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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

482 replies

Pumkinfailure · 08/08/2018 18:58

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!

OP posts:
BellBookandCandle · 08/08/2018 20:37

Just burn the tent and book a hotel for the remainder of the holiday.

Really have never ever understood why (relatively) sane people believe sleeping under a piece of material or in a metal box is a holiday. If it were up to me I'd torch the lot and ban them for ever.

(I know I hide it well, but I really hate camping and caravanning)

AlexaAmbidextra · 08/08/2018 20:39

I have no advice OP but feel very sorry for you. I have to say though - what on fucking earth possessed you to agree to camp for three weeks? 😱

LeftRightCentre · 08/08/2018 20:40

I don't understand the whole drink lots of wine to make camping bearable. It makes you need the toilet more and your sleep shit. And I can think of little worse than hungover and camping.

DiegoMadonna · 08/08/2018 20:41

Camping is fun if you're not on a campsite.

Too many other people in campsites and not enough walls between them and you. Eugh.

FlintyBadman · 08/08/2018 20:41

@ExileOnMNStreet I've been tempted to pitch my tent in the back garden the last few weeks as it's cooler the than in the house Smile

I don't understand the reasoning of spending a holiday with fewer facilities and luxuries than if you were at home

Lots of people go on holiday for the change of scenery, new experiences etc. rather than the inside of their hotel room. Some people also can't afford hotels, holiday cottages etc. in peak season.

I've just booked into a small campsite with loos, showers, cafe serving cooked breakfast and a mobile bar in the evening. £12 per night per pitch, so that would be £84 for the week in peak season (I'm only going for 3 nights though).

mmmgoats · 08/08/2018 20:42

I'm sorry OP, this sounds like my personal nightmare! Sucks that you're there for so much longer if you're not enjoying it. Is everyone else enjoying it?

Glitteryfrog · 08/08/2018 20:42

I fucking hate B&Bs too. I’m on night two of a 4 night stay and already I’m feeling like tomorrow I’ll going to be hitting my lilmit for polite breakfast chitchat with our host

Yes! Give me a cheap bland corporate hotel where every one ingores each other.

delphguelph · 08/08/2018 20:43

ExileOnMNStreet

^

I fink I wuvs you

ImAIdoot · 08/08/2018 20:43

It's fun and cheap. Always book a few nights at a hotel or a week in a holiday rental at the end if you go on a long trip, the comfy beds and hot baths are just that bit more brilliant.

DiegoMadonna · 08/08/2018 20:44

I don't understand the reasoning of spending a holiday with fewer facilities and luxuries than if you were at home

Not everyone relaxes in the same way. To me, camping somewhere isolated is relaxing. I'm not looking for luxury when I go away, just nature, peace and quiet.

lukewarmcoffee · 08/08/2018 20:44

Dh has booked us in for 2 nights glamping for the first time next weekend, so that the 2DC can have the experience of camping. After my initial reservations, I was starting to look forward to it. After reading this thread now I'm not so sure!

Selfcentredbigot · 08/08/2018 20:45

Sounds like shit. I much prefer renting a one bedroom apartment with a sofa bed in the living room. Plenty of space for the four of us, proper bathroom and kitchen, linen, telly etc all there. Pre Brexit it used to be easy to find places on the continent/Canaries for around £250 and even now you can still get somewhere nice for £350-£400 for the week. Maybe slightly more expensive than camping but you're not in a fecking tent.

frenchfancy · 08/08/2018 20:45

I love camping. There is something very relaxing about cooking with substandard facilities, doing the washing up as a family(with the only slightly dry tea towel left) and going to bed with only the sound of the crickets (until the campsite disco kicks off 5 minutes later).

50€ is about right for a 4 or 5* campsite on the coast.

The slope would bother me though. Try to repitch so you get the flat bit (and dh gets the slope!)

Hushnownobodycares · 08/08/2018 20:45

My parents used to take us to French campsites where the tent was pitched for you and fully equipped. I could tolerate it as a teen but not these days and that was the easy way to do it.

The thought of shared bathroom facilities brings me out in hives. I still have bitter memories of picking up some ghastly foot rot that the chiropodist couldn't identify and could only banish by boring a quarter of an inch into the sole of my foot with his cryotherapy machine.

We took the kids to a campsite with theme park attached a few years running. We always booked a top of the range caravan but had to walk through the tent bit to get to the rides. Never seen such a glum lot of faces in my life. And they were all pitched about four foot apart. Fucking hideous. AI hotels all the way these days.

LeftRightCentre · 08/08/2018 20:45

I can't abide B&Bs. I like to have lie-ins and B&Bs you have to be up early to make the breakfast. We have stayed in some really nice hostels, however.

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 08/08/2018 20:46

By tour do you mean you keep moving on? I finding camping relaxing once your set up but are you moving and setting up somewhere repeatedly? That sound terrible.

youokhon · 08/08/2018 20:46

Have you thought about a motor home or caravan? You get the touring experience, fresh air, getting away from it all but a memory foam mattress, toilet and more soundproofing!

MiddlingMum · 08/08/2018 20:47

I love the outdoors, but I don't ever want to sleep in it again.

MyDirtyLittleSecret · 08/08/2018 20:49

3 weeks? Do you get a badge or an award at the end of it? Job requirement? If none of those YABU to have agreed to such a travesty of a holiday. Yeah, 3 days camping and I'm done and looking to go home or find a lovely luxury hotel with proper beds and showers! My sympathies, OP.

Doyouthinktheysaurus · 08/08/2018 20:50

We did 2 weeks camping on the Norfolk Coast, it was hell on earth. Other people snoring and shitting is not something you really want to experience. Fine we all shit and lots snore but you just never have to get that close normally. Camping changes I really have never been so glad to see a holiday end.

We have given up camping now, the dses are teenagers and won’t go. We are also ditching our big car so will never be able to go again. I’m so relieved my camping career is over....

keyboardkate · 08/08/2018 20:50

Some very amusing and very true posts there!

The lack of privacy would fucking kill me. And it did. I could not fart in peace in a tent at all.

womanspeaking · 08/08/2018 20:57

Op, could you upgrade to a mobile home if there are any on site? Maybe for the last week? Then you can have your own bedroom, shower and loo??

sunsunsunsunsun · 08/08/2018 20:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

QueenOfIce · 08/08/2018 21:01

Hate camping, I remember when I was younger waking up in a piss wet tent because my brother had touched the sides. The sound of zips opening and damp flip flops flip flopping through the grass to the shower cubicle with push button showers.

Even when my parents upgraded to a caravan it was still awful. No absolutely never again!

CandidaAlbicans · 08/08/2018 21:02

I've enjoyed camping, but...
we avoided popular and "family friendly" places with entertainment, and went to those off the beaten track a bit. That way we only tended to find other walkers on site. No screaming kids. No partying.

My relationship was strong. That's vital. Not having kids to worry about was probably a help too.

We went in late spring. Not too hot, not too cold.

We only went for a few days at a time. Much as I had fun, didn't mind the toilet and shower blocks, and was happy on an air bed, 3 weeks would be too much even for me.

Our tent is up in our back garden
That's something I'd do Grin