Camping is hell.

[Thisisnothappeningagain]

I havent enjoyed camping since i was a teen. Dp is well into it 'i just chuck a few things in the car and go!' -_- (i wont even get in to how much effort it was to acquire, sort and pack everything for a family and dogs) i finally bowed to pressure and here i am, a trek across a field away from the locked, extremely poorly ventilated, toilets and no idea where in this dark tent trying to take off the key is even though ive tried to keep it in the same zipped pocket. I must have had 5hrs sleep all week.

I HAVE TRIED to be positive, but im seriously struggling to see why this is fun, or relaxing.

I hate camping
DP loves it and has fully invested in some really top of the range gear. I still hate it.

I hate camping, I haaaaaaaate it. DP has finally accepted this after almost a decade of insisting I'll love it (even though I've been quite a few times before we met. ..) and is finally willing to take DD on his own. Halle-fucking-luja

I used to go camping as a child and hated it, my parents slept in the camper van and children were in the tent freezing cold. At night moths would fly in the tent. My sister and I used to zip our sleeping bags together to make a double so we could keep warm. Hated the showers, always had to check for spiders first. I always felt cold and tired. Have never gone camping as an adult.

I'm a Scout leader but a fair weather camper. It needs to be sunny everyday and no more than 3 days. If you aren't enjoying it then it is not a holiday.

Freedom is packing a small case and checking in to a hotel where someone else cleans, cooks and worries about stuff.

My camping experiences have been great but I pick sites with lovely facilities, toilet and shower blocks have never been more than a minute away and they've had a no noise policy from 11-7. My tent bedding consists of quality air bed, mattress topper, good sleeping bag and double duvet (and 2 good pillows). Incredibly cozy!

Shocked at the poster who only took one pair of shoes each camping though. We take wellies, trainers, spare trainers, walking shoes, flip flops or sliders for showers and popping to the loo in the night. A benefit of camping is that you can just cram as much into your car as will fit and keep it there for the duration leaving your tent clutter free

*Can't get to grips with all the 'I like camping but you have to have X, Y, Z . . . '

That's a hotel. You're describing a hotel. Or a B&B. Or your own home.

Surely if you really like camping you should enjoy the 'roughing it' element.*

Not really kids can go from their bedroom to the outdoors and pretty much have free run of the place, go off to the park with their new friends you can sit outside and drink wine. Nothing like a hotel at all. Although I do like a nice hotel as well but it's very very different. I enjoyed camping breakfast just as much as the cooked one served in our 4 * resort this week. Again, just different.

I'd also definitely not be eating ration packs. It takes 15 minutes to prep and bbq up ready cooked chicken drumsticks (don't have to worry about being poisoned but gets the nice bbq taste) pitta breads, some halloumi, veg and prawns. Bag of salad and feta and some tzatziki and hummus dip. Far tastier meal than a dried packet meal 😆

Same, OP. I haven't enjoyed camping since my teenage years, and I did love it then. The noise (other campers), the queues for the shower and all that sort of thing. Though, inexplicably, I'd rather camp than stay in a caravan.

Nice B and B or hotel for me nowadays I'm afraid.

@dottiedodah

Really dont like Camping .Its seems to me that many ladies ,are less keen on The Great Outdoors than their menfolk.Idea We girls off to a Premier Inn (ON) to meet menfolk for pub lunch following day .Afternoon ,reading a book /going shopping /swimming .! Maybe we anti campers could start a self help group ?Only treatment avaliable as above!

DH is a scout shooting instructor and also the Kit van driver for lots of DD’s trips.

When they went for a shooting competition he negotiated a room in the main building instead of sleeping in a tent. He joined them from breakfast to night time but slept in a nice building, proper bed and not outside with 5 degrees.

My best friend camps for two weeks - two whole weeks! It's madness. This year though, they've rented a cottage - I think I've turned her with all my talk of how nice and relaxing it is. She commented that she's looking forward to having a fridge so that she doesn't have to go to the shop every day to fill the cool bag. That's just nuts IMO.

For me to see something as a holiday, the place we're staying has to be equal to or better than what I have at home. I do not find it relaxing to not have a toilet in the place I sleep. I just don't get camping at all.

Not really kids can go from their bedroom to the outdoors and pretty much have free run of the place, go off to the park with their new friends you can sit outside and drink wine. Nothing like a hotel at all. Although I do like a nice hotel as well but it's very very different. I enjoyed camping breakfast just as much as the cooked one served in our 4 resort this week. Again, just different.*

You can book a villa in a resort of some kind and have exactly the same experience, without the camping bit

I don't begrudge anyone who enjoy camping! (or skiing, or a cycling holiday, or a walking holiday, or a trip to space or whatever), I just never understand what's in there for me!

Early daylight waking me up and no mattress is why it is over 20 years since I last camped. Hope OP you can get some sleep to help it be less painful.

Nothing wrong with not liking it when others do.

With you, OP.

I went with the guides as a teen and it was OK but I was a lot more bendy and a lot less fussy then. Also went with parents to French sites where the tent was set up for you and all equipment included but the communal toilets and shower blocks were a horror show. I came back with a foot infection even the chiropodist couldn't identify.

Camping is one of the top three on my list of holidays never to take the others being skiing and cruising.

I hate it too. Until I read this thread I thought I was in the minority. Loads of my friends love it too. There is a whole group of them who camp every year we went once and it was horrendous, You have to take so much stuff, and it is so uncomfortable. TBF the twice we have gone we had extreme weather first time was about 32 degrees and my DD was sick because the tent was like a furnace second time was a full on storm and the tent almost blew away. Don't get it myself.!!!!

I love camping…….actually I think I love camping until I actually get there then I remember how awful it is 🤣

We are camping next week, I will have to put the tent up alone which usually results in me getting a migraine and almost passing out, then I will hear “when’s dinner” and will have to struggle to knock up something edible on the camp stove. It’s not to bad once we get over the first day and night but we can never manage more than 3/4 nights. Then the hassle of packing it all away, trying to squeeze a wet tent into a small bag knowing it will have to be dried when we get home.

At the end of the day it’s a very cheap way of holidaying, next week is costing me £60 compared to £700 which we have paid for a grubby caravan at the end of august (though I didn’t actually pay for it).

I have never tried it, and never will. I'm all about my comfort, especially on holidays.

I will give a thought to all my fellow camping-haters every time I drive past a campsite of any kind, it's likely to have a few desperate people in there 😂

I remember a thread on here a couple of years ago, where someone on a very low income was saying how stressed she was because she couldn't afford a holiday, and she just needed a break from everything. I forget her exact personal circumstances, but clearly she was having a very difficult time.

The replies were absolutely FULL of people having a go at her for not going camping, saying how cheap it would be, and why didn't she simply grab a tent and go? But equipment costs money, and as @PieceOfString commented back on page 5, "The only people I know who enjoy it are well off and own every piece of kit you could possibly need to make things comfortable. I just remember the thread was full of middle class fury about why this woman wouldn't just buy a cheap tent and go.

I wish we could've time travelled to the future and sent this thread to all the commenters.

Camping is only bearable when I can get so drunk I don't care where I sleep, which means never with children.
Even then it's not really worth the hassle of packing and unpacking everything.

i think it comes down to the type of camping you do!
I always hated it but DP convinced me to go, i only agreed if i could do it 'my way'
that meant electrical hook up, heaters, 2 x duvets, fridge, blow up sofas, big blow up beds etc - cost a fortune to set up but now i love it and go twice a year!

Next time ask dh to send you pictures whilst you remember what camping really like from the comfort of your nice warm home.

Reading this thread is so funny! I loathe camping and cannot understand why people love it. The only camping trip Id be interested in is a night under the stars in a Bobby bag up a hill somewhere with a nice walk down to a lovely holiday cottage with hot shower and nice kitchen.

There's a really popular campsite about 20mims from us.
My friend and her family stay there for a week every year because the children love the pool etc. My friend drives home every evening once the children are asleep to sleep in her own bed

Bivvy not Bobby🤣

I enjoy camping but not the British version of camping in a tiny tent with no electricity in the pouring rain! You need a small site with somewhere for the kids to play, a tent you can stand up in with a separate room for the kids to sleep and somewhere to sit when it's raining, a portable toilet (no dashing to the toilet block at 2am in the cold) and most importantly an electric hook-up to run the tent heater! Alternatively go to the south of France/Spain/Italy where the campsites are loads better and they have the weather to make it a far more enjoyable experience without lots of kit.

@mafted

There's a really popular campsite about 20mims from us. My friend and her family stay there for a week every year because the children love the pool etc. My friend drives home every evening once the children are asleep to sleep in her own bed

That's camping done right.