Do you love or hate camping?

[Mumtothreegirlies]

I just read another thread where a women was saying how she didn’t like camping.
I get why some people don’t like camping but I was surprised about how many others also hate it and they way they talked about their hate for the outdoors.
My question is, am I weird for loving being outdoors amongst the dirt and leaves?
Sometimes I go out in my car and park up in the countryside just to get away on my own and for my birthday I’m actually going away for the weekend on my own camping.
am I weird or is there anyone else out there that gets me?

I love it. I've been a camper all my life. My parents were keen campers, so took us right from being born.
That said, I always camp abroad because the UK is shit for camping.
I don't want to pre book, I just want to turn up and pitch up when I fancy it, hence I go abroad as I can just throw my gear in the car and go.

To paraphrase the late, great Terry Wogan, why would I go on holiday to be less comfortable than I am at home?

I love camping but definitely love it more since leaving the UK. I go camping in way more interesting places since moving abroad.

Also, last time we went I basically didn't relax so can see why people also wouldn't like camping
I drove 6 hours there and back by myself as DP doesn't drive, then everyday it was hiking for 6-7 hours then back to make food before dark, then wash up, then campfire (needs constant monitoring), then get everybody ready for bed, then I was tired and fell asleep. We had one hour on our last day where I got to sit and read, the rest of it was just 1 thign after another and wasn't exactly restful.

To quote Pitch Perfect, "why would you voluntarily live like dogs?"

Hard no to camping.

I love the outdoors, all our family holidays when I was growing up were camping ones.

But now I have chronic pain and fatigue. It's hard enough to get out of my normal bed in the morning. I last camped 10 years ago and it was too much for me then.

I have great memories of our food on our holidays though. My mum will be the first to admit she's not a great cook but she used to bring the pressure cooker so we would have non stop soup and stews even on a wee camping stove.

I love it, and have lived in tents in the past
We just bought a new fire hiking tent and stove, for our trip to the north end of Vancouver Island for our trip this fall.
I love sleeping outside, eating outside , sitting by the fire, all of it.

I despise camping. I hate being dirty, dealing with bugs, being too hot or too cold, and just generally uncomfortable.

I’m not a huge fan of the outdoors unless the weather is perfect. Perfect weather is cool to cold and overcast or even better foggy. The sun is my enemy.

Yep

I have a small bell tent and come alive when camping. I choose quiet times - mid week during term time and campsites with views. It's profoundly peaceful to be in Nature with a lack of distractions, surrounded by the sounds of the earth. During school hols it gets trickier to find the same level of p & q. There are adult only sites which tend to be pricier for some reason! And often are more off the beaten track. I wish summer lasted year round as camping is just about my favourite thing to do!

I ought to be a person who loves camping- I love the outdoors, cook-outs, hobbies where you need loads of specialist equipment. But I hate it. Always so uncomfortable, you spend the whole time setting up or looking for stuff or sorting something out etc etc. I feel hungover the whole time even if I'm not. And it usually rains.

The kids love it though. I will just about tolerate a nice glamping set up but that's super expensive.

I mean if you spend thousands and thousands on equipment I guess it could be ok, but that's a lot to invest for a wet weekend in Kent.

I want to like camping but I just don't know how to do it. Love being outdoors and love the thought of sitting around with friends, drinking wine, while various children are all engaged in wholesome fun. However, I don't have any equipment, my friends aren't camping people, my DH flatly refuses to go, my child (although outdoorsy) isn't one given to merrily frolicking with other kids. So it would just be me, sitting in a field, drinking warm white wine and reading a book with a torch, then lying awake all night, needing the loo, and waiting for an axe-murderer to pounce.

I love it. Being in the outdoors, feeling more in synch with the rhythms of nature, living a simpler lifestyle and getting away from the excessive stuff and nonsense of civilised life, enjoying the simplicity of one-pot cooking... Wonderful!

I get you. You are not weird. If you haven’t already, read the Raynor Winn books.

It’s not the outdoors, that bit’s good. It’s just that camping is such hard work. And it’s so weather dependent. We’ve stopped going because I’m sick of putting the tent up in the rain and everything being wet. In fact, last time it came down in the rain too and it hasn’t been out the bag since so is probably mouldy now.

I love the being surrounded by nature, getting away from technology and noise etc.

I hate the back pain and toilet/ shower situations 😅

I used to love camping, but now I can't think of anything I like less.
I love being outdoors. We live rurally and love walking, but I want an en suite bathroom and a proper bed and I don't want to be cold at night.

I also need total silence to be able to get to sleep. Unless wild camping you always have other people's noise to contend with.

Hate is a strong word.... But I wouldn't choose to go. I love being outdoors, camp fires etc, but i love my own bed and en suite more.

Yep this. Mucky Flanaghan agrees in a hilarious way

It’s perfectly possible to be outdoors all day then return at night to a comfy hotel room with a big clean bed and large luxurious bathroom.

I love camping. It's the easiest environment to "just be"

I miss wild camping, hopefully in a couple of years, the DCs will be able to manage rucksacks and do it...

DIY festival types who blast their speakers and awful "music" and abandon their tents in bad weather for the owner to deal with can go to room 101 though.

I love camping except for the night time toilet arrangement in campsites.

Just do what I do and go behind your tent.

@Croissantsandpistachio you don't need to spend thousands. My tent is a two man Vango, my sleeping bag was a couple of hundred pounds a good few years ago, but it's still going strong.
All my camping gear fits into a rucksack, apart from the tent and sleeping bag.

Raises tin mug in agreement.

I hate everything about camping. The discomfort, the grubbiness, the effort involved with every part of it, the amount of equipment required, the lack of facilities...

I was a Venture Scout, did the Duke of Edinburgh awards, and then became a Scout Leader in my 30s, so I have given it a fair chance. It's the absolute pits, I can't understand why any adult would do it for fun.