Camping - I think I hate it….

[Nik2015]

I've just come home from camping and I just don’t get it.

I find it really hard work and uncomfortable no matter what I do.

I’d love to know what I’m doing wrong?..

So thought we could have a (lighthearted) vote so I could get an idea if it’s just me -

YABU = I love camping
YANBU = I dislike camping

@longtompot think the heat had got to me last night, but I stand by my words 😂

See, I can't relate to all this chat about taking loads of gear, toilet blocks etc. DH, lovely though he is in so many ways, would consider that cheating. Proper camping is up a mountain or on a desolate moor. You only have what you can carry on your back. The ground will be lumpy. The toilet facilities are a trowel.

Fortunately we haven't done that for a few decades.

@FourChimneys were you ex army? If not you should've been 😂

The kit is expensive, but you build it up gradually. We replace/upgrade one or two things a year generally. So while we may be able to afford a week in a cottage for the price of the tent, the tent will keep going for about ten years.

Fuck me, I've found my people at last.

I’m stuck in a cycle where every couple of years I hear all my friends talk of their camping holidays and think I must be missing out on something as everyone else seems to love it and I try a night in a tent / glamping. At which point I remember how much I hate it and vow never to go again… and then slowly forget!

In fact I only suggested it to my DH again this weekend. He rightly pointed out we hate air beds, shared washing facilities, the temperature never being right in a tent and generally people!! I just don’t understand the whole sterile field of people in rows where you can hear other people drunk / snoring / kids screeching etc - I think I’m a bit anti social!

My eldest DD hates it too but remembers this better than me which is helping stop us going again!

Husband loves it and goes with a friend. He would take the children just for one night when they were younger.
I hate it.
Everything you do at home ( cooking, keeping a tent clean, washing children, supervising them every second of the day) but under primitive conditions.

I love nature, walking in the bush ( I'm Australian), adore the countryside but do not like sleeping and cooking outside in it.

DH always went camping as a child and has great memories of it. I never went camping growing up and was used to caravan holidays. Since we've had our own DC we've been camping a couple of times after buying a tent, DH insisting we could enjoy cheaper breaks in the UK if we had all the camping gear to hand. I've put up with camping but I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed it - this may be coloured a bit by the fact that the last few times we've been camping we've had babies so I've had to mess around sterilising bottles, measuring out formula in the middle of the night and trying to keep a wayward toddler from escaping the tent every moment she got. That's not fun to me. Also, packing the tent up at the end of the trip is a pain!

Ugh me too! Festivals as a 20ish year old it can be fun but thats about it! Dh and I have been 3 times and all have been disastrous!
First in Cornwall someone lent us a tent- it's 'door pole' was missing (luckily not any others) so we had to tie the guy ropes to the car tyre, remove them when we went anywhere and crawl in and out.Then by the end of the week half the tent was wet due to rain.
Second time in the lakes, awful weather and the wind and rain battered the tent on the first night, and we ended up sleeping in the car.DH's IBS was also playing up so he spent half the night in and out the toilet block! We spent the rest of the week in a local b&b (although did manage to repitch in Yorkshire on the way back for abit)
The final time was at the same yorkshire place but with 3yo DD....just as stressful.DD was petrified of the showers and it was a nightmare trying to get her washed before the 10min hot water curfew! She vomited her whole tea up just before our arrival at the campsite so had to wash and dry all her clothes/carseat covers etc in the laundrette.Then whilst setting up the tent (which was a nightmare due to wind) I trod in a massive dog poo!
I hated the sharing element of all the bathrooms etc...despite it being summer 2020 so peak covid times, they weren't kept clean properly.Then we had some gobby women in the tent next door with dogs up all night yapping. I also hate not having privacy to get ready in the mornings, and even in summer I always get freezing cold and need about 6 layers.

We laugh about it all now but god it was stressful! Might go for a weekend locally when DDs are older if they really wanted to, but for now it is DEFINITELY off the cards! Haha.

This! DHs brother, his wife and kids evangelisise about camping and scoff at my dislike as if I'm some high maintenance prima Donna. However it turns out they take the equivalent kit to pretty much their entire home to make it comfortable. Plus for all this and the 6 of them it takes x 2 cars.

don’t think I’d make it to ‘Europe’ with all the gear, unless I bought a bigger car.

///
God yes I'd need a HGV!

Before kids, I was with your DH. But with youngsters to entertain and a growing inability to sleep if anything isn’t just so, I want all the kit!

YANBU it's shit. People will come tell you all you need is to buy beds and tables and bring a fully equipped kitchen and..might as well stay in a nice villa then?

😂

I get where you are coming from, I guess camping and the types of campsite come in different forms. I dont get the whole yurt thing where you are paying top money for something that closely resembles a hotel room but isn't. Just stay in a country hotel!

I like camping but I prefer very rural settings where you are not living 2m away from your neighbours tent listening to them snore, fart and shag. I also have a 'tour van' with lots of creature comforts (fridge, proper cooking, nice bed, camp furniture etc.) A few years back I found myself up early with a coffee and book just enjoying the dawn air and solitude while watching rabbits, deer and birds just mooch about right infront of me, felt like I was in a Disney cartoon, absolutely magical.

Just tried a ready tent (as it was already booked), they’re more uncomfortable than an actual tent…I think I’m doomed.
The ‘bed’ was mega uncomfortable and it rained so hard on the second night I needed the loo but couldn’t face going as I’d have had to waterproof up or be soaked when I got back.

What I need is a campsite (for my friends) with glamping pods which have proper beds and a bathroom attached 😂😂

"What I need is a campsite (for my friends) with glamping pods which have proper beds and a bathroom attached 😂😂"

The campsite we stayed at recently had such a thing - unfortunately they were more expensive <and probably still less comfortable > than a room at a Premier Inn.

Oooo, where was it please?

I know what you mean about the price….have paid £100 a night for a bell tent with slopping beds on slatted wood pallets and no loo!!!!

I loved it when I was a kid wouldn't do roughing it these days though. We did Euro camp and did enjoy that. The tent's are already up which are usually shaded by tree's. We had beds, electric, a fridge, a hob crockery and cutlery pans etc. So we didn't have to provide all the extras apart from a sleeping bag. It's just the toilet issue I don't like.

@Nik2015 here it is hillcroftpark.co.uk/.

It's a really nice site, we've stayed in one of the lodges and have also camped there.

The luxury camping pods look almost as good as a hotel.

I love it generally. The only thing about it I don't love is having to go to the toilet in the middle of the night! As long as I have an airbed, I find it really cosy

no it's rubbish . Uncomfortable. Cold. Loads of hassle

This place looks lovely!

I like camping but we've spent money and time making our trailer tent really comfy. It has proper beds, a toilet, a kitchen, a carpet etc.

My compromise on camping is that we pitch the tent in our garden. Camping experience (Sleeping outside / cooking over the fire pit etc), but with my own bathroom and proper bed when wanted!

I absolutely fucking hate camping…would rather be at home in my bed ! I did it once and absolutely never again! I was 26 in the alps and hated every minute.Sweaty tent ,2 mins walk to have a piss and even at 26 my whole body ached when I got up .No definitely not my idea of relaxing …husband is a top climber and goes to the alps regularly…well good for him ,but not for me.