Camping or is it Glamping?

Camping or is it Glamping?  Is it either?  Where is the line between living outdoors and just a second home that happens to have wheels? 

There was a time when going camping meant a tent in the woods.   And the tent was optional.  Cut off from the outside world.  It was a chance to sleep on the ground.  Cook over an open fire and gaze at the stars.  Everything you needed fit on your back.  It was simple, peaceful, a way to get away and relax.  True, it was mostly done by the young and adventurous. 

Then things got a little more complicated.  There are camp chairs, blow-up matrices, special sticks for marshmallows, hot dogs, coolers…… the list is endless.  It is still a way to get away.  But it’s not that simple anymore. There are camp sights to rent, food to be prepped, and extras to pack.  Entertainment to plan.  It is a process. You need a large car or a truck.  It takes several trips to the car to get everything in and back out again.

You raced out of work Friday.  When you get to camp, set up, hopefully before dark, and have a chance to enjoy the fire before the air leaks out of the bed.  There is Saturday to do what you came to do, and Sunday is a pack it all up to go home.  If you can, it is a long weekend so there is an extra day to relax in nature.  If you are lucky, you have time to clean as you pack.  Or you have to get home, set up, clean it all, and pack it all away for next year.  Again, fun for the 20-somethings without $$ or vacation time.  It is a popular holiday for those with small children.

Somewhere along the way, campers were invented.  Supposedly to take the work out of camping.  Everything is always packed in the camper.  Through in some food, make sure the laundry is done, and off you go.  You still have to rent a campsite, but pull in unhook from the truck once you are there, and enjoy.  Sounds great.  The perfect solution is to be outdoors without work or sleeping on the ground.  

But it seems to have gotten excessive.  These are not campers.  It is not a getaway or a vacation.  There are 30, 40ft plus travel homes. Large trucks hall them from place to place.  You can even have someone else drive it around for you.  40ft homes with slide-outs, full bathrooms, washers/dryers, guest bedrooms, and second baths.  Water hookups, gray tanks, black tanks, and fresh tanks, all must be maintained.  With the added cost of lot rentals from a few $100 to several $1000 a month, this is home.

Why are they still called campers and campgrounds?  Someplace even have rules about your dogs, the age of your rig, and how old you have to be to rent there.  All they lack is a formal HOA agreement.  They don’t call them HOA agreements, but they are almost the same thing.

I have nothing against this kind of living, just the terminology.  It is not camping.  It is a second home you take with you.  To be more accurate it is a second luxury home.  After all, there are chandlers, ceiling fans, recliners, and big-screen TVs.  Marble countertops and fireplaces.

Van lifers have embraced this idea.  They have a home on wheels.  Some of them do have actual homes as well.  But they don’t claim to be camping.  Their van, trailer, and “camper” is called what it is, Their home.  Yes, they move from place to place and sometimes stay in campgrounds, but they don’t claim to be on vacation or ruffing it.

Stop pretending.  You are not camping.  You have air conditioning and a heated pool.  You are wintering in your second home. (Probably cost more than your first) Just say so and own it.