In my last post, I shared our “Why?”. I guess the alternate title to this article could be “How?” Very often we hear people in our full-time circles, who often talk about things that are holding them back from living the full-time RV lifestyle. Typically these “restraints” are based around several key things that include: how to afford this lifestyle/how to be able to make money on the road; health insurance; and existing health conditions. Many people allow these things to completely hold them back from accomplishing their dreams. While I understand this lifestyle isn’t for everyone, I want to briefly share some of the obstacles we had to overcome to fulfill our dream of going full-time.
Work/Money
Philip works full-time for a national railroad as a freight engineer. You can’t exactly run a train via WiFi sitting on your couch. We are pretty location dependent based on where the railroad goes. My work is a lot more flexible than Philip’s and can literally be done anywhere I can get online. I am a virtual assistant and have several off-shoots (Etsy, Teachers Pay Teachers, etc) from my “main” work.
Does that mean we are stationary? Absolutely not. Does that mean we can’t travel? Absolutely not. We move every 1 to 3 months. As I mentioned in the “Why?” post, we most definitely enjoy a change of scenery. New parks, new people, new scenery, and new opportunities. We also camp host, which I will talk more about in my next article.
In addition to our regular work routine, we also have numerous weeks of vacation a year that we use to travel more extensively. Later this year, we will be taking 2 weeks off for a trip to Canada. We are considering making the trek to New Mexico next fall for the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festival. How cool would that be?
Health Insurance
A good many people in this lifestyle are self-employed so health insurance, or the lack thereof, is a huge issue for them. We continue to have insurance through the railroad’s national carrier plan that covers us where ever we travel. From reading the full-time discussion pages, most families choose to use one of the health sharing plans. We are not endorsing any of these plans and have not really even looked into them, but have simply heard their names mentioned in conversations. Some of the big ones that we see mentioned a lot are Liberty Health Sharing and Samaritan Ministries. If you are a full-time family and use someone/something different, please leave us a comment below and let us know.
Health Conditions
This seems to be another big topic that is discussed. What happens when you have a condition that requires monitoring by a physician? The “solutions” are numerous. Some people choose to stay close to a central location to be close to doctors. Others choose to go through entire pregnancies under the care of traveling midwives. Other families travel with medically fragile children and have their supplies shipped to wherever they are. Like most things, personal preference usually rules.
In Closing
In life, we can all make excuses as to why or why not to do most anything. You can tackle your fears and make a way or you can sit at home and fret about your decision. I hope that I have been able to calm some of your fears and set your mind at ease. My families journey isn’t going to look exactly like your family’s journey and that’s perfectly fine. Blaze your own path. Make your life work for you. Whatever you do, just don’t sit at home on your hands and allow fear to cause you to do nothing.
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