Our family really loves camping, especially our son (7). He isn't really into anything such as sports, so camping/summer time are a big deal for him.
So we are really considering buying a trailer, specifically a hard sided pop up trailer. We would like to upgrade from tent camping for numerous reasons. Here are a few:
The amount of prep it takes for tent camping is huge, the main reason for this is DW likes to bring EVERYTHING.
Tent camping is tiresome, the setup, the sleeping, crawling in and out of the tent, it's getting harder we are in our mid 40's now (please note we are not lazy and are physically active)
The weather, if it rains while packing up, the tent needs to be set up again to dry off once we are home, this is a pain.
The process of trying to locate stuff (toothbrushes, toys, maps) while the car is jam packed with stuff is incredibly frustrating.
The pluses of the camper would be an easier time prepping for camping trips and better organization.
The ability to camp in all forms of weather, and related to this, the ability to camp off season with the heater (less people to deal with), this is probably the biggest plus for me.
It seems like we can get a decent trailer for about 8K, according to what I have seen listed, (it seems like prices have crept up here due to everyone wanting to buy one). I don't want to pretend that this is a cheap/frugal option, however I am interested in hearing from anyone else who may have switched from a tent to a small trailer for family camping.