I love tent camping - fits right in with my nature loving self. H introduced me to it. I didn’t grow up camping. He grew up with an Airstream. We opted for a tent because we couldn’t afford more in our younger days and still wanted to travel. Now we just purely love it, so often choose it over more expensive places. Our kids love it too - the married lads have introduced their spouses to it.
We’ve had our current tent since 2005 and still use it regularly. It’s getting older now so I shopped online to see about replacing it - couldn’t find anything I liked as much so it’s still with us.
We occasionally muse about getting a Class B or B+ instead as we get older. I wouldn’t want anything larger or a trailer. H is still lobbying for a liveaboard catamaran.
We have quite a few friends with RV’s. They look like lots of fun. I would love a RV if the experience was like some of my friends. The husband cleans the RV, packs it, buys the groceries, gasses it up. I climb into the RV. He set up the campsite, I have a cocktail. I will make food. We return from our vacation and my husband cleans up and puts the RV away.
None of that would ever happen, I would do the bulk of the work as getting my husband on vacation means that he works twice the hours before vacation and twice as much when we get back. I’m in charge of packing. More work than I already do, it’s a nope for me.
H talked me into camping by promising he and the boys would do all the work. I shop for the food, but he cooks, cleans, sets up and takes down the tent, and anything else that needs to be done - setting up the hammock, etc. It’s been perfect!
Now that our lads have all grown up and moved out I’ll admit I help him with setting up and taking down the tent. If food is cooked, he still cooks it and cleans up afterward. We’ve become rather pros at figuring out no work convenience foods though - and when we’re camping in FL in the winter we went out to eat a lot at nearby restaurants (or brought back take out since we loved our waterfront view better than the restaurant). It’s a lot cheaper when there’s just the two of us! Can’t do that when we’re in the woods though.
Hopefully my DILs will appreciate that my lads have been brought up assuming all camping work is a man’s duty!
@deb922 - yup! Similar thing would happen here… so nope. No RVs or any larger than a pickup motorized objects that need packing, unpacking, and cleaning. We do own and have used in the past camping gear. I prefer to camp in warmer places that don’t require a blue tarp over the tent. I am a camping pansy.
I need running hot water and no creepy crawlies for it to be considered vacation, but this year I would possibly reconsider. ; )
We are on plan D of vacation planning but renting a cabin in the UP to go kayaking looks like it’s going to get cancelled too. H’s company is saying no travel and no return to the office until after Labor Day
Maybe this Fall…until then, day trips to local places will have to do.
The vacation areas near us are expecting (hoping) for a good season with the reopening - counting on people taking day trips or “one gas tank” trips. We’re within 2-4 hours of a lot of high density places. They thrived during the other economic downturns for the same reason. This time they can add the benefit of a lot of outdoor things to see - trails, etc.
You are missing out out of this world sceneries if you don’t camp. No money can buy that kind of residential experience. You are literally sleeping on a flower bed. I am the opposite. I will never do car camping. If you can drive to it, you probably can find a hotel nearby.
I like to hike but find I really like a bed at night. When we did Hadrian’s Wall 3 years ago we hiked from B&B to B&B which I really liked. We are still planning the Coast to Coast walk in England next summer and it will be the same deal.
We have a small travel trailer called a Casita. We got it in 2004. Unfortunately, we haven’t used it much since we started adopting rescued senior Golden Retrievers, because they don’t travel easily. We enjoyed it for a lot of years- just the right size for 2 people but it does get tight. We like that you can see around it (back) for driving. We have a truck, but you don’t necessarily need a big vehicle to pull it.
We love tenting because there are so many beautiful, secluded places in Maine to go. We’ve tented next to huge waterfalls with nobody near us for miles. The mountains are also great for tenting. We DO watch the weather - tenting in the rain is not much fun!
My deal with tent camping is that we can tent for up to 3 or 4 nights and next stop is a hotel with a bath and a shower to wash my hair. We did a great trip several years ago to Glacier National Park where we did an alternating tent, hotel cycle for 3 weeks. Camped in Montana and Idaho on our way back home.
Why I agreed to a trailer is that once you reach your destination you can unhook and go explore in the car. A big RV you would be limited in stopping.
I do agree with @Iglooo that there are beautiful places to see that can only be gotten to by foot or via tent camping. Until last year I would have said I would never get a trailer or RV. It still goes against my personality but my body appreciates not sleeping on the ground. In a lot of campgrounds the best spots are just available to tents only.
Sailing to me is the equivalent of backpacking. You get to visit secluded coves and anchorages that can only be reached by boat.
I sometimes wish we had a laugh choice to click for a response. I would have used that on @deb922 's post #921. LOL - what a dream world!
I have to comment that many females would have plenty of desire and knowledge to set up camp and many males may not. I just cannot look at most tasks as belonging to a gender. Division of tasks to make the mode of travel or lodging happen can have “lanes” but females can set up tents and males can follow a grocery list.
I loved the backpacking trips I took. There are so many beautiful lakes and mountain scenery far from roads in the Sierra that you just can’t see without backpacking.
I didn’t care for tenting in a campground (car camping). The other campers were noisy and just seemed to sit around their camps. Cars came in and out at all hours. And bears roamed about at night looking for food left out. We did it when the kids were little, but now I prefer the lodges.
On our recent trip we alternated responsibility for cooking dinner. I planned 5 dinners and bought the groceries but the cooks picked one, prepared and cleaned up. Everyone was in charge of their own breakfast and lunch. Worked well! I think that may become a family trip tradition.
Don’t you dare tell H that and ruin my love of all things camping!
ps Otherwise, both H and I agree with you. This is just one tradition in our family that came about because it’s how he talked me into camping in the beginning. We both laugh about it. I still enjoy being special though - esp when other females talk about hating camping because they have to do all the work.
pps One of my all time favorite posts came from a different board (I think - it’s been awhile - could have been here) and someone posted about a meeting at a school/church (?) where the direction was given, “And if someone could have their H get the machine out to wash the floors…” A lady went over to the machine, then remarked, “That’s funny, I don’t see anything on the directions that say you have to have a pe–s to operate it.” I shared it with my family at the time and it sometimes resurfaces in conversation with a laugh.
I would actually enjoy the packing and even the inside cleaning of an RV. But unless a bed as comfortable and a bathroom (including shower) at least as nice as the one I have at home accompanied me it’s an absolute no go A trip where sleeping and toileting/bathing are uncomfortable is no vacation for me. I spend the entire time in dread/misery. I have always been this way from the time I was young. My parents took me on an RV trip in what was a top of the line unit at age 9. I literally counted the hours til I’d be back to sleeping in a room without 4 others on a nice mattress and to my non-smelly large bathroom and shower. Like most people who have a hard time putting them in others shoes I don’t even understand how others enjoy themselves under those conditions even though I know most aren’t as fussy as me.
