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

I love camping despite some of the discomforts. I think it's because I campers as a teen and have happy memories, I love being outdoors and like a break with no tech or distractions where we can just be a family together. I can also tolerate the sleeping conditions because I don't sleep brilliantly anywhere other than my own bed. 2 weeks luxury AI in the Maldives and I was awake all night due to the air con noise and occasional rogue mosquito.

I love being outside, and I love those quiet bits of camping just after sunrise or as the sun is setting, when it's cool and maybe a little bit misty. But since I moved to the countryside I've lost the camping urge - I can go for a lovely quiet walk at 9.30pm then come home to a cup of tea from the kettle, a wee in my own clean toilet and bed in my own actual bed, with the window open so I can listen to the birds.

I absolutely hate it and my friends think its because I'm a snob but I'm not. I just hate it. Uncomfortable, never the right temp, too many bugs. Vile.

Camping is a holiday for people who don't really like holidays.

Have veered from hating it (because we had a crap air bed and it took ages to set everything up which was a pain when just going for a weekend) to loving it, we have now upgraded to a trailer tent with a kitchen built in on the back which is really quick to put up and down (takes 15 mins, a MASSIVE bonus when you're packing away knackered and hungover!), it also has a proper bed and mattress so it's comfy.

I always take a blackout eye mask and earplugs to drown out other noisy people.

Love it! But you need kit. Decent beds and sleeping bags. A good, big tent. Roof box to fit all the stuff in. Nice chairs. Portable bbq.

I would be pissed off if camping was my only holiday and wouldn't want to camp for two weeks. I reckon a week is probably as long as I'd consider.

😂😂😂😂

I love it, but only since we bought a folding camper and I have a proper bed!

Pillows were a game changer. We now keep everything in bags and boxes ready to go each year so there is no risk of forgetting a tin opener. I have never camped anywhere with electric hook up - we are usually in a field with composting toilets. Last year there was a small shop on site and that felt dangerously urbane.

I slept in a swag in Australia and loved it. I woke up feeling the happiest and best rested I think I’ve ever been. It was cold during the night, but still bearable.
Camping in the UK or Ireland though? No, thank you.

Fishing beds are amazing, total game changer for us.

Always pack earplugs.

YANBU. Each to their own but I'd sooner stick pins in my own eyes than camp in a tent. I like my home comforts to much 😂

My parents have a beautiful twin axel caravan (recently updated but the previous one was also lovely). It has a fixed bed, full sized shower, loo, full oven/fridge, comfortable seating area, central heating/air con. They can go away in any weather and have a lovely time. I enjoyed caravaning as a kid/teen and would do it now but not tenting.

We go to the lakes pretty much every October (it's our happy place🙂) and stay in a cottage which is lovely. Being October and the lakes, the weather can be variable. I have no objection to donning boots and full waterproofs and heading out whatever the weather as I know I can come back to the cottage with heating/log fire, have a hot bath/shower and relax in comfort. Every year we see people in tents, when the weather is cold and wet - I honestly don't know how they do it.

I love all the posts from people saying: You;re doing it wrong. Get all the stuff that makes you feel like you're not camping, like proper beds, fridges, toilets. They all cost a fortune and are a poor relation of the real comfort you get at no extra cost by staying home. I'd way rather spend the money on a comfortable holiday than yet more kit to justify yet more uncomfortable holidays.

Camping is grey if you have all the right kit! Porta loo for night time use, decent gas fridge, camping beds which are off the ground etc. and of course you need to store all that gear for the rest of the year! But we go every year and I love it. Mainly as the kids are off screens for 2 weeks and so they’re running around outside, flying kites etc

Great! Not grey.

The campsite we often go to locally (<30 mins away) to meet up as a group has a fab licenced cafe. You send the kids down to order food and they deliver it to your tent!

They also have camping pods so sometimes we have our campervan (although sleep in the tent awning), a caravan, a horse lorry , a tent and a pod between us! All have electric hook up.

Kids aged 10-15 love going there and let's us get together without being too big a group for someone's house.

There is also a fishery v close with an amazing deli counter so we often just go a grab food a delicious buffet lunch

Usually have a fire in a small bbq at night with smokeless logs.

There is a big barn next to the cafe where the WiFi extends to so kids head down there with phones and board/card games. Love it.

So all I need to do to enjoy camping is to buy a massive expensive tent, proper beds, bedding/sleeping bags, blankets, portable kitchen, portable BBQ, kitchen storage cupboards, chairs, table, wardrobe, carpets, portaloo, pot to piss in at nighttime, lights, cookware, etc etc..portable washing machine I guess, so you can be in nature and play cards with friends in the evening?

Just rent a cottage and you don't have to bring your entire house with you like a snail.

I agree. It is ridiculous. I like my creature comforts and want them provided when we are away as closely as possible to what we have at home.

Camping isn't for me and I have zero intention of buying a shit load of expensive equipment for something I hate so much.

I'm not doing it wrong. I'm not doing it at all and never will again.

I've got a love/hate relationship with camping.

It's great being outdoors, it's a bit of a challenge, love outdoor cooking, waking up to the fresh air and the sound of tents unzipping.

Hate not having a comfy bed, the lack of space and privacy, all the kit you have to bring to make it bearable.

It does have its hood points. Living in a city on a busy road our dc rarely play out. With camping they can be free range running around everywhere it's friends until it gets dark.

Yes ok so the initial outlay is a lot but once you've got all the kit you can go to Cornwall with sea views for next to nothing. A cottage would cost thousands.

I still agree that camping is a bit shit but it's not all bad.

Funnily enough DD who is a gentle, diffident, unsporting, sensitive thing loved camping with guides. Every single minute of it.

DS who is alpha, sporty, rufty tufty, went with school on some worthy thing or other with maps and tins of beans (not DoE) and got an exeat after the third night for cricket awards. He was incandescent about it's awfulness - it was uncomfortable, filthy, and foul in every way. He was never doing it again! However has subsequently been to a few festivals whereas dd wouldn't touch a festival with a barge pole.

At 62 I have never been and never shall.

Used to enjoy ot when I was younger, but grew to loathe it.

I just have to think about packing all the shit up and taking the tent down on the last day and that is enough to put me off ever going again.

Fitting it all in the car is a nightmare too!

What about a ready tent, anyone tried one of them?