What to pack

1 - Aqua shoes
These totally came into their own during our RV trip. We mainly stayed at campsites with beaches, rivers or lakes either on-site or very close by (Canada does all of these things AMAZINGLY well). A lot of them had rocky beaches, tidal pools or pebbly shorelines to explore, so having a pair of hard-soled, neoprene aqua shoes for each of us made swimming a pleasure rather than a pain in the feet.


 
2 - Car seats
Depending on the age of your kids, you’ll need to either bring or rent suitable car seats for them to travel safely in the motorhome. CanaDream does provide child seat rentals so you don’t have to bring yours from home if the thought of lugging it and your children across the world/country/province fills you with dread.



3 - CanaDream convenience kits
To save having to think about the real basics (cooking equipment, bedding and towels, amongst other essentials), we thoroughly recommend adding a convenience kit for each person when booking your RV.

4 - Sun protection
Regardless of the time of year you’re travelling, the sun’s rays can quickly damage young skin, so make sure you pack a good sunscreen, as well as hats and sunglasses, and rash vests for the water if travelling in the summer.



5 - Shopping list
Not quite something to pack, but one thing I wish I’d done BEFORE picking up our RV, is to make a list of everything to pick up in our big pre-trip grocery run. Instead, I found myself hastily meal planning and thinking of everything we’d need whilst en-route to the store which resulted in missing some stuff due to rushing and massively overspending on impulse buys because we were all hungry as we shopped!

6 - Picnic blanket
Something we didn’t actually bring but I wish we had was a picnic blanket. Our youngest is still a little small for the usual campground picnic tables, so it would have been handy to have something for them to sit on to play, have a snack or nap in the shade.

7. Refillable water bottles



We were on the go a lot on our trip, and our water bottles were probably the most used things we packed. We’d fill them to the brim before heading out for the day, or before going to bed at night and a bonus is that they don’t spill, so no risk of smashing a glass from your convenience kit in the middle of the night!

8 - Packing cubes
These are the things of dreams! Instead of having to unpack an entire suitcase (or two) full of clothes for 4 people, you just unpack each person’s colour-coded packing cubes into the RV’s storage cabin and you’re done. If you’ve not got packing cubes yet they are a game-changer, I promise!

What to leave behind

1 - Toys
Our children are almost 4 and almost 2 and they’re carrying a small (but too big for my liking) backpack of toys with them for our whole trip. When we loaded everything into our CanaDream motorhome, those two little bags were shoved into one of the bedroom storage cabins and apart from one occasion, that is where they stayed. We spent so much time outside exploring that the children were too busy or too tired to be worried about playing with anything inside.



2 - Too many clothes
If you’re packing for an RV trip that’s longer than a weekend, my number one tip would be to factor in doing laundry when you’re away. All of the campgrounds and RV parks we stayed at had excellent laundry facilities and it was actually quite fun going to wash our clothes. There’s always an interesting conversation to be had with other people staying on-site, the kids liked helping and who wants to go home to a huge pile of laundry anyway? Also packing less means less to repack at the end of your trip. Winner!


Start planning your CanaDream trip!
If this post has got you raring to plan your family RV trip, head over to our RV Rentals page to choose the vehicle that best fits your family. Or if you need inspiration for where to go, take a look at our Trip Planner page for itineraries, driving directions and more.

Follow Little Green Duck's Family Adventure
If you'd like to find out more about Little Green Duck’s adventures as a travelling family, please head over to their blog, Instagram page or our YouTube channel.