I find myself at a point in my life where I want to just go, just take a long trip, maybe a few weeks, maybe a few months, but leave home and not know when I am coming back. Maybe drive out to the smokies, rockies, Arizona, Texas, Florida... Wherever I want.
Instead of dealing with hotels I became kind of enamored with the idea of buying a teardrop or mini trailer and living out of that. However this is partly a product of not enjoying the song & dance of hotels -- wondering if your room will be clean, if it will have bugs, and having to pay each night you are there...
I find it to be a very romantic idea to have a trailer I can drive up to the mountains and camp for as long as I want (realistically speaking, obviously if I am boondocking I will need water and food).
However, in doing some research on brands online, it seems like the fairly universal opinion is that "reliability" as a concept for a trailer / RV doesn't exist in the same way that it does for, say, a Lexus or Toyota SUV. One can simply expect that their GX 460 SUV will drive for 100,000 miles and only need an oil change maybe once a year. But it sounds like no matter the trailer you get, even if it's a brand known for quality like Airstream or nuCamp, you should expect to have problems. Water systems will break, appliances will break, et cetera.
So that kind of leaves me wondering what I should expect. I was going to purchase something like an Airstream Basecamp. But ideally I want a system that is highly robust, will be reliable, and is easy to fix. It sounds like I might be barking up the wrong tree. I have started to look into car camping -- a truck with a topper on the back. That way I could fill it with simple components -- a cassette toilet, a bed, a portable shower, etc....
Obviosuly this solution is quite a bit less luxurious than a trailer, but if they really aren't that reliable, maybe it isn't for me.
Have I been steered wrong? My ideal trailer would be one where I simply do some routine maintenance, you know, sanitizing water systems, cleaning, etc -- and I can simply trust that it will work.