Two Years of TravelEssary

It's hard to believe... TravelEssary is celebrating two years!🎉

In this special anniversary episode, we're looking back at the journey and sharing three things we absolutely love about full-time RV life... and three things that are a little more challenging than we expected.

From moving days and unexpected travel hiccups to the freedom of waking up somewhere new and meeting incredible people along the way, we're giving an honest look at what this lifestyle is like.

Whether you've been with us from the beginning, you're dreaming about RV life, or you're simply curious what it's really like, we hope you'll join us for this fun look back at the adventure so far.

Thanks for being part of the journey. Here's to wherever the road takes us next! 🚐❤️

Transcript

 We're the Essary family, and we're exploring America one destination at a time. This week on TravelEssary, we are celebrating two years of the TravelEssary podcast, and we're going to tell you guys the three things we love about this lifestyle and the three things we don't particularly love about this lifestyle. Let's chat Welcome, and thank you for joining us on this episode as we talk about what we love about full-time travel and what we don't like about full-time travel. Before we get into it, I do want to apologize. If you follow us on Facebook or our Patreon, you know that for the last three to four weeks we have not really had internet, which means nothing has been uploaded. No podcast, no YouTube videos, hardly any content on our social media. It has been pretty bare bones because Starlink does not like to work under the trees very well. It's one of those things that although it's been absolutely beautiful places that we've gone to, it's just the canopy that we're under on almost all the places we've stopped at is just so thick that we don't have a really clear line of sight. So our internet has been spotchy for the last couple weeks. Yes, but right now we are good to go. We can record, we can upload, and we're gonna get as much as we can here in the next couple of weeks to make up for it. But just because we have not been putting podcasts out there does not mean that we haven't been traveling, because the fun has not stopped. Not at all. We are still going full force. We have done so much, which if you listen to this month's bonus episode on Patreon, you know a little bit more about that, and we can't wait to share more , as I catch up on all the things that we've been doing. But let's get into this. Two years of podcasting. Two years, which is an astonishing anniversary for anyone who podcast. Yeah. And it's amazing to think, now, a vast majority of podcasters out there, , talk about current events. Mm-hmm. So it's kind of easy for them to talk about , whatever subject is currently happening. But for us, it's all about What we have- What we have done ... already past experienced And given as much information about this lifestyle that we're in. Right. So for those people that are coming up with content that's not based upon current events, is a little difficult for a lot of people. And for us to go two years is pretty darn amazing. I think the reason we've been able to do that is because, you know, when we first started the podcast, we were travelers, but not full-time travelers, and now we are full-time travelers, and the experiences just keep on coming. Yeah, and- Like, they're endless at this point experiencing new places. Anyways, I don't wanna get into all of it. So I mean, just- To do two years is just Yay us ... yay us. Super high fives to everyone that has listened to all the podcasts, , that is current with us. We give you high fives. We hope that you celebrate with us for the two years we are growing as we continue traveling. Sometimes we have to go back and correct ourselves. Like, eh, what we said before, we don't necessarily agree with anymore. That is true, and there will be a podcast at the end of the physical year of 2026, since we've been actually on the road for an entire year within itself, um, of our 10 favorite food places. And that changes. That's just a little spoiler alert. Yeah, that will- That's going to change ... that will definitely change. I think our top 10 we did last time was in Texas, though, but now we have to do, like, outside of, like- Yeah, everywhere that we've been, this is what we considered the best food that we have ate Well, we have not been able to, you know, put out a lot of content lately because of the internet issues. We have still been traveling and going out and doing a lot of things, but we have had a lot more time for reflection. And during that reflection, we have discussed, , what is it about this lifestyle that we really, really love? And then, you know, what, where are the challenges, things that we find challenging and difficult about this lifestyle? And we want to share that with you today. Maybe you're interested in doing it yourself, or maybe you're just along for the drama. I don't know, but we're so glad to have you. I can't wait to get into this list. So we are gonna get straight into this and try to knock this list out um, we are gonna start with the, we're gonna start with the bottom. So we're gonna start with the number threes, and we're gonna go two, and then our number one things that we do not like and that we love. We're gonna alternate back and forth. So we're gonna start- Okay ... we're gonna start with the bad things, 'cause it's always good to start with the bad things and end on a high note. Okay. So one of the things that we do not love about traveling is moving Okay, so moving day. We actually just did a little video of this- and we put it on all of our social media platforms, our mockumentary about moving day. , It's meant to be a spoof, but yet there's so much truth behind it. And if you have ever packed up and loaded an RV or travel trailer of any kind, and if you've ever, set one up, then you completely understand why moving day is at the bottom of our list. It is not something we look forward to. Okay, yes and no. Yes and no. There you go. But we, we hate the process. The process. But once we're in our new area and we're done and we're set up for the day, we enjoy that. We love it. Yeah. We enjoy the new, but we hate the moving. And it's really not, like... Okay, it's not that bad where we wake up and dread the day. Like, it's not that bad, at least not yet. I know there are people who say eventually after doing this for so many years, they get moving day fatigue. I don't have that yet. Even the days where I'm dri- driving, like, six to eight hours with a toddler, I don't completely dread it because what we're going to experience is worth it. And I feel like we, you know, we've talked about this in a, in a past podcast, we have a pretty good moving day system We do. It, it's the process. It's getting everything put up where it has to go- Just tedious ... remembering that everything has to be switched off and changed, and then you f- you fully don't know what you're getting into. I was about to say, you know, Jeremy does have the most stressful part of moving day because every time we get to a campground we've never been to before, he doesn't know what to expect when it comes to pulling in and checking in or, you know, if it's not a pull-through, which we prefer, and he's gotta back in. Sometimes he is put in some pretty, um, tricky situations because we have a very large fifth wheel- Mm-hmm ... and, every site is not friendly when it comes to backing in. Yeah, we've ran into, uh, three now so far that are, are tight. Mm-hmm. And it do- doesn't make fun. It, I mean, it's not fun for- The one we're in now. It, it's not fun for me to back up. It's not fun for people around me that have to deal with me backing up and trying to fit it into a really tight area whenever you, you can't maneuver because it's not like it is down south where it's more open. Yeah, and flat. Everything's a little, everything's a little tighter here. So, uh, but I mean, just driving, you know, e- even if it's a three-hour trip, anywhere from a three to a six-hour trip with , a toddler, , it's just not enjoyable , most of the time. So, you know, just moving is- And what I mean by moving is, the minute we start breaking things down to the minute we set everything back up, in between that timeframe, it's just not something that we enjoy. Yeah. But you know, for the most part, I feel like we keep a good head on us. We do. And, um, it, it, it works out. It works out. It's not our favorite day of the month, but we manage. But what it leads to, though, is the new experiences- Right ... which is one of the things that we absolutely love about this. Yes. So of course, one of the reasons why we started full-time traveling is so that we could have those new experiences, and that has not stopped in any way. Like, we still love having these new experiences, and for the past month and a half, everything we've done has been a new experience, a new place. Places, places we've never been before. New foods. New sight-seeing., Yeah, the scenery. The scenery. Oh my gosh. We're in Pennsylvania currently, and the scenery is gorgeous. Which is really weird, because we don't like moving day, mainly for me because, I'm on the interstate, so I don't get to see a whole lot of the scenery. Misty takes alternate routes, less used highways. I get the scenic routes. And the scenic routes are absolutely gorgeous. Yeah. I mean, so the new experiences, the places we get to go, Not only just on moving day, but to experience the local culture that we always talk about. New experiences that it's not a mundane 8:00 to 5:00 routine. You kind of fall into that little rut trap. Yeah. You know, we're always doing the same thing every single day, and it's, it's amazing. That part is absolutely amazing. Agreed. , It is by far one of the main reasons why we are out here doing this. But along with new experiences comes something, the unexpected. Okay, let's, let's talk about that. One of the reasons we love the new experiences is because the unexpected, which can be good or bad. Right. Um, for the most part, the unexpected or the unknown, it, it's really, really great. It's good. But then there are times where the unknown is not so great, very specifically when you're talking about prices. So when you're traveling from state to state or when you're traveling from large city to small towns, you would be surprised in the drastic change there is from fuel to grocery to restaurant prices. Even if you go to your neighboring state, it's- It's still probably within a certain percentage and you're okay, but if you go east to west, when you start getting Midwest, you see a massive change. Yeah, so I think it was once we were north of North Carolina, fuel and restaurant prices, like, went so much higher. , Since we left North Carolina, I think we've only had one, maybe two meals that didn't cost us over $80. Yeah, which is a rarity for us. Yes, and for small amounts of food. Yeah. For much smaller than we're used to. And so we're used to spending between the 40 and 60 range, 40, 65. , But once we were in, like, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, like in these areas, it's so much more expensive. And it's something that I kinda knew about already. I didn't know the extensive part, because with me traveling and transporting, you know, I don't always get loads down south whenever I want them. Sometimes I gotta go northeast or, you know, I gotta go Midwest. And looking at the fuel price difference- Mm-hmm ... whenever I'm like, "Oh, Texas is, 3.23," and then, "Oh, Ohio is 3.50-something." My mom will tell me about, "Oh, you, gas has gone up so much here. It costs this much." And I'm like, "Oh, well, we're paying, like, 50 cents more than that. Yeah. Like, enjoy your cheap gas down there in Texas. In my opinion, of course, you know, this is, this may be a vast majority of people's opinion, but it's not the reality of the world, is gas should cost the same all the way across. Or a gallon of milk. Okay, so- Yeah ... at Aldi's, which is, you know, a universal grocery store that we can go to all across America, , I usually pay, somewhere between three and four dollars a gallon. It, it fluctuates depending on what's going on with prices and where we're at. But again, since I was north of North Carolina, since we've been in that area, I have been paying like $4.50, almost five dollars a gallon of milk. For a gallon of milk, and it just blows my mind. In the same grocery store that I would in the south, up here in the northeast, it's almost a dollar more a gallon, and that's just the milk. Everything here is priced more expensive. But I will say, it's one of the reasons why I really love, , the Amish grocery stores and the Mennonite,, shopping experiences and farmers markets and things around here, because you can get really good quality products for more of the cheaper prices that we're used to back home. But regardless of the price changes, one thing that we absolutely love about this is meeting new people. Yes. And we just released our bonus episode for this month on our Patreon. Go check it out if you haven't already. But we talked about how much we've been meeting new people, and not just new people in general, but how we've got to meet people from all over the world recently because of, , all the FIFA stuff going on, and celebrating America's 250th. It has been such a pleasant experience. I have loved it so much. And we're not specifically talking just about the RV community. Right. I'm talking about just meeting people. Meeting our hostess at restaurants that we go to, uh, the waiting staff, just carrying on a very small conversation with them, , trying to figure out what's , the local vibe here, , what's the best to eat, what are y'all known for, , getting just the, to know them a little bit, going to all the events that we've been going to, talking to everyone that's been just around us. Because that's one thing that as , a world in whole that we can all do. We can all carry on a small conversation , with each other and find out that we have more in common than what we don't. And I have the habit, which might drive my family crazy sometimes, I always notice them giving me funny looks when I do it, but, like, I'm just gonna randomly talk to people and compliment them, , in passing all the time. Yeah, and by doing that, I mean, you, you strike up conversations that you normally would never have, and you get to find out that, "Oh, you're from California. That's awesome." Mm-hmm. "Oh, you're from Ecuador. Okay. Well, let's try to carry on a conversation." You know? Yeah. I don't know how many times, like, I've complimented, um... It's usually women. Uh, sometimes, like I did find this guy with a really unique shirt on yesterday and I told him I liked his shirt. Did you see his shirt? I did see his shirt. It was really Yep. And, um, anyways, so it's usually I'll say, "Ooh, I really love your dress," or, "I really love your hair," and I'm not lying. Like, those are things that I notice. I, I enjoy nice clothes and things like that. And so if I notice, I'm like, you know what? If I think it's cute, I'm gonna say it out loud because who doesn't enjoy that? And 9 times out of 10, it strikes up an entire conversation. When we were there celebrating our 4th of July, Just in one lunch alone, one sit-down, I got to talk to two different people at two different times because I complimented... One I complimented... No, it was both of their dresses. Yeah, both dresses. 'Cause I men- mentioned their dresses, and then- I got to have a full-on, a pretty extensive conversation from someone from Florida who was traveling to Philadelphia, and then we got to talk to people from California that had flown in to be a part of the parade that got canceled in Philadelphia, and we had a, a really good conversation with them. And it's just one of my favorite things about this lifestyle. I love having conversations with people who don't, you know, have the same experiences as me so we can share those experiences together. It's, it's really, really nice And it's also in my opinion, super awesome that yes, in the RV community, in the places that we've gone, just the amount of people that have, that come from different backgrounds- Mm-hmm that come from different cultures than what we do, that, you know, they, yes, they full-time travel like us, but they do it differently. Right. , Where they go, what times they do it, where they've been. They give us so much great knowledge. , We can share our camping stories, our traveling stories back and forth. Mm-hmm. Um, if we're ever in a need or in a dire situation, , most of them , are very helpful, friendly, very friendly. Yeah, and you know, traveling through the Thousand Trail system, yes we do stay in other places, but our main place is through the Thousand Trails. We have met people that we see recurringly, and so that's nice. We've actually met people recently that are going to be in the same campground that we are in a few weeks. They're gonna be there and we'll get to see them again. So I, I do like this system specifically so that when we meet people we can continue having those friendships with them. Yeah,, and build , that community even a little bit more. And then, you know, just getting out and meeting other people at events and festivities is so amazing when everything goes as planned. Mm-hmm. Because one thing that we hate, last minute changes. Yeah, so that is definitely probably been my biggest challenge during this- Dad, can I get this? um, our full-time travel life, especially here in the last several months. If you have followed us, again, on Patreon, we have talked about all of the woes that have come along with 4th of July, from reservation cancellations to the difficulties we've had to, , our 4th of July plans I think got changed like four times. Yeah. And drastically changed. So many times. So many times because of just, unexpected events that you don't expect to happen. Yeah, I mean, last minute changes usually are something that are out of our control, 'cause we're not last minute people. Oh, not usually, always- So- ... because I am not a last minute person. And for us, , it takes a sickness or something to, , cancel the plans out. Yeah. Yeah. But for other events, it could take a high temperature, it could take a small power outage, it could take, , just the very smallest things to change our plans. Changes our plans big time. And then we're affected and then we're scrambling to make last-minute changes, to make last-minute decisions, , which are always fun. Yeah, you know, they always- I don't wanna say they're bad ... they always turn out okay. Yeah, but- But in the moment, they're very stressful for me. So back home before we started full-time traveling, our entire lives were mapped out, like, every day. When you're doing the same mundane thing- Yeah, all the time ... over and over year after year, it gets pretty easy to figure out what's gonna happen next. Yeah. There's very few times that something last-minute pops up on us that we gotta scramble to figure out. I mean, it does happen, but because, , you've been in the same spot for years, you kind of have an idea, "This is coming around. I should probably start planning for it." But here, it's just, like, so unknown. It's so unknown, and it does stress me out because I am a planner. It stresses me out, but like Jeremy said, it always works out. It always turns out fine. And one thing that it does is it does the things that we love, it gives us the new experience, it lets us meet people. Oh, it definitely gives us new experiences. So- I feel like our biggest adventures come from our unexpected last-minute changes. It does because, you know, something we planned to spend two hours at, that was... It was like, "Hey, this is gonna be our big day. We're gonna go spend two hours here. We're gonna go eat lunch. Uh, and then, you know, we'll kinda see if it... what we wanna do, and then we'll, we'll just go home." And then all of a sudden that changes and it's like, "We have to fill two hours because we're still gonna go eat lunch at the place that we wanna go to." And then that leads to maybe talking to a local, and be like, "Hey, what can we do in this area?" And sometimes that's whenever we find the hidden gems that we're always talking about. Yeah. The diamond in the rough, like, "Oh, this is such a cool place. Why didn't we plan this to begin with?" I will say that we have learned flexibility a lot while traveling. We have both learned more flexibility, which is good because our favorite, favorite thing about this lifestyle is the freedom that comes along with it. And so that flexibility has helped us learn how to embrace that freedom, which we didn't know what to do with that freedom at first. We d- no, we didn't. I think our first podcast on the road back in October of 2025, we talked about, like, we have this freedom and we're used to,, such structured lives that we weren't responding to the freedom in the way that we had hoped. , We didn't know how to handle the freedom. , We were still trying to structure so much of our day-to-day. I can't express it enough that whenever we were at a station location- Mm-hmm ... and 9:00 to 5:00 or 8:00 to 5:00, , and , we were so heavily involved in our community back home of just how much non-freedom we had. Yeah. Like it was crazy. Like none. Like- Whatsoever ... Misty already said, it's like, yeah, we knew when events happened and we knew that if certain things weren't taken care of it was going to fall on our shoulders to take care of it. Or we knew that certain events were gonna come up and we were gonna have certain roles to, to take and to handle we weren't, man, we weren't prepared. We weren't fully ready for the freedom that this actually gives us. Yeah. And we're still learning how to use, but I do feel like, um, you know, those last minute changes has definitely helped us learn how to be more flexible and to embrace that freedom. And it has just been eye-opening. And-, eye-opening. I can't explain it., If you don't experience this for yourselves, no amount of explaining will ever help you understand. Yeah. And the stress level, although, you know, we still have a certain income that we have to meet, I have to go make trips. We have moving days. We have moving days. Every two to three weeks. But the stress level that, that we experience from a stationary to the lifestyle that we live now is a complete 180. Yeah, so I haven't had the privilege yet of going back home since we left back in January, no, December. December. But Jeremy's been able to go home a few times, and every time he goes home, someone makes the comment of, , "Wow, you seem way more chill now. , You seem way more laid back." I don't know if I do, because I haven't been exposed to anybody back home since January, . oh, and someone mentioned it about Justin too when he went back home. They texted me, 'cause he went home with Jeremy at one point, and they said, "Justin seemed so much more confident and sure of himself than I've ever seen him before." Like, it just, it just changes you. Misty's absolutely right. It's something that we can sit here and use all the colorful words and , explain it to the nine, but unless, unless you're retired,, you have no idea what this is. We thought we knew what we were coming into. Yeah, we thought, we thought, oh yeah. We thought, "Oh, we're gonna have so much freedom," but, , we didn't have a clue. No. Until we started experiencing it more and more and more, and now that we've embraced it so much more, it's just, it's been wonderful. Like, I don't know if I could ever not have this freedom ever again. , I don't know if I could go back to- So- ... so much structure. Maybe a little bit, but not, , every day, week after week, year after year, being completely known and structured. I don't know if I can do that again. So that is one of the traps that this has. And what I mean by that is- We've talked to a lot of people. We got to meet tons of amazing people. Mm-hmm. That , , they tried it for a year, maybe two years, and then they were gonna go back to work. And so they end up going back to work, and they said within three, six months, almost immediately, they were like, "We gotta get back on the road." Yep. I know- "I can't do this" ... several families who did that. They just found a way to make it work because of the amount of freedom that it gives them. Not that being tied down is a bad thing or being stable, having a solid income, which, , I'm very thankful that whenever we were stationary- Mm-hmm that's one thing that we never really had to worry about, is , the solid income that we had coming in because I was able to have amazing jobs. But the amount of freedom and the un-stress that this lifestyle has is definitely the highest perk of being full-time travelers. It definitely comes , with its own set of stressors, but they just don't compare. They don't compare. Like- Yeah, , you might have a couple days where it's stressful, you know? Mm-hmm. Like especially when I'm on the road and something happens on the truck. Oh, yes. Those are stressful. Automatic stressful. Yeah. But I think because- But once it's over, it's over. Yeah, I think because we have experienced this freedom and we have become more laid back, we're like hippies now or something, I don't know, but because we have become more laid back, when those stressors do occur, we don't respond to them the same way that we did in the beginning. Right. , It's not compounding. Like even ... Right, because even like when we backed into this site we're in right now, it was a very stressful situation, and I think that was the calmest I've ever seen Jeremy in a backup situation that was so, like, not good because he knew it was gonna work eventually. If not, they were gonna put us back in our old spot. Like , we were gonna work it out., It is a little bit stressful in that moment, but it, like Jeremy said, it's not like one big compounding ball of stress anymore that you don't realize you even have until it's not there. Yep. - I know that , we've mentioned it in a l- in several of our podcasts, but, I mean, the freedom is absolutely amazing. So yeah, there are things we don't love about full-time traveling. It's not all rainbows and sunshine. There are challenges and difficulties, but I feel that the things that we do love about it far outweigh those. Far. Far exceed. It far outweigh them. Yes. And it's not for everybody. We know people who did it for less than a year and had to stop because they got decision fatigue, they got moving day fatigue, they craved the structure- Yes and things like that, which is great. That's fine. Everybody wants to live, you know, what fits their needs and their lifestyle, but we have learned that this, for r- right now in this moment in our lives, is kind of amazing. Yeah, I mean, we could get into, like, a deep topic and talk about those people that need structure, those people that are more free, those people that think they're free and definitely need structure, but - Yeah. And I think people have seasons of their lives. It's absolutely- Like, there's a season of my life, I don't know if I could have handled this. Yeah, I mean, it, it all depends on kind of where you are in life- Yeah ... and, and what you're facing and what you need at that point in time. And this is something that if you'd a asked me before we started this, "Is this gonna be , your number one favorite thing?" I would've told you no. I was like, "Going to new places, having new experiences was gonna be my number one." Yeah. But having the freedom is absolutely my number one. It's incomparable. So two years of podcasting. Two years. We hope we're here for another year. We hope you stick around for another year, and we just can't wait to see where this life takes us.