My experience driving around the American Southwest with Escape Campervan

It's no secret, road trips are one of my favorite ways to travel. It allows you to see so much more of a destination than just taking a train or a plane. You get to stop wherever you want and for as long as you want and make your journey, the destination. Although I have taken multiple road trips with my little blue Nissan Versa, Dory, I decided to leave her at home this time and get the full road trip experience, even sleeping in the car. True I've slept in Dory before, but I don't think that would be comfortable for a long trip. Instead, my friend and I opted for a rental, and not any rental. A camper van from Escape Campervans.

Escape Campervans

Escape Campervans started in New Zealand in 2003 and now has 12 locations in America, spread across Canada and the United States. They specialize in small camper van rentals with one little detail: their vans are all hand painted by LA artists and all feature an original, one of a kind and colorful design. So not only are the vans easy to drive and well equipped, they are also amazingly beautiful. Out of the 600 of their fleet, we saw at least 40 and I can honestly say I was disappointed by maybe two. Not that I found them ugly, they just weren't as beautiful as the others in my opinion. But obviously, the prettiest one was ours: Poppy.

Meet Poppy

This is Poppy, our Mavericks camper van. It was surprisingly spacious and had a couch and table that converted into a queen bed, as well as a fully equipped kitchen in the rear. It came with all of the essentials like pans, silverware, an actual refrigerator, a sink, a gas stove, a solar panel, etcetera. We even had a solar shower, that we ended up not needing as the campgrounds were well equipped with actual showers everywhere we went. Being used to a tiny Versa, it was weird at first driving in the van, but you get used to it quickly and it was super easy to drive. You can park in regular parking spaces and there is a distance detector when backing up to help you avoid any accidents. Except for a fan or heater during the night, I can't think of anything more we could have needed. After roughing it in a tent in Banff a few years ago, I had trouble calling this camping. It was way too comfortable!

Our itinerary

We landed in Las Vegas and rented the van out of there. We had roughly planned our itinerary, but had plenty of time for surprises and spontaneous detours. We hadn't made reservations either except for our two nights in Zion and one night in Kanab. We ended up visiting Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon, Grand Canyon and ending our trip in Death Valley before driving back to Sin City. Two full weeks of camping and I would have kept going for another two weeks!

The Escape Campervans Experience

When I rent a hotel room or car, or purchase a particular activity while traveling, one of the things I always notice is the service. Working in the travel industry, I know what kind of guest service I should expect depending on what I purchased. I don't know what exactly I was expecting, but the service that we had with Escape Campervans was way above my expectations. We arrived early and were welcomed and assisted right away. The man working that day spent almost an hour with us, not because the process and paperwork took a long time, but to go over our itinerary, see if we had any camping experience or needed any information and answer our questions. The paperwork was done swiftly, but thoroughly, he gave us all the instructions in case we had an accident or had any issue with the van during our trip. All of that was done while other employees were getting our van ready, so when we were done, it was waiting for us in front of the door. We went around it together, noting any scratch or bump so we wouldn't be charged for something that wasn't our fault and he explained how every part of the van worked: the stove, the refrigerator, the sink, etcetera. And off we were, ready for all the canyons, deserts and cacti.

At the end of our trip, the same employee welcomed us back. Even though he was already helping other customers, he explained the process so we could start gathering our luggage and filling paperwork while he was finishing up. He then inspected the van with us, noted the number of kilometers and wished us a safe trip home. Everything was simple and well organized and I really enjoyed the whole experience.

What I wish I knew before the trip

I don't think there is anything that I would change about this trip, but I wish I had known what the weather was going to be like. We didn't rent the bedding as sheets are not hard to pack and after a quick visit to Walmart, we both had a cheep pillow and blanket, but looking back, it might have been a good idea to just rent everything. On our first night in Lake Mead, it was so hot it took me a while to go to sleep. We were lying in the van, with the windows open as far as they would go and we were just sweating. Even turning up the engine to start the AC for a while did not help. But for all of the other nights, we were freezing. I guess I knew the weather dropped in the desert at night, but I never expected it to be this cold. On one night there was even snow on the ground when we woke up. Aa actual comforter or sleeping bags would have made it easier.

It also would have been good to know that National Parks campgrounds fill up very quickly even in low season. We were never stranded and always managed to find a place to sleep. Having a camper van that can fit anywhere really helped, but we probably should have made reservations for the busier places we visited like Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. Luckily we had reservations in Zion or I have no idea where we would have ended up!

This trip was perfect in my opinion. We had good weather, the scenery was absolutely gorgeous, and our ride certainly helped. Not only was it super comfy, but having everything we needed onboard made it very convenient to just stop by the side of the road and cook tacos for lunch. Having a refrigerator was the best in this warm weather as we would come back to the van after a hike and have cold water waiting for us. Plus, with the beautiful design, we met so many people who just stopped by for a chat. I would do the whole thing again any day.

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