A Beginner’s Guide to Living in an RV

This post is a review of Alyssa Padgett’s book ‘A Beginner’s Guide To Living In An RV: Everything I Wish I Knew Before Full-Tim RVing Across America.’

I’ve never written a book review before, but this book was good, really good actually, so that’s why I wanted to tell you about it.

So is that all I need to say, that it was really good?

Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to cut it. I’ll tell you why I liked it and why I think it’s so good for newbie RVers (and I suspect, some not-so-newbies too).

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What The Book Is About

Well, I think the lengthy title gives a great snapshot into what the book is about. It’s certainly a practical book, filled with all the things that a brand new RVer might want to know about living in an RV. From choosing an RV, buying it, packing it, driving it, setting it up and making sure everything is working in there.

Alyssa also covers other practical topics associated with living in an RV; such as costs, healthcare, mail, internet and phones.

I was pleased to see, Alyssa also hits a bit on the personal aspects of RVing such as not being around your familiar surroundings all the time, not the same friends and family to connect with locally, and she talks about how they’ve dealt with that.

What I Liked

Now, as you can tell by the title of this blog, I am totally obsessed with RVs. I love reading about them, looking at layouts and features, and I absolutely get my kicks out of reading the stories of people who live in an RV. And you know what, I’ll even happily plod my way through technical specifications and read about features and facts that aren’t even relevant to me (being in Australia).

So I’ve read my fair share of very boring ‘how to’ guides on RVing.

And the biggest reason why I liked this book is because it wasn’t boring.

Wow, how’s that for a recommendation? Read this book, because it wasn’t boring! I really need to work on this book review thing, huh.

Alyssa has woven personal stories throughout the whole book, so she’s telling you from their experience (or the experience of their friends) which makes the book interesting and entertaining, as well as informative.

I believe Alyssa has some training in writing? Maybe journalism or something, and I’ve seen it somewhere that she’s always wanted to be a writer. To me, it shows.

Have you read any of those ‘How To RV’ books that feel like the writer has just brain dumped all the information they could think of and organised it into chapters? I have. Ugh, they’re hard to get through because nothing flows and there’s no rhythm to the writing or content.

A Beginner’s Guide to Living in an RV is NOT like that. The structure of each chapter, and the book as a whole, seems to work. It’s been well edited and it flows great.

What could very easily be a dry topic… is still dry… but told to you in an interesting way.

What I Didn’t Like About The Book

There’s actually nothing I didn’t like.

The only thing I could add here, is to mention what I wish the book had included, which is: How they manage to afford living in an RV and continue to travel around the country. This is a topic that is front and centre of my mind at the moment, that is why I’m so fascinated with what others are doing.

Alyssa, and her husband Heath, do talk a fair amount about their business and making money, on their blog HeathAndAlyssa.com, but I kinda hoped the book would give a bit more of a peek at that part of their RVing life.

Round Up

So there you go.

I think A Beginner’s Guide To Living In An RV: Everything I Wish I Knew Before Full-Tim RVing Across America is an excellent book, perfect for anyone starting out in living in an RV.

Oh, I should clarify, it’s relevant to people living in the United States. But heck, I’m in Australia and of course there are still heaps of things that are relevant to almost any country. You take the stuff that makes sense, and research all the country specific stuff like phone, internet, mail and campground apps.

Get the book on Amazon.