Camping is the Ultimate Good Enough Holiday

Our regular contributor, Michelle Vandepol, writes about discovering just how family friendly camping be.  Michelle's book, Mother Mexico, is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  

Family friendly vacations abound – they are affordable and easy to plan, but they do not necessarily come in those glossy pamphlets that you are eyeing at the travel agent's. Even if you are planning a trip with star ratings, camping is a good filler for the travel opportunities between, giving you more time away each year. Often we need to leave home to completely unwind. If you have been unlikely to do any holidaying in the past, camping is an easy way to start. You can go basic and rough it for pocket change or indulge yourself a bit more and reserve a spot at a campground with multi-amenities. It all depends on your lifestyle, family needs, and budget.

If you are busy bemoaning that you are unlikely to be taking a kiddie friendly cruise or vacationing at a 5 star kid friendly resort, you might have forgotten that holidays exist to get you away from the usual work and home obligations. Yes, even the social obligations. You will be giving your kids a block of focused time on them while creating some memories and loading up the family photo album.

Here is my plug for the family stand-by: camping. Pack up the station wagon and throw in the dog for some retro fun. You do not have to be only one kind of relaxed parent to go camping. Go in a tent trailer or a camper if you want things to stay reasonably clean. Yes, you can rent them. Try a tent if you're up to it and have good air mattresses to sleep on.

If you do go the air mattress route and have young kids, get a large air mattress to sleep everyone together. It's the easiest. If you have an infant you don't want to co-sleep with, bring a pack and play. Don't skimp on the size of the tent. Do not feel pressured to come up with all the camping gear the first time around. Search around your group of friends for a family that are seasoned campers that your family will jive with. Not only will they have the equipment for you to share, they can teach you how to use the stuff you do buy.

Just like the variety of camping housing you can find, there are also a variety of venues in which to go to. You can travel to someone else's backyard (Friends of ours drive out from the city to camp on our rural acreage). Or you can go with roughing it – a provincial camp site or a BC Hydro one might do you. There are even free ones. Look them up online. Don't expect electrical hookups or running water.

Lack of hook-ups can serve double duty as intervention for the families that are wired in around the clock. Leave the portable DVD player at home. Let the kids play with sticks, and rocks, and sand toys. Older kids can go hiking, cut up firewood, and learn to play poker. A note for those with tweens and teens: going with a family who have a child the same age will make hanging out with the family a lot more alluring.

Camping is as much a chance for you to forcibly recharge as it is about connecting as a family. There are no closets to clean and no e-mail to answer. Parents: leave blackberries and cell phones at home too. Come to think of it, camp in a place that is out of service area – mountain areas work well. Everyone will have no choice but to de-wire. When going off the beaten path a bit, you will want to plan well. Make a list and do the camping shopping a week or so in advance. Don't make the night before a flurry of overspending and stress.

That said, once you're there, you're there. Go with plan B for the things you forget behind. (Sadly, I can tell you that if you are ever camping without blankets, towels work as well – I am a much better camping planner with a few trips under my belt)

For more venues, our family has also camped by fishermen at a river with good results. When in an out of the way spot, camping in a group means some measure of security and pooling resources. Friendships are forged that much stronger over weekends away and families bonding together make for some special memories even years later.

For all the times we've roughed it, we've also camped at a campground in the middle of a good sized city with a Starbucks and a Save-on Foods on the other side of the hedge and a private beach across the road. We brought along a couple of teenage babysitters and went to dinner one night. It wasn't roughing it, but we felt authentic all the same.

Another camping gem if you've never camped out in the desert, amid rattlesnakes and horseback trails is to head to Nk'mip in Osoyoos, BC. Get a water front site and you will be a walk away from the wildlife center, winery, arcade, and showers. It's still called camping, but it's just a flip flopped foot away from a motel.

Don't forget what camping's all about — recharging. Family friendly travel means not a terribly long trip to get where you're going. Somewhere close to home is good for a start for kids not used to long car rides. And does anyone want to stop and fill-up for gas anymore?

It is possible to do a family getaway with young children, come in under budget, and come home a bit more relaxed if you go with realistic expectations. Things may not be perfect at any given moment on holiday. The fact is that it is unpredictable when you lay it side by side with staying at home with your usual home and its structure, but that is what makes for adventure.

Camping is the ultimate good enough holiday. Don't be one of those people who aim for something huge and impressive or don't do anything at all. Put a bit of effort into it, lower your nitpicky standards if you have them, and have fun. The truth is that there will be an element of the holiday that will be a bit of work, but if your luck holds out you might have extra help with the kids so it could feel like a break.  

Make sure you take pictures. You can recapture the moments in the dead of winter and look forward to the next trip, convinced that it was a lot easier than it might have been and shouldn't we pack everything up and do it all again.?

One of the best side benefits to camping as opposed to going somewhere that begs you to sightsee is that a lot of doing nothing time means hugs and kisses and long talks go uninterrupted. Think ahead and pack story books you can read over and over to the child who never tires of again and again. You will be thankful for the moments you are not chasing him back to your campsite. Bring an all terrain stroller so you can walk your way to relaxation; get in the exercise you never seem to have time for,;and more likely than not, stroll your toddler to sleep.

For older kids, card games and travel versions of stand-bys like Guess Who are popular. Bring a Ziploc bag so no pieces get lost on the first day out. For yourself, now is the time to grab your book club's selection of the month, a stack of magazines, and a journal. Planning and seeing things clearly happen with a bit of time away and you want to be ready for the possibility.

Patience is a virtue that might be tested on any family holiday. Taking one means trying it out. If it's tested, work on it and don't be hard on yourself. Look for the bright side of the situation. If it rains, cuddle up, read, and play indoor games. When it's sunny, seize the day and get active. If your trip companion friends are night owls, drink coffee and stay up. If they're tucking in early every night, think of it as an opportunity to catch a few more winks. Being flexible allows for a much more relaxed trip in the end. A low key affordable trip is a good alternative to staying home to perfect the lawn for yet another weekend or spending a paycheque or two on Disneyland.