The MOST DISAPPOINTING Places We’ve Been in Our RV | Travel Realities
On today’s episode we’re moving pretty far away from our regular upbeat and happy episodes to bring in a healthy dose of reality with a list of the most disappointing places we’ve been in our RV. We have covered a LOT of ground since we started RVing in late 2017, but not everywhere is awesome. Because we travel with three young kids we have encountered several places that were challenging to enjoy, but that isn’t the only issue we’ve run into. In fact, some places have been so disappointing that we’ll never even consider going there again.
But don’t think we’re just slamming places to stir up controversy. We have real reasons why some very popular destinations were disappointing to us, and we think you should consider these things before visiting them yourself. Especially if you travel with young kids.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments! Are we way off base? Did we miss somewhere awful? Where have you been that was disappointing?
Thanks for your honesty.
My husband and I are new to the whole RV experience, and we just came back from the Grand Canyon. We have two kids ages 4 and 8months. I totally understand the whole anxiety felt over the nonexistent railings. We also saw a lot of tourists doing very dangerous things that added some cringe moments for us. So with that said, let me just say we had a blast and loved the GC. We did it much differently though. We tried to book the RV park inside the canyon and missed out because we waited too long to book. Instead we stayed at a KOA in Williams and it was the best. Willams, Arizona is such a cute town and very kid friendly. There is an animal park called Bearizona nearby and a deer farm that can also fill the time for family fun after seeing the Grand Canyon. The KOA we stayed at had a playground, a giant jumping pad, and go karts for the kids. We took the Grand Canyon Railway into the South Rim and it was a very stress free way to get inside the park with children. I would highly recommended it. You can take the train in, stay the night and leave the next morning. The train station is easy to navigate and the staff is wonderful and very helpful. They have musical entertainment and a very cool train robbery that takes place. Anyway, you were spot on about Santa Barbara and San Fran. I grew up in CA and saw San Fran before it was destroyed. It was once a wonderful place. I hope it recovers! Anyway, I agree with your critique. Thank you for the four corners info! That was one we had thought about. Take care, and we love your videos.
I think you are right about most of these. We took our 3 children on a west coast trip just before my youngest was a senior in high school, so they were all pretty much grown. The lodges at the Grand Canyon, as well as many other places, are not geared toward FIVE people. If you have 4 or less, you’re good. But we had to book WAY in advance & the only room I could get to accommodate us was a double hotel room & we could take an air mattress for the fifth person. And we had to book at least 3 nights, which I felt was too long to stay there. (Also, I would never take small children. I’d be a nervous wreck)
SAN Francisco was disappointing to me as well, and I’m still not sure why. The tourist things were good. We did the boat tour & saw the bridge & the sea lions at the piers. I guess I just had an idea of what it would be like & it wasn’t that. Where I did see the income disparity clearly displayed was San Diego. Which was absolutely beautiful, don’t get me wrong. But there, we stayed at an air Bnb that was in a mixed neighborhood of residential & businesses, close to beaches & downtown & the zoo. So a mix. There were homeless EVERYWHERE! Tents & people with wagons of all their possessions. And there were the multi million dollar homes on the beach.
Another thing about an RV (or in out case, a suburban with a car top carrier), the tree that you can drive through in the redwood forest of California. We couldn’t do that. You couldn’t do that in an RV. We also went to the sequoia national park & I feel that the roads there would be difficult to navigate in an RV.
This was a good list! Thanks for your honesty!
You make an excellent point that not all attractions/destinations are appropriate for all age levels. I hope more parents will do research ahead of time and choose the itinerary that aligns with the ages for their kids.