We've been camping every year for about the last 7 years gradually building up to a full week this year.
We don't have a huge holiday budget, so I try to put a cheery face on and have previously ended up enjoying most of it but this year I have just had enough.
Packing/pitching & the reverse is hard work & incredibly stressful as DH is pretty anal about how things are done. He's also over a foot taller than me so trying to erect an 8 man steel framed tent is quite a challenge & invariably causes rows.
Living in the pockets of DH & DD is something I really struggle with. I love them dearly but suffer with anxiety & need my own space to keep it under control. Without that, I get panic attacks which I try to keep under their radar which causes more stressful. I also have misophonia which is absolutely toe curling in a fecking tent!
I don't sleep well at the best of times, and an EMCS plus 3 further abdominal surgeries means I rarely get through the night without needing the loo. I can potter to the bathroom & back half asleep normally,but when a trip to the bathroom requires shoes, jacket, torch, negotiating a double zip tent flap & 200m trek each way that's not possible. At home if I suffer insomnia I'll make myself cosy on the couch & read/watch tv until I nod off - can't do that here as camping chairs aren't so cosy & light in bedroom would wake the others.
I hate only being able to have showers all week. The facilities here are great but it's just not the same...
Finally 'here' is where we've camped for the last three years. It's a great site & location has lovely beaches (which we've managed 3.5 days on out of 17 that we've spent here in total due to weather). We've exhausted the stuff to do otherwise & frankly I'm bored senseless of the place.
DH is not keen on doing anything other than camping because of cost & has already made noises about booking again for next year (he's done it before we've left the last two years, although I'm pretty sure he won't after yesterday's convo).
I get that money's tight but I would rather have a year off going away & do days out next year than 7 nights camping again. Quite happy to consider it the following year in a different location whilst praying our circs change & we don't have to, or do a shorter, more local trip alongside days out next year.
I can't help but feel I'm being UR & selfish. The only alternative that I've found for next year is a cottage which is very reasonable but all the things to do are art/literature/history based which would bore DH rigid.
I think mostly need to vent but if anyone has any solutions they'd be much appreciated.
AIBU?
...to refuse to go on holiday next year if it's camping again?
WyrdByrd · 07/08/2015 09:10
This reply has been deleted
Message withdrawn at poster's request.
I know a lovely campsite in woodland which is pretty reasonable and great for outdoorsing...
... which is coincidentally five miles from my house, and my spare bed, and a proper flushing toilet you'd have to yourself. You could have 
and 
with me and our mutual friend while DH and DD enjoy the fresh air.
to survive the last of it. Yanbu.
I will def bear that in mind MrsH 
, especially if you throw in a squish with MiniH along with the wine & cake!
Halfway home now - just the trauma of unpacking, putting away & airing & packing tent 
.
Whew...finally in my lovely hot bath with a cold beer & clean PJs & bed awaiting .
Thanks so much for all the great suggestions - I think perhaps we need to think outside the box a little more. Am planning a pyjama day on Monday so will fire up the laptop & investigate all these fab ideas. Daryl is there a link you can post to the site with bathrooms? I'd be at least 50% happier about camping if baths were available & Devon is lovely 
.
We've been in Newquay for the last three years, great site but it's getting boring being in the same place & with the camping issues.
DH spent most of yesterday in a grump because I (& to a lesser extent DD) had been moaning all week. Couldn't talk without DD earwigging so emailed him 
explaining that is enjoyed lots of things we've done, but just find camping itself too hard going to do for a whole week every single year, and I want to visit other places too.
He perked up and spent a large chunk of the afternoon in & put of surf shops discussing when would be the best time to buy wetsuits for next year 
, but we've not rebooked and he's been talking about 'if' we go camping/there again today, so seems to have got the message.
I'm going to pursue my main idea for next year which is a cottage in West Yorkshire for a week. Just need to find some additional things to do that might appeal to him too. So long as I do Haworth, a steam train & the N Yorkshire sculpture gardens I can flexible with other days out.
Another option is a few days out & a Monday-Friday camp in Broadstairs which would allow him & DD to do some body boarding, but be shorter for me and also give us the chance to meet up with several of my cousins who live in Kent.
The irony is, I wanted to go to Cornwall for years but he wasn't keen, and now I can't drag him away from the place!
I don't like the sound of your DH. Why don't you both have the same amount of fun money? Apart from the fact that as you're married it's all legally shared anyway, why the hell should you suffer because your earning power's affected by needing flexibility for your DC?
And he is being incredibly selfish about the camping.
Glad you're home OP, and this thread has been great for holiday ideas for us all!
DH is a stubborn git and a bit stuck in his ways at times but he's not the devil incarnate.
As I've already said he does all the driving, most of the donkey work packing & pitching and mucks in with all the 'domestic stuff' both whilst camping and at home. We mostly agree on days out and he has been known to do a 2.5 hour round drive for me to check out Tate St Ives & the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Gallery, while he & DD mooched round the town. After much moaning about the distance beforehand he loved the place & couldn't get back there fast enough.
I think he finds it a bit hard to relate to anything outside his personal experience and also feels it's better to spend minimally on accommodation so we can do more iykwim.
As for finances we keep them separate with our own agreed contributions to joint expenses. If anything it is more his wages for bills and mine for fun stuff (tbh he doesn't get a look in when in comes to planning birthdays/Christmas 
), but my 'fun stuff' budget doesn't extend quite so far. It may not be conventional or the 'MN approved' way but on the whole it works for us.
I'm pretty confident we won't be camping next year & as for future holidays hopefully we'll win the lottery we'll see what happens, but I doubt I'll be doing 7 nights under canvas again!
Thanks for that link Work - I had a cursory Google last night and discovered Flamingo Land & a huge falconry centre which we'd all enjoy. There's even a place that does indoor surfing . I will have a look at your link later on the laptop.
The cottage I've seen is in Mytholmroyd near Hebden Bridge, so anywhere within 90 minutes drive is an option for a day out, and I know quite a few things I've looked at are accessible by train which would give DH a break from driving if he wanted one.
MrsH that article is hilarious - can particularly relate to the pitching injuries (matching blood blisters on my hands from clipping the canvas to the poles); no ambient temperature for a week & constantly feeling clammy even when you're freezing and the smug sods in their caravan down the road with a portable aerial and telly ffs!
PS Work my house is not and never likely to be in swappable condition either !
Don’t want to miss threads like this?
Weekly
Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!
Log in to update your newsletter preferences.
You've subscribed!
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.