Hold that thought...

What is camping to everyone?

To me...could be.

Car camping- drive to a campground and park at your campsite set up tent at picnic table and fire pit.

Backpacking, park the car load up and hit the trail for a few days hiking 10-20 miles, leave no trace, haul it in haul it out setup new camp every night.

Caravans or RVs....pulling a trailer or driving a self contained recreational vehicle

Glamping- either bringing everything but the kitchen sink (or maybe that too) or going someplace that has tent or yurts with all the amenities of a hotel or resort.

Let's chat about your favorite methods and discuss what we think Thomas is up to when he goes "camping"
 
Tent. Pack the car full of blankets, buy stuff to cook on the fire, not a whole lot else.

The last time we went camping, it didn't go well.

My middle son had a med change that day. He just looked... weird. Took him to the campsite playground. He continued to say things that didn't make sense(moreso than usual). I didn't trust him to a point I wouldn't let him more than a few feet away.

Walked back to the campsite, and all hell broke loose. He started screaming, laughing, throwing random things in the fire(things that didn't belong in the fire). Got intensely violent. So bad I decided he needed to go to a hospital. Got him into the car, and he started trying to kick out the windows. Took him back out and called for help. Police came. One of the cops was able to convince him to go in my car(and not kick the windows), but the followed us to the hospital in case we needed help.

I haven't gone again since. (And I've refused ADHD med trials since, as well.) Was perhaps two years ago.
 
JustGeorge said:
Tent. Pack the car full of blankets, buy stuff to cook on the fire, not a whole lot else.

The last time we went camping, it didn't go well.

My middle son had a med change that day. He just looked... weird. Took him to the campsite playground. He continued to say things that didn't make sense(moreso than usual). I didn't trust him to a point I wouldn't let him more than a few feet away.

Walked back to the campsite, and all hell broke loose. He started screaming, laughing, throwing random things in the fire(things that didn't belong in the fire). Got intensely violent. So bad I decided he needed to go to a hospital. Got him into the car, and he started trying to kick out the windows. Took him back out and called for help. Police came. One of the cops was able to convince him to go in my car(and not kick the windows), but the followed us to the hospital in case we needed help.

I haven't gone again since. (And I've refused ADHD med trials since, as well.) Was perhaps two years ago.
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I wish the best for you and your son.
 
Bear Wild said:
I wish the best for you and your son.
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Thank you. He's doing better now, overall. He still has his difficult days, but he doesn't generally do things of that magnitude anymore.

I probably could take him camping without struggle now, and he'd probably enjoy it. But I'd prefer to have more company with me than what is currently available before I venture out for a camping trip again.
 
For me I have done them all. When I was a kid.with parents, car camping, as young man it was more backpacking, when I got married and then had kids, pretty much 3 decades of car camping again. Now as a burner...we have a version of glamping.
 
I haven't gone camping myself, but I follow someone who does rather frequently (I share the adventures of Dean Nicholson and Nala the Bosnian :kitty: on the forums if anyone's interested...) They've even camped in a Swiss graveyard and they've camped during a severe thunderstorm in Rome... Otherwise, they've stayed in literal castles, ☕roasters, Air B&Bs, ,followers' homes, etc.

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine
 
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We used to go to music festivals(1990-2010). We took a tent with lots of resting/sleeping paraphenalia, a mini-gas cooker. We often ate at the festival where there were usually several food stalls to choose from. Usually a joyous few days of listening and dancing to music.
At one festival(possibly Glastonbury) it suddenly started to rain and the whole place turned into a mud-bath. Lots of fun for us adult-kids. I remember stomping around with mud almost to my knees.

I once went alone to a festival just after I had gotten hearing aids. I lost one of the aids from a gust of wind. I searched the field with others, but to no avail. I just drove home early.
It did freak me out but did learn I could function with one aid. It's cost was over £1000, however my home insurance paid up.

All of the above were over 20 years ago. I am glad to have had the experiences.

@Thomas I hope you are enjoying your camping


ETA I just realised that I am late to this thread
 
We've done tent, then trailer-tent, folding caravan, caravan ... now we're back to tent.

A camper-van is lurking stage right, but who knows.

For me the biggest boon is the ability to stand upright, which we can do in our tent, and couldn't do in our little 'vans – and we don't want a big caravan and have nowhere to store it, anyway.
 
Craz said:
ETA I just realised that I am late to this thread
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Better late than never!

Craz said:
We used to go to music festivals(1990-2010). We took a tent with lots of resting/sleeping paraphenalia, a mini-gas cooker. We often ate at the festival where there were usually several food stalls to choose from. Usually a joyous few days of listening and dancing to music.
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At Glasto, bread-and-butter pudding – maybe from No Bones Jones?

And the toastie truck on the exit path late at night – we were in the caravan field outside the immediate site.


Craz said:
At one festival(possibly Glastonbury) it suddenly started to rain and the whole place turned into a mud-bath. Lots of fun for us adult-kids. I remember stomping around with mud almost to my knees.
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Wife and dottirs went one year – I was on a degree residential – the next week the bath was full of muddly clothes, day in, day out, it took so-o-o-o-o many rinses to get all the mud out 🤣

The vibe was, of course, the best thing about it. The late, great Dolly Parton absolutely rocked it, whereas the notable Paul Simon played the Sunday Legends spot and was dire ... an audience has been camping for four days in hot weather ... we're tired and we're dusty, and you keep playing slow ballads! How to turn up with a playlist and not read the crowd. They just wandered away. I was pleading for something upbeat, "Cecilia, c'mon, give us a break here, Cecila!"

Semi-walking, semi-wading, and my foot comes out leaving a wellie knee-deep in mud. Hands reach out from all directions to grab and steady me as I worked my foot back in. Everyone laughing.

Our friends used to take their son & daughter out of school. It's considered a no-no, and you can be in trouble with the educational authorities, but the head teacher saw it as a 'culturally educational' and so gave official permission.

Craz said:
I once went alone to a festival just after I had gotten hearing aids. I lost one of the aids from a gust of wind. I searched the field with others, but to no avail. I just drove home early.
It did freak me out but did learn I could function with one aid. It's cost was over £1000, however my home insurance paid up.
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Ouch!

I've got NHS aids. I've also got the 'BeMore' app on my phone. I lost an aide in the grass outside our tent ... and the app has a 'find my hearing aid' which although not pin-sharp in location, works as a direction finds, and crawling around with the signal like 'warmer ... warmer ... no, cold again ... warmer ..." I found it!

Craz said:
All of the above were over 20 years ago. I am glad to have had the experiences.
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Yep. Decided Glasto is just too expensive and way too many people now.

I still hanker after a rave, though ...
 
wil said:
Standing up a definite plus. The weird one for me is I went from ground to backpack mat to blow up, to cot, and now back on ground.
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Oooh ... we still at blow-up mat.
 
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