Why did you decide to try camping?

[DaveS]

Welcome to the site.
We should have been off camping this weekend, but the weather was horrible. So we're going in a couple of weeks instead.

[Jacqueslemac]

I was taken to the Isle of Skye when I was three months old and have never stopped.

Same with youth hostelling.

Come to think of it, I've followed my parents by having a camper van too!

[davsato]

id never camped before, till i got my 1st job after leaving school.
we all got sent on an outward bound course type thing on the isle of wight and had to sleep out a couple of nights using bivvy bags. it was dreadful, im a big chap and the sleeping bag was way too narrow and the bivvy bag was too short, coupled to a very hot, moist, claustrophobic feeling, i had to sleep with the end unzipped and woke up in the early morning drenched. hated it.
it didnt put me off completely, but i didnt try again for another ten years when i started motorbike riding and started going to rallys and shows. my first one was the BMF show in peterborough, the first night was in a tiny borrowed singleskin tent that leaked like a sieve, luckily theres always someone selling camping gear up there and i got a vango delta 3 person with two bags for £50, and a XL vango 3season bag. sold the 2 free bags on ebay when i got home which made the half price tent half price again. (is that 1/4 price?). looked funny with two tents and four sleeping bags plus luggage bungeed on the bike though!
since then ive tried a quechuo pop up, which made the bike look like an AWACS plane, then a khyam eiger, which was a bit small so now a khyam biker. now i try and get away a few times a year, either alone with mates, if you know what i mean, or with mini me on our own, now hes 11 and got a victorinox for his birthday theres no stopping him.
i enjoy the fresh air,
the excuse to cook slop and go "wow, this is the life",
the excuse to sit around drinking, followed by the compulsory big fried breaky, the only time im allowed one,
the company,
the cheapness, generally, although what ive spent on gear the last few years would have paid for quite a few hotel rooms

[Jacqueslemac]

... the cheapness, generally, although what ive spent on gear the last few years would have paid for quite a few hotel rooms

Shhh. You don't know who might be listening. Haven't you heard of "wife pounds"?

[micksylver]

First camping experience was in the Cubs - dib dib dib! Loved it cos it was something new.

Carried on through my apprenticeship - "outward bounds" courses in The Lakes, Pennine Way, Mersea Island.

Various camp outs at bike rallies and music festivals through the 80's & 90's.

Now combining motorcycling & camping - double freedom!

Planning on getting the kids into camping, if I can.

Why do I like it? I guess its the feeling of self sufficiency, freedom and simplicity.

[tpcornet12]

My first taste of any kind of independence was through camping. My parents let me get the train with friends at age about 14 and we used to go and camp in Hope Valley. Then throughout my youth my parents took the me to Cornwall (mainly Tintagel), they stayed in a trailer tent and I used a ridge tent along side.

I have very happy memories of camping as a child and think it is the healthiest kind of holiday for children, rather than taking them to somewhere in 40 degree heat while parents sit around doing nothing and the children get covered in cream and told not to stay in the sun when all they want to do is play!! On a camping trip you can go exploring caves, take coastal walks, go to the beach, play football, have barbeques - all on a shoe string!

Now I am a little older and still love my camping trips, although I do mix them with trips of a more exotic kind from time to time. I have been invited to celebrate a friend's 40th birthday where 10 couples with families will head for Llandudno for a weekend and I can't wait.

Camping holidays are healthy and can provide relaxation or adventure and anything else you fancy, all on your doorstep at a fraction of the cost of a foreign holiday and it is something that (almost) any age group can enjoy.

[Sharribee]

All of our childhood holidays were camping ones, it was all we ever knew and in fact it was only when I was 15 I realised that you could use an plane to go on holiday and sit by a pool (didn't like that so much)

So I blame my dad

[Mabels Old Man]

So I blame my dad

Typical

[bad head day]

i started when i was 18 had a girlfriend and went away to have some private time away!!!!!!and i didn`t have much money, then over time upgraded to a frame tent, then got into drag racing and spent many a happy time generally partying and having a laugh with my mates. also got more involved with my biker friends and spent many weekends at shows and rallies i still go to santa pod but nowadays i live it up in the caravan as i am not in the best of health but i am still into bikes and i`m planning to go away as much as possible on the bike but i now need more creature comforts so i am fitting a trailer to take tables, chairs and a bed well off the floor but as of yet have no tow bar but all is in hand

[Hoarder]

First post!

First camping experiences were lodges at school camps, which totally don't count. Recently helped a mate out emotionally with a big loss so we went for a camp, was blown the f away. Have since become obsessed about going again and want to go every weekend!

Wish my parents had taken me as a wee one!