Please come and wish me luck... Amateur camper setting off tomorrow!

[beanandspud]

We are quite excited

We have tent, sleeping stuff, eating stuff, cooking stuff, lighting stuff, heating stuff and wine stuff.

Have never camped before but taking DC away for two nights as a trial. The threads on here have been fantastic for information and advice.

Please wish me luck and reassure me that we will have a great time and will want to do it again... and again...and again...

You will have a great time! The children will love it.

It will be fab, for sure, just relax

good luck OP!

and come back on Sunday to tell me all the things I'll wish I'd thought of

Ooh good luck! I have never camped before either but am thinking of doing the same next year. I'll be watching with interest. Things that worry me are:

I'll be uncomfortable. (I'm a very light sleeper, even with alcohol. I think the Princess and the Pea was written about me. I have stayed awake all night before on various couches, floors, other people's beds, because it is not a proper bed with a decent pillow).

I'll be cold. (I feel the cold. A lot. If it's less than 21 degrees I worry I'll get frostbite at night.)

Too much of a faff lugging stuff there to make it worth while.

Lack of a decent private shower.

I think I'm more of a caravanner naturally. The laid back outdoor life of camping appeals but only if I have a quiet, warm, dry, comfy bed to retire to. (Dh thinks I'm pathetic but he could sleep in a cliff on the North face of Everest and feel refreshed the next day.)

Dying to see how you get on.

Curly I take my pillow!
Layers are your friend.
I wear flip flops into the shower.
OP where are you off to?

Oh and a folding camper is great. I love a tent but like my double bed and wraparound sofa!!

I promise that I will report back!

DP and I are not natural campers. We both had terrible (separate) experiences 20 years ago (tiny tent, freezing cold and pot noodles type camping) so we're not quite sure how we ended up doing this but here goes...

Wolfie we're heading for the North. The weather forecast isn't looking good but I'm sure it'll be ok.

You will have a ball. We have camped through lightning and when the site put out sandbags too!

You will love it! We went a few weeks ago for the first time and had a brilliant time, even in the rain.we are going again in three weeks hopefully.

Good luck!

Thought I should report back...

We had a lovely couple of nights despite a lot of rain

Campsite had good shower/toilet/washing up facilities which made a big difference and I think we would have that on our 'must have ' list for next time.

The tent went up ok, we were very cosy at night just in sleeping bags and despite the sunrise DC slept until 8am (probably a result of normal bedtime going out of the window fairly quickly and loads of fresh air). We were worried about having a huge, neon 'camping virgins' sign over our tent but no one batted an eyelid.

Things to buy/take next time include windbreaks, matches, another table and a decent knife.

The only regret is that we waited all these years to go. Thank you to all the camping mnetters that gave such good advice - it was very much appreciated.

Aah that's great news! Was it really that good even when it was raining?!

Which campsite did you go to?

What fabulous news, delighted you enjoyed yourselves!