What do you wished you’d known when you started camping ?

[Lardlizard]

Ok I’ve done it once now, well for one night ! but I’m still a beginner really so start from the beginning what do you wish you knew before you started camping ? Any hint n tips ?

What do you wished you’d known when you started camping ?

That it's horrible? It's an activity only to be undertaken when fleeing ethnic cleansing or some other apocalyptic, life-threatening event.

Oh - and don't expect the relationship with the deliciously hot Danish girl you go with to survive more than three days.

Take a bag for life to the shower. Then you hang that waterproof bag on the one puny coathook and put your clothes IN it. This small hack seen on MN was life changing.

This thread reminds me why I dislike camping so much!

I can't remember a time before camping :o
but here is what I've learned:

• take some spare space for storing crap - whether it's a spare room in a large tent, or a mini pop-up tent, where you can just chuck your washing, spare food, coats and wellies etc. Stops you climbing over them constantly
• yes to real duvets and pillows (if you're going by car)
• take a washing line that you can string up, and you can give clothes a quick wash with shower gel
• always take those sets of mini cereals
• after faffing with coffee making stuff, I found the best option is coffee bags or one-cup filters
• you can never have too many rugs and blankets
• cooking on the floor is a PITA, have some kind of chair and table if possible
• have a great swiss army knife
• take a tick removal thing
• always leave your mesh inners zipped up when not in use, to keep bugs out
• take portable charging units. You might think you're going to have a lovely time off-grid with no emails/internet but it won't last
• Use spout-topped water bottles so kids can have drinks by beds with no spillages
• take a head torch
• at festivals or for if the toilets are miles away, take a bucket toilet/bog in a bag type thing, you will be so grateful late at night when your child wakes up for a wee.

Oh and of course for all novice campers please NEVER NEVER have any kind of barbecue or cooking gear inside the tent, not even after you've put it out - can be incredibly dangerous.

Vacuum pack clothes and bedding to make space in the car. We take a battery powered pump to do the same coming home.

Every day is EXTREMELY long.

Yes, if you have kids, they will wake up at 5am and go to bed after midnight, and never get tired.

However once you're past the young kids stage it can be blissful just lying in, lounging around etc.

Also be realistic, if you hate it don't kid yourself/torture yourself. I LOOOOOOOVVVEEEE IT but I've been camping with people who were all "Aaah lovely camping! Nature! Back to basics! " but it was clear from their faces/vibe that they were fucking miserable and couldn't admit it. It's OK to hate camping :)

@MotherWol we had the rule - the one who cooks doesn't wash up I grew up with that rule when we had camping holidays as a child and I think I was 19 before my younger siblings (all 2 years apart) twigged why I always volunteered to cook breakfast and/or the evening meal . needless to say I never told my now exH that story and enjoyed many a peaceful half hour post meal whilst he took the children off to wash up . It also taught the children a valuable lesson about washing up and sharing chores and because everything was plastic when they dropped plates and cups it didn't matter! Oh those were the days drifts off into misty eyed memories