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!

Isn't "bogan" the Australian equivalent of "chav" (insulting term for a lower working class person with bad taste in clothes who is probably expected to be rowdy, smoke, drink too much etc)? I'm surprised at the link with outdoir religious evangelism

Someone up thread loving camping then mentioning their 'pee pee bucket' hasn't brung me round to the idea at all

I’ve not actually used it. It’s what my grandchildren think will be of use to me in the night if I’m ever caught short. I don’t think Id fancy a trek to our facilities in the night no material how good they are. Too many nasty things like sand vipers to stand on. Would I use it if I had to? Yes I would, that and a nice wash with a bottle of water afterwards and bobs your uncle.

Do I like other kinds of holidays. Yes I do and I have plenty of them every year. Have wracked up a safari, a cruise, and a holiday in Europe this year already and we’ve still got about 5 months of the year left.

Yes, the pee pee bucket made me shudder, too.

Is that on par with an attack of the vapors.

No. I just would prefer to use a loo. Whatever floats your boat.

Nothing quite like looking down at belugas and walrus, skuas, kittiwakes and puffins on a calm Isfjorden when you're on bear watch at 3am in Svalbard

Or seeing whale sharks within spitting distance of the beach and being able to swim right up to them and hang out with them for ages with them swimming around you just inches away. No touching them though.

Or turtles. There you are swimming along and you see a wee friend right next to you. It dives. You dive. And down you go and meet it’s family.

Then there’s lying out in the open at night in the middle of the desert with the sky so clear you feel you can reach out and touch the stars.

Granted there are organized tours back in civilization but this is way more preferable.

No. I just would prefer to use a loo. Whatever floats your boat.

I think your shudders actually were the vapors and I hope you feel better soon.

I used to love camping but there are camp sites and there are camp sites. A few (in Northern France) which have hedges around each pitch are fantastic, but yes the noise must be intrusive during busy school holidays - we avoided these. Going to sleep with the sound of the waves crashing against the cliffs is great. Having to get out of the tent for a night time loo visit - not so good.

However, a comfy bed is essential. Without one you'll never get to sleep which will make you grouchy in the morning. Not how you want to remember your holiday. Could you visit a hairdresser or beauty salon for a facial or something like that? It'll make you feel human again.

Pictish, I (along with others here) am saying how I personally find camping. That is, utterly shit. That is my opinion and it won't change. If you love camping then fine. I expect that there are people who would find the types of holiday I like utterly shit too, and that doesn't bother me in the slightest.

I've had several years of no holidays because of being unable to afford them. We don't sit at home doing nothing. I take the dogs on decent walks. We visit family for a few days at a time and get out and about.

I go on holidays that I like (generally villas and self catering apartments) whenever I can afford them, which is starting to happen at times now that I have more work.

If camping were the last holiday on earth you still couldn't pay me to go (and I didn't, apart from one terrible trip). I am far happier at home.

This sums up my feelings about camping

What do you actually do on s camping holiday if you're staying in the same place and not travelling around? Surely there's only so many local attractions within driving distance. Then what? Just walk about and sunbathe like you would at a hotel? Genuine question, I've never been on a camping holiday.

I am an expert camper though due to spending two years in the army in my home country. That was quite enough for me thanks, hotels all the way now!

Camping lovers come over to the Christmas topic and join in the Christmas Camping thread...you know you want to!

Leave the camping haters to hate Personally I think each to their own, likes and dislikes, it makes the world more interesting. I can see the attraction of nice hotels and clean hair, in fact DH hates camping and would rather gouge his eyes out with a tent peg than set foot in a tent, and I still bring myself to live with him

@PollyFlinderz this is just a bit of a light hearted thread, don't get personal.

3 months spent under canvas here travelling Europe with toddler...it was a brilliant adventure but I am a seasoned camper!

I hate camping, fortunately we haven't been for a few years. Every now and then DH gets enthusiastic about the idea and buys some camping equipment. As long as we don't have to actually go that's fine.

@PollyFlinderz this is just a bit of a light hearted thread, don't get personal.

My apologies.

I thought it was you who didn’t realize it was lighthearted.

@PollyFlinderz just having a laugh, Polly! Some people's camping stories are hilarious, they're so bad!

What do you actually do on s camping holiday if you're staying in the same place and not travelling around? Surely there's only so many local attractions within driving distance. Then what? Just walk about and sunbathe like you would at a hotel? Genuine question, I've never been on a camping holiday

I’ll only camp where I live and being in the desert is the attraction when camping in the desert because there’s nothing else there. But there’s plenty to do especially if you’re on a crossing. It’s like something out of a Wild West movie except there’s no Red Indians and we have 4 wheel drives instead of a horse and wagon. You’d be surprised by the wildlife, the shifting sands, and the sky at night is beautiful. And a crossing wouldn’t be a crossing without at least one family of Bedou welcoming you into their camp to pass the time with them. It’s amazing how they know you’re actually there because you don’t fall over them but instead they send people out to wait for you and then they flag you down. At night round our camp fire someone will play the Oud or maybe even a Ukelele. What ever someone brings along. It might even be cards or daft games. It’s just fun and the days whizz by. Sometimes though we just camp on the edge of the desert and that’s great fun as well but in different ways during the day.

And if we go to the coast? We fish, some will kitesurf, or we play in the water, we cook, we just have fun because again there’s no place to go once we’re there. But the best bit is always night and looking up at the sky. I just can’t explain what it’s like.

@PollyFlinderz just having a laugh, Polly! Some people's camping stories are hilarious, they're so bad! grin

I know. It’s even enough to put me off 😅

@PollyFlinderz - The OP's story about the toilet! I'm a dentist with two children, so not in the least squeamish, but that was awful!! 😂

@PollyFlinderz - The OP's story about the toilet! I'm a dentist with two children, so not in the least squeamish, but that was awful!! 😂

We rig up some very nifty military type/hardy soul type contraptions with a lot of distance between them. In fact I’ve just realized we dont get bothered by other campers because they probably look like the command posts at a border crossing.

I love campsite holidays, but only while staying in a lodge or bungalow! In the past I'be been restricted to package holidays in Spain, Lanzarote, Menorca or Majorca - but since discovering campsites I've visited France, Monaco, Italy, Portugal, Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

I think I could manage till lunch time then that's it - a picnic and then back home to sofas, tvs and flushing toilets.

If God had meant us to camp he wouldn't have invented Hotel du Vins.

OP, please come back and update us. I hope you've recovered from this morning's toilet trauma!

YANBU , my camping experience ended when I left the army .