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!

Well exactly Serb on a self catering holiday dh and the kids do all the cooking I am bloody sick of it and for them it's a nice bonding experience while I gain valuable wine and reading time

Not that we would ever camp - eurocamp every summer from 11-18 plus guides I feel I have fulfilled my camping quota for one lifetime

Yep, it's crap.

Currently on week two in Cornwall. Desperate for a break. This is not a holiday, it's harder work than being at home.

Cannot wait to be back in my bed at home.

As the wife and mom, I would still be cooking, cleaning, picking up after everyone.

That's nothing to do with camping though - that's to do with not sharing tasks. Dh does all the cooking when we camp. The dc and I share the washing up. Everyone picks up after themselves.

Mymom what would you be cleaning in a tent?

Camping doesn't have to involve cooking - cereal for breakfast, soup and a sandwich for dinner, lunch in a café. All family members over about 3 take turns to wash up, all over about 8 can prepare meals. Everyone does their share of minimal tidying.

Still we only camp for a night or two, with fairly basic equipment.

DH took our younger kids to a campsite which did breakfast or breakfast and dinner recently while I took our eldest to Paris apparently breakfast was excellent.

I went camping as a student which was a laugh. However as a grown up with DC I hate it. Camping abroad put me off completely. Can’t sleep, too hot, kids won’t sleep or wake up early, dusty, can’t escape anywhere, waiting in the queue too clean your dishes, yours clothes. Resorted to wine which made the sleep worse. My OH decided we all needed to experience a British camping holiday last year. He got excited and booked us in somewhere in Devon for two weeks. I couldn’t sleep, my DD new to being a teenager had started her period and refused to leave the tent unless we were going out. Her DB was bored and had no one to play with and the youngest loved just running around. Poured down, ate out most nights. Ended up taking to wine. Had crap sleep, finished the holiday early and I returned to work with the worst cold sore I had ever had which was infected and vertigo. Never never again! This year I have just returned from two weeks in a villa in France ..... joyous

All family members over about 3 take turns to wash up

It’s he camping rules isn’t it? Children do the washing up on camping holidays.

That was always the rule when I was a kid which I have carried on the tradition. No idea how it works but chikdren always seem happy to do the fun washing up on campsites!

You do need a certain mindset for a family camping holiday to work well. Upbeat, practical, happy to muck in, happy to forgo comfort and luxury on holiday, outdoorsy and tolerant of other people. Sadly apart from dh being practical our family fails on all counts.

I just got back from 4 days camping with my three and one year olds. I am a single parent too.

Such a simpler way of life! Love it :D

Definitely looking forward to my bed tonight though

3 weeks is a long time! I am warming to camping. You need the right site basically. I prefer a good campsite to a bad hotel. But simply it's the only way we can afford to holiday. The sites we've been to are more €30 a night which for 4 of us is cheap

YANBU. Never understood why any human would want to go camping. No offense but I don't do basic.

No offense but I don't do basic

Thank you, you’ve made me laugh. All the way out to my very own 60 foot swimming pool in my back garden.

No offense. But I don’t do basic either.

I’ve spent one night under canvas if you don’t count back garden camping as a child. That was awful - lying listening to my brother snoring his head off in the next tent. Never again.

Some friends of ours have a lovely caravan and I was really impressed with it - but I think the novelty would wear off after a couple of days.

B and Bs - no no no no. Having to eat restaurant/pub food every night. And no lie ins.

For us it’s a cottage with at least two bedrooms and a bath. If the weather is crap you can at least stay indoors in comfort and privacy.

No offense. But I don’t do basic either.

If you're sleeping in a tent (whether you are next to your fabulous pool or not) is basic. HTH.

Camping is prob more fun when you’re young and can get off the floor without a groan. I think it takes a certain kind of person to love camping. You have to be practical, love the outdoors, not mind bugs. Be tenacious And adapt when things go wrong! Air bed deflates in night with apunctiure? Meh- sleep in car buy new air bed next day, pole snaps get out the gaffa tape. Tent leaks in middle of the night- sleep in car. Camping is communal be prepared to talk with and help out everyone. Camping is not for private people. I’ve done lots of different types of holiday from back packing round the world luxury overwater bungalow in Maldives, city breaks, Caribbean AI, med AI, static caravans, lodges,cottages, posh hotels, travel lodges now touring caravans. Each has their own different upsides and downsides. Go to a nice campsite and you tend to get much nicer people than a posh hotel. No tv in bathroom though. I would say if you’re a private person, are snobby in anyway, not adaptable and can’t just go with the flow, you’re prob best off at Thomas cook. Seen lots of all the gear no idea folks pulling up in top end suvs this year with their untested brand new air tents, by day 2 it’s been clear camping is not for them. Reckon there will be some bargains to be had on eBay this winter for anyone looking to start canping😂

Laying in my tent. If course its basic bit im happy with that. Ive got a decent self inflating matress (magic!) And i sleep better camping than i do at home.

All sorts of people camp. Working class to hipsters to fisherman (site has a lake). Its a peaceful site (thank god!)

Later we will walk our dogs and them sit and do feck all outside our tent.

I love it - couldnt think of anything worse than a hotel but i can see the attraction for others. Have done cottages - quite like that too but its out of our budget.

Horses for courses

Lying in my tent listening to the kids giggle, playing snap. I've hardly seen my 8 year old, he's made friends and been off playing most of the time.

I love it. Sadly we're going home today because dh hates camping. I've decided from now on I'll go with just the kids. He ruins it with his misery. No idea what his problem is!

Showed my partner this thread as we camp. He just said ‘she’s obviously doing it wrong’ 😂😂😂

@Karigan198

Im with your DH.

If you don't like camping, it's because you are doing it wrong.

All sorts of people camp. Working class to hipsters to fisherman (site has a lake). Its a peaceful site (thank god!)

I find fishing lakes are some of the best places to camp - usually super quiet and very picturesque.

My first 'big' tent was a 5 man dome tent and was £50 in 2005 and I loved it and loved it and loved it to death. When it finally perished in 2016 I cried. Partly I cried because I was at a festival and it had been raining non stop for 3 days and my tent was no longer a dry safe haven.. but mainly it was because I loved the tent so much.

They don't make 'em like that tent any more.

We did have to upgrade to a bigger 'big' tent in the meantime with two bedrooms, what with taking children camping, but that tent was still may favorite and I could put it up single handed in

Which is why I'm sitting on the balcony of a Spanish villa!

That one last camping trip to Dartmoor where it rained every single day, 7 years ago, did it for us! 😊

My house is not shitter than my campervan (though generally it's a lot tidier). But my house, though in a great location for day to day life and with a very big garden for a city, is not in the middle of the woods, it's not right on the beach, it's not in a beautiful scenic glen. My house isn't plonked in the centre of acres of safe, almost traffic free, greenspace for cycling and football, it doesn't have a playground filled with other kids, it doesn't have tennis courts, mini-golf courses or forest trails to explore. My friends don't live nextdoor. At home I can't send DS out to play with his friends for hours and then sit on a recliner drinking wine with my friends while we watch the kids from a distance.

Tbf, I do very comfy camping with my camper. I fill the fridge with fancy ready meals/meals I pre-made myself. I have a fully functional kitchen with a hob and oven and I use an air press for delicious coffee. DS, who isn't a natural early riser anyway, sleeps very, very late in the camper. So I normally spend an hour in bed reading while brewing/heating/then enjoying a huge mug of good coffee and a delicious quiche/banana bread and berries. (I usually even get to have a private poo in my little bathroom before he wakes.) Then DS gets up and chills for a bit while eating breakfast while I get dressed and do the tiny amounts of necessary housework, like cleaning my mug, putting bedding the cupboard. After breakfast DS and his friends heads off to play and I sit outside on my lounger drinking tea and reading or chatting with my friends. I do very minimal work of any kind, though obviously I might take a walk/cycle in the woods, go for a swim in the sea or attend the local festival we've come to enjoy. Tbh, for a holiday with children, I find it the most relaxing sort as unless there are specifically timed festival events we want to get to, we don't have to get anywhere at any point. We just chill and go with the flow. It's usually possible to extend for an extra night or two if the mood takes us. And for at the very least half of the time DS is off having his own adventures leaving me with almost nothing to do, other than relax.

One camping trip the heavens opened about an hour into a six hour drive (it was for a specific event). When we arrived, STBXH having insisted we carry on, the organisers said they weren't allowing vehicles in due to the state of the ground. But if we wanted we could unload and they would help us walk our stuff over to a vacant spot. We looked out and it was a swamp and still raining horror film style. Everything would have been soaked getting it set up. At that point I insisted we go into town and find a B and B. STBXH moaned as he thought he was Bear Grylls or something and didn't want to wimp out. But I won the day and we got one of the few remaining rooms in the area, others having had the same idea. We went back to the campsite the next day to see how those who'd stayed got on. The ground was so wet that most of the tents had collapsed. The river nearby had burst its banks and everywhere had flooded, ruining people's things and no one had slept. Grim beyond belief. I have had some nice camping trips too but you need good weather. It sucks getting wet and then cold.