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All You Need To Know About Going On A Camping Trip Without a Campervan
Normally, if you were planning a camping road trip, you’d like to have a campervan by your side. It gives you all the home comforts you need during your trip, with the benefit of also being a van you can drive. However, it’s not essential to have one of these vehicles. If you don’t have one, you might be a bit averse to buying one or renting a campervan just for road trips. By all means, they can be great investments if you travel a lot, but you can still enjoy a camping trip without a campervan.
On that note, here’s everything you need to know about this topic:
Make sure you have a comfortable and suitable car
You can technically drive any car on your camping trip, but life is easier when you have something that’s comfortable and suitable. Something akin to a Land Rover is ideal as it ticks the following boxes:
- You have enough space for all your supplies
- You potentially have space to fold down the seats and sleep comfortably – if necessary
- You can drive on dodgy roads and go off the beaten track
- You have a big enough engine to drive for miles before needing to refuel
Any cars that tick these boxes will be ideal replacements for a campervan. If you already have one that fits the bill, that’s amazing! If not, it is still cheaper to rent a car than a campervan.
Buy a high-quality tent
When you don’t have your camper, you need somewhere else to sleep. You could sleep in your car, but this isn’t always a great idea. Instead, your best option is to buy a tent. Or, more accurately, invest in a really high-quality tent. You want something that can withstand many uses and stand up to all sorts of weather conditions.
Don’t opt for a cheap tent here; it pays to get one that’s durable and can be used over and over again. Once you’ve found your ideal tent, you need to practice how to pitch it and take it down. Get this drilled into you and your camping trip will be so much easier.
Bring some essential supplies
A lot of your essentials are given to you by a campervan. You’ll have a cooker, a kettle, a power source, a fridge, etc. Without this vehicle, you need to bring all of these yourself. Some items to pack in your car will be:
- An electric power generator (or two, preferably one that’s solar-powered)
- Some sort of icebox or refrigerative box to store food in
- A portable cooking hob
- Crockery
Additionally, you can bring other things that might make your life more comfortable. For instance, some people like to bring blowup mattresses instead of sleeping on the floor. The choice is yours, just make a supplies list before you set off, ensuring you pack everything.
Is a camping trip slightly harder without a campervan? Yes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy one. With these tips, you will be able to plan an amazing camping trip with just your car to call upon.
Have you booked your camping trip or planning one? Drop me a line or two as always.
Oh no, I wouldn’t do tent camping. We had a 37.5 ft motorhome!
Wow! That’s amazing Carol.
My boyfriend really wants us to go tent camping. BUT — he insists on taking a nice quality air mattress. I’m game, as long as the weather’s nice.
The weather will definitely make tent camping worthwhile.
It has been years since we last camped. The smell of the outdoors and sounds of the woods at night are still fresh in our memories. Thanks for this nice reminder of those adventurous days.
Being close to nature is calming and one of the benefits of camping.