Camping

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Hey guys, I'm going camping in August, with an anime convention. Instead of hotels, it's on a camp site. There's no electrical hook ups, so I've ordered some battery charger things for my phone, but from those who have been camping before, or are experienced campers, what's on your necessity list?

I've got a tent on order, I know I need a mallet, some tent pegs for the ground, a ground sheet (the tent comes with one), and things like chairs, a table, etc.

I will most likely be going in my car. It's not the biggest of cars, so I don't want to take everything I don't need, but at the same time I'm not limited with things to carry 'less of'.

-Torch.

-Aspirin / Paracetamol/plasters etc.

-A stove of some sort. I use a Kelly Kettle so I don't need fuel. It burns anything really efficiently so you can boil a litre of water with just a few pine cones or even a single newspaper or magazine. It's not the best for cooking on, but it's perfect if like me you enjoy lots of tea throughout the day, as it's the best way to boil water.

-More loo-roll than you think you'll need.

-I also take a proper pillow, and a large double duvet instead of a sleeping bag. Just fold one side over the other and sleep in it like you're the filling in a taco. It's infinitely more comfy than a sleeping bag as you can roll over freely in it. Try it out on the living room floor, compared to a sleeping bag, and you'll see what I mean.

-A roll of decent quality bin liners for dirty clothes / sitting on when the grass is dewy in the morning.

-a spare pair of sandles / pumps, in case your main boots get wet, or for wearing on the way to the shower / loo / bushes.

-Twice as many spare socks / underwear as you think you need.

-Thermos flask, and a stainless steel insulated mug, so your brew stays hot.

- big towel, medium towel, and a couple of tea towels.

- small bottle of washing up liquid

Hmm.. I sure there's more, but those are my initial ideas.

Last time I went camping with my family all I required was a bicycle and a box of cereal! The suggestions above are good, the main thing being to stay hydrated, fed and avoid being the target of stings and bites

Wet towel papers.

A small water container, so you dont need to run to the water supply area three times a day.

In electronic markets you can usually find cheap solar chargers. Its nothing else like a little box with sockets and an solar panel. It does actually not deliver that much of energy, so you cant use a washing machine with it ^^, but its sufficient for small stuff like mobile phones, MP3 players, small music boxes, e-book readers and similar.

If you are a girl and intend to stay up at nights for party, I´d recommend some kind of coloured bottle with a bigger opening. Actually at those CON or festival tent places, lazy people start looing everywhere. So if you need to go to the toilette at late night, and are as well a bit drunk, it sucks, because there will be tent ropes everywhere, and you dont want to risc falling to the ground. With the bottle you can simply pee in it, and then empty it the next day in the morning, when you go to the regular toilette. (As mentioned: A COLOURED bottle! ^^)

Some extra tent-rope-hooks for replacing the ones you will be stolen. ^^

That silver extra strong tape, for being able to do little repairs on your tent. Same goes for leatherman/suiss knife.

If you intend to spend the evening reading at your tentplace or whatever, that solar gardenlamps are really cool to have.

A big post it on the inner side of your flat door telling you "DONT FORGET THE ENTRANCE CARD!! !"

Some minor dish stuff (Spoon, fork, knife, cup, ...) One set is sufficient, when you have wet toilette papers/water container with you, you can instantly clean it.

Some ear plugs, because tent areas at cons and festivals are normally pretty loud, so without earplugs it might be hard to sleep.


Anyway how unfashionable it might look ^^, I´d recommend a bellybag or bodybag or whatever, so you have your mobile phone, documents, entrance card, ... always with you.

Clothing: I always went well with having one set of cloth with me for "Its absolutely f*****g cold and rains!" (=Boots, good anorak, pullover, rain shelter, ...), one set of cloth for "OMG, its so hot I am melting." (= Bikini, sunhat, flipflops, beachskirt) and two sets of medium temperature clothing with me (=sneakers, jean, T-shirt). For everything between that, you can simply mix clothings. Dont know about your area, but around here (middle europe) even in summer it can get f*****g cold at 4:00 morning.

Oh I love camping.

We was camping in Amsterdam this time last year and it was freezing.

I found that a thermal vest and long johns came in very handy, as it can get a bit drafty in a tent.



I bought one of these to charge the phones. It was excellent value for money. It takes 4 batteries and it will also charge laptops.

I don't know what the weather's like where you are but a woolly hat and a pair of fingerless gloves might come in handy.

Oh, and don't forget your toothbrush.

I know someone has mentioned torch, but those head lights are good because you've still got both your hands free to undo knots or whatever.

Good luck, I've always had bad luck when it came to camping. I wouldn't mind it so much if it didn't always rain the same night or the next day. Lol I hated being awoken by rain drops

The last time I went camping, I got sick the next morning from either bacteria in the lake or a virus all because I accidentally swallowed some lake water ...

I want to experiment around with a camp fire, metal and collecting electricity since I suppose heated metal produces electricity. That might come in handy if your lost and you know a little about radios and antennas as well as know Morse code ... Wouldn't you have to know your rough longitude and latitude coordinates for Morse code to work ?

! !! !?
What sort of camping is this?

The only luxury I take is a hot water bottle and a little gas stove to heat up the water for such, and a cup of coffee of course.
Even in summer it can get quite cold at night sometimes.
I went on a motorbike rally in October, after coming out of the entertainment marquee, I saw all the tents covered in a thin layer of ice, not white frost, clear ice!

A BIG mallet, nothing shows a novice camper more than a mallet which is too small to push the tent pegs in.

Decent quality tent pegs, folded steel or, if you can't get them, a dozen eight inch nails.

A ball of string. Useful if a guy rope comes unattached from the tent and you can run it between two trees on your last day and hang the tent out to dry.

Anti-mosquito cream.

Condoms, just in case.

I'm a girl and bat for the girls team, so condoms might not come in handy for me, but I will be sure to remind any of my male friends going

Oh and thanks for all your tips and advice. I'll be sure to note it down

Lots of things were already covered but I'd add a few things you'd probably know already
basic 1st aid kit
personal hygiene & female products
any medication your on; get refills if your about out
a decent lighter; one of those long BBQ 1s would be OK
a good knife or maybe two like a swis-army one & a bigger fixed blade
you could also get car charger things for your electronic devices instead of using up all those batteries for those portable chargers but it's good to have those on hand too

Don't forget the noms. Make sure you have a cooler and plenty of icepacks to keep the hot dogs cold until you toast them. Take cooking utensils too. And its a perfect excuse to buy overpriced freeze dried ice cream, yummy.

Oh and unless you plan on drinking only hot beverages take a camp water purifier.

I think you need to separate camping in the meaning of "enjoying back to the roots", hiking with the additional task that you need to carry everything on your back, and CON and festival camping with the meaning of "I do not really intend to enjoy camping and nature, here among all that looing people and the rotting garbage. But I am here for another reason, and make the best out of it to live as comfortable as possible."

I do like hiking and normal camping as well, but camping places at Cons and festivals is not about "that kind of camping". ^^ Its simply about "the hotel is too expensive and too far away".