiasm for, doing DIY repairs, an old, high end, RV can be a good value. I've owned a motorhome and a travel trailer. I preferred the motorhome, but wouldn't have known it until I tried both...even having spent years in the motorhome. Now, I'm a year into living in the travel trailer, and have plans to get back into a motorhome, eventually. Motorhomes are a bigger initial investment and cost more to maintain, so, maybe not the best first choice for someone just starting.
codecamper 10y ago
Get one that is Tip Top.

sakopov 10y ago

How frequently do you travel? Do you work remotely and if so how do you manage to find internet connection? This is something I've been very interested in for some time now.

SwellJoe 10y ago
It depends on a number of factors. For the first four years, or so, I traveled a lot, rarely staying in one place for more than a month at a time, and sometimes less than a week. For the past year, because I'm traveling with a girlfriend who likes more stability, and her cats who hate driving, we've been taking it quite slowly. We've mostly stayed at least a month wherever we stop, and we've been in our current location for about four months. I work remotely, yes, but always have, even before traveling. Internet has gotten outrageously expensive in recent years, as no one offers unlimited data. I spend about $250 (sometimes as much as $300) a month on Internet (it used to be under $100) from two providers, and still often find myself out of data near the end of the month. So, you should budget for that, unless you want to spend a lot of time in coffee shops and libraries and such. I have friends who travel and spend much less, but they don't work from their RV as much as I do. It's a pretty flexible lifestyle; one can, and people do, park the whole summer in one location and then move south for winter and spend the whole winter in the desert or southern California, or Mexico. Others travel nearly full-time. It's the benefit of having a fully self-contained home with wheels.
hn_user2 10y ago
Can't say from experience since I am in the research phase. But I like the outdoors so I want to be able to boondock. So my current plan is a Wifi Device from Verizon, plus Satellite Internet, plus lots of Solar and Batteries. This is not cheap, and I am pretty sure it will not resale very well. The satellite dish alone is like $7,000 (http://www.rvdatasat.com http://www.rvdatasat.com). But I know I'll be working remote for some time, and why not just go hit the National Parks for a bit. Of course, still need to pick and choose. Not sure I could rely on a view to a geo-sat from Yosemite Valley for example, but up high at Tuolumne Meadows should be fine.
- SwellJoe 10y ago
  I considered satellite when I first started, but the cost is very high, the latency is very high (I have experience with satellite internet as I've helped design caching systems for cruise ships and other satellite linked networks; while the up/down speeds aren't terrible, interactive stuff is painful), and the places where you can't get 3G/4G data in the continental US has shrunk quite a bit over the past decade or two. I spend a lot of time in deserts, which have surprisingly good coverage, even quite far from civilization. Being flat, and all, makes it reach quite far from towers. Mountains are problematic, but even then, you can often find a place to park that's in a pocket of coverage...or you can hike or bike to a high point where you can get coverage. And, as you note, mountains are potentially problematic for satellite coverage, as well.
  - sakopov 10y ago
    Do you just tether internet from your phone? I've been looking at service like Karma [1] which seems to receive good reviews from RVers i follow on YouTube and they charge an incredible $150/50Gb. The prices are just outrageous. [1] https://yourkarma.com/pricing https://yourkarma.com/pricing
    - SwellJoe 10y ago
      I had Karma, but they did a double bait and switch (they offered unlimited with a bandwidth restriction, but then changed it after a bunch of people signed up, and then changed it yet again the month after, due to complaints...in both cases, the deals got worse and the pricing got more expensive for my use case), which made me hate them. But, I use Sprint and T-Mobile. Karma is on the Sprint network, so the same network, but with slightly better prices. I have a 40GB plan from Sprint ($127/month, including the hotspot and the line fee), and 16GB spread across two devices on T-Mobile. And, yes, my phone can tether, but I have two hotspots, as well. I use T-Mobile for the Binge On feature, which is zero-rated Netflix, Pandora, Spotify, Amazon Video, YouTube, etc. So, when I'm streaming, I use the T-Mobile data, and for anything else I use Sprint. And, yes, prices are outrageous. It wasn't always this way. Clear used to offer unlimited data for $40/month, and I had an unlimited data plan on my T-Mobile phone, as well. I kept the actually unlimited plan for many years, even after T-Mobile no longer offered an actually unlimited plan. But, then they started blocking hotspot usage (even on a rooted phone; not sure how they were detecting it was being used that way), so I had to switch to another plan, which was more expensive and much more limited. Anyway, it works out to about $250/month; if I weren't sharing it with my girlfriend (who does a lot of streaming), it'd probably be plenty. I never used to use more than about 30GB/month when it was just me. I watch a lot less TV when it's just me.

gnarcoregrizz 10y ago

RV parks are usually just full of retirees, and they are also expensive ($100/night+ for the centrally located ones in cities). The nice ones usually put a limit on how long you can stay there too. I ended up boondocking most of the time but that gets stressful and old pretty quickly. Parks and BLM land seemed to have more younger people semi-permanently living on it though. One thing I noticed about budget RVs (newer ones at least) is that they aren't built to last. They are built with really cheap lightweight materials and probably won't last a few years of full time living, never mind water leaks and all of the other mechanical issues of having a home on wheels. The better built ones go up in price very quickly, to the point where you're at the price of a cheap home, but one which is guaranteed to depreciate quickly. A classic, well build RV might be a better bet. However, ultimately, a motorhome might not be a bad bet for some people's situations. Its certainly worth the experience!

SwellJoe 10y ago
"RV parks are usually just full of retirees, and they are also expensive ($100/night+ for the centrally located ones in cities)." I have never paid more than $100/night for an RV park, including in the most expensive cities in the country (Los Angeles and San Diego are in the stratospheric range of ~$70/night). Sure, there are "luxury" RV parks that are a bit more expensive, but the usual nightly rate is somewhere in the $30-$50 range. Weekly and monthly rates are much cheaper. Boondocking is great, and there's tons of great options, particularly in the west. But, you don't have to do that, if you like having hookups. It's possible to live month-to-month in some great cities for $300-$600 per month. I have spent as much as $1650 for a month in an RV park (again, LA and San Diego), and I've skipped staying in RV parks in some cities because they're so expensive (Silicon Valley falls into this category). "A classic, well build RV might be a better bet." Yes, that's usually my recommendation, when I'm advising people. There have been well-constructed RVs in every era since the 70s, but newer ones are very expensive. If you have some tolerance for, or enthusiasm for, doing DIY repairs, an old, high end, RV can be a good value. I've owned a motorhome and a travel trailer. I preferred the motorhome, but wouldn't have known it until I tried both...even having spent years in the motorhome. Now, I'm a year into living in the travel trailer, and have plans to get back into a motorhome, eventually. Motorhomes are a bigger initial investment and cost more to maintain, so, maybe not the best first choice for someone just starting.

codecamper 10y ago

Get one that is Tip Top.