to be feeling just a little bit sorry for ourselves re holiday disappointment?

[timetogohomenow]

Currently being battered by the wind in a tent in Cornwall at 3:30am so I accept that I may be being a bit unreasonable here but...

AIBU to be so disappointed in how our holiday is turning out? After months of sweating away at work in the heat, we come away on our first camping trip as a family and apart from one day, the weather has been utterly rubbish for the last 8 days.

Camping is not the fun holiday I remember it being... trudging through the mud to go to the toilet in a portacabin, air beds that keep deflating, showers that are not much more than dripping taps, neighbours who talk loudly into the night... not as fun as I remember it being pre-children.

DD's behaviour has been a nightmare in comparison to at home and I feel like all we've done is have a go at her. I suppose she's only 4 and excited but things like running off or not listening in potentially dangerous situations can't be tolerated. That's not been any fun.

Cornwall... a beautiful county but my god the crowds. I knew it would be busy with it being August (we had no choice to come any earlier or later) but literally everywhere we've tried to visit has been a complete ball ache to try to get parked. Some places we've just had to drive through as there was no chance of stopping. Where we're staying there's no public transport we could easily use. The traffic is terrible! The supermarkets where we are are like scenes from an apocalypse film. How the locals cope living down here I do not know.

I know I'm just being a miserable so and so and I realise how lucky we are to be in a situation where we can (just about!) afford a family holiday but AIBU to be so disappointed? We've got 4 nights left and I just feel like packing up and going home! Please tell me in years to come I'll look back on this holiday with fond memories and not lament about the time we spent probably as much as we would have going abroad to stay in a wet, miserable, busy place in a tent!

YANBU

You wouldn't get me camping in a million years!

I would pack up and go home. Get warm and dry and do nice things as a family at home.

Another vote for camping being bizarre. A holiday or weekend away should be a break from routine - camping included loading and unloading the car is total drudgery

I have been to Cornwall several times and the weather has always been shit.

Also isn't camping expensive. For the same money you could fly to Spain and have a week in a small Airbnb place near the beach and have a proper holiday

Camping is only a holiday if your home is shitter than a tent.

We used to do Cornwall in August as children, my mother forced us all to get up at the arse crack of dawn and be on the road for our days out at 8am. I never really understood it myself but maybe this is why she did it!

If you are going to stick it out, I’d try that. Pick somewhere to go, get up early and attempt to beat the traffic. Eat a picnic breakfast in the car before the place opens.

We went in June this year in school hols for the first time, I was braced for it being busy compared to when we have been previously during term time, and I was shocked at how quiet it was. I think this long hot summer has made people book last minute camping trips and that’s why it’s heaving down there at the moment.

My other tip would be to spend some money in a laundrette tumble drying your stuff. We had a bad weather year a couple of years ago and it was money well spent to make sure we all had properly dry PJs and towels. Even if your tent is weather proof I find all your stuff feels damp when the weather is bad.

YABU.
Moaning about the wearer is pointless. It's totally beyond your control.
Keep calm and carry on.

Read 'The tent, the bucket and me' and you'll never camp again .

Yanbu and you can go home when you like and still use the words ' that time we went camping.'Get some photos taken before you go and you've a box ticked! And totally understand 4yo-they pick the worst times to act up, don't they?!

Not going camping till kids are 6-8 (depending on maturity). I just cannot imagine it being fun before then. Even then might start with “glamping” and work up to the real thing.

We went to St Ives in March OP and struggled parking even then. Both DH and I said never in summer!

Camping is torture. We did 3 trips and sold the tent. I'd pack up today, pitch the tent in the back garden and let your DD play in it for a few days. Everyone happy

Fuck camping anyway, but as someone else with a lively 4yo DOUBLE fuck camping. Come home. Dry and thaw out. Have a hot bath and some gin. Go to Butlins or something next time.

We do (did) camp
We spent the last week of August in Cornwall for the past 2yrs. I love the Atlantic Ocean
Both times we stayed in a holiday cabin. There is no way I would camp there in a tent....maybe when I was young and carefree I would have jumped at it. I agree on the parking problem, it's the reason we didn't go this year and very much doubt we'll go again, also besides the fabulous beaches everything else is pretty much the same, tacky souvenir shops or food - that's it!!

In your shoes I'd have driven home late last night and woke up this morning in a warm comfy bed.

We did tenting twice, both times it pissed it down, so bought a used caravan - the costs quadrupled - and then some!! We sold last year after 7yrs. Yes, plenty of great memories, but when I tally the true cost up of camping and caravanning it's cheaper to just go abroad - which is what we now do.

Good for you for sticking it out so long.

@NoArmaniNoPunani .... a Daily Mash fan!?
Came on to say exactly that.
My DH has taken our 2 camping this week in the Lake District. I am in a 5* hotel in Palma with a friend.
That's how I deal with camping holidays

We've loved camping including in the rain but when the DC were a bit older, 6+. I think your DD is a bit young to get the most out of it.

Holidaying in the rain is miserable. Camping in the rain is even worse.

If the weather is good in the UK, nowhere is better. If the weather is rubbish, holidaying in the UK is truely miserable.

4 year olds are hard work.

Cut yourself a bit of slack.

Burn the tent.
I’d rather go to prison for a couple of weeks.

I would be miserable too
Massive hugs but I think I also would go home

So sorry your holiday has turned out shit . When I was little we did 2 years camping in Cornwall to try and save money as my dad had been made redundant, we normally went to Europe every year camping. The 2 years we did it we ended up being cold and miserable and the money we saved on the ferry was eaten away paying to park at the beach and generally trying to find things to do to keep us entertained.

I've just come back from my summer holiday with my family, camping in the south of France. Don't want to sound shitty but it was too hot, 40 degrees. Apart from the travel costs we spent very little, free parking at the beach so there is nothing to eat your money like you would if you were trying to find something to do in bad weather. Jump on the ferry next year you'll love it! Camping is fantastic in nice weather, horrendous in bad weather.

Have you never heard of sod's law OP? Nothing is guaranteed to produce shit weather more than camping on a bank holiday in the UK. It's a massive surprise if that's not what you get.

And as for crowds in Cornwall in August, what did you expect?

Sorry to sound unsympathetic, but theres a reason why so many people go abroad and go out of season if they can.

Poor you. YANBU. Same thing happened to us a few weeks ago. Turned up in Cornwall in the sunshine, woke up to two days of rain.we were only there for nights so I was gutted. I hope the sun shines for you today.

As a local, I do feel for most of the tourists stuck in non-holiday weather right now. Most, not all, because like most nights in summer I was woken every couple of hours by drunken yelling, booming music, and loud shouty conversation which turned out to be slightly tipsy middle aged people! I'm sure they'd have words about people yelling outside their bedroom windows at home but on holiday anything goes. Last week I looked out at some car horn beeping to see someone playing football in the road with a toddler and probably about 8 year old. In a regular road with actual traffic but holiday, anything goes!

Looking forward to everyone buggering off again

3 nights.

Um the locals live there perfectly fine the other 11 months of the year when the county isn't swamped with visitors! We lived in Cornwall for 5 years, absolutely beautiful in May, June and September. Didn't bother trying to go anywhere on a Saturday in August. We have a similar problem now living close to a busy stretch of the M5.

Camping is shit for anything more than a night or two imo. Had a grim experience in Wales last year - wet, windy, cold, couldn't dry anything, 2 under 5s to keep preoccupied. Better off packing up and going home before the traffic.

maybe that lsort of holiday doesn't work in this country, with a kid so young.

^^ This.

Next year - cheap last min deal with Butlin’s or other holiday park with entertainment there if it's wet or rent an apartment - even a caravan would be better than a tent. We've holiday this time of year in UK - and this is what we have done.

You do get shit days of weather. We went a lot earlier this year and had a day or torrential rain - we weren't bothered as we were in the warm with TV and films and stuff the kids could do.

I live in Cornwall and stay away from any "touristy" places during silly season. Even getting to work is a ball ache because of all the holiday makers.
Saying that like a PP poster said there's still lots of things left to do when the weather is rubbish. Can you book into a caravan for the rest of your stay to make it a bit more bearable?