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AIBU?

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Original poster

Went camping for first time! Im40. Never again lol

195 replies

TheOpalFox · 22/08/2025 13:38

I went camping in a tent in the middle of nowhere with a friend
she suggested it and she’s a pro. Im40. Never been camping but never agajn
im not the best sleeper at home . But thought with walking miles a day and being near the sea would help me? How wrong was I
i loved relaxing and being away from home but cooking was a nightmare,
basic food that you have to make sure you cook properly ,
I was freezing !!! Even tho we had camp beds and sleeping bags I woke up froze!!!! And I have been hit by some many midges my legs are covered in bites :( sooo painful. We went for 3 nights
never again but glad I tried it lol

OP posts:
Iheartmysmart · 22/08/2025 14:35

I love camping but spent quite a lot of money on decent gear which makes all the difference. I live in a flat on my own so it’s great to be able to sit outside and watch the world go by and not be constantly looking around at all the chores that need doing at home! I also go to small, adult only sites with good facilities and a nearby decent pub for lunch.

ChocolateCinderToffee · 22/08/2025 14:49

I once spent a night under canvas. Freezing cold although the temperature had been 30C all day, insects, noise, uncomfortable and one loo between us. Never again.

CrystalSingerFan · 22/08/2025 14:51

@Laiste said: "I watch loads and loads of camping vids on youtube though! Sometimes i catch myself feeling like i'd like to do the sitting round the fire bit, before getting in the tent with …"

Love this! During lockdown, I regularly watched YouTube camping/bushcraft videos, particularly of Bertram, a Danish guy, who does no commentary, just text comments afterwards. Soothing, inspiring and brilliant. Maybe give him a try?

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8wwAwEDeGo

EveryDayisFriday · 22/08/2025 15:00

I started camping last year at 43. I really like it but we have thrown money at it because I'm all about the comfort. A big air tent, induction hob, nice reclining chairs and expensive self inflating mattresses. Now we have the stuff, we can have cheap weekends away and being in nature helps me to de-stress. I wfh so being away at the weekends does help.

MiddleAgedDread · 22/08/2025 15:03

YANBU it was almost fun as a kid but it's hard work and unbearable as an adult!
Give me a king sized bed and an en-suite any day. I'll do my outdoorsing during the day thanks.

TooManyAnimals94 · 22/08/2025 15:12

This thread is scaring me. I have made 'not camping' quite an integral part of my personality but meeting a lovely man who I'd love to go away with more (we're both skint) I recently heard the words 'Shall we go camping next year?' Leave my mouth...

Long story short, it's all got away from me and we're spending BH Monday tent shopping...

Soonenough · 22/08/2025 15:13

Hate the idea of not having fresh clean water available instantly. And the coldness would undo me . Once went with DH but I was totally unprepared. Brought loads of shite but forgot to pack my underwear and had to wear his Y fronts (80s) . Also had a very heavy period . Nice . Rained in the night and tent couldnt cope so drips everywhere .Did have a lovely day though and beautiful nights but would have been lovely to go back to a nice hotel . But we were young and doing it on the cheap . Never again .

Vegalyra · 22/08/2025 15:40

Can’t think of anything that would make me contemplate camping. Even glamping sounds bleak, unless you have your own bathroom. And usually it’s so overpriced, it doesn’t make sense when you can pay the same for a nice, clean and warm hotel room.

My kids will definitely not learn the joys of camping from their parents 😄

CoffeeBeansGalore · 22/08/2025 15:45

Smidge is quite effective against midges. Or Jungle Formula.
To deal with the bites you have - Savlon & antihistamines. Or Eurax cream is quite good.

Topseyt123 · 22/08/2025 15:55

I tried camping once. Never, ever again. It was an utter bag of shite and sooo uncomfortable.

Anyway, who wants to go on holiday and have to build their accommodation when they arrive. I really actually don't get it at all.

Not for me. I'd really rather have no holiday at all.

TheaBrandt1 · 22/08/2025 16:00

It’s awful some say they enjoy it but they are lying most only do it because they are very tight and want a low cost “holiday”.

I grit my teeth and do it occasionally only in order to go to a festival but really have to force myself. Plus it’s a huge effort and the older I get the more I really cba. Dh flatly refuses to ever get involved. He hates everything about it particularly the being on a campsite with other people.

TheaBrandt1 · 22/08/2025 16:01

Also camping families are soooo smug and tedious.

Willoo · 22/08/2025 16:02

I’d rather not have a holiday than go camping. My idea of hell in earth

Maray1967 · 22/08/2025 16:07

Yes, I’ll have a caravan any time - but not a tent. Not camped since I was 16. I want a toilet, a proper sink and cooker, and a fridge. It’s not the camp bed or the cold that bothers me - it’s the midges, other insects and lack of a toilet.

Maray1967 · 22/08/2025 16:09

Get the kids to do DofE - both of mine got their camping experiences that way with their mates and the teachers who they like.

Miriabelle · 22/08/2025 16:13

Used to love it as a preteen and younger teen — girl guide camp, camping in France with parents etc. (as long as I didn’t have my period, that is — it’s utterly miserable to be a teenage girl camping on your period.) I started to get back pain as an older teen (I have a joint disorder), and it became agonising, even with camp beds and inflatable beds (in fact they were particularly bad).

Added to that the loo arrangements and it stopped being even remotely fun. My bladder is perfectly normal, but if I even so much as start to think about the loo in bed I absolutely have to get up and go again or I can’t sleep. Not great trudging several times to the loos in the night before you can even fall asleep on your uncomfortable bed that you’re dreading waking up in because of the pain in the morning. Then the morning loo trips feeling all grotty because it’s such a faff having a shower, and my hair needs washing every day as it’s fine and greasy… So no thanks!

I have been glamping which I actually quite enjoyed, but it was a proper bed for two nights with our own individual bathroom and shower nearby, and it was nice weather. But old-fashioned camping — definitely not!

Ygfrhj · 22/08/2025 16:14

It's a means to an end for me - a way to sleep so you can enjoy wild places where there are no other options. I've spent many holidays sleeping in a tent but I wouldn't do it if there was a hotel nearby! I also haven't done it since having kids.

TheFallenMadonna · 22/08/2025 16:15

I think I would have stopped camping (which would have been a shame as we had brilliant family holidays) if we hadn't firstly used proper canvas frame tents, and then upgraded to a trailer tent with a bed and a mattress. And a king size duvet, never a sleeping bag. Also my husband has always done the camping cooking while I drink wine and eat crisps, so...
Our empty nest project as been converting a little campervan, and it is so wonderful. Again proper comfy bed (none of the rock and roll folding seat nonsense), a fridge and a coffee machine. And a loo - admittedly not very private, but we manage. Having our own lovely space that we can take to fab locations - absolute dream for us.

AnPiscin · 22/08/2025 16:21

I went camping a teenager in France with some friends. Lovely weather, close to a beautiful beach, warm but not roasting at night, good facilities. It was great and I loved it.

No amount of money would ever convince me to do it as an adult. It's a young person's thing.

My kids camp with scouts. They love it, I don't have to go, everybody wins.

Nextdoormat · 22/08/2025 16:29

Single parent used to take 2 youngest when skint. Hate sitting outside tent in evening when kids asleep, getting up in night needing a wee. It comes light so early kids were awake at ridiculous o'clock and had to try and keep them entertained and quiet. Yuk,Listening to couple in next tent getting it on.
Tried a camping hut with electric, took microwave still bloody freezing pitch black, got claustrophobic had panic attack. Decided no forget it. Luckily I can go abroad now every few years.

BauhausOfEliott · 22/08/2025 16:30

I would rather poke my own eyes out with a stick than go camping. Hideous.

I love staying in the middle of nowhere, but I can do that in an isolated rural property that has walls and a bathroom.

I'm not quite sure what you expected it to be like, though?

Edit: I hated it when I was a kid too.

DinoLil · 22/08/2025 16:34

You've not done it right!

I swore black and blue that I'd never go camping but my DC really wanted to. I was about 35, bought a cheap tent and went to a site with electric hook ups that offered lights and fridges as part of the deal.

A year later, I had an 8 sleeper tent, cooker, electric thingies, heaters, TV, fridges, fancy beds, cupboards, all sorts! I went with my DC and a friend with her DC. We camped with loads of friends with similar set ups, absolutely the best of times. We went all over the country but the worst time was when I'd upgraded the tent but brought the old tent poles with me and the new tent! We had to cobble it together and 14yr old DS was most affronted. 13yr old DS had lost all hope by then! Then we came back to said cobbled together tent after a day out to find a lady in floods of tears sitting outside who couldn't even string a sentence together. She was just crying and pointing! Turns out her and her family had arrived, were pitching up and a gust of wind took a tent pole which launched into our tent and tore a great hole! I gave her a hug and said I had a roll of gaffer tape 😆

Oh and the great idea friend and I had of camping with our DC and dogs in the February half term. The dogs had no water, had to lick ice from a bowl until we could smash it clear. I went first with my DC to set up, we clung together that night and I sent an SOS to friend to bring electric heaters, duvets, hot water bottles.

I miss those days!

Noodge · 22/08/2025 16:45

murasaki · 22/08/2025 13:55

I hold strong to my principle that you should never stay somewhere on holiday that is worse than your own house. Camping is therefore a straight no.

I say this too. Why stay somewhere shitter than your house 😂

Although I am a hypocrite as I like some things about camping. If the weather is nice and you have a decent tent and all the mod cons. My ex (who was a terrible person in so many ways!) was an excellent camper. She had EVERYTHING. Great air bed, modern luxurious tent, camping loo etc and she was a control freak so I 'wasn't allowed' to lift a finger or do any of the cooking and sorting things out which suited me fine in this one type of scenario not so much others 😂 and she just made it effortless.

We went camping for my birthday last year just before we parted ways and I basically enjoyed the lovely scenery and sat about drinking cider while she fussed and faffed over all the camping-related things. A good memory but I am in no rush to do it again.