Advice for living in a trailer for the summer?

You need a place to poo, bathe, and do laundry.

Bring a good fan if there isn’t one.

No A/C, no swamp cooler. Hardly big enough to turn around in. Prepare for hot and muggy days and nights! Pray that it’s in the shade during the day! The water heater, if there is one, is very small and won’t give very much hot water if you’re looking to take a shower. You’ll be about as close to camping as it gets for two months except you won’t be up in the mountains.
A pop-up is like half trailer, half tent. When towing, the top collapses down for low profile and “pops up” when ready for use.

Go check it out and make a decision then.
Hope that you can trust the people? Keep safety in mind!
Get bug spray.

Make sure the trailer is down by the river.

If this is an office type job where you’ll be expected to be showered and dressed in neat, clean clothes every day then you could be facing some problems. The pop-up tent trailer won’t have a shower and it won’t have a hanging closet for clothes. Obviously, you won’t have laundry facilities, and unless there’s a chemical toilet or some arrangement is made to use sanitary facilities elsewhere, that’s going to be a problem, too.

I doubt if you’ll have anything more than a hotplate and maybe – if you’re lucky – a tiny microwave oven. As others have noted, probably no air cooling, either – in fact, you may not even have 110V power, so the microwave and hotplate may be out of the picture entirely.

But hey, you’re young and this will be an adventure.

I would advise arriving as early for the internship as you can (the week before, if possible, or even earlier), so that you can scout out the area for the things you’ll need to make that situation livable for that long term—OR to use your free time to scout out a better arrangement. It’s always easier to find better accommodations when you’re already in the area. So get there when you can, be open to the adventure, and use your time wisely to find a more livable situation.

And be very thankful to your host/s for helping you get started.

@CWOTUS Luckily, the trailer is in this person’s backyard, and I’m pretty sure she’ll let me use her washer and dryer. But hanging clothes /is/ something I should consider—maybe I’ll get some kind of a standing rack or something.

And apparently they have an outdoor shower I can use, lol.

Why not also check out the Craigslist covering that area.

Occasionally there are people with an elderly family member looking for someone your age to live in just so that someone is there in case of emergency. Or perhaps help out a little with small chores like taking out the garbage or driving them to Dr. appt.

At least then you’d be living in a more normal home environment (with probably AC also)

Many times people will run ads like this hoping for someone like you because otherwise they’d be paying a home care person an hourly wage just to be there overnight. Night times are usually when they’re most concerned about someone elderly being left totally alone.

As long as your responsibilities there would be minimal, this could be a very workable situation all the way around.

If you have good references, you might even consider placing an ad of your own looking for this type of situation since it would be free to run the ad.

Anyhow, good luck.

@Buttonstc, I emailed every single ad on Craigslist for the area, and put out my own, and contacted dozens of friends, and friends of friends, and relatives. it’s really impossible, trust me. It’s a tiny area, and I’ve contacted every single possibility within driving distance. This is my only option.

I don’t really want advice talking me out of doing this, just practical advice for how I can do it.

edit: I realize this sounded grumpy and I didn’t mean it to! It’s just been a very long week of searching for things.

Don’t you be forgettin to take out the trash y’hear

I always LOVED camping in a pop up and they can vary with amenities and hope/assume this one comes with some that will help serve as a viable place to live while you intern. As others pointed out bathing (shit showering and shaving) will be high on the list….many pop-ups do not have cooking options so the next concern will be storage of food and clean water. Livingout of a cooler can be done but will require constant up keep….a fridge will be a bonus. Air conditioning would be nice but not a deal breaker for me. Being in a rich area will lesson the concerns over safety but I always had a Bowie Knife at arms reach when I camp. This sounds like an adventure of a lifetime and I say go for it!

Post more details of your arrangements like trailer amenities and location and we will put more ideas on the table.

Hell, this sounds fun to me.

Ask the hosts if they will let you use their shower. Maybe they’ll also let you use their washing machine. Maybe they’ll also be open to you using their kitchen, just to store food and heat things up. They may be really cool people, you never know.

You may get into the pop up trailer and decide it’s not for you, who knows. I guess it depends on how hot and humid it is.

@Cruiser I’ll be living on Cape Cod, MA. In terms of amenities, I will have access to an outdoor shower, and I’m assuming a toilet someplace (either in my host’s house or somewhere else?). My host also said I would have access to a kitchen, but didn’t specify where that kitchen would be.

Hopefully it’s the host’s kitchen and bathroom. If you has to drive elsewhere, especially to use the toilet. that would be pretty inconvenient.

@rory I’d say you have most of what you will need covered. It will be an adventure for sure.