Why Does Nobody Like Camping?

A reflection on why some people might not like spending a night under the stars.

Welcome to Wild Reflections, a blog where I share my personal thoughts, experience, feelings and reflections around anything outdoor related. This is free for you to read, so if you enjoy it why not support me and my writing by liking, sharing and subscribing :)

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I had my tent pitched in the sand dunes by 8 PM, the last embers of golden light illuminating the clouds above the sea, whose waves were gently crashing down onto the sand below me. It was August 2022, and I was camped on a remote area of the Norfolk Coast, days into my long-distance hike, feet sore, back aching. I didn’t feel any of that in that moment, though, as I looked out to sea, the wind turbine farm on the horizon blinking back at me. I had never felt peace like it before.

Recently, I was doomscrolling through TikTok, watching suggested camping videos. I clicked on the comments of a particular video, which was a tour of a family's camping setup: an eight-man tent, inflatable sofa, windbreaks, and even a TV with Netflix. It was certainly luxurious.

The comments completely threw me. Line after line of people said things like, “You wouldn’t catch me dead camping,” “I couldn’t think of a worse way to spend my holiday,” and “I went camping once before, never again in my life!”

I know people can enjoy different things, but I couldn’t believe how negative all of the comments were. It felt like no one commenting had had a single positive experience. Like everyone else, I have had a bad camp at some point, but never to the point where it left a bad taste.

This made me wonder about the reasons why people might not enjoy camping, why they would go out of their way to tell people and condemn those who do find it enjoyable. It feels natural to me. I feel more at home under the fabric of a tent than I do in the confines of my living room. Being outside, feeling the breeze on your face, listening to the sounds of trees rustling and birds singing—it all draws me to spend more time outdoors if I can.

I started thinking about why people might go camping for the first time. Maybe because it was a cheap alternative to going abroad? Or to spend some time outside, as it’s meant to be good for your health?

Camping has its pros and cons like anything else. You hope that the pros outweigh the cons so that you can have a positive experience. When I go camping, I think of spending time in nature, living more simply, and having the freedom to go where I want. Then I thought about what people's first experience of camping might be like.

Imagine you’re a young couple wanting to get away for the weekend on a budget. You book a campsite that came up at the top of a Google search. You turn up, and for the first time in your life, you need to build a tent. Not wanting to go without comfort, you’ve bought a big four-man tent with a second room for all your luxury items. There are so many poles and ropes, and while you’re trying to figure it all out, the wind keeps blowing it across the grass.

Tent eventually up, you think you can relax, until the family on the pitch next to you decides they are having a BBQ. They start blasting music from a boombox, and the kids are running around like wild animals, kicking their football up against your tent unsupervised. Eventually, you decide to go to bed, and you’re not used to sleeping on an airbed. It feels uncomfortable, and the wind on the tent is loud, making it difficult to get to sleep.

When you wake in the morning, having not had much sleep at all, you have to trek across a field in your dressing gown to a toilet block that hasn’t been cleaned yet. You start to think you should probably have saved up for that all-inclusive holiday abroad instead.

It’s understandable for people in that situation to think, “Blimey, this is awful!” They’re having to put up with all of the cons and aren’t getting any of the pros. If you treat camping as a budget version of a holiday, then that’s what you will get, and you probably won’t come back a second time.

But camping can be so much more than that. I think back to that night on the Norfolk Coast. How peaceful it was out there on my own. Nothing to do but sit and watch the waves dancing under the burning sunset. What more did I need? I was woken up at 5 AM the next morning by hundreds of seabirds landing on the beach below me, making a racket. I didn’t care because I hopped out of my tent and ran down to the sea to enjoy them, diving into the water and watching the sunrise.

Now, I’m not saying you have to go and wild camp somewhere remote to enjoy camping, but take the time to think about why you want to camp in the first place and plan a trip around that. If it’s to spend time in nature, then do some research and find a quiet campsite where you can sit and watch the world pass by in peace. That might mean you have to forgo some conveniences, perhaps picking a site a bit further away from the seaside town you want to visit. If you’re feeling really brave, try wild camping. The lack of toilets might be off-putting, but it will be more than made up for by the experience of finding your own little part of the world to enjoy.

In conclusion, I think camping gets a bad rap. I hope not as many people hate it as it looked in the comment section of that video. Camping is a lifeline for me, something I look forward to. It helps me reconnect with nature and resets my mind, reminding me of what it’s like to live without all the noise of the world around us. I wish everyone else could have that experience too.

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