I've always been secretly jealous of my friends who go camping, since they always rave about how much fun it is.

Last month I got to go camping twice. Both occasions were bachelor parties (aka "stag dos" in the UK). Now that I've tried roughing it, I can't see what the fuss is. In fact, I think I actually hate camping.

My first experience was a weekend at an 18-30 campsite near the coast. The Friday night was good fun, but I had a massive hangover on the Saturday, and I don't think there's anything more depressing than having a stinking hangover in the middle of a crowded field, with only a baking hot tent and some warm Pepsi Max for comfort. And I saw a drunk guy do a wee on his tent.

To make matters worse, my friends then got the bus down to the beach. I didn't think I could stomach a bus ride, so I said I would walk to town and meet them there. Once I got to town, it turned out that there were at least six beaches in town, and I didn't have a clue which one the bus served. So I spent most of the day trekking wearily from beach to beach with a massive hangover, playing "Where's Waldo" whenever I saw a crowded bit of sand.

The second bachelor party also got off to a promising start. We did quad biking in the woods (I had to extract myself from a few bushes) and archery (I wasn't very good at that either). Then we returned to the camp site.

I wanted to get the stag drunk, so I took a big bottle of tequila, a tub of salt, some beautiful juicy lemons, and a paring knife to cut the fruit into quarters. I was very proud of how organised I'd been. However, at some point in the proceedings, it dawned on me that I'd forgotten to bring an actual tent. And to make matters worse, everyone else had those tiny little bivouac-style one man jobbies. So I had to sleep under a bloody tree. The one serviceable tree was near the car park, and one of the cars had a car alarm that kept going off all night long.

To make matters worse, I kept getting these little stinging pains, like insect bites, and after a while of lying there I decided that I'd probably gone to sleep on an ants' nest or something. So I sat up and shone my phone around to see what was going on. Turns out I'd bedded down on a load of broken glass.

On both occasions I had a great time, but it was very much the company and not the camping I enjoyed. Surely it would have been better for us all to book a hotel somewhere? Or am I missing something?

Is there anyone who loves camping, and can make a case for it?

Well a bad hangover will make the playboy mansion barely enjoyable, especially outdoors. I'm not a huge fan of sleeping outside in a tent, I'd rather get a house in the Poconos, but all the other outdoor activities are fun. It's like you said though, camping is about 80% of the company your with.

I think that's crucial. The outdoorsy activities and drinking were loads of fun. It was just the fact of not having a proper bed at night, or any creature comforts to aid recovery.

i love camping. i do it almost once a month when the weather isnt bad

I love camping! Been doing it since I was a wee one. Best place to camp is in a highly-treed area. When we lived in California, we would go camping in the Sequoia National Forest. We would put up our dome tent, which had a see-through screen on top, and lay there at night listening to the sounds of the forest and watching the stars in the small gaps between the crowns of the giant trees.

Here in Missouri, it's a different kind of camping. So much more wildlife and night sounds and camping with deciduous trees equals more grass, less bark and therefore a bit more comfortable ground to lay on (though usually we use blow-up mattresses). The best thing about camping in Missouri is the cicadas. I LOVE those bugs so freaking much. Between them and the tree frogs, sitting in your camp chair at the campfire at dusk is just an amazing way to relax, close your eyes, and just... listen.

And to lay outside your tent on a blanket in a clearing at night to watch the millions of stars is just... indescribable.

I don't drink, and no one in my immediate family drinks, and more often than not we go camping with people from my Dad's church, so I'd say I've probably had a LOT different camping experiences from what you have.

As for camp activities... well, there's campfires and roasting marshmallows for s'mores and singing camp songs and fishing and playing "warshers" & horseshoes and swimming and walking the trails and gathering cool-looking rocks and grabbing bugs for one's collection (hehe) and... well, so many fun things to do!

For me, camping is all about the relaxation. Don't have a specific agenda--go with the flow. If you have an itinerary saying "Gotta be HERE at THIS TIME, then HERE at THIS time," it just makes you uptight and unable to relax.

And yeah, hangovers are not the best way to spend a camping trip...

Is camping a synonym for drinking?

If my two camping weekends are a representative sample, then it seems to mean drinking outdoors and then having nowhere sensible to sleep.

Tina, your description of camping sounds truly idyllic. But I think people like me are doomed to sit in a deck chair swigging warm Pepsi and watching drunk guys wee on their own tents.

I agree. What is the point but for a different reason.

I don't want to get mauled by an animal or bigfoot and I certainly don't want to be one of those unfortunate people to run into a criminal having a bad day.

I'll stay indoors where it's much safer.

Camping is awesome. And sounds like you had one great night, then had your hangover and ruined your trip. Your fault, not camping.

And you forgot a tent? Sounds like you ruined your own trips.

Maybe you should try again... not near a beach. I honestly don't know anyone who's ever camped near a beach.

I'm in the anti-camping camp. I'm not a fan of insects, not having indoor plumbing, sleeping on the ground, or lack of climate control devices. I hate eating outdoors too.

It's pretty hard for me to sleep unless everything is just right. I need my noise machine, the room to be cool, and a nice bed. I can't get any of those with camping.

Depending on where you camp, both of those events are very unlikely to happen, especially if you're in a public campground (as opposed to out in the true wild). Plus, in areas that actually have wild animals that will maul (like bears), they give you plenty of information when you check in on how to dispose of waste, etc. In fact, at some campgrounds, they actually mount the trash cans on poles so that you can keep any food waste out of reach of animals.



Again, depends on where you're staying. If you go to a state park campground, you can find yourself with all sorts of great amenities. For example, at the site we use at the Table Rock State Park, there's a small bathroom on one end of the area, and on the other, there's a bathhouse with GREAT restrooms (I'm not big on bugs, and I still can't believe how they manage to keep bugs out of their bathrooms!), shower stalls, even washers & dryers! And there's a nice little playground next to it for the kids.

I don't like eating outdoors, either, 'cause of all the flies, but with a nice-sized citronella candle, you can eat in relative peace.

But, I can understand where some people are just not big on outdoorsy stuff like camping. I mean, heck, I myself hate a good majority of bugs and don't like getting dirty, and yet the spiritual & mental benefits of camping far outweigh the few cons.

If I had to do camping, that's the way I'd do it, then. And, to be fair to camping, it does beat sleeping on the sheets stained with bodily fluids at the hotels.

i love camping but hate sleeping in tents, so i usually camp at KOA and rent a cabin. it's just a basic wooden shack with a bed and an electrical outlet. that way i can still enjoy the hiking/canoing/sitting around the campfire, etc, without having to sleep outside. and if it's too buggy or rainy outside, i can eat in the cabin.

Oooh... I was just reading a scary article about the bed bug epidemic, and all the hotels that are infested.

I vacation and stay in hotels a lot.

Camping with my own tent and sleeping bag is starting to look pretty good. Is there a campground on the Vegas strip?

Just for you, Tony!

I have firsthand experience with those evil, evil bugs. When I moved into my apartment last year, it turns out it was infested. Took FOREVER to get things under control, but with an AllerZip mattress cover and an exterminator using some kind of bedbug specific bug bomb, they went away over the winter. Have had a few resurgences in other apartments, but doing good in mine; possibly 'cause my dad had me put down chemical-laden diatomaceous earth around my place. Good stuff, that.

My mom and stepdad quit their jobs as managers of a ratty little motel off the main interstate here in MO after someone spotted bedbugs; I was there at the time, so I was able to confirm for them that that's what it was. After a stupid argument with the (very DRUNK) resident housekeeper over whose fault it was that the bugs were there (he was trying to blame the customers who had just arrived and found them; I told him the bugs had to've already been there a few months), my mom basically, "F@#k this shit, I'm leaving this hellhole."

So... um, yeah, back on topic... Yes, camping would definitely be a good alternative to staying in a hotel or cabin. Anyone can bring bedbugs with them, on clothes or luggage, and never know they even have them.

You people aren't helping me and my insect paranoia.

It does seem as though camping itself isn't really to blame for either of your bad experiences, Goktor.

Is camping really to blame for you forgetting to bring a tent and therefore having to sleep on broken glass? Is camping really to blame for you not thinking to ask your mates if there's more than one beach? Is camping really to blame for you getting so drunk that you couldn't stomach a simple bus ride?

The only bit I can really side with you on is the baking hot tent and the warm pepsi max in the morning. But you could've avoided the latter part by bringing a well stocked cool box and keeping it in the shade. And there was nothing stopping you from pitching your tent under some nice leafy trees away from the sun.

Snrub, I am not being lectured by you!!

I guess no one else classes "drunkenness" and "forgetfulness" as force majeure.

So, some people I know who are going camping at one of those group campsite kind of places have invited us (husband and myself), but I'm kind of having trouble seeing the point.

I mean, "camping" to me means you drive hours into nature, hike another little while to get that much further away from people/civilization once you've parked, and then find a spot in the world to call yours for a couple days. If I can see/hear a whole bunch of other people milling about while standing in our "campsite" and cars/RVs are parked all over the place, plus the bathrooms/picnic tables/whatever else all over the place, then how have I gone camping? That sounds more like sleeping in an outdoor parking lot with a bunch of randos. The couple who invited us has a 9-year-old, too, which I don't *want* to be a dealbreaker, but c'mon--kids suck and need too much attention/supervision

And I like sex, so how's it fun to try and fuck with a bunch of lame families all over the place? I'm really not trying to talk myself out of it, as I would like to go camping, but not like this. Not like this...

I remember the ones we went to as a kid were a bunch of sites next to each other and designed campsites with fireplaces and wood for you, but there was at least a lot of trees and foliage around so the aesthetic still worked for camping. That a bunch of families could go camping on the same long weekend and have their kids or teenagers hang out at different sites was part of the appeal I guess. I think people mainly wanted to drink beer beside a fireplace for a weekend so half had trailers, though some did use tents.

However I've seen ones where it's literally just a field of grass with a bunch of RVs on it, I suppose that's the "shitty 9 hole golf course beside the highway cause there's no other option" type of "camping".