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're not alone.

We went camping over the bank hol weekend in a rural area. We went out for a walk on Sunday. A walk we thought would only take a couple of hours. We massively misjudged it, took a wrong turn, and It turned into eight hours! There was no public transport or taxi's running. Because we thought it would only take a couple of hours we took no food or drink. There were no shops or cafe's on the route anyway. We got piss wet through and battered by gales. My legs have never felt aching quite like it and my feet are covered in blisters.

THEEEEEN...

We finally got back to the tent ready to keel over, gasping for a drink and famished, only to discover DH had forgotten his job to close all the tent windows! The entire tent and all our belongings in it were soaked.

We literally just got in the car and fucked off home! We came back on Monday armed with bin liners to collect all our soaking wet stuff.

It was only my third time camping. 2 out of 3 trips have been FAR from enjoyable. 1 of them was ok, but I still wouldn't say I had the time of my life. I don't get why people love it so much.

lilypoppet Camping only looks amazing on SM because people generally take the photos on arrival in the sunshine with big smiles and clean clothes, kids playing on the zip wire over the streams - look at the lovely natural family adventure we are having...

Fast forward three days and they are ashen faced, damp all the way through, scratchy, hung over and have bad breathe and greasy hair. The rain has been incessant and they are barely on speaking terms. I am sure they won't be posting that photo any time soon.

I don't think YABU at all. I remember a similar holiday (but in Yorkshire), it was the last time we ever went camping because who wants to stay in a cold muddy field in the rain, tramping what feels 2 miles to go to the loo or have a crappy weak lukewarm shower in a grass-strewn, cold, insect-riddled bathroom? We ended up going home early with a week's worth of damp filthy washing and camping equipment to clean. I vowed no camping after that, but (at DH's insistence) we then got a caravan ('Let's just try it for a year'). I'd rather just have a week in a holiday rental or something. At least it's warm and dry!

For what it's worth, I found Pembrokeshire a better bet than Cornwall - it has lovely walks, scenery and beaches but without the hype and the crowds.

YANBU. When we go camping we just go for a weekend and not far from home so we don't have the problem with the weather as we go last minute.

This would be my idea of absolute hell.....shivers I think in future, if it's maybe budgetary constraints that motivated you to opt for camping, you should maybe choose to go for 4-5 days and stay somewhere nice where you'll feel a little more pampered. Hugs to you!

I had gone camping as a child. It was fucking horrible. So as an adult, I have never camped and never will camp. If camping is the only choice, I choose no holiday.

The cost of camping stuff is quite high anyway. You could stay in a premier inn in Wales and it would be loads better.

Ha!! I live in Newquay and it HAS been shit down here. I feel so so sorry for you xx

I know a family who went camping during the very hot spell and their problem was that it was too hot to sleep. Also they had to seek out places where they could be out of the sun. You can't win!

I like camping but not really in the UK. South of France - almost guaranteed good weather, good hot free showers and lots of them, lots of toilets. Here the showers you often have to pay for and there are often too few of them and toilets so end up having to wait outside desperate to wee.

Me and DH had had a wonderful holiday in Cornwall in a caravan not long after we married (about 39 years ago). About 9 years ago we went back to the same place but that time we camped.

We went for a week. It absolutely poured practically non stop every day for 5 days plus it was cold (July). We came home.

We have not been back to Cornwall and, to be honest, I doubt we will. Maybe silly but it has put us off

Camping in wet weather with a 4 year old is hard. Used to camp with young children and had to have games, etc on hand to keep amused. Even turned the tent into a little disco one night with music for a bit of exercise. Cornwall, yes, like a bun fight for everything you want to do or go. Have avoided the place for about 20 years. Would not consider with kids. You are having to deal with the weather and the mobs, not the best combination for a camping holiday. Call it a day, go home and enjoy a day here and there when weather is good. If not, reschedule for a break elsewhere.

Camping is just shit. YABU to even think it would be fun even if good weather. Hope it improves obviously

YANBU. I have never been camping and never intend to and threads like this one remind me why! I nearly wavered once but stuck to my principles.

My friend spent a week in Yorkshire last year, camping in wind and gales, so booked a week in Greece this year. I think the weather was hotter here than in was there at the time . you can't win.

I love Cornwall, but realised that I loved it much better when we used to visit in March and September, before DC, as you don't get the crowds then.

I love camping with my kids but if the weather is rubbish them give in and go home. Camping in the rain is just miserable.
Couple of notes for future camping trips, buy thick self inflating mattresses that won't go down in the night, they're expensive but worth it and find some other friends (with kids) to go with. The kids have more fun and behave better and there are other adults to watch them. Also, try and go when it's sunny or at least dry, it changes everything. Don't give up on camping but give up on this trip. YANBU. x

YADNBU I loath camping.

Oh, OP. You have made me feel grateful that I haven't been able to afford a holiday at all for the past 5 years. And you have reminded me of the last shitty family holiday we had (also camping in the rain - we came home two days early, all hating one another's guts...)

All I can say by way of vague consolation is that you will enjoy being in your own bed, with a loo where you don't have to paddle through mud.

We had so many holidays like this over the years . The kids had a ball and I came back stressed and knackered and then spent a week washing all the clothes and we were in a touring caravan.
Put my foot down a few years ago and said no more
I have just had a remarkably chilled week and a half in a cabin in Spain with air con and everything
I feel like I’ve earned it
OP YANBU

We come twice to Cornwall every year, first time in June when kids at school, it's so lovely. Secondly a free holiday with mother in law in August (she's a TA) I HATE IT! Its ridiculous, the traffic, people everywhere, getting there and back due to the traffic is like an 8 hour drive. I can't cope. The only reason we go is because it's a free holiday but I happily would not go because it's is purely awful. It's not a relaxing holiday at all. I've told my dp that next year we are not going to Cornwall, we are going abroad instead because I am sick of it. I also do not know how the locals cope it is absolutely ridiculous, you spend the majority of your holiday stuck in traffic. Oh yeah and of course there's always the great British weather to put a downer on things. Such a shame because Cornwall is beautiful.

August bank holiday, it’s always shit weather

To be fair, loads of campsites have really good hot showers included in the pitch few. Just have to read reviews and facilities before you book!

I used to love camping: have a ginormous tent, all the gear, am on the FB camping groups... I took the DC a few weeks ago and would have packed up and gone home after the first night of friends weren’t joining us the next day. I just want a decent shower, hot water for washing up, a soft bed and to be able to send the DC to jump on the trampoline if I’m dying of hay fever. I don’t know what happened but I would think of it as an ‘experience’ rather than a holiday!

Sorry...but regional plug here. Go to the Isle of Wight next time...here's why:-

• beaches and attractions far less crowded
• lots of wet weather attractions for kids - horse riding, fossil hunting, theme parks etc.
• lots of well priced cottages - don't be shivering in a tent
• wonderful and downplayed local fish and food, esp on east wight.
• short ferry is exciting and makes holiday feel special.

Sorry to hear your much deserved breaks not going well....get a nice bottle of wine in and a warm pub dinner!

It sounds utterly crap. I’ve felt similar on several holidays recently and don’t have any answers. In your position I’d probably give it up as a bad job now and salvage some more pleasant experiences back home. Put the tent up in the living room or garden and have a bit of camping fun minus the crowds, rain and within easy reach of your own loo and shower.

Tbh I’m not sure why people like holidays so much. Mine only seem to serve to remind me why I love my own home so much!!

Chin up, pack up, get yourselves home and don’t ever go on holiday again. Xx

YANBU! Cornwall is beautiful but IMO its charm is of the nature/isolation variety.

If you can't get outdoors because it's raining, you can't dry off because you're in a tent, you can't get anywhere because of traffic/crap roads, and when you do get there it's rammed, it sounds like hell.

We went camping in Cornwall for years, mainly out of the romantic idea rather than the reality. Then two years running it was cold and rainy all week, topped off by two hurricanes that made us have to come home early.

We've gone abroad since then, not camping. Funnily enough this year I was starting to regret it, wishing we had gone back in the decent weather. Until I read the news about overcrowding.

I think to get rain after the heatwave would have finished me off too! Come home early - you will have the best few days ever back home, appreciating every home comfort 100 fold!

YANBU to be disappointed, my family have been quite hardened campers for years but even we have had holidays that have frankly been a bit crap, like when we all nearly froze to death in a tent in Derbyshire in August one year, my parents bought new sleeping bags after that. It is exceptionally disappointing when any holiday doesn't live IP to your expectations or memories of a place you've been to. This year because the weather was lovely for so long, it makes it even worse knowing other people have had good weather and you didn't, especially when you have worked hard to save up and have been looking forward to it for ages.
If it's any consolation our holiday was a bit disappointing as we spent several days trying to prevent world war 3 erupting between my husband's family, not what we had planned.
You just have to put it down to experience. When booking campsites it's always worth paying a bit extra for one with wet weather options and taking stuff to do in the tent. Olympic year we were going to camp but the weather had been so bad before our time off that we never booked and did day trips instead. Camping isn't always the cheap option it appears to be. Try airBNB or a site in N. France/ Holland/ N. Germany. At least it then feels like a holiday.
One day you will look back and see the humour in it.

Urghhh, just got back from wales where it's was very wet and windy, such hard work putting up large tent in the wind, swollen wrist, sore hands, chapped lips, horrible cough, sprained muscle in back, stayed 2 nights in deflating air beds and packed up, tent was so wet and heavy we just left it by the bins! Still suffering injuries 2 days later!