Went camping for first time! Im40. Never again lol

I like camping but have recently got back from a camping trip with a 3 and 1 year old... now that was hard work! I am really looking forward to it when they're a bit older though

I started camping at the tender age of 35, because of my little one, who loves it!
Erecting the tent is always a fight, but is quite alright once we’re settled.
It might come across as snobby or ridiculous, but my only condition to keep camping with hubby and toddler is for us to have our little ikea hob, a little kettle and my own duvet and pillows rather than sleeping bag. Car looks like Sooty’s van when we’re traveling, but is quite enjoyable now.

I wish I liked camping I hate it, though I get that if you throw lots of money at it to have the best gear it’s probably better.

I hate waking up at the crack of dawn due to light/birds in a sweaty tent.

I hate having to brush my teeth/shower in a manky shower block, or needing a wee in the night and fighting my way out of a tent.

I hate the hassle of the cooking and washing up and having to store all this stuff in your tent or car.

we have done it a few times with friends so the kids have memories of it, but never again. I just don’t find it fun in any way.

I love camping. But I have a decent sleeping bag and mat for floor. Camp beds are notorious for being cold. What layers did you have under you and the bed?

I always sleep really well when I’m camping.

Smidge spray. Did you have any midge spray?

Ah hello my people! I tried so hard to love camping and just refused after a while - the back pain and horrific cold were not conducive to a good holiday. However, this year I tried a camper van and may just be a convert ..

I love camping. But you have to work out what works for you & plan well 😁
hacks are:
it’s much less hard work without kids
go somewhere with a pub in walking distance & mostly eat there 😆
get an electric hook up & take an electric blanket.
For the whole of my kids being young, camping was all i could afford (single parent) and we used to go in a group with other single mums-much better for adults and kids. We also used to not go too far from home, so if it was truly shit (only happened once in 10 years-with relentless fucking driving rain for 3 days straight) we could just pack up & leave. Now the kids are older, I go just my partner & me & it’s a different thing altogether-more freedom, with no real urgency to sort food or entertainment & just able to meander around the country at the drop of a hat 😊 (annual leave permitting, of course)

Yeah, this is pretty much my experience too. A fox or something was sniffing outside my tent in the night and I hoped it would eat me I am half dead anyway.
I would have been glad to be put out of my misery.
I was so cold, even lost the feeling in my nose and tips of ears

🤣🤣🤣

I tried it once
never again
cold, trekking for a wee in the cold
nah rather stay at home

I honestly didn’t see how pretending to be homeless was a holiday.so YANBU

That sounds perfect

@StellaLaBella
Totally agree.
Many years ago we were asked to go on a sailing trip. I said no thank you and was unpopular because of that. Everyone fell out with each other and it was a bit of a disaster.

I dodged a bullet. Too many people at close quarters and bossy skipper types. Not a holiday for me!

Sailing is another one people try to spin as an amazing experience, but it’s bloody hard work, not comfortable and easily broken in to. I feel I could get behind a crewed private yacht though ;-)

I bought a fire pit for the back garden. We can sit out, make hotdogs, roast marshmallows and then go to bed after!

I’m glad you tried it and stuck it out for 3 days to actually get a good wedge of experience.

I love camping, the wilder the better. I’m in my 50s, but I really don’t get the fuss about sailing.

Well, that’s the other thing. As a lifelong insomniac, I struggle to drop off in a king sized bed at the Four Seasons, let alone on a cot with only a flimsy, easily broken in to/slashed, piece of material for protection. IMO the only thing a tent does is keep the rain off you, yet you’re still damp and cold. And don’t get me started on washing or peeing in a bucket (yes, I know the sites have facilities these days, but the principle remains!)

😄😄 I feel for you

I will never go camping. I dont need to try it, its one of those things that I will be blissfully ignorant about 🥰

Yes! I could decide to drive down to North Cornwall at 5pm, check into a B&B at 7.30pm and have a drink on the terrace overlooking the bay at Bude if I really wanted to! I don't think a convenience argument holds much water. It's about cost for most people.

Camping on tv always looks like fun sitting around a campfire toasting marshmallows and looking at the stars. The reality is its cold, a lot of work and the fear of being murdered in the middle of the night just makes it not worth it

We are a smug and tedious camping family 😆
you need the right equipment, camp beds will be freezing because of all that cold air wafting around underneath you.
We use self inflating mats and really decent sleeping bags, cover your skin up in the evenings or smother on the smidge.
Let the kids go feral and take a good book!
We can have a week in the uk for 4 of us for under £1000 at a decent campsite, eating out at least twice a day and including all activities and fuel/parking etc. Could get the price right down if we cooked every meal ourselves but I don’t particularly want to.
Wear the right clothes!

I was considering trying it again - thanks for reminding me why I hate it! (Mainly being cold / wet / not sleeping well / that sticky dirty feeling after a nights sleep!)

Whenever anyone suggests camping to me, I say “as the late Terry Wogan wisely put it - why on earth would I want to leave home to be uncomfortable somewhere else?”

I am also fatally attractive to all bitey bastard bugs and highly allergic to them like you. As I live in a hot, humid climate, I had to figure out how to keep them at bay as much as possible. We have our garden sprayed to exterminate mosquitos every 3 weeks, a UV light exterminator in the house on all night, but truly the only effective deterrent when I’m outside at dusk/night, is to spray myself with Deet (25% at least, anything less won’t keep them off me). I try to keep it my clothes/hair but if I’m in shorts/tee, which is often obviously, I have to spray it on my skin or be destroyed.

If the fuckers have managed to break through, I will have welts for weeks. The only thing that kills the itch is heat. I blast them with a hairdryer on the hottest setting until it hurts too much, or put a teaspoon in boiling water and press it against them. They’ll still look dreadful, the itch isn’t driving me doolally! Repeat when itch returns, probably every 1/2 days or so for about 4 days or so, until the histamines recede, I also take an antihistamine for a day or two. Pain in the arse and you have my sympathy!

I had a similar view last week on a terrace. Then it got chilly so we went inside the hotel.

@NameChangedForThis2025 That’s exactly my view. My kit is really basic but the best equipment I could find. It fits in a couple of big crates and probably takes me 30 minutes to get everything set up when I arrive at the site. I can look at the weather forecast on a Friday lunchtime and, if it looks good, be sat outside my tent watching the sunset with a glass of red later that evening.