FULL-TIME RV LIFE? // Why we choose the Airstream Lifestyle

This holiday weekend you might have seen a lot more RVs and campers on the road. It's part of a growing trend of people hitting the road to see the country while avoiding hotels and large groups of people during the pandemic. Spectrum Bay News 9's Saundra Weathers spoke with a couple that was stranded in Morocco at the start of the pandemic and they're now back in the states hitting the road in, you guessed it, an RV. Hashtag RV life. It's something Daniel Fernandez and Lauren Davenport heard about for months but never thought they would actually do it. We've never stayed in an RV in our entire lives up until two nights ago. After being stranded in Morocco with a number of other Americans at the beginning of the pandemic, the couple from St. Petersburg gained a new perspective when it comes to traveling. We felt really honored and blessed to be able to even take a rescue flight home from Morocco. So for us it was really when we started looking at traveling again we don't feel confident that commercial flights are you know as reliable as they used to be. So after some research and putting feelers out there they ended up in this decked out airstream where they plan to run their small business for the next 365 days all while helping other small businesses on their route across the country. As small business owners we know how critical it is that people are shopping local right now. Their travel journey may be quite the feat but they're not alone on the roads right now. According to the RV Industry Association, 46 million Americans plan to take an RV trip over the next 12 months giving a shot in the arm to RV manufacturers, dealers and campgrounds in the U.S. It's a new lifestyle Fernandez says was an unexpected gift from the pandemic that's taken away so much. You're introducing an entirely new generation and subset of people to a lifestyle that they probably never would have tried without COVID happening. In Pinellas County, Sondra Weathers, Spectrum News. And over the next year the couple plans to drive to all lower 48 states and then fly to Hawaii and Alaska where they'll rent an airstream and explore those areas.