What a joy it’s been to get to know other full-timing Airstreamers whom we met at the International rally in October. Rachael and Leon run a Facebook group for us, and Tom and Amy inspire me with their activist writing every day.
Here’s a fun post Tom left on that Facebook group that, now that I think about it, may have entertained us more than it will you! Still, it’s so worth sharing, even if just for my memories. Out of 100 responses, these are my favorites. (They’re paraphrased, the pics are mine, and they begin with water but move to other topics, I swear.)
Having water, electric, and sewage hookups at the same time is a luxury.
You’re thrilled with the rare trifecta of clean bodies, clean sheets, clean clothes.

You talk about poop and black tanks in general conversation without skipping a beat.
You text your friends about the laundromat you’re in.

When using a public restroom, you try to flush with your foot.
You never again leave water running while washing.
When you stay with friends in their stick-and-bricks, they announce that they prepped their bathtub just for you.




You use your closet for food instead of clothes.
You can’t remember the last time you ate a hot dog roasted over the fire. In fact, your reaction to campfires is to go inside and close your windows.

You have to open the shades by your bed to remember where you are each morning.
You have to set time alarms for every time zone.

You say, “I’m headed to the house!”
You say, “You left the front door open!”

People stand in front of your trailer and tell each other how much they think it cost.
People take pictures of your trailer.
People say, ”I didn’t think they still made those!”

You have a deer-in-the-headlights look when someone asks, “Where are you coming from?”

You have to look up your home address when filling out forms.

You respond to the question, “How’s your vacation going?” with, “This is my life!”
It’s a good thing you included beautiful pictures as a buffer because I like clean clothes and sheets and can easily live without poo-centric conversations .
🤣
There’s a black tank cleaning service that grades your tank on criteria you do not want to hear. We’re like to compare our grades. 😂
You’re a quirky bunch, to be sure.
And what a life it is! “Sticks and bricks” is great Airstream slang.
We didn’t make up “sticks and bricks.” In fact, most of this applies to anyone camping for a while in any kind of camper. I just wanted to give the Airstream crew credit since it’s our comments. I really like that term too, though!
I figured it was well-established jargon!
In Australia we call trailers caravans. And yes I’ve even seen the occasional Airstream over here. In my experience, if you get 2 men together in a camp ground or caravan park, sooner or later they will start talking about solar power and panels. And I’m with Rivergirl – the clean trifecta is my favourite.
When we were still just dreaming of this lifestyle, we followed a bloke on YouTube who lived in his Airstream in the UK, so we became familiar with “caravans” then. What I can’t get used to is “float” for a horse trailer. My New Zealand friend owns one, and I do a double-take every time she mentions it.
I grew up with horses and floats. But later in life, when a friend needed to move his unregistered car, he started talking about hiring a “car float”. In my mind, floats are for horses, you’d put a car on a trailer!
So funny!
So true!!!!! And funny. I often wonder where we are when I wake up, too. LOL Yes, the “vacation” statements from people just make me crazy! Thanks for sharing. Even though we have a 5th wheel and not an Airstream, most all of these are true for us, too. 😃 Oh, and ditto on the campfire! I can go on and on and on.
I put the word Airstream in the title because it was on an Airstream forum where I found some of these answers and I wanted to give that credit. I really am not some wacko Airstream snob, I promise!