We recently joined up with our friends Jen & Deas (NealysonWheels) and Kristin & Katy (Snowmads) in South Carolina for an impromptu van meetup. Our first time leaving the state of Florida since the pandemic began.
We’ve known all of these guys for many years, having rendezvoused across the country as full time RVers – one of the pure joys of nomadic life.
Our individual paths have all lead us to choosing other primary home bases (they in fixed locations, ours a nomadic fleet) – but we all ended up with camper vans.
And Jen & Deas purchased a Travato, like us.
But unlike us, they went down the OTHER path with the K floorplan. We have the G. Our vans are of similar age – just about a year old, and both are the Lithium model.
There’s deep contention within the Travato community over which floorplan is best – K or G. It’s a religious level war similar to Mac vs Windows, Pepsi vs. Coke or Star Wars vs Star Trek.
So we thought it’s be fun to duke it out on camera:
K vs G
Here’s a quick overview of the two floor plans:
The K floorplan offers two seats in the front, a side galley, two twin beds that can convert to a king and a bathroom in the rear. Fans tend to like having more windows for better views, and two separate beds that you don’t have to crawl over your sleeping partner.
The G floorplan, which is the original Travato layout, offers two separate feeling living areas – seating for 5 in the front with a table (and convertible second bed), and an almost-full size bed in the back. Fans like the multiple living areas and configurations.
It Comes Down to Needs
For our friends Jen & Deas – while they liked the G floorplan better, the K was the only reasonable option for them. With Deas being 6’5″ tall and Jen not being a snuggler – the G floorplan just wouldn’t work for them.
They also travel with two dogs who like to be close with their humans. Also, only Jen works remotely (she’s actually part of our team over at the Mobile Internet Resource Center – how fun it is to work with friends!). And as much as she would love him to have something to keep him busy and out of her hair, Deas is mostly retired.
For us, the K floorplan was never a contender – we picked the Travato because of the G floorplan.
No other van layout in our research offered the separate feeling living spaces. The floorplan gives us multiple areas to use for work space, and allows one of us to go to bed while the other pulls an all-nighter working on a project. Chris, Kiki and I are also major-snugglers – separate beds would not work for us, and the smaller corner bed doesn’t bother us one bit. We actually kinda like it.
So really, the choice of K versus L come down to how you’ll use your van. We ended up with our slightly used GL because the prior owner thought they wanted the G layout, but ended up not liking crawling over each other to use the restroom at night – so they switched to the K. And we know plenty of others who have switched from K to G as well.
There’s really no right or wrong – just what works for you!
Ahhh.. Escaping Florida!
This trip was back in late February – and it was so much fun to listen to serendipity’s call and just spontaneously head out. Delightful beach time at Hunting Island State Park and deeply connective socially distanced time with dear friends.
We so look forward to the pandemic getting under control and making it safer to do this sort of thing more often WITH hugs next time.
Because this is the stuff that makes life so precious.
Thank you for the candid review of two different floor plans for the Travato. I would be hard pressed to choose. I can see pros and cons for each plan. Glad that each of you have chosen a floor plan that works. I appreciate the honest and frank discussion. Glad all is going well. Be safe and be well. I look forward to the next post.
PS. I love the photos of Kiki in the opening prelude.
Hi folks I have been following you for awhile and have become fascinated with the rv lifestyle. I currently have Travato 59G National Park Foundation edition. I have been wanting to meet with some travelers and perhaps start a caravan of sorts. All of this is very new to me and would like to start using the rig the problem is I am a bit of a recluse and quite shy hoping being with fellow travelers would help that.
D.Fisher
Definitely find some special interest groups to meet up with.. hopefully with vaccinations, meeting up in person will become easier. It’s been really hard to connect with new people this past year in general.
Really enjoy you website and posts. We love the layout of our 2016 G, especially the separate living areas that allow different sleeping schedules to acomodate late night work. We are contemplating the purchase of a new (or newer) G and are hoping WGO comes to it’s senses regarding some of the revisons that they implemented on the 2022 G: In particular, the nonsensical manner in which to fill the freshwater tank or connect to city water, the rear door must be left open to provide access to the water connections. When I spoke with a marketing representative at WGO, I was told that this was done in order to facilitate cold weather camping. Not necessarily a deal breaker for us, however, I replied that we do not leave our rear door open when camping in cold weather.(nor do we connect to city water).
The water connection issue with the 2022 would work for the way we generally camp – we always just fill the tank, disconnect and run off the tank, even when using full hook-ups. Just habit for us, and always keeps us super aware of our water usage so when off grid it’s not a painful transition. But can see why some find that an issue.
Our real problem with the 2022 for us is the way they reconfigured the front salon – it doesn’t seem as versatile for how we use it. We love being able to reconfigure the area to ‘couch mode’ and the large table for work space, dining and gaming with friends.
We’re so glad we ended up with a 2020.5 G instead of waiting.
We saw you from afar in a campground in SC ?? I think about 5 years ago. I was shy, and also thought you might like privacy. Anyhow, have been following your blogs since then. I am inspired by you, admire you, and am grateful that you open your thoughtfulness to the rest of us. Thank you, and special pats to Kiki. Helen
Glad you got to connect with friends! So important in the last year!
We love our Era 170, but it’s getting harder for me to “scootch” out of the almost king bed with our head at the back of the van and our feet to the front. Twin set-up would be nice for that, but I would miss the hubby snuggles too much to switch yet!
To each his own – – nice to have choices!
Safe travels to all!
Both floor plans look great. Are they both on the longer chassis?
They’re both 21′
Thanks!
I love my walk around bed in my class C Kustom Koach. The twin beds appeal to me, but the bathroom at the back does not. Thanks for the over view.
Not many (any?) Class-Bs have walk-around beds.. definitely a compromise for the smaller size.