Camping Overnight vs. A Camping Vacation

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

If you enjoy camping, is it better to go camping on a weekend, or to take a full week-long vacation out into the wilderness? The answer might seem obvious: people who enjoy camping should take as much time camping as they possible can, right? But when you consider the advantages and disadvantages of both, you might just gain a new perspective. Here are some variables to consider.

Time Off

When you go camping for a vacation, it can make a great vacation, but it’s still a vacation. That means you have to take time off of work, plan to take your family traveling, and manage all of your affairs so you can have the week off. No problem, right? For many people, this is an ideal situation, and if you love camping vacations, there’s no reason to stop now.

Your Level of Expertise

Unless you plan on renting an RV for your entire camping trip, your level of camping expertise will have a dramatic effect on your ability to camp for a week. If you’ve never gone camping before, you can expect to meet a few surprises throughout the week. They won’t all be pleasant ones. Camping is a skill, and if you decide to match your wits against nature for the first time over one week, you may find that nature often wins.

What’s a great way to build this skill? Camping overnight on the weekends until you feel comfortable building fires, setting up camp, and cooking your food.

If, however, you know that your level of expertise is more advanced, you can have a great time vacationing all week – and in fact may find that’s the only way to camp for you.

What works best for you? A true camping enthusiast may find that including both overnight camping on the weekends and week-long camping vacations is the best way to go, and the only way to continue to get your fix!

Photo Credits: ames sf