Background: my husband and I have been married over 18 years, two kids (almost-9, and 2.5, late bloomers on the kids).
He grew up camping for vacation. I grew up - not going on vacation. Maybe camped 2-3 times growing up, and only when we could borrow the gear.
Fast forward many decades - our camping trips pre-kid were about every 3 years. We tended to fly to visit family or occasionally go someplace far off, like Hawaii or even twice Europe where his grandmother lived.
Now that we have small kids, and are in our mid-40's, I've really gotten into camping, and he's kind of "over it". I think it's painful and expensive to vacation via air travel with kids, and would rather drive/ camp.
I think part of it is the "work" involved. We have a small house and no garage. So camping for him means getting out all of the gear - the Thule rack for the car from the shed, the sleeping bags and cots from the closet, the cooking gear and camp stove and lanterns from underneath the front porch (where he has to use a screwdriver to unscrew a screen window to get in there, not kidding).
The division of labor does put a lot of the work on him. I tend to handle packing the food/ meals and entertainment (cards, books, etc.)
I'd much rather run around outside at a campground, cook on a campstove really really simple things like chili nachos, instant oatmeal, crackers and cheese, instant coffee, hot dogs and marshmallows, etc. And when we stay at hotels, I prefer to stay where I can at least do a minimal amount of cooking.
He would rather just pay more, stay at a hotel, and eat out. Which, I get it, is easier, especially with small kids.
The last few times we've camped with other families, I've noticed that people have different camping personalities, and they go "all out". Like: cooking pancakes or eggs and bacon for breakfast, making burgers or steaks on the grill for dinner, mixing up mixed drinks like gin & tonics, baking muffins in cast iron pots over the fire, and all of this at campgrounds in the desert with no running water (have to pack it all in). While I see the fun in that - getting more "real food" while camping and enjoying it, I guess my personality is more simple - add water and stir? Make sure there's a cold beer?
So what are your camping and vacation personalities? Wondering if there are ways we can improve our experiences for both of us to make it more enjoyable. I also wonder how much of the pain and suffering is just traveling with a toddler.