by Judith Roinich

Created on: August 19, 2008

Picture this husband and wife tugging on the guy ropes, two excited children gasping in awe as a mountain of green canvas launches itself from the ground. After the final holding pegs are triumphantly banged in, the family stands back proudly admiring their newly erected makeshift holiday house. Seemingly by magic the crammed contents of a 4ft x 10ft drawstring bag have emerged into a structure that will provide them with good times, warmth and shelter from the elements. Next is the unpacking of items brought from home to put in the tent such as paper plates, gas cooker, sleeping bags and mattresses. In fact there is a whole trunk load of stuff to transfer from the car to the tent. Everyone gets a job to do and everyone feels a sense of achievement when the job is done.

Its true you can arrive late at night in an RV and be tucked up in bed in half an hour with no effort at all. But is that the camping experience? The beds are already made up, food and drink already in the cupboard, there's really nothing else to do. No chance for the kids to feel involved, its just like home.

People who choose to camp with a tent often set themselves up for a longer stay on the same site than those travelling by RV. Its more convenient to stay put due to the extra time required to become established. This enables campers to spend their time discovering nature's secrets or relaxing in the sun rather than be constantly on the road briefly stopping here or there.

A tent camping experience means preparing food without modern kitchen amenities, eating outdoors and bunking down on the floor of a flimsy abode where ones allotted space is minimal. People who share such close quarters share daily challenges such as hungry mosquitoes, pesky flies, burning hot sun, lack of privacy etc which have to be dealt with by team consensus. Tent people have to cooperate and share with each other. RV campers just retire to their airconditioned vans, cook a roast in their oven or fire up the laptop. They miss out. As for entertainment its quite possible they are totally unfamiliar with board or card games such as Monopoly or Fish as they travel with more sophisticated entertainment. And with everything electric in the van, they deny themselves the joys of cooking under the stars, of knowing the warmth and comfort of a campfire, of curiously watching local fauna scampering about a tent site. RV campers sit high and separate in their vans.

If you are contemplating a holiday there's no doubt an RV will provide you with a very comfortable vacation, but if you enjoy the outdoors and are prepared to get back to basics take a tent for a truly rewarding camping experience.

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