Different types of recreation vehicles or homes-on-wheels

More and more people are taking to the road whether it be for a short holiday, a camping trip, an extended tour around the country or joining the growing numbers of grey nomads -- I like to think of myself as belonging to the latter. These people are travelling in a vehicle that is also used as a mobile home.

In North America these vehicles are generally considered to be "recreational vehicles" or "RVs" -- a term that, unfortunately, is growing in use in Australia. In this and related articles I prefer to used the generic term "home-on-wheels" to cover the wide range of options available.

There are many of these vehicles for sale in Australia -- new or second-hand -- as well as a wide range available for hire. If you're considering taking to the road in a home-on-wheels, you need to decide what type of vehicle you want. This is a balance between something big enough to live in and small enough to drive around. It's unlikely that you'll get something that's perfect; whatever you do will be a compromise -- but isn't that the same with anything in life? You just need to get something that suits you -- and what suits you isn't what suits someone else. You need to make a decision based on your own preferences.

There are lots of different types of homes-on-wheels. These can be broken down into three basic groups:

1. Fully self-contained, including motorhomes, campervans and converted buses -- called motor caravans in Great Britain.
2. Those that you tow, such as caravans, fifth-wheelers and camper trailers -- called travel trailers in North America.
3. Then there are slide-ons (or truck campers in North America) for people who like to carry their home on their back like a tortoise.