Full Timers

[Char & Steve]

Just looking for info from the Full Timers on the site.

Have your travels lived up to your expectations since you first decided to go full time?

Still enjoying the adventures or any regrets?

Just enjoying life or Workamping?

What have you found to be the best mail service?

What have you found to be the best internet service?

Just looking for info to help us make that move to full time and get out of here within a few years and begin our adventure before we get to old.

Steve

[rob_fla]

Fulltimers for a little over 4 years now, love it as much as the day we started, absolutely no regrets.
The adventure is a little different for me, I still work fulltime and get paid to fulltime and travel the country as the company covers my living and travel expenses.

[travelin' texans]

Been full-time since July 1st 2008 & it's been a great adventure, if I were to do it over again I'd do it the same way.
There are several options as far as mail forwarding services, just need to decide your best option. We use UPS for ours & are perfectly happy, call once a month to have them send it to where ever we're at. We have everything either drafted from our account or paid on line so we don't get much except junk.
We use Verizon for phones & wifi which has worked great all across the country, granted it's not cheap, but it's secure & works well, we've not found/heard of anything that is cheaper or works any better. Whatever you choose for wifi won't be cheap & you won't be able to stream movies or you'll be going over your limit about half way through the first movie. Don't count on any park wifi, some are ok, others are worthless, but they are "free". It really chaps me for someone to give a very nice park a bad review because their "free" wifi is worthless.
In the beginning I worked contract work for the company I retired from on & off for a few years til the bottom fell out of oil prices. Next winter we are going to give workamping a shot, already have a job lined up, another adventure to go in the books.
We had so many people think we were nuts when we began, they may not be far off, but we have enjoyed every mile of it & highly recommend giving it a shot.
We loved our home & location, but it was almost liberating when we sold it & got rid everything that didn't fit into an even smaller SOB that we started with.
The saddest part of this whole lifestyle is that insurances, auto & health, are our biggest expenses.
Go for it & enjoy!!

[sinder]

We have been full-time for 3 years. We enjoy the freedom to change things up and not have the expense of keeping up a stick and brick home. We decided early on to give back to society and spend extended periods of time in one area to experience the culture and surrounding environment. We have been volunteering at National Wildlife Refuges during the winter months down South. Also because you are mobile you can easily store the RV and get on a plane like we did for 3 months this winter to live in Costa Rica. There are endless options. We use WIFI and cell phone service for Internet. Every year most places are getting better service. If the Internet is poor we will sometimes rent from Redbox. We have DirectTV with a SWM dish on the roof.

We have used Escapees and Americas Mailbox. Both have good service. We currently use Americas Mailbox as we are now South Dakota residence. No regrets here. Break the mold and live a little....

[Char & Steve]

Thanks for the info and doing the research on mail services and all seem pretty good or at least the ones I have looked at.
Our other issue I am looking into is we will be giving up a great insurance policy that Char has through here work so I am looking to see what is out there that is affordable with a drastically reduced income.

Steve

[mhs4771]

Health insurance is a big expense if you haven't reached the Medicare age, I'm there, but not Ann. The Afforable Care Act tax credits help, but if you're withdrawing from Retirement accounts, i.e., 401Ks it can get tricky. Because we took money out last year as a down payment on our MB we ended up having to repay the entire credit.
We're using the GoodSam mail forwarding service in Crestview Florida and have switched everything over to Florida as we didn't want to pay anymore NYS income taxes and figure we'll be visiting Florida more than we would South Dakota.
We travel most of the summer months, but relax in Florida taking it easy for the winter months.

[Loving Life]

We have been full timing for about 3 years.

We went to an RV-Dreams rally just before we went on the road. They provided us great information. I go to Technomadia.com for great Internet connection information. They seem to really stay on top of the most current information.

Not sure what our expectations were, but the reality has been great. We have met more people on the road that we stay in touch with, than we knew after 26 years in our house. We have to remind ourselves this is our life--we are not on vacation. We do not need to go sightseeing everyday. We have learned to relax and enjoy life. It was much easier to downsize and live in our RV than we ever thought. It quickly felt like home.

We don't have regrets, and in fact neither of us are interested in moving into a house in the foreseeable future.
Some unexpected stresses for us:
+ Travel days can be stressful. People drive like idiots!
+ GPS is not always reliable. We use Co-Pilot truck app and also Google Maps. We meticulously try to review our route the night before we leave. We still have gotten into multiple ugly situations.
+ We use campground memberships to keep our camping fees really low. However, there are few "perfect" campsites and finding good options can be a big job.

We use Verizon data plan (30GB) for our Internet.

Bottom line for us: We are happier than ever. Lisa has fibromyalgia and her health and symptoms are MUCH better on the road.

[travelin' texans]

George, I think finding good rv parks has been our biggest headache. Most parks websites don't show the whole story, the 1 premium site in the park is the one pictured & not another one in park even close to as nice, & show pictures of the pool, laundry, playground, all the stuff we won't be using. I've finally learned to read between the lines of the park reviews, most negative reviews, as I stated earlier, are because the free wifi doesn't work & (sorry Dave & John Boy) more than any other most negatives come from motor home owners, I usually don't pay much attention to those. I also try to look a each park on Google earth to check out the trees & roads into/out of. I wish they would just show all sites in park with sizes, some park owner/operators have no clue what a "big rig" looks like.

[Loving Life]

Totally agree with travelin' texans. I read the reviews for every RV park we go to. I also review every place we stay. I use a template: size of sites, maintained roads, easy in and out, Verizon and DirecTV coverage.

[Char & Steve]

More great info and thanks!!!! We have the mail and internet figured out. Now comes the med. insurance which will be the toughest. I'm all ears for recommendations. Problem is I am still a bit away from the medicare insurance since I'm 49.


Steve

[Buddy Wallace]

I use County, State and COE parks.

[roamingmitchells]

Steve if you find the trick for reasonable med insurance I would say we are all ears. That is our largest cost by far.and the coverage in the last 2 years has been getting less. As for the fulltime we have been doing it for 8 years. After two years of vacation, we started to do workamping, all great expexperts. Most parks were approx 150 sites with the largest paark at 1,500 sites. Currently are volenteers for the coe for free site and hookups. No regrets, except may not have saved as much in or IRA,s as we would have liked. But the life style is one that we will make do to have this style down the road. As for all that has been said I 100% agr100% agree except my wife and I have been really fortunate in campgrounds. Tom

[Jewelkgirl]

We have been full timing for the past 2 years, but only the past 6 months in our Redwood. I sure wish we would have bought the Redwood originally, but we wanted to try a motorhome. I wouldn't recommend the motorhome for full time living unless you have lots of money for a newer rig. The Redwood feels like a real home, and we like it.
Our original plan was to travel the country, but I got a full time job at the moment we sold our house, and got a motorhome. Therefore, we have been in the same place full timing. It's been a good experience, but we have decided to move into a smaller home (like a tiny home). We have run into problems like everyone else with internet. I did extensive research on it originally, and there's no really good option except your cell service (we use Verizon with an XL data plan) which works fine for us. We also use Netflix for movies. We aren't big TV people, so we don't have a DirectTV dish or anything. We get about 15-20 free channels with our existing satellite.
The biggest issue we have experienced is not having a permanent address. We use a PO box, and most places won't accept a PO box as your address (driver's license, pharmacy, shipping for ebay, etc), so I would recommend the mail services in FL, SD, or TX (since I heard those are the best - depending on where you want your primary residence - heard all have good taxes) since they give you a permanent address. I'm younger (34), so I have to work, but this type of lifestyle would be perfect if you have a retirement income and Medicare. No good option for health care - all expensive!
This lifestyle for the past 2 years has taught us a great lesson. You don't really NEED much to live. This goes for living space, things, etc. We sold most of our 'stuff' and haven't missed it. When we build our tiny home, we plan to carry over the same concept. Good luck on your new adventure. People will react crazy, negative, etc. at your new lifestyle, but it's your life, not theirs! Enjoy!