Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 20/6/2025
Even after decades of camping experience, and ever increasing car space with each car change, and additional space in form of roof box, getting all the kit in is a constant challenge!
I tend to lay all the kit out together at home, in a stacked square with roughly the footprint of car boot, to judge how close I am to exceeding scope of car! Having it scattered around home and only bringing it all together at car packing stage has proven VERY flawed in past, and then you have the 'what do I leave behind' dilemma, which often involves unpacking what you've already packed!
Friends with a HUGE camping trailer (twin axle jobbie that weighs nearly as much as my 4 berth caravan!!!) still suffer the same 'how do we get it all in' challenge! There is NEVER enough space!
When planning packing the car, GOLDEN RULE, from bitter experience of countless campers, ALWAYS pack tent and everything necessary to erect it LAST! That way it's first thing out of the car and saves unpacking the whole caboodle before getting the tent up amidst the utter chaos of all your scattered worldly goods.
It takes discipline and planning to avoid it becoming farcical, ad hoc is the road to 'never again', and possibly a divorce! ..... and of course getting it all back in at end of stay becomes an even bigger challenge! .... but most survive to do it all again
With our Berlingo and the back seats removed we had no problem taking all our gear to France every year and Italy a couple of times once the "kids" no longer holidayed with us.
Still going strong after 11 years.
You're a bit ahead of me on packing space, despite max carrying capacity in my car similar to your Berlingo, but I've got one back seat occupied by the Collie dog! ... and somehow the dog seems to have as much 'baggage' as a person when crates, bedding, food, grooming gear/towels etc. are taken into account!
..... and maybe I do err towards 'glamping' with a space hogging 3-way camping fridge (and proper gas cylinder!) and a Porta-Potti, and of course the spacious 5 berth tent!
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Another vote for going to the North Coast of Spain ... the Picos area is superb ... and many campsites in the mountains will be a lot cooler ... even the coastal ones are significantly cooler than south of the country.
Would save you hundreds of kiloms of travel!
Well we are setting off on our virgin, trial, camping trip for 4 nights on Monday.
We are going to Camping Alegría del Mar, Benicarlo, Castellon .
Be bought new, mainly from Amazon, Tent, Overmont beds and mattresses, Toiler, pop-up tent, pup tent, Kitchen, Table, EHU, telescopic fans, and lamps all for just under 700€.
We already have a table top fridge, airfrier, electric kettle, chairs, parasols and bases. Taking my echo Dot for music and news.
True to your advice, there was not much room left in my Renault Captur with the back seats down, but everything fitted, including towels and bedlinen in vacuum bags, a plastic box with pans and cooking utensils. We will use the empty box for washing up, as there is a stone sink in our pitch as well as electricity.
Fingers crossed everything fits for the return journey. I hope it will be the start of many enjoyable camping holidays. If not, it´s all going on Amazon market place when we get back, lol.
I´ll post a full debrief on my return, and many thanks for all your advice and encouragement.
Sounds like you are well set up, enjoy yourselves.
Camping is a constant learning experience, no matter how long you've done it, always some way of doing things better/differently, so don't be disillusioned by any minor hiccups, they are something to look back on and laugh about.
First off, it was a great, thoroughly enjoyable experience and can´t wait to do it again.
Got to campsite OK and got the tent out. Opened it up and joined all the poles, two longer than the other two. Despite watching a video several times and looking at the how to erect pictures on the tent bag, I managed to get 2 poles in the wrong tent tubes. When I eventually get the tent up and secure, with the help of two fellow campers, I noticed that one set of tubes had a black trim, and the other set had a white trim, and strangely enough, the two sets of poles had a either a black trim or a white trim. Grrr. why did nobody mention this in the erection instructions.
Then the ground was a bid hard, so the substancial tent pegs included, looked like 6 inch nails, and the mallet that You recommended me to buy, came in very handy. The portaloo worked really well, inside a pop up tent, inside the main tent. Using kitty litter there were no unpleasant odours and no noise whilst using it. I put up an automatic lamp inside, so there was no fumbling in the dark.
The kitchen was a plus, with its built in larder with shelves and a zip closure. The only EHU I could find with a built in circuit breaker was English and therefore had English 3 pin sockets. I had made some cables up with and English plug on one end and a EU Schuko socket on the other. In hindsight I should have brought a 4 gang trailing lead instead of having several cables snaking around the pitch. The table top fridge was inside the pup tent and that worked well. However, there are some campsites where you can hire a fridge.
When it came time to go home, I got up at 7.30 and made a cuppa. Packing up went really smoothly, surprisingly. I had brought some vacuum bags and a pump, so the mattrasses, bedlinen, pillows, dirty clothes etc. were sealed up and put into the footwells of the fold down seats. As the footwells were very underutilised on the way here, things fitted into the car a lot better. By 10.00 we were ready to leave, but I was dripping wet throughout, with perspiration, so I had a shower and got changed first.
118€ for 4 nights, including electricity, at a very nice site next to the beach, with a nice pool, bar/restaurant, and spotless shower blocks.
None of you warned me about the generations of hitchhikers though, on the underside of the tent, snails!!! lol
Also I must remember to include the bedrooms and tentpoles whilst packing up the tent, then they would not have to be put in the car separately.
Thanks for all your advice, we loved the experience and can´t wait for our next trip.
I am 69, and my sister, who cannot walk without the aid of a stick and needs a mobility scooter to get about, is 5 years older. For first timers, I think we did alright.
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Really glad it went so well. ... and thanks for the update.
Not going to lay claim to our advice/guidance being responsible for that, but you were wise enough to think a lot through before arrival on pitch - and MANY don't do that! A learning curve of a vertical brick wall is a tough one to get you hooked on camping, but a few glitches are all part of the adventure and good for a retrospective laugh.
TBH, no matter how long you've camped for, and how practiced and seemingly perfected your kit and techniques, there is always something new to learn! - and then of course all the stuff you 'knew' but had forgotten since your last trip!
'Hitch hikers!' Emmmm! They tend to vary enormously with where you are camping, so we could (had we thought of it at all!) have only given the most general of warnings, anything from harmless bugs, to nastier bugs, and even critters, and the inevitable 'what the hell is that thing!'!
When I was a tenter, I accidentally wrapped up a toad in the groundsheet and it survived without food or water for over a month!
I put it in a dish of water and it seemed to be relieved, and jumped off after a good soak and drink about 10min later.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
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: First time campers
..... and of course getting it all back in at end of stay becomes an even bigger challenge!
