Author Topic: What is your vacation/ camping personality?  (Read 16735 times)

mm1970

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Re: What is your vacation/ camping personality?
« Reply #50 on: March 26, 2018, 12:19:44 PM »
Dammit, I hate when I reply to these zombie threads by mistake. Who bumps these things?

The way I figure, if it was worth reading then, it's worth reading now.  Just don't type up a huge response to an ancient case study!
Necro-thread!  I was surprised to see it as I was the OP, and it was a long time ago.

Looks like a newbie found it and bumped it.

Update from me:
We are on the once every-year-or-two camping schedule.  We camped one night last Thanksgiving week, Joshua Tree.  Was supposed to be two but it was 32-35 degrees and night and I'm a wimp.  7:30 am the next morning I had my husband exchanging points for a hotel room in Kingman Arizona.

I agree that it's more worth it for > 2 nights.

We have no camping plans for this year.  Doesn't mean we won't do it...but honestly, "developed" campgrounds are $45/night and a decent cheap hotel in some areas can be found for $125 a night, so the incentive isn't there much.

Last year though we rented a cabin.  It's a lot more fun to rent a cabin.  Though my younger child is 5 now, so I can see where camping might get to be more fun again.
« Last Edit: March 26, 2018, 12:21:41 PM by mm1970 »

Just Joe

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Re: What is your vacation/ camping personality?
« Reply #51 on: April 01, 2018, 11:54:53 AM »
We like to car camp using a small (almost) weathertight utility trailer we own. We like to make it part of a larger trip - maybe bicycling or hiking or kayaking or sightseeing.

Trailer allows us to travel easily without riding in a car packed to the roof with whatever we want to bring. They are a solution from Europe where many people have little (tiny) cars and long vacations to pack for.

We tent camp but I can see as we get older that cots or a popup trailer might be a good solution. We haven't back country camped in years though once upon a time we enjoyed it. Then kids happened and the logistics were complicated, thus the car camping.

We also vacation renting a condo here or there and go grocery shopping. A motel room is really a single overnight festival solution for us. Anything more and we prefer a real kitchen.

Ultimately someday I'd like to have a teardrop trailer or some sort of Aussie adventure popup trailer derivative (don't need to hardcore offroad personality just the versatility). A rooftop tent might get the job done too. One (expensive) solution: https://www.sylvansport.com

As much as we admire the big travel trailer I don't think I want to navigate such a thing on the backroads that we frequent.

With modern Li-Ion batteries and LED lighting I can avoid a generator for a long, long time. We still cook over fire/gas, just need a bit of lighting for certain chores. Don't need a living room experience when we go camping - HOWEVER a real running water bathroom is welcome. I know we're outdoor lightweights. ;)

« Last Edit: April 01, 2018, 11:57:57 AM by Just Joe »

OtherJen

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Re: What is your vacation/ camping personality?
« Reply #52 on: April 01, 2018, 12:20:33 PM »
We (husband and I) love camping and try to do at least one trip per summer. We definitely lean more toward the “all out” side of things because we like to cook. We bought a grill that rigs up over the campfire, so we grill bratwursts or steaks or chicken legs for dinner and maybe wrap a couple of potatoes in foil and throw them in the fire pit. The final morning’s breakfast is always simple, like yogurt with granola, but otherwise we like to scramble eggs and mix in some cheese and bacon or ham (cooked at home, chopped, and kept in a baggie in the cooler). Last year we kept drinks to beer/wine, but we’ve been the gin and tonic people before. It definitely takes planning and prep (I make SO many lists) but once we’re there, everything is set and we can just relax once we’ve unpacked.

All our trips have been car camping in state parks (Michigan) with indoor toilet/shower facilities, and we have a tent and sleeping bags rather than a trailer. We also have no kids (which definitely makes going all out easier). We tend to camp for a maximum of 4 nights because we know that we can fit all food and supplies in the car (plus the total site fee is usually $120 or less).

asauer

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Re: What is your vacation/ camping personality?
« Reply #53 on: April 02, 2018, 07:56:16 AM »
I'd say we're somewhere in the middle, we go pretty simply except for a couple of luxuries (inflatable cushy sleeping mats for example).  However, just something to think about to make things easier:
1. Have all gear stored in 2 plastic containers so that we just pull them out, put in car and go.  No having to get things from different places and assemble
2. I have dollar store plates, knives, forks, cups, 1 pot, 1 pan, 1 cutting board that live in the camping container.  I don't have to constantly gather from the kitchen.  Plus, I don't destroy my nice kitchenware on campfires
3. Consider private campgrounds- they generally still have tucked away campsites but offer a few more amenities that your hubs may like.  We do that if there's a likelihood of heavy rain or if it will be cold. 

2Birds1Stone

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Re: What is your vacation/ camping personality?
« Reply #54 on: April 02, 2018, 08:42:24 AM »
Necro thread indeed. But still a very relevant topic =)

We've always car camped until this point. We bring a big 4 person tent, heavy sleeping bag, air mattress, and go to a campground that you can pull the car right up to your spot.

There's always been bathrooms and showers available only a short walk away. Kittatinny in PA was great as they had tent sites right on the Delaware river.

SO and I would love to get some lightweight gear in the near future and do over night hikes where we have to set up camp nightly. With a goal of thru hiking the AT in the first few years of FIRE it will be good to get some practice and shake out our gear needs.

Vacations we usually like to fly into or drive to a cool walkable city and stay for ~2-3 nights in a travel hacked hotel, or a cheap AirBnB.

Longer trips have always been limited to 7-9 days due to work, and while I enjoyed laying on a beach in a Caribbean resort.......that no longer sounds like fun.

Moving forward the goal is FI to be able to slow travel and use geographical arbitrage to maximize the utility of our money, as well as sprinkling in long term hiking and bike-packing adventures.

Panfish

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Re: What is your vacation/ camping personality?
« Reply #55 on: April 02, 2018, 05:32:35 PM »
If you are car camping, the only way to go is Exped's Megamat.  Check out the reviews on Amazon and across the interwebs... Can't put a price on good sleep and the megamat is more comfy thant my $2,500 bed at home.  Seriously.

Laserjet3051

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Re: What is your vacation/ camping personality?
« Reply #56 on: April 03, 2018, 09:44:25 AM »
Primitive, remote, rugged, by foot..........but never scrimping on high quality meals (I once backpacked the ingredients to bake bread into the High Sierra, built a mud/dirt oven in the ground and baked a quality (yeast) bread).


Fishindude

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Re: What is your vacation/ camping personality?
« Reply #57 on: April 03, 2018, 10:06:05 AM »
I like to car camp so you can take significant gear right to the campsite, but I do not care for campers, electricity, air conditioning, heaters, etc. while camping.
Prefer a big tent with cots, Coleman lantern for light, LP stove or campfire to cook on, a wood stove or simply a warm sleeping bag if you need heat.  Prefer to stay away from the organized campgrounds and just camp at random in state forest, on BLM land, private ground where I have permission, etc.     Really enjoy cool / cold weather fall camping and hunting.

JLee

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Re: What is your vacation/ camping personality?
« Reply #58 on: April 03, 2018, 01:52:33 PM »
If you are car camping, the only way to go is Exped's Megamat.  Check out the reviews on Amazon and across the interwebs... Can't put a price on good sleep and the megamat is more comfy thant my $2,500 bed at home.  Seriously.

I have an Exped Synmat 12 and you're right, it's absurdly comfortable.

jlcnuke

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Re: What is your vacation/ camping personality?
« Reply #59 on: April 03, 2018, 02:38:00 PM »
This is my idea of enjoyable camping:



Waking up cold, on the ground, etc isn't much fun for me. Waking up in the tropics surrounded by beautiful scenery and crystal clear warm water, on the other hand, is blissful.

Otherwise I'll take a hotel/resort for my vacations.

tralfamadorian

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Re: What is your vacation/ camping personality?
« Reply #60 on: April 04, 2018, 11:21:24 AM »
This is a great zombie thread.

After going backpacking in Europe in college with a gigantic 50+ lb pack, I've become pretty minimalist in all my traveling. For hiking, it's UL, no cook, no frills- except for the kindle.

Easye418

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Re: What is your vacation/ camping personality?
« Reply #61 on: April 05, 2018, 01:31:51 PM »
Honestly, I wouldn't mind camping, but I don't think it can be bare bones camping.

Also, I hate sharing my space with tons of rowdy people and I hate snakes.

But residing in Texas, I am sure we have wonderful campgrounds all over the place that will fit for me. 

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!