It’s been a very different travel year for us and we’ve spent many months staying home due to the pandemic. This summer, local travel restrictions finally lifted in our home province of BC and we’ve been able to do some small getaways while still staying safe. We just returned from our first RV camping trip with a CanaDream TCA Truck Camper, and we had an amazing time! RV camping is a perfect way to travel right now to reduce risk. It allowed us to re-discover a beautiful part of our home province, while still staying safe in these complicated times. We headed up to the Okanagan by way of Manning Park, and got to visit some incredible lakes, mountains, forests, and provincial parks. Keep reading for more about our RV experience and we’ll tell you all about CanaDream!
CanaDream is one of Canada’s biggest and best RV rental companies. Their fleet has about 1000 RVs in 7 locations across Canada including Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Whitehorse, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax! We were immediately impressed by how many different options CanaDream has available from camper vans, to truck campers, to full RVs and motorhomes of varying sizes. You can accommodate anywhere from 2 adults in their smaller models to 4 adults plus 2 children in their larger models. There are tons of options for couples and families, and all the RVs are pet friendly! If you are new to RV camping, CanaDream does an excellent job of making sure you feel prepared. This was our first RV trip and going in, we definitely felt overwhelmed knowing that we would have a lot to learn. We knew there would be a bit of a learning curve because neither of us had ever done camping like this before! Luckily, CanaDream is super beginner friendly and a couple days in we already felt like pros. Their website has amazing instructional videos for each and every question you may have, and you will be equipped with all the information you need for your trip. They walk you through all the specifics of your vehicle including how to fill your water tanks, hook up your electrical, empty your waste tanks, check your propane, operate the furnace and AC, check your monitor panel, and so much more. Everything was far easier than we imagined, so if you’ve been thinking about trying out RV camping but weren’t sure if you could do it, we highly recommend you give it a try!
We camped in CanaDream’s Maxi Travel Camper, which is a TCA Truck Camper, and we were shocked at how spacious and comfortable it was. We had a full bathroom with a toilet, sink, and a shower. We had a kitchen with a huge fridge and freezer, a stovetop, an oven, a microwave, cookware, cutlery, and tons of storage for the food we brought. There was a seating area that we used for meals and a laptop work space. It had a queen size bed with a beautiful skylight, which was more than enough space for us and our small dog Theo. There was also enough storage to fully unpack our clothes, camera gear, computers, toiletries, pantry items, and everything else we brought for the trip. The camper was so well designed that we immediately understood how people travel long-term in RVs. They really are far more comfortable than you would think! We highly recommend CanaDream’s TCA Truck Camper for single travellers or couples who want some extra space, or families with a small child. The dinette in the camper folds down into an additional bed so you can comfortably accommodate 2 adults and 1 child. For photos and information on all of CanaDream’s different available models and pricing, you can see everything on their website here. Be sure to have a look at their seasonal offers and relocation specials for one-way trips!
We found the full process of picking up and dropping off our camper to be easy and stress-free. Due to COVID-19, there are some different stipulations right now, but still a very simple process. When picking up your camper you will be given an exact check-in time for your pick-up location (usually between 1pm-4pm). When picking up you will have paperwork to fill out, and you will also do a full walk through of the vehicle. It will take you some time to complete everything and pack up your camper before you hit the road. Our full check-in took about 90 minutes from start to finish, so be sure to allot enough time for the full process. Dropping off was much shorter and involved a quick inspection and a bit of paperwork again. Most drop-off times are between 8am-10am and take about 30 minutes. You will need to empty the waste tanks prior to drop-off unless you purchase an optional add-on, but we found it easy to do it the morning of! The campers come with all the necessities included and you can purchase add-ons like lawn chairs, bike racks, and child seats if you wish. We had everything we needed and only brought a few extra items like small garbage bags, hand soap, and our own drinking water. The only things we didn’t bring that we wished we had was a pair of scissors and a small paring knife for the kitchen! If you have more questions about CanaDream campers they have a FAQ page on their website.
All in all, we had such an amazing experience and we’re so glad we did it. We’re officially adding RV camping to our list of favourite ways to travel! It’s something we’ve been wanting to try for a long time and this was a perfect introduction. Steph has been dreaming of doing some long-term travel in a camper at some point, and this was a great test run to see if we like it. Turns out, we love it! We know this won’t be our last RV trip, and we can definitely see more of this type of travel in our future. It’s a great way to do long trips, especially if you work remotely or work for yourself like we do! A huge thanks to CanaDream for making our experience so special. We highly recommend checking them out, they really seem to be the best in the business!
Have any of you tried RV camping? Share your experiences in the comments below!
Disclosure: This post is in collaboration with CanaDream! We are so happy to be working with them to share their amazing campers with our audience. CanaDream generously hosted us in their TCA Truck Camper for a 5 day camping itinerary in the beautiful Okanagan in BC. We had a wonderful experience and cannot recommend them enough.
