My family of six loves to travel together. Family RV travel can be a great experience for every family member, as long as you do a little planning ahead of time.

The most important thing you can do to make your family RV travel experience the best it can be is to plan your route in advance and make reservations at campgrounds and RV parks you plan to stay at before you hit the road.

I know this takes a little spontaneity out of the process, but it takes away some of the worry, too. For one thing, if you have special needs, such as a site with handicapped-accessible restrooms or wireless Internet access (yes, there are many campsites with Internet access these days), you can pick sites that meet your needs and be assured of getting a space there. Otherwise you could plan to stay somewhere that is full and end up having to drive farther than you meant to just to find a good place to sleep.

Go shopping at home. Unless you know the area you are traveling to, it makes a lot more sense to plan your meals and go shopping at the grocery store you are used to before you leave home. My husband, Kevin, usually drives the RV, and there’s nothing more stressful to him when we’re on vacation than trying to find a grocery store in an unfamiliar area or trying to park the RV at a small local store.

You’ll probably also save money this way because the stores near campgrounds, national parks and monuments tend to be more expensive than regular stores (because they are the only thing out there, they can charge a premium).

Remember to pack lots of toys and games. Family RV travel, in my family, anyway, tends to revolve around outdoor activities like fishing, swimming, and hiking. But we can’t control the weather, and sometimes it rains. There’s nothing worse than a bored two-year-old, unless she’s surrounded by a bored six-year-old and a bored 12-year-old. If you have the budget for it, you might want to buy some toys and games that are left in the RV all the time so that your kids don’t see them all the time and therefore will think they are special. Or, if you have a big family like I do, recycle some toys that were gently used by the older kids to become vacation only toys for the younger kids.

If you’re new to RV travel and would like to try it out, plan a short trip and rent an RV from a company near you. If no one rents RVs where you live, you might have to drive to your destination and then rent an RV from the park where you’re headed. You can still drive around, cook, and sleep in the RV. You’ll find out pretty quickly if it’s something you enjoy.

Family RV travel can be a little stressful, especially when you have a large family like we do. But we love to see the country together, play games while we’re driving and find interesting tourist attractions to visit. It has been a great way for Kevin and I to get and stay close to our kids. We talk about things we would never get around to discussing if we never left home. It’s a wonderful experience for the whole family and something I hope all of my kids will do with their families when they are old enough to have them.