Part of why some people have a distaste for camping is because they would rather be in the French Riviera staying in one of the finest hotels on the Mediterranean. Realistically, they have to go camping or sit at home for their vacation because they can't afford it otherwise. There are those of us that love camping (and I have stayed in a campsite on the French Riviera).



Camping is a recreational activity. It's done outdoors and most of the time you have to deal with the bugs and mosquitoes. I had a guy pull into a campground with this great big motor home. He asked about the facilities, and we told him there was electricity and water hookups, a bathroom facility with showers and laundry and a sewer dump. He commented, "I guess it's pretty primitive, huh!" My idea of primitive is when you backpack into the back country for 8 hours at the end of May, set up your tent on top of 12 inches of snow and begin to cook your dinner on a cook stove.

When you plan to camp, what are your choices going to be. - Are you going to backpack in and carry all your equipment and camp in the wilderness? - Are you going to camp in a tent in a campground? - Are you going to camp in a campground in a camping trailer or a recreational vehicle like a Motor Home? - Or, are you going to camp in a cabin?

My favorite means of camping is to pack it all in and to be away from it all. Although I can't do that any longer, these are some of my fondness memories. I'm not much of a recreational vehicle enthusiast so I can't help you much there. I spent some time camping this way but I also pulled my bag out and laid under the stars most of the time I did this. I also liked camping in a cabin or a tent in a campground, then spending the daytime exploring and hiking in the area.

You have a lot of choices and maybe a combination of 2 is what might work for you. One that worked for us was to have a Time Share and spend some of our time in the Time Share and some of it camping. We had a couple different places we did this. You could go a day or two early and camp along the way then spend a day or two in the Time Share then camp again somewhere else then back to the Time Share. This worked well for us to get showers in, spend some time in town and get away from "roughing" and the weather if it turned sour on you.

We had some vacations to National Parks that we did this with. If you bought into a Time Share anyway, this is a great way to take advantage of some of the best and most scenic vacation spots in the world. (I'm not putting in a plug for Time Shares because you can do the same with a hotel stay as well.) We also did this in Europe with another family we were traveling with. We had a couple of nights in the Time Share then we gave them a couple of nights. If you are traveling to a National Park or a similar outdoors area, this is a great arrangement so you can take showers before you get back on the airplane to go home.