To think camping is absolutely bollocks

[FuckYrBellTent]

It's crap isn't it?

Everyone else has fancy tents you can stand up in, we have a squished up, leaky four man. There's a puddle in the middle of it. It's rained non stop. My head is aching. I had an argument with DH over putting up the tent. Everyone has a sore back. Nobody can dry out. The kids (7 and 10) tag teamed us by needing the loo all night and wanting one of us to come with them. We are meant to be here for one more night. Aibu to go home early?

We used to enjoy camping, but I think our tent days have reached a natural conclusion. It's shit unless it's blistering sun. If we wanted to be stuck indoors with whining kids we could do it in the comfort of our own home, with ready access to toilets and kettles. It always ends up raining and it's really properly lashing so not even the type you can go out in anyway

We are poor and this is the only type of holiday we can afford, but I really don't think it's worth it

Agree MissWimpyDimple - it's a bit like those threads where the OP is struggling to get public transport to their minimum wage job on time and everybody tells them to learn to drive because cars and lessons are free.

I'm well aware that my new found enjoyment of camping is because it allows us to have additional weekends away - if it was my main holiday of the year I might be less enamoured - and also we have the funds to eat out rather than to try to cook.

Angels on our most recent trip, the highly organised people in the pitch beside us had their own camping bin just outside the tent. It was only filled with empty cans, so I suppose they've worked out that during the course of their trip it's worth having rather then trekking to the recycling bin each time.

Still campaigning to get a camping toiled, but DH very opposed.

Loved it as a child, but hated it as an adult. Then felt guilty that DD wasn't having all those wonderful childhood experiences/memories/blah.

So I cautiously allowed a single night,, and actually quite enjoyed it

So, top tips (OK, we're not in the UK which helps!).

• never go for more than 2 nights
• decide mid-week when you have a reliable forecast
• go either side of peak season so there's always space and it's never too crowded
• never drive more than an hour to get there (which gets us to the beach)
• good camping mat and sleeping bag/enough layers to be soft and warm
• minimal equipment, we have a hiking stove, tent, sleeping stuff and camp chairs
• eat from packets and tins with a bag of apples to avoid any guilt
• a 'kitchen set' (plates/cups/cutlery/sharp knife/chopping board) in a plastic box with a lid that can act as a table, only for camping. Keep things like fuel/matches and washing up liquid in there permanently
• most importantly, if you're not taking a corkscrew, check that the wine bottles are screw tops

But then DD is a very sociable child and always manages to find someone to make friends with, while I work my way through a book and wonder whether it's too early to open the wine...

Oh, and be strategic in choosing your place - you want to be nearish the toilets and play area, but not too near...

Our list is very much like yours Allington except for the driving distance - we've extended to around 1.5-2 hrs driving. Means we get to stay and see a lot of places we haven't bothered with before as they are too far for a day trip, but not far enough for an actual holiday.

I might go a little further if I thought the car could be relied on to get us there and back

I love camping and we have a simple but good set up-
Base seconds popup tent for living tent here
One of these tents per person with air bed and sleeping bag here
And electric hookup, with toaster and kettle.

The living tent houses our small folding table and 4 chairs.
We take the minimum of clothes and a waterproof jacket. We decide on the day if the weather is up to it and oftern cancel last minute and reaarrange for following week (we only choose campsites where you pay on the day, who will book by 'pencilling you in' depending on weather, we never book and pay as you have to go then regardless)

We have brekkie at camp and eat out for luch and tea. The rest of the time is exploring, dog walking, visiting beaches, woods etc.

DH and I have had fun camping holidays in the past, pre kids, and we have lovely memories of those days, but we haven't tried it with our DDs and it's not something I'd be able to do as I have bad hips now.

Camping in the rain is never fun. I remember going away camping, in the New Forest, with a group of college friends after our exams were over, many years ago now. It should have been a great time, but it poured with rain literally the whole time!!

I find the longer that I camp the more relaxed I get. Camping for just 2 days feels like you pack away just after everything is out. Camping for two or three weeks is heaven for me.

Oh poor op.
I've done it once, on a horrible cold damp night.
I slept in my clothes.
Hell would freeze over before I ever did that again.

Have you tried the sun holidays. I know you pay more than £9-50 but some of the haven camps ( hafn y mor) and the caravans are just lovely.

Promise you will do that next year.
Start saving your £2 coins.
They soon mount up.

We went to Cardiff in May about 14 th I think. It practically rained solid for the first four days. Imagine that if you're in a tent.
I'd rather go for less in a caravan.
At least you're comfortable and dry.

I love this thread .

We've had boys ( all young adults now), we've never camped and at times gone by I've felt a shit mum for not giving them that experience.

I read this thread and know why we didn't do it.

"No matter how plush the lobby and how extensive the buffet breakfast, 4 or 5 people living in one room for two weeks certainly isn't something that says "holiday" to me..."

drinkingtea you do know you're actually allowed to leave the hotel room on holiday, don't you?

We only ever tend to sleep in our hotel room. We don't holiday in it.

Same with our tent.
It's a dry, comfy place to sleep.

We've camped once in this country. Nice site but yes the damp is grim.

If OP you were a Scout Leader what on earth made you decide to buy a Halfords tent?

We only do comfy camping ... polycotton all the way here, solid in the winds (no flapping), waterproof, a ZIG and dark pods for sleep utterly bliss. 6 man tent for me, DH and the dog.

I've bought DD her own polycotton tent for our next trip away, there are good ones out there second hand if you look long enough.

Love camping in France, DH drives, I do the tents (I take three).

Best idea was DH's who decided the teens could have their own pitch with EHU next to ours declaring "with camping space is the biggest luxury".

We're off in a couple of weeks, so looking forward to having a glass of wine and taking in the view from my riverside pitch. I'm totally glossing over the fact it takes me over a week to pull all our gear/clothes together and that it takes 2 days of driving to get there

My lot think I'm having a tenting midlife crisis, I blame it all on my original Wendy house back in the day.

We loathe camping.

When we're in need of a cheap holiday we plan a route round the UK and book Premier Inns or similar around it. There's nothing holidayish about trying to cook over a Primus or emptying your camping loo.

Haha MacQueen - the same goes for camping!

I agree about hotels. There's nowhere to chill out that's not a public space. I admit that's true of camping too, but at least you're not paying loads for communal living! But if I'm not camping I'd far far far rather hire a cottage/villa - with my own living room, garden etc.

I have been camping once and once was enough.
Nrtht but I wonder if a lot of people blot out the experience with alcohol.

I just found it grim and boring. Whole evenings dedicated to sitting outside your tent drinking. The amount people drank would have paid for a proper holiday. One where you have an ensuite bathroom and breakfast prepared for you.

Prefer to wild camp. No other people around and I can do what I want.

Lots of people probably drink just as much on 'proper' holidays too - on top of flights and expensive hotels.

Anyway, drinking shedloads isn't compulsory when camping, just like it isn't compulsory elsewhere. Lots of people enjoy camping and have no need to blot out the experience!

Virtually every page of this thread has one or two posters who say take wine have a beer presumably to make the experience more enjoyable.

Also a lot of people are going camping who "cant afford" to stay in a place on holiday that has a roof and toilets that you don't have to go outside to use but can afford to drink.

Maybe I am just tight. The amount people spend on smoking and alcohol I could take my family for 2 weeks in the caribbean AI in a 5* resort.

Having said that I haven't been on a proper holiday for 3 years. (Completely separate reasons).

Yanbu when you are not enjoying it. Cut your losses and go home. But...

I absolutely love camping and removing us from the regular daily grind. Our tent was a bargain buy and is huuuuge (12 man tent for 6 people) which makes it better on poor weather days. It also goes up really easily, dh has done it virtually on his own before. So for you a new tent is an absolute must. Especially if yours is leaking, it makes for an utterly miserable time. I suggest you look second hand at the end of season if funds are tight. There are very often bargains to be had as people have tried it and decided its not for them.

Nocturnal toilet trips are taken care of with a chemical toilet. If that's not for you, maybe something like the portable urine bottles - she-wee or similar might get you through the night. Although it doesn't help with poo trips.

You don't need fancy storage systems. Those are for the people who don't like camping, I'm convinced of that, or are staying in one place for a long time. We use plastic storage boxes for everything. Folding chairs and a small table, although have been known to use stacked boxes. We freeze ice blocks at the camp reception and use to keep a small bottle of milk cool and sausages/bacon for morning breakfast, unless we can buy them cheaply close by.

Also, I am convinced that sometimes less is more. A week away is a long time. A long weekend or short week, a couple of times in different places, is much more fun.

Camping with kids though can need military planning, we have nt membership now so look to go places near nt sites. It means if the weather is poor, we have somewhere dry we can spend a good amount of time for our monthly dd.

"The amount people spend on smoking and alcohol I could take my family for 2 weeks in the caribbean AI in a 5* resort."

Don't be silly.

"The amount people spend on smoking and alcohol I could take my family for 2 weeks in the caribbean AI in a 5 resort."*

We spend about £260 pa on alcohol and don't smoke. If you can show me where I can get two weeks in the Caribbean for £260, we'll go teetotal and go there instead.