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

Camping is absolutely awful. I'm quite outdoorsy and love hiking and climbing mountains and all that, but camping? No thanks. It's always muddy and usually cold if it's the UK, no soundproofing, probably raining, uncomfortable and messy and just boring.

I absolutely lost my mind when I was 36 weeks pregnant with my third child and suggested we go on a camping holiday. Massively pregnant me, DH and two children aged four and two in a tent IN NOVEMBER. It was insane. Never again.

My husband loves camping and goes regularly with our two oldest children. Me and the youngest stay at home and have a lovely time!

Have all this, yeti etc…it’s just hard work!
We ‘glamped’ this time and I still hate it!

I am a very non-outdoorsy person but I quite like camping under some circumstances.

1. Electric hook up
2. A nice site with good facilities but not too big and noisy. I much prefer the French campsites because I have never encountered groups of people playing loud music all day like there often seem to be at UK campsites.
3. It's not my only holiday. We tend to do a week in a campsite and a week in a cottage.

We have also now upgraded from a tent to a caravan which makes a big difference in terms of comfort and sound insulation.

The main reason I go is because my DC enjoy it. They like the freedom of being able to go off and explore outdoors and meet other kids easily.

We used to do camping holidays when I was a child/teenager and I hated it so much. I’m a really outdoorsy person. I like nothing more than a long walk in the countryside. But camping… shudder.

I loathe camping. There is not one fun thing about it. I can’t work out how anyone ever wants to do it. If I try to envisage hell, I imagine rows of tents and crappy toilets and showers. No. Thank. You.

We have a teardrop camper and I like it. Tent camping and I parted years ago!

This sums it up for me. I’m a real outdoors sort of person, don’t care if I don’t wash my hair for a week, that sort of thing, and I thought I’d be the camping type, but I’ve discovered that even glamping is a bit too rough for me. I want somewhere comfy and indoors to go back to after all the outdoorsy stuff.

Oh god I LOATHE camping and I thought I was in the minority as lots of my friends seem to love it.. oh it’s such a relief to read this thread and know I’m not alone! I love nature and the outdoors but give me a cottage with a log fire any day of the week!

@Circleblue I think you’ve hit the nail on the head!

went to Centerparcs in France a couple of years ago - in nature, tons to do, kids can run around. But you have a proper house with indoor plumbing and don't need to bring your own beds and fridge. How is tent better than this?

A wise woman once told me:

Camping is holidaying in conditions you wouldn't tolerate at home.

YANBU! I hate camping - DH & I went on our first holiday together as poor students to Watergate Bay.
I hated the air mattresses that deflated in the night; walking across a damp field to get to the loo/shower; everything feeling damp despite it being hot & summer; nowhere to sit/relax as your just on the floor the whole time, can't stand up, got to crawl out the tent. It got too hot in the mornings, too cold at night, & felt like the tent would blow away with us in it. & yes, boring - no tv, no entertainment etc if you don't go with friends etc.
I know we could spends thousands on decent kit & it might be better, but I'm not taking the risk. DH likes camping & I've said I'm more than happy for him to take DC off camping - either I won't go or I'll stay in a local hotel

Loving all these replies. I don’t feel so much like a crazy ‘I hate camping weirdo’ now.

Today there was a family getting ready for a wedding, with no electric and none in the toilet block. HOW are you meant to sort your hair???

Camping gives you freedom. I dont like big noisy commercial sites. I do like pitching up and wild camping in Scotland or Sweden or Canada. Now, that's camping ;-)

Camping is totally shite. Unless. You have zero kids. And you are completely leathered for the whole trip. Then it's great!

Camping in the UK = lots of trekking across muddy fields, never properly warm. Just

Camping in France = relaxing, better facilities, only downside is it takes a few weeks to get rid if all the sand.

@TheVolturi - I actually agree with this one, although finding the loo in the dark might be difficult 😂

Not for me, I'd rather stay up all night looking at a blank wall

Camping is grim if you try and reproduce all the home comforts.
Camping is fabulous if you treat it as an adventure, pare everything right back to 'be warm enough and dry enough', eat food cooked on sticks and make up a flask of boiling water before you go to bed so you can make a cup of tea before anyone else is awake.
YABU: camping can be just the best thing!

I went once. My friend persuaded me to do two nights with our boys by a lake. I bloody hated it. The kids loved it of course. We ran out of food on day two, so drove into town and had all you can eat Chinese food and ate like we were starving. We stunk like smoke from the campfire by the time we got home. Never again.

I loathe and despite tent camping. I do however love my campervan but that's warm, there's a loo, shower and kitchen and at least partially blocks out sound.
It's much more fun somewhere warm, it has to be said.

I endured camping with friends when the DC were young but we all needed a lot of wine to get through it.

Despise the washing up, toilets, too hot or cold tent, mattresses that deflate, pissing rain

Did love the freedom and fire 🔥 though so there were some benefits.

I really enjoy camping, it’s just me and my dd, we usually go for a week. Stayed on a lovely family only site last year in Derbyshire and it was gorgeous. I’m usually up early and love the quiet mornings with a good book and some coffee.

In the evenings we played board games, I taught her how to cross stitch and we had camp fires. She made friends with a bunch of other kids and spent hours playing frisbee and building dens. The freedom of just being a kid and no screens was fab.

But I badly fractured my ankle 5 months ago and I couldn’t physically manage it this year. Fingers crossed things improve or I’ll be looking for a cheap automatic campervan!

I get why people hate it and there are definite downsides but I love camping. Its not that I love sleeping on the floor, or walking a mile through the woods in the dark to pee.

I like campfires and sitting round them while the sun sets. I like cooking over fires, and making "camping food" that would be weird to make if you were in a house but is delicious when eaten outside.
I like that it makes you feel closer to the people you are with, and further away from the rest of the world.
And even though I am not a morning person normally, I like waking up in a dewy field and feeling like I am the only person who gets to see this sunrise.
And cereal made with really really cold milk that has been sat in a coolbox outside overnight, is so good, smores are great, and I dont mind the rain so its all good.

It helps if the people you are with also like camping, one grumpy person in the mix does really bring the mood down

I'm pretty sure that the reason most people go camping is because proper accommodation is unaffordable where they want to go. That's certainly why I went camping last year.