We just finished off a great week at the 2016 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta! When we decided to live Full Time and travel in our RV, this event was at the top of our list. I knew this experience would be beautiful, but I had no idea how amazing it would truly be. Not only is it full of hundreds of vibrant colorful balloons floating majestically in the air, but something happened that changed our RVing experience forever…community.
When living on the road full time, sometimes it can get lonely and you tend to miss that sense of community. We have met some great people along our journey, but these relationships are usually in passing and tricky to develop a true sense of what community is all about. The Balloon fiesta has opened our eyes to how critical attending events are to the RV experience.
In our travels, we do a lot of boondocking. Although we LOVE the beauty and tranquility of that experience, it usually means you are off the grid at times and a little secluded. This can be a good change from the busy and crowded campgrounds, but can also make meeting new people more difficult. Meeting new people, especially fellow RV friends, is by far one of our favorite parts of living and traveling full time. In all honesty, in our 1.5 years of travel, we had never attended an event that was catered to the RV community and we are blown away by the impact the Balloon Fiesta had on us.
We now see the importance of groups, clubs, and events such as these that develop friendships by meeting kindred spirits who love the outdoors and adventure like we do. There are lots of clubs out there that we have used in the past for well… discounts, but we had never realized they can be more that that. They are in essence matchmakers in the RV world. Clubs and memberships can set you up with RVers who share your common interests, age groups, or even RV manufacturers. This makes it simple to cross paths with others seeking the same need for community and new relationships while on the road.
We can not wait to attend more events like the Balloon Fiesta to encounter more social experiences like this one. To our surprise, there was over 2,000 RVs camping at this event making it an ideal location to not only see the most enchanting views of hot air balloons, but to meet new people and develop friendships.
We even had our first announced meet up to greet some lovely people who follow our VLOG on YouTube. These types of events can be a great way to connect in a central location and was it great to be able to put faces with the names. We love meeting new people, and hope to see you at the next event!
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