Camping can be fun, if you have the right gear. Photo / Pexels
Camping can be fun, if you have the right gear. Photo / Pexels
This must begin with an admission: I hate camping.
Growing up, my family never did the camping thing. Why put yourself through the pungent long drops, gas-cooked meals and stuffy tents when you could enjoy the exact same mountain views or white sand beaches then return to your hut orhouse?
Amongst my friends, however, I am an outlier and every summer my proposal to rent a bach is overthrown by plans to pitch up at a DoC campsite.
See, my friends are the 'outdoorsy' type, the kind who make camping look comfortable and fun and oh so easy.
Armed with gadgets and gizmos and know-how, they make barista-style coffee in the morning and gourmet meals at night. Their tents never collapse, clothes never smell and through some sort of wizardry, they can sleep on the ground without wrecking their back.
By the end of the trip, they still look like a human being. Dare I say it, they glow.
Meanwhile, I emerge from a 3-day outdoor bender resembling the very perishable food item I accidentally left out in the sun.
As someone who loves travel, I'm no stranger to going without everyday luxuries. Whether it's rickety sleeper trains in India or strangers' couches in Prague, 24-hour Parisian diners or countless airports, I'll fall asleep anywhere in the name of adventure.
