what is the world comming to?

[RAPPLEBY2000]

Just come back from a family camping holiday with friends, (Terrible weather!)
not quite Bushcraft but it was a big eye opener!:Wow:
it is funny what people think they need to camp!
i was there with what we think is a large 6 berth 3 pod dome tent.
then we had inside: table 2 chairs, cool bag, lantern, cooker, toys and clothes for the kids, box of food etc.
I'd even managed to convince wifey to use a double sleeping bag instead of the duvet and pillows she wanted to take, i had to "give-in" to the airbed though.

I have to say i was shocked, amongst the other 3 families they had (in their tents):
electric hook up (plus extension cables), small fridge, toaster, a table lamp, hair straighteners, kettles, water heater, several carpets, 240v stereo, wine glasses(glass), but the icing on the cake had to be a fan heater!
one of my friends actually blew the fuse box as he was using so much electricity!
as the electric was free(once paid for) he started charging his electric toothbrushes!
there was some talk about charging car batteries(it was a joke) and using a microwave next time

so how did they pack all this away?.....i did wonder until my wife pointed out something i haddn't noticed....one of the families had bought 2 cars with them!:Wow: it really showed when we packed up to go home, the family in question used the smaller city car to take thewife and 3 kids home and the larger 7 seater driven by dad, just to carry the kit!
all the seats were folded flat and it was full to the ceiling and even the passenger seat was used!

I'd managed to pack all out gear into the boot of our ford focus estate, below window height, i thought we'd taken too much (I'll never worry again!).

how the other side live!

makes me sort of proud that i can survive with a fraction of that stuff!
think about it next time you try to pack everything into a 60l rucksack!

 

[Tengu]

Ah, reminds me of Mongolia.

(can you imagine what it would be like if one of them came to stay?)

 

[sandbender]

You would think a chalet or hotel room would be easier.

 

[gregorach]

Did I ever tell about the time (at a campsite in Tasmania) that I saw a full-sized fridge-freezer hooked up to a gennie outside one of those canvas palaces?

 

[durulz]

Yeah, I'm sure the kids would have a better time, but I doubt the parents would.
Just because we like to camp out with minimal stuff doesn't mean everyone else should or could. Let's not get too snooty and superior - I'm sure all families concerned enjoyed themselves doing what they did.

 

[John Fenna]

Ahem....
Ever heard the phrase "Any fool can be uncomfortable"?
Perhaps their comfort needs are more than others..........

 

[korvin karbon]

Did I ever tell about the time (at a campsite in Tasmania) that I saw a full-sized fridge-freezer hooked up to a gennie outside one of those canvas palaces?

if its for beer, then its ok

 

[Tadpole]

In today current climate, many many people are camping because once you’ve paid for all the gear, it is still cheaper than going on holiday abroad, and you can use the gear next year for free.
To many people it is the only way that they can as a family go on holiday. Going without is something we do as a matter of choice, it adds to our experience. For others it just makes discomfort in to something more miserable.

 

[Brown Bear]

Ahem....
Ever heard the phrase "Any fool can be uncomfortable"?
Perhaps their comfort needs are more than others..........

From recent experience, there is nothing comfortable about loading a car to the roof with half a tonne of heavy camping gear while your two kids reapeat 'are we leaving now' 200 times......and then spending all the weekend faffing about inflating, unfolding and erecting items that you would really be better off without.

Ahhhhh.....family camping. I can't wait until mine are old enough to come light weight wild camping with me.

 

[Tengu]

When I was a child, we could not afford fancy holidays either, we had a caravan. (6 berth, with five of us inside, which on a wet day is no joke.)

I for one would love a caravan again...but cannot afford it.

to me the most aggravating thing about hols was the times we had to go shopping, in order to keep the female contigent happy.

The bit that got me one weekend when I helped a mother and two teen daughters erect a tent. (nice lichfield two bedroom, asserted to sleep six...hobbits, intimate hobbitses that is)

"Have you tried putting this up before?"
"No, its new"
"where are the instructions?"
"hasnt got any, we got it cheap because it hadnt them"
"why didnt you ring the company and ask for a copy?"
"we didnt think of that, how do we get the pegs in?"
"havent you got a mallet?..."

 

[malente]

To each their own I say!

I wouln't even geet SWMBO into a tent. No sir, proper walls, ceiling and floor please and a comfy bed and a shower.

I'm looking forward to go lightweight canoe camping with my two boys, but that's still a few years away unfortunately.

 

[rik_uk3]

Keep it to a minimum, such as tarp, hammock, mozzie net, under blanket, steel tripod, cast iron dutch ovens etc

These luxury campers get as much fun as we do out of sleeping outdoors, good luck to them. Have you never seen a cold box on a 'bushcraft' camping weekend? Lanterns?, fold up chairs? We too take out little luxuries

 

[gregorach]

Nowt wrong with taking a few luxuries, but by the time your on to the full-size snooker table and the home cinema system (complete with 72" plasma TV and klipsch horn subwoofers) you may have gone too far.

 

[Melonfish]

swmbo is off to the beautiful days festival end of aug. i've got to teach her how to put up the tent, how to cook on my trang set and how not to loose everything!
should be fun.

i'm taking my eldest to a meet at middlewood (should be ok) and i'm planning on using the tent there cause he's only 6 and it'll be october! but otherwise everything else is going to be proper bushcraft. just what i can pack in my 66l.

 

[al21]

Sad to say this isn't new. When I used to fish at the Southern Leisure Centre near Chichester in the late 70's you'd regularly see cast iron wheel barrows and other types of tubs for flowers outside caravans. These were touring vans too not statics. I think the most bizzare thing I saw was a wooden platform with pagoda covered in lights as a place to dance. I guess some peoples ideas of getting away from it are very different from mine.

 

[firecrest]

Ah, reminds me of Mongolia.

(can you imagine what it would be like if one of them came to stay?)

God yeah I know. some people just can't live with out their modern lives.

 

[launditch1]

Tch!All i need is a campfire an a tin o' beans...

Im reminded of the Reading festival i went to a few years ago...One guys tent had a fridge/freezer,Carpets,Full size television...The icing on the cake was a little white picket fence surrounding it all!Brilliant...

 

[Tye Possum]

Well like Ray says, If you're roughing it, you're doing it wrong.

 

[Rebel]

I have to say that I'm almost as guilty as the above if I'm going camping with the entire family for a week or more.

When you've got a gang of kids to feed boiling water on a Trangia just doesn't work, I use a gas burner with an LPG bottle. When it chucks it down with rain you need to keep the kids in the tent so you don't want a tiny cramped space and everything getting wet.

I have a huge 16 man tent for the entire gang; you can cook in it and do family activities in it if the weather is bad and it gives you space to chuck wet clothes in the corner. It's still an adventure for the kids and it gives the adults a bit of space to relax.

I did a month in a two man tent with two toddlers when I was younger, I won't say never again but it was hard going and I appreciate a few luxuries now.

 

[peds8045]

My philosophy is... if i'm driving to a campsite, then i will take my three berth tent (for me) and have lots of room inside it and all the goodies. If i'm backpacking then i take the small tent and as little as possible.

At the moot next week, anyone arriving in a car will have loads of stuff ....just see Me included.