After 800 miles of road tripping with my husband and 9 month old son, I can confidently say that I am somewhat of an expert on this type of vacation. So what advice can I offer all of you? It’s simple really: if you are planning a road trip in the Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami or New Zealand area you need to look into Escape Campervans. Let me rephrase that — you NEED to plan a road trip in one of these areas so that you can rent from this company and here is why:

• First off, every Escape employee we dealt with was awesome
• They offer cheap daily rates with no hidden fees (100 miles per day included!) and only a $200 deposit
• Lots of goodies included (free starter packs, picnic chairs, bedding, stove, utensils and more)
• 24 hour roadside assistance throughout the USA and Canada (a huge plus when traveling with little ones)

Oh and did I mention that their fleet is made up of no less than one hundred uniquely painted vans done by top notch artists like Drew Brophy (known best for his original artwork for …Lost Surfboards)? Not only are the Escape vans complete with everything that you need for a road trip (down to the plates, forks, knives and even that extra pillow I like to stuff between my knees) but your kids will love picking out their favorite design. My family cruised from Los Angeles all the way to San Francisco in this beauty (pictured below) and from the moment we set eyes on our traveling home we realized we were about to embark on one of the best vacations of our lives!

Our van was fun, funky, comfortable, and it made traveling from one place to the next ridiculously easy. As many of you know traveling with an infant can sometimes be overwhelming.  Add to this the fact that we were surfing our way up the coast, hopping between three different weddings, camping and playing tourist along the way and you can say that we had our hands full. If it wasn’t for the ease of our campervan this trip had some serious potential for failure.

So what was it about Escape that made this vacation so remarkable?

To start with, picking up our van was quick and easy (although Raphael wouldn’t let us leave the parking lot until my hubby had tried out his new skateboard!). As advertised there are no hidden fees, and no complicated insurance paperwork or sign your life away deposits required. Everything with escape is plainly laid out in advance and picking up your van is as simple as paying your remaining fees and being handed the keys.

After handing us the keys, our escape friend Raphael gave us a tour of our van showing us how to convert the seats and built in table into a bed (which was way more comfortable than most hotel beds, seriously!).  Our van was loaded with “extras” that Escape tossed in for free and we were blown away by the storage space available. The icing on top was that our van included a sink and stove in the rear! As a breastfeeding/pumping/bottle feeding mom this sink was my best friend throughout our trip and came in handy for all the icky baby clean up that comes with the territory of being a mom.

Check out the vans fully equipped lay out:

In the end, we dropped our van off at Escape’s San Francisco location which is conveniently located near Fisherman’s Wharf (Pier 39). Not only was our drop off a painless process (they literally checked our mileage and asked if we had any problems) but they also let us use one of their limited parking spots for free while we played tourist at the wharf. If you’ve ever paid for parking in San Francisco you realize this is a true testament to how wonderful Escape’s customer service is. I honestly felt like we were returning our car to a friend; a friend who kept on hooking us up with more and more awesomeness!

I can’t rave enough about how incredible traveling with an Escape Campervan was for my family. I would recommend this company to anyone looking for a bit of adventure or spark in their vacation (after all, Escape’s motto is “The freedom to sleep around”). If you’ve ever daydreamed of taking a road trip with your family I hope that my experience with Escape Campervans can convince you to take the plunge and do it! If you rent through this company I know you will have the vacation of your life!

Make sure to check out Escape’s website and follow/friend them on Twitter and Facebook!

*** Escape Campervans does not publish their rates but I can tell you that for my family, renting through Escape was cheaper (yes cheaper) than a standard rental car for us. If you take advantage of their off season rates rumor has it the prices are even more absurdly low. ***

Today’s Guest Post is brought to us by Heather. Heather is a wife, mama to one and a chick who loves to surf. She has a background in Early Childhood Education and everything she has learned about being a great mama, she has learned from those around her. You can read her personal blog at mama surfs.com