There's also the myth that camping is a cheap option. We camp mainly in France so twelve nights plus ferries and fuel is invariably more costly than the same time on the costa del godknowswhere. Many brits fly to an identikit destination in the med for there jollies but there's so much more variety, scenery, food, wine and lovely sites around France
We pay more for the static once a year (which I still regard as camping of a sort!) in Cornwall than any of our friends pay for their airborne trips to Europe!
And in fact we chose tent camping as a general holiday lifestyle because it CAN be a cheap option, and a very delightful one! If we choose, we can camp not too far from home, thus saving petrol. We can camp on very basic sites, which are quiet and isolated and blissful, but also inexpensive. We can save money on food, by taking pre-frozen stuff and tinned stuff and heating it at the tent instead of eating out. We can even quaff our home-brewed beer and wine, and save oodles of $£$£$£!
It's still a REAL holiday... lying in a tent listening to owls and barking foxes at night is far more real to us than sitting round a concrete pool, feeling jealous of someone else's suntan or sunbed!
I just wish the sun could be persuaded to shine on our campsites a little more often!
" ... no matter what i said they insisted camping was not a real holiday. in the end i just gave in but this made me really angry..."
Don't be angry! Agree with them and let them have their "Real Holidays" abroad or where ever! Imagine you being able to convince them to try it and I have to meet with those people with that attitude...
You go on and enjoy camping with the family and be glad you're at least released from thick skulls like them for the duration.
same here, but my work mates just think i'm a bit mad, in a funny way! espesually where i work as we tend to get camping gear in a few times a year and thats my time to shine lol, i get to talk camping all day with my likeminded customers!
These sort of threads really just preach to the converted..One person's idea of a good holiday is somebody elses idea of hell. Any camper who dismisses a package tour in a Spanish hotel as rubbish is just as guilty of snobbery as a package tourist who does the opposite.
Plenty of campers also take package hols as well & plenty of campers go down to Spain & camp in the same towns & use the same beaches as package tourists..so little difference really & edges blurred.
The worst holiday I can think of is on a narrowboat on a canal, how anybody can derive any pleasure from that is beyond my comprehension, but obviously some folks enjoy it.
In a shot, i'd be on that plane to go on a package hol... if i had more money!
i love camping, its ingrained in my soul. everything about going camping excites me and i get just as giddy packing for a hol abroad as i do about going camping, not sad..just true!
Quote: Originally posted by searchlighters on 01/10/2010
What is wrong with both? I absolutely love camping despite protesting for years that I would never ever do it! My OH now complains that I am obsessed (particularly with this site However, I still love my holidays abroad, and I'm not talking about package holidays to the Canaries or Spain! But even if I were, surely it's each to their own and by sl*gging off such holidays you are no better than someone who sl*gs off camping. Everyone has a right to enjoy their break the way they want to whether that be camping, jetting off to Spain, hiking in Canada or both?
I agree everyone sl*gging off these so called proper holidays is just as bad as the work colleagues of the OP take a look at yourselves and what your saying. Different folk like different things. Get off your high horses for god sake LOL
Reading through this thread it's almost as if some people are embarrassed about being campers, embarrassed to the point of trying to justify it! Just enjoy your holiday what ever way you want to, just because we go camping doesn't make us better or worse people than those that don't!
------------- June 2nd-9th - Hirdre Fawr Farm (was a wet one)
August 19th-26th - Teifi Meadows
June 2013 - Majorca fed up with UK weather
I'm not having a pop at the OP here at all as there was a genuine question posed. What I am trying to do is highlight the fact that people are different and there is such a thing as choice. What is right for one may be wrong for another but people should not be judgemental about people who make different choices.
Personally I like all sorts of holidays whether it be camping or a trip abroad - both are great as far as I am concerned but I appreciate that this may not be the case for others. I too get comments from friends and work colleagues about camping but I tend to laugh and ignore them - it is, after all, they that are missing out - maybe ;-) Obviously not in their eyes but as others have said, more room for us on those fabulous campsites For those that have a tendency to not enjoy holidays abroad then fine, the same applies, more room on the plane
------------- 2012
March - Woodovis, Devon
April - Trewethett, Tintagel
April - Santander - no caravan
May - The Willows, Abersoch
June - Killegruer, Mull of Kintyre
August - Gwithian Farm, Cornwall
September - TBC
October - TBC
Quote: Originally posted by searchlighters on 01/10/2010
What is wrong with both? I absolutely love camping despite protesting for years that I would never ever do it! My OH now complains that I am obsessed (particularly with this site However, I still love my holidays abroad, and I'm not talking about package holidays to the Canaries or Spain! But even if I were, surely it's each to their own and by sl*gging off such holidays you are no better than someone who sl*gs off camping. Everyone has a right to enjoy their break the way they want to whether that be camping, jetting off to Spain, hiking in Canada or both?
Well said! This thread comes up every so often and as you say, it is just as bad being dismissive of others' tour operator package holidays as it is their dismissiveness of camping.
There are many types of holidays to be enjoyed, beyond camping or packages. My best ever holiday with the OH was a gite in the Loire Valley (eurotunnel and driving) and we go skiing once a year - can't really be achieved under canvas!
A proper holiday is staying somewhere beautiful with your loved ones, relaxing and enjoying their company whilst sampling the local fine dining and wines.
Some years I can afford to do that in a water bungalow in the Maldives, some years I can afford it on a campsite in the south of France.
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: real holiday
However, I still love my holidays abroad, and I'm not talking about package holidays to the Canaries or Spain! But even if I were, surely it's each to their own and by sl*gging off such holidays you are no better than someone who sl*gs off camping. Everyone has a right to enjoy their break the way they want to whether that be camping, jetting off to Spain, hiking in Canada or both?
Well said! This thread comes up every so often and as you say, it is just as bad being dismissive of others' tour operator package holidays as it is their dismissiveness of camping.
