AIBU to think camping is f*cking shit, it’s not cheap and it’s not fun

[Pumkinfailure]

I’m currently a week into a 3 week camping tour of Europe and I’m ready to jack it in. I surely can’t be the only one to find this whole malarkey fucking hideous. Sleeping on a sloping bed in a tent hotter than the devils furnace, kids screaming day and night, neighbours who hate our wellbehaved Placid lab and have instructed us to keep him near to us at all times, never feeling clean, marriage hanging by a thread, no personal space or time alone. Not even wine is helping. And 50 bloody euros a night for the privilege!!
Please tell me I’m not alone on my detest for this form of holiday and share your tips to help me survive the rest of the holiday!

I looked up the nearest cinema and would have taken DS to a late evening cinema screening of a Marvel movie if I could have found one.

Ah, fond memories of being camping in the New Forest and it pissed it down, and pissed it down. We went on with our day, solidly trying to enjoy the NT property, Poole... ended up soaked to the skin despite our waterproofs.

Went to the cinema at Poole and chose the tickets based on the longest run time... Nearly dry by the end.

I now only pay to stay in places nicer than my own home

This is a good rule. I like it!

Fermats exactly that! I really don't get this "let's-take-all-our-stuff-from-home-and-put-it-in-a-tent-in-a-field-elsewhere" camping.

Camping is not filling a car full of cr-p. It is for reaching remote destinations where camping is the only option. For every other scenario, there's hotel/B&B/Airbnb. Well, unless it's about money (but getting all that stuff is expensive!).

Is there a gang of homicidal geese guarding the campsite? No? It could be worse...

Your DH is an irredeemable masochist if he loves camping. LTB!

You've been too polite about camping; there's no such thing as a camping holiday. I've hated camping with a passion ever since the little me got too close to foraging pine processional caterpillars one year in France. Never again, ever, no way. Bastard camping. Did I say I don't like camping? I hate even the idea of fucking camping.

Camping sucks. Friends of ours have spent fucktonnes of cash on a massive tent, cooker, inflatable setees, bunting and fairy lights for the “woo”, and a bloody van to cart it all about in.

You still have to use a spider infested communal shower. You still wake up at dawn and now you get addressed by parent forgiving 6 year old Pollyannas.

The word you are looking for is Expedia.

I love camping - before DD came along we did a lot of cycle touring, just two bikes, a two-man tent, and a smallish amount of kit.

I realise being pro-camping (and not the all-mod-cons type at that) puts me in the minority here, but there's one thing I've learned from this. You have to get time away from the campsite every day. If you stay on site, your neighbours will drive you mad, you'll get fleeced by the campsite shop/bar, and you'll feel like you have no time to yourself. Make a plan to leave the site every day - do some sightseeing, go shopping, go and sit in a bar/cafe for a couple of hours and people watch. Importantly, you do not need to do this all together. Your partner can take the kids somewhere while you go somewhere else, then you switch when it's his turn for some down time.

Second important rule - you have to give yourself permission to shout bugger it and book into a hotel. Obviously you might not want to exercise that option immediately, but it's always worth keeping in mind in case things get too bad. There are no prizes for fortitude.

Christmas Camping thread in the Christmas topic now, for any like minded people....

#IgnoreTheHaters

Get on Air B and B and sack off camping.

I looked into glamping and it was just as expensive, if not more, than AirB&Bs in the area despite your having to use the communal showers and toilets. I don't understand the appeal of that at all.

I was on holiday in the Isle of Wight. Got chatting to a very nice woman. Her dh and kids loved camping. She loathed it. That year she had booked a pitch and at the same time booked herself a single room at the nearest nice b and b. As she put it"they are singing ging gang goolie and I am tucked up in bed with a vodka and a Jilly Cooper".
Smart woman. Bet she became a mumsnetter.

Spider infested communal showers? Never been camping in my life but am I missing something? Why would anyone want to leave home for that?

Apply for a credit card and go all inclusive

Just find a cheapo b@b some where and save your self and your sanity.

I have found my people!

I can see how much my boys love camping, but it is basically a schlep from start to finish. How can I come home from a long weekend camping with 5 loads of washing? HOW?? Do we even own 40kgs of clothes?

Someone once told me the camping effort:reward balance does eventually start to tip favourably as your kids get older. Still waiting...

LeftRightCentre it's like you read my mind. Why pay ££££ for glamping? It's fancy but still a tent with shared toilet and shower block.

YANBU. There is absolutely NOTHING fun about it. It might be cheap but cheap isn't always worth having.

If it was a choice between camping or not having a holiday and staying at home, I'd stay at home.

There was a glamping site on Four in a bed and it was £120 per night!!!! A bed in a teepee. Shared toilet and shower block. Didn't include breakfast which you had to buy and cook yourself. Outdoors. Grim.

Three weeks!!! Three weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You must be insane, or you will be by the end of it.

I used to shower at break neck speed, all the while chanting “don’t look up, don’t look up” to try and not see those cobwebs that you knew housed generations of spiders.

And even if you can get clean in the dribble of water dispensed from the lime ecrusted fixed shower head, and your feet sloshed from the suds coming under your door from elsewhere, by the time you’ve flip-flopped back to your pitch your feet are covered in grass and grit again.

TSSDNCOP God. The 6 year old Pollyanna.
Give me strength.

The words “camping” and “holiday” have no place in the same sentence. I absolutely hate it and have not slept in s tenr for years. DH and the DCs like it and we’ve all agreed that I just spoil it for everyone by complaining about EVERYTHING so I don’t accompany them .

I always thought the point of growing up, was NEVER having to camp again.

And no, camping 'off-site' isn't better. We did this as kids and it was absolute hell. We actually camped in a stream once. On someone's sloping front lawn. We only found out after half an hour of rain. The only good memory I have of camping was when a sheep pushed it's way into our tent. Very exciting.

And sounds like a great recipe for verrucas! 3 weeks? Aaaargh. Poor woman.

@TSSDNCOP you had showers? What luxury!

I'm currently week 2 of a 3 week camping holiday in Europe, I love camping though! I can totally see why it isn't for everyone, it isn't really so much a holiday with 2 very small children either, it's bloody hard work! We enjoy the outdoors and I am quite happy to rough it a little. I get claustrophobic staying in a hotel on holiday.

Camping is definitely not as cheap as it is billed to be, our camping gear cost us the best part of 2 grand plus and we have a HUGE car just for going camping to fit all our camping crap in.

Maybe you just need some alone time (and to book yourself into the nearest hotel 😆)? Failing that you need more wine, lots more wine. Our fridge has been struggling with the heatwave in Europe, I had barely chilled wine, now that was a struggle!! I hope you can chill your wine 😆?