RV Lifestyle
Can You Really Work On The Road Out Of An RV?
Running our YouTube channel while traveling in an RV adds a little bit of extra planning into our RV life. Two of the biggest factors to overcome while working remotely, especially in Canada, is the need for reliable internet access, and planning for our extra RV battery usage.
By: Luke & Alysha
Running our YouTube channel while traveling in an RV adds a little bit of extra planning into our RV life. Two of the biggest factors to overcome while working remotely, especially in Canada, is the need for reliable internet access, and planning for our extra RV battery usage. The type of work you do out of your RV will undoubtedly have an impact on your travel plans. Thankfully, things are only getting more and more accessible, making working on the road out of an RV that much easier.
Accessing reliable mobile internet can be difficult, especially if you are visiting more remote areas away from big cities. The USA is known for having many different mobile data package options, but here in Canada it’s not the case (yet). The work you take on the road may require you to have an internet connection every day, or if you’re like us, you may only need an internet connection when you are uploading your work online. In our travels, we have relied on costly mobile data plans to be able to work on the road. Of course, we also take advantage of any free Wi-Fi connections we can find! As you may know, when travelling in more remote areas, mobile data isn’t always an option. We love to RV these seemingly untouched areas of our country, and therefore have to plan to explore these areas in the days when we do not require an internet connection. If you require a consistent internet connection for the work you do, it may be worth spending more days in a paid RV park rather than boon docking on a mountain. We have noticed cell phone coverage is expanding into some of the more remote areas over the years, and that phone companies are starting to offer more competitive data plans. This is great news for the full time RVers out there, and it makes doing our work remotely much more convenient.
Now that you have your internet connection, it’s time to think about your power usage. We use quite a bit of power to charge our laptop, endless camera batteries and cell phones – all are essential to the work we do on the road. It’s important to plan ahead and think about how much of the battery you will use throughout the day with all of your devices, especially if your job requires you to have a laptop running 8 hours a day. That being said, there are a lot of ways to overcome this barrier and make working on the road a reality. Of course, the easiest answer to this problem is to stay at campgrounds with electrical hook ups. If you are wanting to get out and about however, you will likely want an RV equipped with a generator and/or solar. These are great options to charging your battery on the go. Speaking of on the go, if you are travelling in a motorhome then your house batteries will be charged by your vehicle alternator while you drive! This was a life saver for us when we were travelling across Canada. We were driving multiple hours almost every day, therefore topping up our batteries and making working on the road that much easier.
We know a lot of people dream of being able to generate their income while travelling the country in their RV. Waking up to a brand new office view every day is a truly amazing feeling, and very do-able! Every year internet access on the road is becoming more and more accessible and affordable, and so are campgrounds with electric hook ups. We have loved being able to work out of our RV and sharing our travel experiences with the world. It really brings a new meaning to “working from home”!
About the authors: Luke & Alysha bought their first RV from Fraserway RV and travelled around Canada exploring.