Are some people actually this oblivious?

[TinyTroubleMaker]

OK so I'm on a campsite run by a well known membership body. We've been on site a while and used other sites. People are usually pretty sedate. Here so far, it gets dark around 8-9, people are quiet and respectful of others, everything goes quiet, everyone goes to sleep. Anyone who is up is more or less silent. Might sound boring to some but it works, means everyone gets a good rest and it's pleasant.

Tonight, a group arrived I think then went out. At twenty to eleven, they've returned and 1. Driven their van with headlights shining into tents waking everyone up. I can hear my neighbours awake by this 2. Kept engine running for what seems like quite a while 3. Slammed all the doors on their vehicle repeatedly 4. Got children out and let them yell everything they have to say loudly, without quietening them because others are asleep 5. Parents (or I think 2 women with 4 or so kids) not at all keeping their voices down either in talking to the kids 6. Once inside their tent / caravan continuing to say everything at top of voices which on a campsite carries at night 7. Still outside 30 minutes on, keeping half the campsite awake. Compared to every other camper I've experienced on this trip and other trips this summer, they have really poor manners.

It should be obvious every tent around them is dark, people are sleeping, and this behaviour is therefore going to wake multiple people. Within a certain area, say 15 tents at least with average 3-4 people each. More tents beyond that probably.

So, either they know this and think they are more important than literally everyone around them (and genuinely believe it's necessary to carry on at they are without even attempting to lower voices) or they are so oblivious that they actually can't figure out how anti social they are being.

I am so grateful we've had such fantastic fellow campers for days and days now but so disappointing to have to deal with this near the end of our stay.

Not sure what the AIBU is exactly, other than - can people really be this oblivious to their effect on others?

I was camping recently at a festival. We pitched up in the "quiet camping" area and having gone for a wander discovered that a family with three children had set up to one side of us, whist a large tent with a group of twenty somethings was setting up opposite.
The site is very child friendly and usually kids roam around together but the ones in the tent near us didn't
They stayed in the tent. Shouting, screaming, crying and fighting. The parents took it in turn to shout at them to behave. Noise pretty constantly from 7am through to midnight.
Gems included, "Don't bite Marcus on the bottom, Jemima.", "Noah, we don't do THAT!" and "The tent is not a place to hula hoop thank you Marcus." Lots of noisy screens too.
The twenty somethings were back at 9pm, whispered and tiptoed and apologised to us for any noise they might have made.

I can only conclude that some people have absolutely no awareness of how noisy they are, and are too self absorbed to consider that they are affecting other people.

They're not oblivious. They're just arrogant and don't care.

I think the Caravan Club asks for quiet from 11 pm. Mind you it didn't stop a group of people keeping us awake by chatting very loudly in their awning until 1.30 am a few years ago in the Lake District. I padded across in my nightie, a fleece and wellies and asked them to be quiet please. To give them their due they actually did!
Not camping related but a few years back our next door neighbours in a hotel kept us awake by playing music loudly until 3am, despite requests from us and the night Porter for silence. When we got up next morning at 7.30 to go home we treated them to Deus in adjutorium from Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers at full bore with the phone speaker against the wall. It's a rather loud piece of music. (We were the end room in the corridor so no other neighbours to annoy).

The tent is not a place to hula hoop thank you Marcus

🤣🤣🤣

What did they say when you mentioned it to them the next morning?

@TheTallOakTrees

What did they say when you mentioned it to them the next morning?

I don’t think the OP spoke to the family herself. (Wise)

It's quiet by now, I expect there will be something said to the on site team tomorrow. Better coming from them, not wishing to have any of the yelling / swearing directed at us. Noone else around us said anything as far as I heard, everyone probably thinking the same.

Would be interesting to know how the campsite managers dealt with it though.

I love camping but don't go anymore because of people like the ones in the op.

Indeed:
"The early risers (other families with young children) cooking breakfast at 6.00am, the constant loud chattering from children and their parents in the morning, crying or noisy children waking at night can all be as annoying as late night conversations are.

Campsites have rules to keep everyone happy and you have to pick your site carefully.
Some have quiet times between 10pm and 7am, some 11pm and 8am."
These rules are broken at both ends by inconsiderate campers.

@Passthecake30

I’ve never been camping, but 8-9 sounds early to expect people to be in bed or keeping very quiet, on their holiday.

I agree. 8 - 9 is very early. There needs to be a happy medium. Holidays should be about fun and socialising as well as peace and quiet. I think it's nice on holiday when family and friends gather round the campfirei n the evening and have a few drinks and a matter and a singong.

When we were younger and went camping, it was the height of excitement to be allowed to stay up late wirh the grown ups.

Loosen up a bit!

This thread is so depressing. I was really looking forward to picking up camping with our kids but it seems rules from my childhood of camping aren’t respected anymore. Campsites used to be a bastion for quiet now you have people saying “get an airbnb” (which aren’t renowned for their quiet when you read horror stories from neighbours of them). How about you go somewhere detached with 4 walls if you want to be noisy cretins? And not on a campsite where people are living in canvas.

Fwiw the camping and caravanning club noise restrictions are pretty straight forward but it doesn’t seem like most are even reading them.

No vehicles should be moving around after 11pm and before 7am. It also states NO NOISE during these hours. Not reduced noise or “normal noise” NO NOISE! So if you’re the type to sit around with your awful tinny radio and loud attention seeking voices camping on these type of sites isn’t for you.

Major part of this is noise should be reasonable and respectful during all other times to not disrupt other campers. The noise levels some of you are saying should be allowed doesn’t seem respectful to other campers at all. Especially the noise described by OP.

@Lansonmaid

I think the Caravan Club asks for quiet from 11 pm. Mind you it didn't stop a group of people keeping us awake by chatting very loudly in their awning until 1.30 am a few years ago in the Lake District. I padded across in my nightie, a fleece and wellies and asked them to be quiet please. To give them their due they actually did! Not camping related but a few years back our next door neighbours in a hotel kept us awake by playing music loudly until 3am, despite requests from us and the night Porter for silence. When we got up next morning at 7.30 to go home we treated them to Deus in adjutorium from Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers at full bore with the phone speaker against the wall. It's a rather loud piece of music. (We were the end room in the corridor so no other neighbours to annoy).

I just loved that approach. Especially the Monteverdi Vespers, which I also love....

Why anyone would go camping when buildings exist is beyond me

A gentle sprinkling of bread crumbs on the roof to ensure they get a very early wake up call from the birds perhaps?

Haha,MintyGreenDream, exactly what I was thinking! I’ve read the whole thread and can’t for the life of me figure out which bit is supposed to be fun...

They don't care and are disrespectful. They probably believe that as it is their holiday they do as they like. No you do not.

There is so much of it around. The pandemic has just highlighted how entitled and selfish people are.

I second going to the site office when it is happening and complaining loudly!

@MintyGreenDream

Why anyone would go camping when buildings exist is beyond me

We spent Saturday night in a tent right on a river bank, with only the sounds of the water... for £6. Plus another £50ish in the nearby pub for dinner. Camping is a lit more pleasant when there's no one else near.

Was par for the course when we used to camp.

Oh yes, people can be; especially if they've had a few drinks as I suspect may be the case here. Sorry you've got such rude and noisy camping-neighbours. Maybe just try asking them to keep it down - if they are truly oblivious, they might get embarrassed and shape up - or presumably the campsite has managers; you could complain to them.

They're not oblivious; they just don't care about anyone else.

YABU to expect everyone to be asleep by 8 or 9 and no noise at all on a campsite. 20 to eleven is a little late but not TOO bad! Nobody needs to be up early, it's a holiday, it's a campsite so some noise should be expected. If you don't like noise maybe don't camp? Or don't camp on a campsite with other people, at least.

Most European and Scandinavian campsites I have stayed on have had quiet hours specified. In a lot of cases you aren't allowed to drive on or off the site after 10 or 11 at night so if you arrived later or returned from a day out you would have to park at a car park at the entrance and then walk to the pitch. It's a good rule actually as it stops car noise and headlights which wake people up easily.

I don't really think you can expect people to be quiet at 8 pm but those people that arrived do sound like inconsiderate fuckers. Sitting around having a glass of wine and chatting quietly late into the evening is ok, screaming and yelling at kids or children running around making a lot of noise is not.

Yep, I know people who would do this. The same people who walk loudly down hotel corridors at 3am after a night out. Or who let hotel doors bang as they leave early.

Or rustle plastic bags at 3 am in YH dormitories.

Why anyone would go camping when buildings exist is beyond me

Presumably because not everyone can afford hotels, cottages or far flung holidays. Or perhaps they simply enjoy different things to you. Not sure what's so hard to understand.

I’ve read the whole thread and can’t for the life of me figure out which bit is supposed to be fun

You don't have to, since you clearly have absolutely no desire to do it, which is entirely your choice of course. Personally, if I was so opposed to camping, I'd open a thread, see it was about camping, realise I could contribute nothing and find a different thread to comment on instead. Weird that so many non campers think it's imperative for everyone to know just how much they hate camping. We get it. People are different. Not exactly breaking news.

It would make far more sense if campsite separated themselves into 2 categories: 1) early birds and 2) night owls.

Early bird rules are no noise after 10pm but it's ok in the morning,
Night owls could have a midnight or 1am curfew, with no noise before 9am.