RVing with inflation, war, and COVID

The RVing life is not the same now that we're dealing with inflation, war, and COIVD.

I'll talk about these things and how they'll be changing your RVing plans later in this article, but first, let me catch you up on what's been going on in my world during the past week.

The picture at the top of the page is a picture of a beach I visited in Costa Rica last year. Being on the beach is what most people picture when they think of Costa Rica.

If I were only going to be here for a week or two, I would probably spend my time at the beach with the other tourist, but I wouldn't want to live in that area. It's way too hot. It's in the 90s most of the time.

I'm up in the mountains at 4,500 feet. It's cool here and in the 70s most of the time. I'll visit the beaches a time or two while I'm here, but I like spending my time in the mountains much better.

I made it to Costa Rica on Monday. It was an uneventful trip (unlike my trip from TX to SC in the motorhome the previous week).

My plane departed on time and arrived in Costa Rica 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Going through customs was a breeze. They didn't check my luggage and didn't ask me any questions.

It's not the rainy season here yet. I'll be here for four months. The rainy season will start in another month or two. When the rainy season starts, it will be bright sunshine and clear skies every day until noon, and then it will rain hard all afternoon and into the evening. Then, the following day will start with bright sunshine again.

My goal is to be much more productive this year than last year. I don't know what I did with my time last year, but I wasn't very productive. I plan to write two new books and have them listed on Amazon before I leave here at the end of June. I'm also going to convert one of my books (and maybe more) into an audiobook. I have already contracted with a narrator I like.

Hiking alone can be amazingly theraputic

I do most of my hiking alone. I find it to be an excellent way to clear my mind, get rid of stress, and my body starts producing endorphins.

When I was camping on the beach in Galveston, TX, I walked a few miles on the beach almost every day for four months. I like to hike mountain trails to waterfalls in the North Carolina mountains. I like to hike on mountain trails through the jungle (or on mountain roads) here in Costa Rica.

Below is a picture of the jungle beside my balcony. As you can see, it's a mixture of coffee plants, banana plants, and thick growth. I usually try to find a path through the jungle when hiking.

There are plenty of bananas, mangos, and avocados growing wild in the jungle here, but they're not ripe at his elevation yet. They're ripe down in the valley, and there will be plenty of them at the farmers' market when I go on Friday.

Is COVID starting to fade?

COVID is not in the news as much as it has been for the last two years, but it's still with us. We still have to be careful, but maybe we are on the home stretch to get back to somewhat near normal.

Are we getting back to normal?

I think things in the world are starting to get back to normal. More people are traveling--in RVs, by plane, in their cars, and I've seen an uptick in international travel.

I've been on six plane trips in the last year, and I'm convinced that it's safer to fly on an airplane than to go to Walmart. Of course, the safest way to travel is in your RV. Many campgrounds now offer contactless check-in.

People are eager to travel like never before. Everyone has been cooped up for two years. They're itching to go somewhere. So if you haven't reserved your campsites for this summer, you had better get busy. A lot of the popular campgrounds are already booked up.

Here's a picture of my apartment in Costa Rica. As you can see, people here love bright colors.

Bottom line: I assume most people have been following the news about Russia invading Ukraine. This website is not the place to go into that topic, but my landlord and several people on this mountain are from Poland, and they're following the news closely and wondering what's going to happen to Poland.

Whether you're camping on BLM land in the desert, traveling around the country in your RV, or like me, spending a few months in Costa Rica, it looks like between the war, the rising price of fuel, and COVID, it will be a while before things will get back to normal--if they ever do. As RVers, we've learned to go with the flow.