Happy Glampers!

I now no longer have to worry about my family killing each other. Yesterday, I agonised over whether to camp or not to camp and the answer proved to be neither. We’re going glamping! For those of you not familiar with this marvellous concept, glamping, or ‘glamour camping’, is a happy medium between basic camping and staying in a room with four walls and private amenities. For years now, glamping has saved many a marriage and prevented countless family holidays from ending in disaster. Glamping is the city dweller’s dream. It allows those of us who would rather sleep in a bed than on the floor in a sleeping bag (and who wouldn’t rather that, really?) to get up close and personal with nature without, well, getting too close. Imagine hearing the sounds of birds, crickets and other wildlife, and smelling the scent of fresh air, all whilst resting your head on plush pillows, on a comfortable bed, under a warm, cosy duvet. Oh, and before you’ve fallen into bed, you’ve had a shower and brushed your teeth in your own private bathroom. That surely beats carefully picking your way across a campground with a torch, juggling towel, toiletries and fresh clothes in your arms, showering with ten other people, sharing a sink with a couple of kids, picking your way back across the campground, trying not to get your freshly washed self dirty again, whilst flashing your torch wildly around as you attempt to remember where exactly your tent is located. Then of course you have to step over your mum, dad and brother to get to your small person-sized space, before folding your weary body into your sleeping bag on the hard ground. Doesn’t seem like there’s much of a choice to me.


The irony of camping is that you’re invariably outside all day, getting hot, sweaty and dirty, so camping holidays are just when you need a nice, relaxing shower the most. Ditto a comfortable bed. I am looking forward to getting back from a day’s hiking down into gorges and scrabbling over rocks, and stepping into my own shower, being able to stand upright while I dress, and collapsing into a full-size bed complete with comfy mattress and fresh linen. When you’ve been communing with nature all day, it’s nice to come back to some modern luxuries.