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

well fuck we need an edit button, apologies for the tragic typos.

The correct way to camp is in your own/a friend’s garden. All the fun of sleeping outside with the joy of being able to warm up when if it’s absolutely fucking freezing, and cancel the whole thing if it’s miserable.

Weird, i grew up on a farm too, I must ask my sister does she have the urge

I went camping a few times when younger, didn't really enjoy it but wanted to until I went camping with my sister and her friends, It was a horror story, we had to hike for 5 hours to get to the camping spot, which was just a flat area. There were no showers and when I asked where the toilet was, I was told to dig a hole. I will never camp again. Now I am older its 4 or 5 star hotels or I stay at home.

I loathe camping, but the one good thing about it is supposed to be the solitude. Loo blocks and showers are not camping. Sleeping in a tent surrounded by people takes all the worst parts of camping and gives you none of the benefits. No quiet. No animals working their way through your campsite as you sit quietly. No sitting around a campfire with only your family under the night sky, the sound of your quiet conversation and the crackle of the flames the only disturbance in the world. Even car camping with all the gear that allows. you should still be able to escape the world a bit or what is the point?

Things that make camping tolerable for me (camp each year for a summer camp) is a big tent, electric hookup with an electric hob permanently set up and a clothes rail for damp clothes. First two years of putting damp clothes in a car too get some drying and having to set up and put away cooking items had me losing the will to live. Damp and tramping through puddles is horrible, but the kids NEVER remember this, just the camp and playing cards 🤣😭

The idea of a week long camping holiday has never inspired, though. I did those as kids and I've never done it since.

I loved weekend camping pre kids, it was easy and cheap, we could go at a moments notice and stay in places we couldn't otherwise get to. We would go as a big group of friends and had some fantastic times. Deciding on a Thursday night and then all piling in a few cars after school/uni/work on the Friday. Singing along together. Putting up tents in the dark. Hiking up mountains and finding good pubs. Lying by the fire talking into the night with the sounds of a stream in the background.

Since kids I am much less keen, though really like glamping (still can't sleep much with the light, though!). But I take the kids proper camping anyway (still two nights max and only if the weather is going to be good) because there is something magical about sitting out under the stars around a campfire with a hot chocolate (and whiskey) before bed telling stories and then getting up in the dewey pre-dawn, desperately boiling water for that first warm cup of coffee/tea/hot chocolate, and watching the forest/mountain/meadow morph from black and grey into full colour.

Are you kidding?

It’s camping with the guides that put me off for life! It was the 1980s and we were lucky if the cows had vacated the field in the morning for our arrival in the afternoon! We didn’t even have roll up, never mind blow up mattresses! Ground sheet then sleeping bag and that was it!
Full week, Saturday to Saturday, the women who were our Guiders must have been saints!

It’s utter shit. Why would I work hard to pay money to spend my free time in worse conditions than I enjoy at home?

I was not put on this earth to camp.....end of......told my children from early on, they get it......off they went with their dad early doors but no so much lately...may change their minds with festival season 😊😂

Eurocamp in Brittany and had mice/rats scurrying around out kitchen area loudly every night. We had absolutely no food there at all but they were obviously cocky little French nice who thought they would chance their luck.
we asked the site owners for help but they just told us not to go camping in future-we never have!

The snoring does it for me. No escape from snoring fellow campers. Ear plugs don’t cut it. Also the toilet issue. And the cold. The constant tidying up and cooking. No, camping isn’t fun once you’re old and have kids. Though some replies on this thread have made me chuckle.

Seasoned camper here! We always have the best holidays. Only book 4/5* sites - everyone has a double height inflatable bed.

kitchen with wash up facilities, oven, bbq, fire pit.

all of the kids running round having the best fun! Evening swims in the sea….

Whats not to like?!?

We did eurocamp when we were kids. We had to take own sleeping bags. But we had beds, a fridge and a hob to cook on. Make sure you get a site that's shaded with tree's though. We never had any trees one year shading the tents and it was red hot inside. Only downside is having no toilet.

I adore camping. I think it's reputation is ruined as its compared to holidays. It's not a hotel. Or a villa. It's an adventure. Back to basics. Connecting. And it's success depends deeply upon your camping neighbour's. It's becoming more popular with drunks and party people. Which is a shame (for me at least)

I love setting up a tent with my feet in the grass. I love cooking on a camping stove. I love reading in the grass and napping in a warm tent in the afternoon(necessary because yes sleep is not great through the night). I love playing tennis/ badminton with dh when in all other walks of life- we DONT sport! I love staying up late with dh playing cards and drinking gin. We'd be watching telly at home- a couple of times a year we are kids again and chat and play cards and games for days! I love snuggling in the night when it's cold.

Alright- the toilet scenario is shit. Other people are often crap (although sometimes they are fab! And sometimes the camping community is wildly friendly and I have been to impromptu whole site fireside laughs!) and it can be cold.

Currently camping now with my DH and three DC age 1, 2 and 4 and our friends with DC age 1, 4 and 8. Its our first time camping, as it is for them too and I've got to be honest we're all really enjoying it.

Whats not to like?!?

For me, the whole sleeping on an inflatable mattress while in a tent and outdoors part. I'd sooner have a limb amputated. Perhaps even all four. Then pay someone to beat me over the head with them, while singing my least favourite song(Come On Eileen) in falsetto.

Stand up tent in the shade
a double readybed and a real pillow
emergency night loo
dry but not hot weather - like early summer or an Indian summer

That’s all I have to say 👌

@HoldingTheDoor 🤣

That's how I felt after a few camping trips.

@TheMumLife3

That sounds lovely. Glad you're having a nice time.

That's how I felt after a few camping trips.

You have my sympathies. That's how I felt after just one and I've never gone camping again since.

I have never been camping.
I do not camp; I do not do less than 4*.

I voted YANBU for the simple fact that I strongly believe camping is for a specific age group and/or a specific type of person.
I used to love camping until my mid 20s. I was a frequent Glastonbury attendee in the 90s and early 00’s and we’d regularly take ourselves off to Newquay in a car laden with tents. But now I’m fast approaching middle age, I like my creature comforts too much. A flushing loo and hot running water being the main things I can no longer compromise on-those and cold milk for my coffee in the morning

@HoldingTheDoor I was in the army too and thought nothing of roughing it under a basha.

Different mindset now. I'm not trying for anything, my DH is a nightmare when pitching a tent and taking it down and the weather was always shit or too hot so we boiled.

I refused any more trips for my mental health. We got a 1970s vintage caravan and it's fab! DH put USB ports in it as well so I can watch Netflix on the iPad 😂