camping with friends

[geekyguru]

It was my wife's first time camping with me since we purchased our TT. We decided to take another family of three and one additional lady. Total of seven of us. Anyhow... We booked a two night trip on the beach. The first night on the way down the other couple stopped on the side of the road to pee. The guys wife got bit by something and had to go to e.r. they had all of our beer and food in their truck. Anyhow they didn't end up at the site until 11pm. (Five hours after us) we all went to bed around 1am. Their kid woke up at 5am. This meant all of us were now up.
Day two...
Things were going good until 8pm. Their kid developed wooping cough. He puked all over my towels and brand new tt. So the couple were out of action with him for the rest of the night.
The next morning I woke up and just packed up and left.
****ty thing is we were on the beach camping!!
It shouldn't get any better than that!!! Now my wife isn't too thrilled about camping now.

[subcamper]

I have had a friend and his son camp with us several times in our TT. These times were a lot of fun.

You have to be selective about who you allow to go with you (in your RV).

This friend takes care of my TT as well as I would. I once loaned out one of my cars to him for a week and it came back cleaner than I gave it to him!

There are other friends/family that I would not want to take. They probably wouldn't take care of the TT as I would want them to or they would not be good company.

I also bring a tent as kids usually WANT to sleep in a tent outside.

Some of our best memories were made when sharing the TT with others.

To the OP: It sounds like your friends just had a lot of bad luck on the trip. I would cut them some slack more than if they had trashed your TT due to being careless slobs or something like that.

Steve

[EldIr]

NoVa RT wrote:
I remember reading here that every RV, no matter its size, works best "with 6 for cocktails, 4 for dinner & 2 for sleeping". Probably a flexible guideline, but more people can mean more potential problems. Sick kids happen, but that's true in cabins & hotels, too.

The trick is to convert all the problems into amusing anecdotes as time goes by.

6 cocktails, 4 with dinner and 2 for sleeping. That's my kinda camping! But you forgot a couple while making dinner :C

Oh, wait... Were you counting people???

[geekyguru]

I agree. I am glad my 3 yr old had a great time. Maybe it/will be a cherished memory for her. I guess that is what matters.

[Farm_Camp]

It's funny that I'm reading this thread now... I've just got done sharing our camper with my in-laws for one night this past weekend. So a total of 6 of us for one a day and a night. The day and evening was not an issue - we were all outside doing camping stuff (LOL) late in the evening the kids went in and were in bed before the grandparents joined us inside... We ended up sleeping in the bunkhouse with the kids and gave the queen up front to Grandma and Grandpa.

Long story short - for one night it worked for us - this time. We are a very close family and it was no issue. However... If it had been a really rainiy day, if somebody wasnt feeling well, if i would have needed to cook inside... I don't think I'd want to do it like this for a longer trip. Even a camper the size of mine closes up really quick.

We are going to camp with some friends in a few weeks - and they are bringing their own camper in the site next to us. It will be our first time camping as a little group and I'm really looking forward to it. But - with the knowledge that we all have our own space!

OP: Thanks for sharing your story. Sorry it was rough. I think you got good advise to take the DW out on your own - just your family and I think it will go better. And... Also good point made - we always end up laughing most about the things that go awry.

[Lowsuv]

we mostly camp with friends .
we mostly do camping with no hookups.
that eliminates most rookies .
everybody comes prepared .
we have camping friends who will not go to the most beautiful state parks in the USA which are the Oregon State Parks .
Too many people , camp hosts , unattended dogs , and blaring music .
Quiet . No Generators allowed .

[anaro]

Think of sharing your tt as sharing a hotel room more than sharing a cabin. A cabin tends o have more space and rooms whereas a TT is more like sharing a 1 room efficiency with family or friends. Not fun. We learned the hard way after having my mom along on a trip and she exploded a bottle of pancake mix all over the TT (on the walls, floor, sofa, dinette, cabinets, carpet etc). I still find little white marks on things over a year later. A TT is just too small to share. It was much better when we were at disney. we stayed in the TT. My MIL, BILL and future SIL stayed at a neighboring resort. They came over daily and shared in the amenities, I cooked for them but they went home every night. We also live our little group camping trips a couple times a year but everyone has their own TT and campsite. We meet up to share drinks, food and campfires but go our separate ways periodically during the day and every night at bedtime. We find this much less stressful. Also doing a lot of camping by yourself can be very relaxing. mix in a few trips with friends (in their own digs) for fun and you get a recipe for perfect camping.

[gcloss]

We used to do lots of camping with in-laws, cousins, aunts/uncles. We all had our own pop-ups which gave us our privacy when camping. We still camp now in our TT which is only for our immediate family (four of us) and the TT conveniently only sleeps 4.

DW sometimes bugs me to bring some friends camping. I keep telling her if friends want to come camping with us, Walmart has some pretty low priced tents. I tell DW to give them the phone number of the CG so they can make reservations for a tent site.

[threecamprs]

We had something similar happen, except a friend (former friend) asked us to join them. Oh no, wouldn't do it. We didn't have our own camper so we rented a class c for the trip. When we got there she sprung it on us that she invited several other families too, all of which came without ANY SUPPLIES! So not only did we have no idea who these people were, but she dumped it in my lap to FEED THEM and chauffer them! To make it worse, her people were horribly rude. By day two I told her I'm done. We went out to eat and spent the rest of the time by ourselves.

I have since learned to say NO! We also purchased our own travel trailer and have always found someone to chat with at almost any given moment. You'd be surprised how much you will find you don't need anybody with you to enjoy camping. Less is best!

[rayford118]

Sorry to hear about the trip. I also enjoy friends and family coming along and makes for funner trips. I find 2 additional campers is about the max I want coming with us. Tried it with 5 once and just too many different people to get on the same page. Also only let Brother and his fiance stay in our camper. Let another couple stay once and although they did nothing wrong at all, I felt I had to act a little different inside the camper and thats not why I bought it. So if its someone i can completely relax around, they aint staying in my camper!

[geekyguru]

jmckelvy wrote:

geekyguru wrote:
.....****ty thing is we were on the beach camping!!
.....

Sounds like a "memorable" trip.

Where can you camp on the beach??

camp gulf in design Florida.

@all the for the heads up. I am gonna invest in a tent now.... Lol

[modern_family]

wmoses wrote:
Sometimes I even wonder how nice a trip would be even without DW. 🙂

Love it! Don't we all.

[LeBout]

We all learn as we go. But honestly the decision to bring all the other folks was a train wreck waiting to happen what with this being your first time out with your new TT. Mistakes made:

1. NEVER share the inside of your trailer unless you are POSITIVE you are doing so with the absolute perfect bunkmates. Doing otherwise is a fast way to lose good friends.

2. NEVER rely on another family for something you need for camping. Bring it all yourself.

3. When camping with folks who may be questionable about their ability to camp, choose a spot near a town with stores or close enough that if they need to leave for some reason your time out isn't ruined.

I hope these don't sound unkind but let's face it, camping isn't everyone's cup of tea. If someone wants to "try out camping" they're welcome to come along providing they stay in their own RV or tent.

[fla-gypsy]

I never volunteer to take others camping, and carefully select any family members, preferrably grandkids. Camping with friends who have their own campers is OK but even that can become restrictive.

[byways]

RV's are a lot like bedrooms: you only share them with certain people!

[beemerphile1]

Normal trips don't create lasting campfire stories. The trips that go wrong are the ones we get to laugh about for years.

Shared adversity makes for tighter bonds among people.