My family of 5 spent $739 to rent an RV and get it delivered to a Florida campground. It's perfect for first-timers to try this form of travel for a low price.

02.08.2023 - 08:05 / insider.com

Living the RV life seems so adventurous, carefree, and all-American.

But when I think about all that's involved — living in a tiny space with my family of five, driving a beast of a vehicle, emptying all the waste — it's not exactly my idea of a fun, comfortable vacation. Still, this summer, with hesitation on my part and prompting from my kiddos, we decided to give RVs a try. 

We opted to use RVshare since we know virtually nothing about these recreational vehicles. It's a rental platform for RVs that's somewhat similar to sites like Airbnb, Vrbo, or Turo. 

Here's how it went. 

First, we had to choose our vehicle and location.

RVshare has more than 100,000 vehicles, ranging from luxury motorhomes to camper vans, across all 50 US states. When booking, you can get an RV you can tow, one you can drive, or one that will be delivered to a campsite you select and set up for you. Being newbies, we went with that last option.

Through the filter on the RVshare website, we narrowed down which RVs were available the weekend we wanted and could be delivered to the location we wanted. We chose to spend a weekend glamping at Camp Margaritaville in Auburndale, Florida, which is between Tampa and Orlando. 

We chose an RV that had a room with beds for all three kids plus a master bedroom, shower, toilet, and kitchen with a fridge, stove, and oven. 

We were able to look at pictures, read descriptions, and even send questions to the RV's owner ahead of our trip. 

Our RV rental cost $139 a night, which beats the per-night cost of any hotel accommodations we've had in recent memory. But numerous other fees drove up the price.

We paid a $79 cleaning fee, a $90.15 service fee, and $43.83 in state and county taxes. We paid a $199 fee to have our RV delivered to a specific location plus an extra $49 to have the vehicle supplied with bed linens and towels. The total cost of the RV rental for our two-night weekend was $738.98.

The rate felt comparable to what we would spend on a few days at a hotel for our family of five. But this was a completely different, more unique experience that I'm glad my children got to enjoy.

Our kids thought the sleeping arrangements were so cool and they loved being at the campsite, which included a pool, games hosted by the staff, and tons of kids — my own included — riding around the area on bikes and roller blades.

We ate meals at a picnic area right outside our RV, my daughter cooked eggs on the vehicle's tiny stove for breakfast, and we made the camping experience complete with s'mores.

The process of returning the vehicle was super easy, too. We emptied the trash, cleaned out the fridge, locked it up, and returned the keys to a lock box. 

Now that we've experienced a bit of the RV life, we